[editor’s note: This statement was delivered on 26 March 2014 to the City of Phoenix Parks & Recreation Board to urge them to approve the new Hance Park Master Plan, which they did unanimously. Please join me and the downtown Phoenix community tonight at Hance Park to see and celebrate the kickoff of the next phase of Hance Park’s life…5-8pm at Hance Park. The best way to get there is via light rail.]
Chairman Peck and Members of the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Board:
I speak before you this afternoon to talk to you about my park, Hance Park. As the Master Plan Design Team and City of Phoenix staff have indicated, it’s not every day that 32.5 acres of urban space comes up for discussion. And that is what this really is: urban space.
What the Master Plan Design Team have come up with is a truly urban design that will set the standard of excellence for urban parks. Our work, however, is not complete when you approve this plan nor is it complete when the full Phoenix City Council approves it in April. What you’re approving tonight, Mr. Chair and members of the Parks Board, is a plan of action.
To get our new Hance Park, it is contingent upon both you as the Parks and Recreation Board and us as citizens of this great city to work together in partnership. The interest is there: dozens of community meetings with packed houses have been held since the Master Plan Design Team started their work in August 2013. The interim design presentations had capacity crowds in their repsective auditoria. Estimates of attendance for [tonight’s] enHANCE event are in the thousands.
The point I am making here, Chairman Peck and members of the Parks and Recreation Board, is this: There is considerable desire that Phoenix should have a forward-thinking urban park. There is consensus that it should be Hance Park.
Thank you.