The Park! (Round 2)

This is Central Park in New York. I would like to point out a couple of things:

1. Notice how this area of green is completely surrounded by buildings that are very large. It is almost as though a portion of the city were cut away, peeled back, to reveal the natural environment. This is not the case - the park was there first. I am not going to go into the history of the park, but suffice it to say that there was a great deal of planning and foresight that took place prior to the development of the park and surrounding areas.

2. Notice the relative lack of green space elsewhere. This is the front yard and backyard for many millions of people who live in New York. Whether it was designed to function in this way or not, it has evolved in a way that is personal and real for the people of New York. It's their park. They own it in a way that is just as meaningful as those who have their own little suburban lots.

3. Notice also that there is a variety of uses - forests, trails, lakes/ponds, meadows, fields, museums, restaurants, etc. This is a quality place to be - each detail of your experience has been carefully tailored to provide maximum enjoyment. Thus people can enjoy the park on many levels - casual strolling, relaxing for an afternoon, ball games, remote control boating, etc.

We got our bids back for our park here in Mont Belvieu. They were very high - probably too high to put in place as they are currently formulated. We were very surprised to see how high they were and we will have to go back to the drawing board. But as we do so, I want to keep in mind the lessons that can be learned from successful parks like Central Park. The main focus should be toward quality over quantity. We may be able to get a lot from our park if we creatively edit some of the elements that are currently in the park, allowing for further growth in the future. It was discouraging to see the numbers come in as high as they were.

Stay tuned. More information to come.