Gleaning Facebook: Save Rome's Central Park

Folks, I would suggest that those of you who live in the city of Rome continue to call, write, e-mail each of our commissioners and commission candidates, (and the Rome News as well) to remind them that the people of Rome:
• WANT our 80 acres of park to stay in OUR hands.

• WANT a restored and landscaped "Duck Pond" as one little oasis of calm and beauty on our main thoroughfare (Turner-McCall/Shorter) that now can now only be described as unplanned sprawl.

• WANT a beautiful wetland with boardwalks, trails, and wildlife viewing platforms.

• WANT expansion room for our Central Park as Rome grows over the coming decades and century.

• WANT an undiminished, as a matter-of-fact improved, connection between Ridge Ferry Park and Jackson Hill for the future.

• if anything, we should be buying up the land on the other side of the tracks under Jackson and Blossum Hills for future growth of our city's parks, recreation, and arts needs.

I have personally heard one of the folks who has so far voted consistently to squash this dream speak eloquently about the very reasons we should be talking about how to USE this gem in the heart of the city. Evie McNeice gave, at a caucus recently, a heartfelt plea for the preservation of greenspace as a positive good for Rome - environmentally, recreationally, financially, and promotionally - for the future. I cannot imagine how Evie can believe her own words, then destroy the wildlife, the gorgeous wildflowers, the crystal clear stream...

 ...the tall oaks, hickories, and pines, the wetland storing flood waters and filtering our pollutants. That huge Star-Spangled-Banner atop Jackson Hill beckons to the folks on the Riverwalk to come enjoy the forest trails around it. How can anyone consider allowing Rome to lose the connective tissue that combines the Riverwalk and Ridge Ferry Park with Jackson Hill as a Central Park? How can we contemplate giving up the opportunities, the dreams that those 80 acres hold for the much larger Rome in our grandchildren's futures?

Please folks, our chances for preservation are dwindling unless we can win this election and/or change some minds.

Vote for ONLY the challengers. Vote for NO incumbents.
Vote tomorrow, Friday October 16, 8-5, at the old courthouse/post office on Fourth Avenue. You'll be in and out in just a few minutes with no wait. It wasn't many years ago that one commissioner won by seven votes and another by four votes. Never will your vote hold more sway. 

From Joe Cook's Facebook post: 

Terrell Shaw puts out the call to Rome voters. The abuse of Tax Allocation District financing to benefit developers at the expense of city greenspace and ordinary citizens needs to be a lead topic in this year's Rome city elections. Like Terrell, I appreciate the work of the sitting commissioners, but I too will not be voting for these incumbents. Those who care about preserving greenspace, parks, trails and quality communities should vote for candidates that support those ideals. By continuing to support the proposed City Center development in the Burwell Creek wetlands,(Save Burwell Creek Wetlands) the incumbents have proven they do not really support these ideals. It's time for new leadership!

Gleaning Facebook: Goldenrod

 From the Georgia Native Plant Society:

It's time for the most common goldenrod of all in Georgia: Solidago altissima. This is the one that you see often on the side of the road, often in a large group because it spreads by its roots as well as its seeds. Yet for all its aggressive behavior, it is a lifesaver for many insects and a bountiful source of nectar and pollen. Stop some time and see all the insects that are using it.

The pollen is only harvested by insects, it is too heavy to become windborne. Usually, the true allergen is nearby - ragweed! They grow in similar conditions and are often found side by side. So feel free to admire this plant as you drive by and know that it is helping the insects like this monarch butterfly.

 

Gleaning Facebook: Back at Storybook Farm

 Back at Storybrook Farm for great food, beautiful walks, and five days of fascinating stories!

Jaki Day: Where is "'here"?

Terrell: Here is Jonesborough TN and the Natl Storytelling Festival, our sixth year. You and Bruce would love it.

We are staying at a beautiful B&B about a mile from the festival.

