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Wabash Avenue of Flags: The Wabash Ave. of Flags Foundation met on
August 8 and reported Shawn Dickerson, the City Arborist, looked at three
damaged trees in the 400, 500, and 600 blocks of Wabash Avenue. The Parks
Department will remove the trees in late fall, stumps will be ground, and new
trees planted.
Hipp Nursery recommended replacing the damaged trees with Cleveland Select Pear
trees. This species is smaller and more columnar, with branches that are easier
to contain than the Aristocrat pear. The cost will be $750 total.
Members of the Foundation will meet on September 17 to replace the flags. The
VFW Quartermaster states he has two nylon flags and the rest are made of cotton.
Since there were questions raised concerning the durability of the cotton flags,
some of the present flags may be repaired and used as replacements.
Greenway Passage: The Parks Department was informed INDOT had approved an
early mitigation of the Orr Iron Building in the amount of $500,000. This will
cover educational brochures of the industrial area, photographs of the Orr
Building as it presently exists, a radar penetration of the Wabash-Erie Canal
area, sign construction, and an open-air industrial interpretive center. The
Parks Department has acquired a design of the interpretive center done by Veazy,
Parrott, Durkin, and Shoulders that is simply spectacular. It will be a
wonderful asset to the west side. It will be located in the old General Waste
Site.
WIA sent letters to the businesses along Ohio Street asking them to appeal to
the governor for early mitigation of the West Side Nut Club Park so the Old Ohio
Street Bridge (now known as the Joan Marchand Overlook) can be constructed as
the same time as Section III-C. We were worried that by doing the project
piecemeal, Ohio Street would be blocked over a period of two years. Even though
a lane of traffic would be open during construction, the traffic in that area is
terrible at certain hours and movement along the street would be impossible.
Burdette Park: WIA voted to support the construction of a bike path from
USI to Burdette Park. The trail will begin at USI physical education facilities
where bathrooms are available and will end in the Burdette parking lot. The
Southern Indiana Foundation for Higher Education owns the land so there will be
no land acquisition cost. Bernardin-Lochmueller is doing a feasibility study and
a grant for funding has been submitted.
Other Park News: A letter of support for a grant to repair the tennis
courts at Golfmoor Park was submitted to the Parks Department. Mater Dei
will utilize the courts for practice. Glenn Boberg reported to the committee
that the Parks Department is looking at repairing many of the parks’ tennis
courts.
Due to vandalism to the Lamasco Skate Board Park, the facility will no longer be
open at night. Vandals tried to hard wire the system so they could skate late at
night, presenting a liability problem so the Parks Department had to remove the
electrical system.
Shirley James, Chair
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