Trevor and I met with folks from Ann Arbor Parks & Rec on Wednesday to
deliver our pitch (and DVDs and bumper stickers :-)

As it turns out, they were already on board with the idea of exploring
the option of a permanent skatepark, and had given it some thought.
Choice quote: "We're already your allies" :-)

The bad news - no money already set aside in the parks budget for a skatepark.

The good news - they worked through a list of possible locations with
us, as well as some next steps to consider in preparation for a
presentation at the next Parks Advisory Commission meeting in August.

Some criteria for the location:

- by a bus stop
- high visibility
- parking
- above the water table
- away from residences and businesses

(A2 can't even get tiny gardens approved, it's just the way the city
is. Not In My Backyard, it seems)

Some possibilities:

- Southeast area park (they'd already thought of this)
- Veterans park (by the parking lot on Maple - shaded, very publicly
visible, parking, nearby food)
- Buhr park

Here are our next steps, based on what they asked of us:

1. Figure out what the footprint of the park should be, based on
similar parks we're thinking of

2. Figure out the fully-loaded cost (including amenities like fencing,
lights, etc.), including an estimate for maintenance (which might
include volunteer skatepark stewards to clean up trash, etc.).
Examples of other local skateparks would be good.

3. Propose a location, in as much detail as possible (we can get park
maps from the dept)

4. Figure out how to phase development of the park, as we raise money
to build it in sections.

5. Propose alternative options for securing funding, maybe by talking
to other successful skatepark committees in neighboring cities
(foundation or grant money, fundraisers, corporate sponsors,
individual donors, etc.).

6. Organize online. Besides our mailing list, we should set up an
online petition, and gather the contact information for as many
supporters as we can to demonstrate interest.

7. Let the PAC folks know as soon as possible of our intent to make a
10-minute presentation, in order to get added to their agenda for
their next meeting.

There's a lot of work to do ahead of this presentation - basically, we
really need to do our homework and put together a solid, professional
proposal for the PAC. We'll be coordinating most of this work online
and in our meetings, so stay tuned for updates!

-d.

--
http://monkey.org/~dugsong/