Later:

Waiting here in the Library Tent for Donald Davis and his new program of "church stories"... Our seventh year at Jonesborough for the wonderful Natl Storytelling Festival with several thousand friends! If you can take a four or five hour drive from Rome, come on ip for one or more days of great stories!

Gleaning Facebook: Vote for the Challengers!

 We CAN NOT let up. We have an election just a month away and three fresh candidates. I do not know any of them intimately, but if the election were held today I would vote for those three and no others. NO others.

Every person who wants to preserve our Burwell Creek wetlands and park land should contact Sundai Stevenson, Abeed Bawa, and Craig McDaniel (someone please tag him) and ask them to take a stand.

This breaks my heart, but after decades of supporting Buzz Wachsteter, with whom I have had friendly acquaintance for forty years, and whom I admire for his support of the arts, Buzz will not get my 2015 vote.

I have supported Bill Collins every time he has run. (This hurts too.) Not in 2015.

Milton Slack is a fine fellow and he married a wonderful woman for whom I have great admiration and affection. Yes it will hurt, but I will not click the box next to Milton Slack’s name this time. Who would have thought he would rather build housing for non-bus-riding/gated-community folks rather than protect that beautiful gem as a legacy for ordinary Romans to enjoy for decades or centuries.

I had thought Jamie Doss a progressive leader and, as an outdoors enthusiast, someone who would look out for our parks. Jamie, a great guy, put the lie to that last night. I like Jamie. He will not be on the ballot this year, but he will have to work hard to earn my vote again in 2017.

Now we must get behind challengers who will stand behind ordinary Romans in protecting the legacy of our children’s children and guiding growth constructively. We must find candidates with “Hundred Year Eyes” and get them on the Commission. We must have three more votes. THREE. That’s tough, but miraculously that is actually possible this year. IF we can stay focussed for one month. One month. We can win this. It is an up-hill battle but we can win this with one month of exhausting effort and three new votes for REAL progress.

Vote and WORK for candidates that work for those ...

---Whose children DO ride the bus.

---Who ARE willing to hazard needing a “tetanus shot” (!!!!) to preserve our kids’ legacy.

---Who DO support growth, and jobs, and progress, and new apartment complexes, and new restaurants, and new stores, but want to have those things AND our Central Park!

---Who do not view a wetland and park land as a “liability”.

Progress and growth will come. Any fool knows that. Every person attending that meeting last night knows that. Our job as citizens, and our commissioners’ jobs as our servants, is to guide that growth wisely. Our job, together as a generation of citizens and leaders, is to build AND preserve, and, yes, expand, the legacy we will, very soon really, leave to others.

Gleaning Facebook: No Incumbents

Every person who wants to preserve our Burwell Creek wetlands and park land should contact

Sundai Stevenson,

Abeed Bawa,

and Craig McDaniel and ask them to take a stand.

This breaks my heart, but after decades of supporting

Buzz Wachsteter

, with whom I have had friendly acquaintance for forty years, and whom I admire for his support of the arts, Buzz will not get my 2015 vote.

I have supported Bill Collins every time he has run. (This hurts too.) Not in 2015.

Milton Slack is a fine fellow and he married a wonderful woman for whom I have great admiration and affection. Yes it will hurt, but I will not click the box next to Milton Slack’s name this time. Who would have thought he would rather build housing for non-bus-riding/gated-community folks rather than protect that beautiful gem as a legacy for ordinary Romans to enjoy for decades or centuries.

I had thought Jamie Doss a progressive leader and, as an outdoors enthusiast, someone who would look out for our parks. Jamie, a great guy, put the lie to that last night. I like Jamie. He will not be on the ballot this year, but he will have to work hard to earn my vote again in 2017.

Now we must get behind challengers who will stand behind ordinary Romans in protecting the legacy of our children’s children and guiding growth constructively. We must find candidates with “Hundred Year Eyes” and get them on the Commission. We must have three more votes. THREE. That’s tough, but miraculously that is actually possible this year. IF we can stay focussed for one month. One month. We can win this. It is an up-hill battle but we can win this with one month of exhausting effort and three new votes for REAL progress.

