Recently, my wife and I spent an afternoon cross country skiing with our kids at a little nature preserve smack dab in the middle of the city. Coincidentally, I spent that night feeling like I'd been beaten about the arms and legs with a sap. But as I lay there wishing for sweet, sweet ibruprophren-induced relief, I couldn't help thinking again how fantastic it is that we live in a city that values open spaces.
In an environment where city leaders are forced to dig under every couch cushion in their metro area for spare change to keep the lights on, it can't be easy for them to withstand the pressure to sell-off every spec of green to the highest bidder.
So I guess this is a just me handing out props to those leaders past and present (sadly, mostly past) with enough vision to see that a city isn't just defined by the corporations headquartered there, or the housing density, or the number of shopping centers and restaurants. A city is also defined by the space between these things.
I wonder if a huge, free, public green space like Central Park could happen in a major metropolitan area today. I wonder if there are any visionaries with the fortitude to fight for something like that.
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1 comments:
Jason and I were just saying again tonight how much we appreciate those city planners of the late 1800's and early 1900's who decided that the lakes of Mpls should be for everyone. The shorelines would be public space and homes must be built further back. What a win for the average joes.
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