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The Parks Committee was on sabbatical in December and did not meet so there
is not much news.
Burdette Park: As chair, I was happy to hear the new commissioners had
retained Steve Craig as manager of the park. Steve has been an excellent manager
and he does deserve to stay, and I am sure most westsiders agree.
I was also happy to hear the commissioners were considering a connecting route
from the University of Southern Indiana to Burdette Park. This is an ideal
complement to the park and it also fits into the long-term goals of the Pigeon
Creek Greenway Passage.
Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage: The Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage was
honored to have the riverfront portion of the Greenway Passage featured in
Discover America, the American Discovery Trail newsletter. The riverfront was a
full front-page feature complete with pictures. This newsletter has nationwide
coverage.
The Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage Advisory Board will review the new Traffic
Enhancement Grant application prepared by the Evansville Dept. of Parks &
Recreation. The grant will be in the amount of $1,000,000 and will construct
eight-tenths (0.8) of a mile. This will connect the trail from West Franklin St.
to Maryland St. The application has been approved by the EUTS Technical
Committee.
Usually it costs about a million a mile because we must build the trail to the
Indiana Department of Transportation’s standards. The reason this grant
application covers only 0.8 of a mile is because we must build a footbridge over
a ponding area.
If the Greenway Passage does what the Monon Trail did for Indianapolis, it
should result in many decrepit facilities being converted to new uses. This
would be a positive result that should be good for the West Franklin Business
District.
Shirley James, Chair
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