GREENSPACE

Bridgetgap@aol.com
Fri, 22 Jan 1999 16:19:12 -0500


Our town is getting a new bookstore - one of those large chain stores that
displaces the small, privately owned stores. There is nothing we can do to
stop them at this point. But how they are going to it is something that we
can still fight.
I am looking for information about green space per person, if any such
records exist, in towns that are comparable in size and style to Madison,
WI., Lawrence, KS., and Flagstaff, AZ. My concern is that the developers of
my town are losing sight of the benefits to maintaining a certain amount of
green space as they are allowing outside developers to eat up and destroy
what little remains. No new parks have been developed in at least ten years.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions on how citizens in towns like the
ones above fought to maintain the integrity of their cities in a case like
this?
My thought is that if my committee can present data from similar cities that
shows that they have committed to maintaining X amount of green space per
person, then we might be able to convince them to rethink their plan.
Any suggestions welcome!