Doug Shields' Office fights memorial treehouse in Frick Park

[TechieTransplant]

Virginia and I have communicated back and forth on a couple of occasions today, and she contacted me through email this evening and it appears something positive may have come about. She told me she would post soon.

[TechieTransplant]

Here is an official statement from the Parks Conservancy....

To the Pittsburgh Community « Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Blog


Amy from the Calapitter blog states that lines of communication have been opened up between her and Doug Shields. I think there is more to this than was originally expressed.

[groar]

this it totally me theorizing, but i have a feeling that some of the residents may have felt that this was going ahead with plans already in place and that they didn't have any say in the process. but the process is going on, with lots of opportunity for input, right now.

that being said, i am very interested to hear the specifics of the objections. and it sounds like we will.

[groar]

some comments from shields about the crazy blog action, with some specifics about the opposition to the plan: In treehouse dispute, blogger's bite matches her bark - Blogs - Slag Heap - Pittsburgh City Paper

[BrianTH]

From the City Paper article:

But why would a community oppose a treehouse in the first place? Shields says the proposal came along amidst protracted discussions about the expansion of an environmental charter school nearby.

"Regent Square is an active community, and there was a great deal of concern about the school's expansion," he said. And there was, it seems, a considerable amount of confusion about the treehouse proposal -- whether it be part of the school's expanded "footprint," whether it would be a simple bench or plaque, or something else.

The treehouse is proposed to go in "Turtle Park," which adjoins the school. Residents are concerned about building "an attraction" there, Shields says, in part because of a dearth of parking nearby.

There has in fact been a running dispute involving parents driving in to drop their kids off at the Charter School, but I think applying that concern to an attraction like this is ill-conceived. It is very unlikely people would be coming to visit this attraction in such a concentrated fashion, and moreover there is a short path over to the parking lot near the tennis courts.