(Stepheny in an excited voice quoting Julian of Norwich) “All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
I came home from the Public Input Meeting where those in attendance selected the activities that they would like to have available at Battle Park. We looked at a series of wonderful photographs where each of us placed 8 blue dots on the things we would like to have included in the new plan and one yellow dot for our #1 choice. My yellow dot was placed on the photo of accessible walking. But my blue dots included things I know my grandchildren would love. A treehouse, playing in the stream…..It was a simple exercise, one that will be repeated Monday, March 2 at 10:00 AM at the Imperial Center. It doesn’t take long to make your selections.
This Public Input is part of the grant process that includes different steps that must be completed when applying for the multiple grants that are available. One of the stewards of this Master Plan update is the landscape architect firm, CLH Designs. They have a fine presentation to bring home and read on your own. I can tell you that looking at the possibilities are exciting. Upon completion, we will have a significant and valuable piece to add to the Rocky Mount Revitalization puzzle that is being worked on. It will offer the community in a reimagined way an experience immersed in nature only a short car ride from home.
I am reassured that this is not a foil to take another crack at removing the monument. Judging by the response to yesterday’s blog post, there is no doubt that the monument is to be left alone! One on one, I expressed the concern that we have gone through these public meetings before with the ‘input’ from the public left in a drawer, never to be seen again. Fool me once, but not twice. You know I am the eternal optimist so I believe that the reimagined Battle Park will be one of the favorite destinations that everyone will enjoy. I’m glad I went and encourage you to do the same. I might add that I am relieved to find professional people in charge of a worthy project.
PS: My friend, Debbie Zavidil and I stood contemplating the zip line choice. She was ready to try it. I told her I would stay on the ground and cheer her on. I may change my mind if it is included in the new plan based on the premise, if not now, when? (The days grow short when you reach September.)
Main Street Rocky Mount 
Excellent idea. I know of another group “Friends of Battle Park” who are motivated citizens who care about Battle Park. I believe you already know them. Their mission is preserve, enhance, and beautify Battle Park.
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Dear Stepheny,
Thank you for sharing and continuing to provide updates on attempts at revitalizing and improving the landscapes of my hometown. I’ve been blocked from online access to the newspaper because I don’t subscribe to the Rocky Mount Telegram.
In November, I attended the Twin County awards ceremony which was my first visit to Rocky Mount in many years and my first look at The Event Center. Jesse Jones is the only survivor of my parent’s close friends and I wanted to see her receive the accolades she deserved for her years of dedicated service to the community.
The building is impressive and I am so pleased that Edgecombe County was the recipient of this project.
I wanted to meet you but I was wrapped up in greeting people I knew and had not seen, in some cases, since my childhood and early adult years.
The article you wrote on my father, Earl C Burnett, is saved on my computer and I have a printed copy in my scrapbook.
Please keep my email address in your distribution list.
Sincerely, Francine Burnett Edwards
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Food for thought.
“The more successfully a city mingles everyday diversity of uses and users in its everyday streets, the more successfully, casually (and economically) its people thereby enliven and support well-located parks that can thus give back grace and delight to their neighborhoods instead of vacuity. ”
― Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
As an aside.
Jane Jacobs was an American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities argued that “urban renewal”/”slum clearance” did not respect the needs of city-dwellers.
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