Looking beyond Lee and Meadowbrook

To the Editor:

Lee-Meadowbrook is not the only possible site for public space in the Cedar Lee district. It just happens to be vacant.

Walk, drive, or roll through the district and take a good look at what is there. A few old buildings are structually solid and do have some charm, but most are not architecturally significant, energy efficient, or ideal for tenants.

Every decade or so, a new streetscaping plan is implemented and the facades get a face-lift. Inevitably, some buildings will be removed or replaced as they become too costly to maintain. Keep in mind: most of those buildings replaced original green space when they were built 70–100 years ago, and are likely better for trees than the Lee-Meadowbrook lot—an excavated former gas station site, leveled with fill and surface topsoil.

A focus on Lee-Meadowbrook as the only possible site for a park is shortsighted and limiting. A beautiful and sustainable park designed by professionals, with input from the public and in harmony with larger plans is possible.

We can think more holistically about the entire district and realize a future park is not dependent on stopping the Flaherty & Collins project. An alternative park site, (or multiple sites connecting Cedar-Lee destinations) is more likely to happen if the Lee-Meadowbrook development provides the density, and a direction, for future planning.

I hope to see this happen. Just imagine the possibilities.