Thursday, June 12, 2008

You don't know what you've got till it's gone

Stacey and I have tilted at this particular windmill once or twice already, but I ran across this satellite image today and had to share it with y'all. (Ignore that erroneous "golf course" label, of course; you recognize the Greensward with the Doughboy statue at bottom left and Rainbow Lake on the right.)

Take a close look at the size of that "finite level of Zoo parking" that was negotiated by Park Friends Inc. on behalf of everyone who used to be able to toss a Frisbee or walk a dog or have a picnic -- or simply stroll across the Overton Park Greensward without having to breathe exhaust fumes and watch helplessly as our publicly owned parkland is claimed by the Memphis Zoo's ever-expanding grid of parked cars and trucks.

At this rate, the Greensward that was created by our city leaders way back in 1901 will vanish altogether by the time my small daughter is old enough to go fly a kite.

If the dirty reality of the Teton Clearcut hasn't convinced you that the leaders of the Memphis Zoo are playing the citizens of Memphis for chumps, please consider this simple question: How hard would it be to build a parking garage, already?

5 comments:

Stacey Greenberg said...

last saturday the zoo had cones going across the greensward to mark off parking spots. thing is, there weren't that many people at the zoo. so even though they didn't NEED the space (that day anyway) they were still hogging it with their cones.

whatev.

Anonymous said...

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=35.149302~-89.99176&style=h&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=4755623&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&ss=yp.Business%20or%20location%20OVERTON%20PARK~pg.1~sst.0&encType=1

Might try this site for more up to date aerial photos. The birds eye view might be helpful as well.

Naomi Van Tol said...

Thanks, that bird's eye view is sweet.

I want my own spy satellite for Christmas!

Anonymous said...

hmmmm. where do you build a thirty million dollar parking garage....greensward or 17 acres? take your pick.

maybe cpop would pay for the naming rights. cpop garage...has a nice ring to it.

Naomi Van Tol said...

Ooh, what a perfect example of a false dichotomy.

You could fit an enormous parking garage on just one or two acres of the Zoo's existing surface parking, which covers 9+ acres right now. A garage could easily be built during the winter off-season, when the Zoo's parking lots never come close to filling up.

CPOP would love to help raise money for a multi-story parking garage. Why aren't we doing that? It's not in the Zoo's master plan.