Vote and WORK for candidates that work for those ...

---Whose children DO ride the bus.

---Who ARE willing to hazard needing a “tetanus shot” (!!!!) to preserve our kids’ legacy.

---Who DO support growth, and jobs, and progress, and new apartment complexes, and new restaurants, and new stores, but want to have those things AND our Central Park!

---Who do not view a wetland and park land as a “liability”.

Progress and growth will come. Any fool knows that. Every person attending that meeting last night knows that. Our job as citizens, and our commissioners’ jobs as our servants, is to guide that growth wisely. Our job, together as a generation of citizens and leaders, is to build AND preserve, and, yes, expand, the legacy we will, very soon really, leave to others.

 

Gleaning Facebook: To Roman Taxpayers

 To my fellow Rome taxpayers --- tree-huggers or not:

"Originally, home town developers Ledbetter Properties asked City Commissioners to purchase just 11 of the 80 acres slated for development, but when commissioners rightfully balked at the selling price of $7,000 per acre, the developers decided to exercise their option to purchase all 80 acres at a previously negoitated bargain basement price of $600,000. " -statement from a CRBI e-mail.

One of Rome's very knowledgeable and respected businessman wrote in response to the $7000 per acre price that our commissioners have acquiesed to:

"As a downtown land owner and business person my problem is the devaluation of my property just across the river

Terrell it's not where your coming from but if the city approves the sale at 7000.00 a acre I will have to appeal all my taxes as they just reset my comps and values of my property

A Good business person would want to see it sell for closer to $500,000.00 per acre.

I'm closer to market value then the elected commissioners are."

So, according to this businessman anyway, Ledbetter Properties may take over our 80 acres, right in the center of town, for only a little over the cost of one prime acre. This is just plain wrong on all counts.

Tell our commissioners to vote NO to rezoning.

Howard Smith

How could they EVER have entered into such an agreement in the first place as responsible stewards of the publics interest? If this property is valued at this price then there should be many appeals of tax valuations.

Gleaning Facebook: Our 80-acre Gem

A wonderful point from Monica Shepard --- All our elected servants have to do to leave this legacy to our kids is DON'T SELL IT. That's all. This eighty acre gem is ours at NO cost. Forever.

From Monica Sheppard:

In 1973, then-Governor Jimmy Carter had the foresight to sign into place the Metropolitan River Protection Act, recognizing the impact pollution and development would have on the city of Atlanta's only water source. As President, in 1978, he signed legislation to purchase 6,800 acres along the river, permanently protecting the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area as one of the first urban park lands in the country. That area has now grown to 10,000 acres because many in the area have willing sold their land to the cause, recognizing the benefit of this true gem in the heart of Atlanta.

Our little Burwell Creek and wetlands here in Rome is nowhere near that scale, but it is a one of only a few natural areas within the city. Interestingly, Rome already owns this beautiful tract of land and ALL the city leaders need to do to protect it is to refuse to sell it to developers at a loss to the taxpayers. Please contact our city commissioners and ask them to vote NO on selling this beautiful piece of property on Monday, and show that they have some of the foresight of other great Georgia leaders!

This, Ladies and Gentlemen is the land that Wright Ledbetter, speaking on behalf of the developers, described as just the sort of "blighted" property that Tax Allocation Districts were designed for. His strange opinion of this beauty is, I am sure, unaffected by the millions he hopes to make off of our park land.

Our gorgeous wetland, mature forest, and public park is the "liability" that Buzz Wachsteter, Evie McNeice, Bill Collins, Bill Irmscher, and Milton Slack are prepared to transfer from the legacy we should be leaving our children and grandchildren and present for a bargain price to some of the wealthiest developers around. And what will they replace our public greenspace with? A private, gated, upscale apartment complex where the residents, according to Mr. Charles Williams, another spokeman for the developers, would not likely think of sending their children to school on a bus.

