Russian Jack Springs Park, north has been officially approved by the Anchorage Parks & Recreation Department and the Anchorage Park Foundation with review by the Parks and Recreation Commission for a park upgrade during the 2011 construction season.
Because the Parks & Recreation Department wishes the improvements and schedule to mesh with neighborhood desires, we ask the adjacent Community Councils nominate one representatives each (with an alternate so a representative can always attend) to serve on the north Russian Jack Springs Park VIP Committee. The VIP Committee will be composed of 10 people to assist with decision-making and implementation of the park project. The Very Important Park Committee will be composed of the following representatives:
- 4 park neighbors – parents with children ages 10 through 18 are encouraged
- One Community-wide Representative
- 1 representative from Russian Jack Community Council
- 1 representative from North East Community Council
- 1 representative from Mountain View Community Council
- 1 representative from Rogers Park Community Council
- 1 representative from University Area Community Council
- Review project information gathered to date and give fresh consideration to: what is special about the park; what are identified needs for the park; and, what are remedies for concerns at the park. Assist in identifying areas for improvements, review design options, make priority choices, given a fixed budget and scope. (about 3, 2-hour meetings) The first North Russian Jack Springs Park VIP meeting will be held at Williwaw Elementary on December 15th 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM with another meeting possible on Wednesday, January 19th.
- Inform your Community Council of VIP Committee work – make consistent reports to your Community Council on action taken by the Committee;
- Recruit neighborhood volunteers for the volunteer-powered part of the project and attend on the volunteer day; and
Please let me know about your VIP committee nominees and their contact information by December 13th, 2010:
- Committee Member Name
- Committee Member Address
- Committee Member E-mail
- Committee Member Cell Phone # or best contact number if no cell phone
WOW! SOOOOO misleading.....
ReplyDeleteIn fact, as a result of objections raised (yet again) by members of the NECC regarding the misinformation published here and prior resolutions adopted by the Parks Commission but ignored by Parks and Rec., the Department apparently decided to include all the community councils designated by the Commission in 2009 as entitled to weigh in on any upgrades. The Department also apparently admitted (though without the grace to say so) that the announcement that this fiasco had been approved by the Commission was false. Additionally, P&R set off the date of the first meeting after objections by multiple members of the NECC that the schedule announced (which set out two meeting to be conducted on the 6th and the 15th) would only result in excluding almost everyone who might want to get involved (and mentioned that Corvus had yet to produce any evidence that any actual notice had gone out to residents of the residents near the park.
As readers may recall, while NECC members argued that since this was a regional park and the expressed intent of the Foundation was to bypass any MOA planning and review process including updating of the 1979 Master Plan which called for removal of the golf course, that the least the FOundation could do was provide actual notice to all persons living within one mile of the Park boundary. In fact, Corvus claimed that mailers had only gone to persons living within a one mile radius of an arbitrary spot located in the far north west of the park. Though the NECC Parks Committee asked ror evidence that any mailer had gone out as even persons living in that area denied received any such mail, and though Peter Briggs said they would produce that, nothing has been produced.....
But, the important point to note here is that it is P&Rs intent, apparently under the direction of Ms. Nordlund and Mr. Rodda, to have Corvus simply create project designs based upon the the initial suggestions proposed by the elites comprising their little "cabal" for rubber stamping by the "community" (I mean, what else could 10 people accomplish in a few hours.) The funds spent so far out of the grant have not been released by the private non-profit, APF, and for all we know APF spent more pushing its own agenda than it wold have cost to actually do a comprehensive update of the RJSP Master Plan (that would include the granularity to drive any "upgrades.)