April 4, 2008
Lee Memorial Park: the Master Plan presentation
Click here (27.1MB) for a copy of the presentation submit to City Council in January 2004 about Lee Memorial Park’s Master Plan.
For some background…
Not only is Lee Memorial Park a beautiful outdoor habitat and park. It also is of paleontological significance, contains a number of Civil War breastworks, contains a wildflower and bird sanctuary that was installed under Roosevelt’s WPA program by single female heads of households - the only known program of its kind in the country, and is the subject of one of the Commonwealth’s first segregation-related lawsuits.
In 2001, The Petersburg Garden Club and the City of Petersburg signed an MOU with the agreement that all long-term preservation and rehabilitation undertaken in the Park would be guided by a Lee Memorial Park Master Plan. The result of several years’ collaborative effort, the plan was presented to Council as stated above in January 2004.
With the master plan in place, the PGC subsequently worked toward the goals of forming a foundation (now the Willcox Watershed Conservancy), and securing 501c3 status (secured January 2007).
The WWC’s inaugural board meeting was in October last year, with guest speakers including the former Exec. Dir. of Maymont (Bob Hicks), the Exec. Dir. of Friends of Bryan Park (John Zeugner), a representative of the Dept. of Historic Resources (Ann Andrus), and the Environmental Program Planner with the Virginia Dept. of Conservation and Recreation (Janit Llewellyn). And in January of this year, upwards of 50 members of the community participated in a two-Saturday strategic planning session. The strategic plan has since been approved.
YAY!
This is way cool and any other adjuective you can throw in there but this “master plan” is four years old. I have seen MANY master plans about a lot of different things and that is all you see. Heck….there were master plans of the Habor made up 20-30 years ago. (smile)
Does anyone know how close we really are in this becoming a reality.
I repeat: They developed a master plan. They then had to form a foundation and secure nonprofit status (which in and of itself takes several years). Check. Then a strategic plan. Check. These volunteers have consistently met throughout the last several years to get this all done (underwriting same I might add). I can’t imagine they have any intent of stopping now. Rather, with these elements now in place, they can now turn to fundraising, staffing, implementation, … all the things that can be ’seen’.
It’s kind of like rehabbing an old house. You first have to do the plumbing, electric, and other foundational work. During which time there’s not a lot of visual evidence of accomplishment. Only toward the end do you see the final pretty coats of paint on the wall.
BTW, I chose to post the above presentation now:
a) because this site did not exist in 2004 to present it then,
b) I got the sense that some folks were not aware of the awesome plans relating to LMP.
Hey - there is also a website on the exhibit that was done on the history of the park, Rediscovering the Forgotten Garden.
There one can view the virtual exhibit that was at the Siege Museum (and subsequently traveled to different parts of the state) and also download the educators guide, which is SOL approved.
In your post containing the “rediscovering the forgotten garden” you will see a bit of history, if you look. Anyone sympathetic to G. Ashleigh Moody’s revisionist history might want to read how in the 1950’s, if you were a leader of the community, or a mere school teacher, your job could be taken away from you in petersburg just for speaking up against segregation. The same mentality that denied freedom of speach to petersburg’s whites, and equality before the law to petersburg’s blacks, still whines about “Yankee-know it-alls,” and “outsiders trying to tell us how to do things.”
Thank goodness for outsiders!
It IS good to understand the cultural legacy of things, right GAM?
Brenda,
Saturday you mentioned the whale bones in the park - do you have any other info. on that or could you point me where to start. I tried to Google it but…alas, my search-fu is not strong.
If you go to the ‘Rediscovering the Forgotten Garden’ link in comment #4, select the natural history tab. The summary that comes up gives a hint, but the ‘prehistoric life’, ‘fossil beds’, and ‘Lieutenant Run’ links give the details.
There may also be some details in the historic register… there’s a link to that somewhere on this site… lemme see if I can find it.
LMP’s National Register of Historic Places registration form
YOU ROCK! *2 thumbs up*
In the inbox:
Leonard Muse, City Planning received a phone call from Channel 8 requesting an interview to get an update on Lee Park. The interview will be aired at 4:30, 6:00 and 11:00 PM news today.