I love this land. I dream of it being the center section of our Central Park. The very connective tissue that joins our riverside Ridge Ferry Park with our beautifull forested Jackson Hill.

In the much larger Rome of fifty years or a hundred years from now, which would you prefer to stand as our generation's gift to those children and grandchildren? Another gated in town apartment complex and strip mall, or a gorgeous park with forested trails on Jackson Hill connected to Riverside trails, picnic areas, and playgrounds of Ridge Ferry Park by a landscaped Duck Pond, a mature flood plain forest, and a gorgeous wetland all traversed by meandering trails and boardwalks punctuated with wildlife observation platforms.

Bad News

 

Dear friends,

I have just heard devastating news.

Short-circuiting our efforts to stop the sale of our parkland connecting Jackson Hill and Ridge Ferry Park, Ledbetter Properties, I am told, has decided today to exercise their bargain option to buy the entire tract --- all of our public property between Jackson Hill and Ridge Ferry Park. We have two commissioners --- Wendy Davis and Sue Hamler Lee --- who have looked at our wetland and floodplain with Hundred Year Eyes and seen its value to our posterity. Unless there is enough of an outcry to change three minds on the City Commission that property will be re-zoned to allow the apartments.

We have to somehow convince three of these folks --- before Monday Sept. 28 --- to change their minds:

Kim Canada,706-291-7844 kcanada@romega.us
Bill Collins, 706-291-0208 bcollins@romega.us
Jamie Doss, 706-295-4008 jdoss@romega.us
Bill Irmscher, 706-234-6555 birmscher@romega.us
Evie McNeice, 706-237-6070 emcniece@romega.us
Milton Slack, 706-291-6811 mslack@romega.us
Buzz Wachsteter, 706-291-0678 buzz@romega.us

Please take a few minutes now to call or e-mail these folks. Let them know that we cannot let this happen. Beg, plead, demand, that our children and grandchildren and theirs have this beautiful link to explore along our rivers then through this wetland and to the top of Jackson Hill. Few other cities have a wildlife/wildflower treasure like this in its very center. Tell them to vote against a change of zoning and to try to negotiate a way out of what I believe is a very bad deal with Ledbetter Properties.

Demand they use their Hundred Year Eyes.

Look again at this picture.


Read the words of the city's decade-old plan for our property at Burwell Creek.


Read the words on this very appropriate cartoon.

Hundred Year Eyes

When Daniel Mitchell, Zacharia Hargrove, Philip Hemphill, William Smith, and John Lumpkin  met in 1834 at that little spring near the confluence of the Etowah and Oostanaula they dreamed of a city that did not exist. They saw our valley with “hundred-year-eyes.”

When Daniel Mitchell laid out Broad Street, he made it truly “broad”. He used two full “Gunter’s chains” to establish its width. Now our downtown main street is 132 feet wide. Surely he was seeing that street with “hundred-year-eyes”.

Developers salivated when they saw the in-town wooded acres along Horseleg Creek. But for the “hundred-year-eyes of Mac Marshall, Lewis Lipps, Phillip Greear, Robert Weed, Wilson Hall, Elizabeth and Bernard Neal, Margie Harbin and others, this beautiful unban forest would be gone.

It was a near thing last century when the city vacated the old Carnegie Library to build the new library. Some said the old library was really nothing special. After all, there were twenty other Carnegie Libraries in Georgia. It was not a unique building. Why not tear it down and use that downtown property for something else. But the commissioners voted to preserve that old building and refurbish it for city offices. I’m glad they had eyes to see the value to our posterity of preserving the character of our downtown in this way..

Casey Hine and others looked our largely deserted downtown in the seventies and eighties with its grand old exteriors often covered with aluminum. With eyes to the future they imagined a re-invigorated Broad Street with trees and flowers and brick-lined streets and sidewalks. Streetscape was born of hundred-year-vision.

