Village Green: If Not There Then Where?
By Silver Springer • Mar 16th, 2007 • Category: Business and Economic Development
By way of the previous post, Glenn Kreger, head of Park and Planning’s Silver Spring dept, discloses that some staff members have recommended removing the ice skating rink and pavilion of the planned civic center and replacing them with what has been dubbed a Village Green; providing a highly requested large swath of green space.
Different sides want different amenities; the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory board along with proponents’ support having the ice skating rink. Opponents of the rink could care less and prefer things the way they are now with the turf space that currently exists there.
I’m being impartial but I have to ask, if the skating rink and pavilion win out just where in all of downtown
For a village green to work, the space would have to be centralized, close to the core as possible, the proper configuration and about the same size as the turf. We already have the 14 acre
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Put t on top the town center garage.
Could Downtown Silver Spring become an example for the new College Park? Should it? Check it out: Just Up The Pike.
It already is…
That photo says so much.
Remember that if this is left as a “green,” there are people who will INSIST that it be grass — not just a reconfigured version of the current Astrotuf.
Which eventually will leave us not with a true “green” but rather a “village mudhole” as the live grass will not be able to sustain the foot traffic.
Of course, the community will just blame the dead grass on the bureaucrats and politicians.
I agree with Brent completely!!
Save the Turf! Save the Turf! Save the Turf!
Save the turf and I predict that the first summer we’ll be having mud wrestling competitions down there.
So if I were starting from scratch and designing a public use space/amenity for downtown silver spring, I would consider the following factors:
1. Inclusiveness–the space should attract the greatest number of users during the most number of days of the year.
2. Sustainability–the space should be able to be used well into the future.
3. Cost effectiveness–it should be affordable to build and maintain.
4. Aesthetic quality–the space should be compatable with surrounding uses/form.
5. Safety and security–this, I think, is self explanitory.
In my opinion, the turf ranks higher than the ice rink/bandstand against these criteria, with the caveat that there needs to be a way to preserve the space over time.