330 × 220 - romegeorgia.org

When Lam Theaters decided to close the Desoto Theater, that treasure could have been lost, like the First Avenue Theater before it, or even more tragically the magnificent Nevin Opera House. But the folks involved in the Rome Little Theatre went way out on a financial limb and bought it to use for our community live theater. What a blessing to Rome the Desoto has been for another half century now! All thanks to the “hundred-year-eyes” of people like Kathy Greear, Norris Gamble, Sidney Guy Johnston, Joel Jones, Mary Doster, Virginia McChesney, and many others.

1600 × 440 - romegeorgia.org

Martha Berry had “hundred-year-eyes” when she saw opportunities to buy up land around what had been her father’s estate to add to her little school’s holding. Wise use of those lands has helped to make Berry one of the best and most beautiful campuses in the world, and provided a laboratory for the environmental program rated among the two bets in the world. And her foresight helped make Rome an appealing location for businesses.

Here is what is left of our "Duck Pond" with the Burwell Creek wetland to the left and Jackson Hill in the background.

The tracks of many different species of wildlike are captured in the drying mud of what was once our little Duck Pond at the intersection of Turner McCall and Riverside Parkway.

Next Monday the folks we elected to the Rome City Commission will discuss again whether to sell our beautiful downtown greenspace/wetland/duckpond/beaver-fox-deer-salamnder-crawdad-dragonfly-great-blue-heron-etc-habitat so that a private developer can bulldose it, haul in umpteen yards of fill material, and put up a group of apartments and a strip mall. This gorgeous property, that belongs to us, may be taken from our children and grandchildren, if you and I remain silent. I won’t. We have a beautiful city. It is a magnet to businesses that want an environment attractive to their employees and themselves. Let’s keep it. Let’s make it even better than we found it.

Here is contact information for our commissioners:
Bill Irmscher 706-234-6555 birmscher@romega.us

Milton Slack 706-291-6811 mslack@romega.us

Buzz Wachsteter 706-291-0678 buzz@romega.us

Jamie Doss 706-295-4008 jdoss@romega.us

Bill Collins 706-291-0208 bcollins@romega.us

Kim Canada 706-291-7844 kcanada@romega.us

Evie McNiece 706-237-6070 emcniece@romega.us
We already have the public support of:
 
Sue Lee 706-235-2067 slee@romega.us

Wendy Davis wendy4rome@gmail.com or 706-290-0606


I have a simple but difficult requirement of the men and women you see pictured here. I ask them to have eyes for more than the here and now, more than the current bottom line, more than the immediate jobs and possible future tax revenues. (What percentage of those jobs and what percentage of those taxes can come from other new development or increased sales at current businesses?) I ask our public servants to have hundred-year-eyes. I want them to think of the Romans of 2115 every time they cast a vote. The decisions we make in 2015 will affect the lives of others besides ourselves. I believe the citizens of a hundred years from now will thank us for preserving a great “central park”. Imagine that beautiful wetland with boardwalks and trails and interpretive signage. Imagine the hiking and biking trails continuous from our wonderful Jackson Hill though this greenspace and on to the Riverwalk and thence to Silver Creek in one direction, State Mutual Stadium in another, and Berry’s trails in another.

What a treasure is this wildlfe sanctuary iright at our city's center.

The lushness of the plants in the wetland itself make a verdant wonderland.

The fall wildflowers were dazling last week -- purple ironweed, yellow wild sunflowers, and several clouds of mixed white blooms.

This grassy area has been used, obviously, by the whitetail deer as a bedroom.


Such a park system will bring new business, new residents, and new prosperity to Rome and Floyd County to surpass the proposed building project many tmes over. Let’s preserve this wetland and greenspace as part of a great Central Park for our children and grandchildren, and all the future citizens of our beautiful city.