JHuberman

Not for me that's for sure - I'd rather be sailing. I've had enough meetings already, but I believe in it enough to persevere. The three groups are the central movement. We all support the same plan.

It was until Gov. Hunt gave 1700 acres to the NCSU. Now it is under half the size of Central Park NYC (800acres vs 306acres) Our downtown squares are not bordered by buildings yet, but downtown is growing, note Park Devereau on Nash Square, and that is just the beginning!

When Central Park in NYC was dedicated the population of NYC was about the same as Raleigh has now.

It evolved into these three groups, and the people who are doing the work are happy with this arrangement. Both 306 and Visionaries can work in radically different ways without stepping on each others toes, and everyone can support the same FDDP plan. That is absolutely correct, and that is why we are lobbying the Legislature and getting people from around the state to call their legislators. Remember it is not necessary for the City to buy the property. There are many ways the property could be dedicated as a park for future generations, and income derived from the development around the perimeter. Joseph

The FDDP Park Plan was developed by John Hoal, from H3 studio in St. Louis, who designed Forest Park in St. Louis, and our financial "White Paper" was designed by a team under the guidance of Greg Hummel, a lawyer who specializes in public / private partnerships and funding of public projects. These are two nationally recognized experts in their fields. John Hoal http://news-info.wustl.edu/sb/page/normal/153.html http://h3studio.com/ Greg Hummel http://www.bellboyd.com/professionals.php?...;AttorneyID=150 This plan is for real, and the economics works (or could work if we can work the politics out). The vision is fantastic and it is backed with experience. Check out their bio's and go to the DixPark.org site and get into the details. Joseph

Don't be disturbed by the three groups. Dix306 is the grassroots movement. Notice that if you go to Dix306.org you will be asked to join "Friends of Dorothea Dix Park" at DixPark.org. You will also be asked to pitch in and help if you are so inclined. Dix306 sends people out to meetings to give presentations, puts up signs, and calls people. If you want to roll up your sleeves, meet every Monday and get to work, then you should join us at Dix306. No charge to join Dix306. Friends of Dorothea Dix Park" at DixPark.org is the "Think Tank". FDDP has the complex answers to the questions, the map resources and financial analysis of the TIF plan. Friends of Dix is the group you should join to support the Park Plan. Memberships range from $10 for students to $35 for a family and up to $50 for a group membership. "Dix Visionaries" are are the influential group of philanthropists. We would love it if you would like to join that group, membership starts at $2500. We are all working to support the FDDP plan. We are working in different ways, and there is enough overlap in the membership that we are pulling together toward the same goal. We have been getting good press and having productive meetings at all levels. If you want to help, send an email to [email protected] or [email protected] whichever you prefer. Joseph

I was really pleased to read about the program at Dix Hospital. It is important that the County finish its arrangements with the local hospitals to set up mental health capacity before the Dix hospital closes. The FDDP park plan suggests TIF financing, and under NC law proceeds can be used for medical care, so the park could help finance either State or Local mental health programs. We can't do this until all the parties are working together and decide to create the Destination Park economic engine. The TIF can't cover all the costs, but it can be used as seed money to make other monies available. Joseph

I enjoyed your thoughtful reply, and agree with much of what you say. I would like to correct your understanding of the FDDP plan. Up until two years ago, for at least the last 28 years (since I moved into Boylan Heights) hospital security stopped organized activity, and discouraged people from being on the hospital grounds. They didn't kick pedestrians out, but they asked you to stay out of the built up areas, and explained that patients were using the grounds and people without business at the hospital weren't particularly welcome. This attitude in the public mind continues to today. The FDDP plan calls for major "Destinations" to be included in the park. The plan outline that is posted on our website is by necessity just an outline. After we have a commitment for a great park it will take somewhere between a year and a half to two years to bring all the stakeholders together to develop a master plan. There are many great possibilities and examples of success. Dix Park has many things going for it already. The DHHS offices will be there for years. This will give the first park service tenants, like cafes and restaurants lunch business while the park is developing. DHHS will also renovate and use many of the historic buildings prior to their conversion to park uses. The University has an extensive outreach program that could both take advantage of a great park on its border as well as create another destination for the park visitor. The Farmers' Market is in the same position of both benefiting from the park and giving benefit to the park Soccer fields are already heavily used, and that would continue. The limited plan that we do have calls for re-sculpting the areas around Rocky Branch to create a healthier stream and water contact for the visitor. NCSU has already reconstructed Rocky Branch above Pullen Park, and the creek could benefit from further work downstream. (The landfill issues will be taken into account.) The historic buildings could certainly be used for public park purposes, and with DHHS using and maintaining them for many years it gives time for the great opportunities to arise in conjunction with DHHS eventually moving to a more appropriate location. One opportunity that has been suggested is a Smithsonian stattlite museum. This has already been done in St. Louis It is critical that the master plan includes the areas surrounding the park. The plan should be crafted with the park stakeholders including the people in the neighborhoods. We should include increased residential density around the park with transitions into the lower density residential areas. The land use plan must be well thought out. The Saunders North Redevelopment Area is considered "blighted" and it must be part of the redevelopment plan. In addition it connects up to Glenwood South and the transit station. The community fabric around the park is what will ultimately make it a success. You clearly understand the problems we must solve to create the Great Park we desire. We do not believe it will easy. Many people have a stake in the outcome, and once we begin to share a vision of a great Destination Park, then by working together we can create a better park than any one group could create alone. Joseph Huberman

Take a look at what it already is: How about a slide show tour... Enjoy it now, and if we preserve it as a park generations of people can enjoy it for centuries. Joseph Huberman

There is one other point that we should consider. We are not choosing between a development plan that makes money and a park plan that costs money. We are choosing between a development plan that makes money for a few and a park plan that makes substantially more money for very many people as well the University, City, and County. The FDDP park plan offers a wide range of funding options that can be used in various ways depending on the way the landowners surrounding the park wish to develop their land. In no way is it one size fits all. The best part about the FDDP basket of funding plans is that the State can sell the Dix Property or it can keep it. The University can develop to the level and at the pace that suits them. The Agricultures Department will have opportunities to greatly improve the popularity of the farmer's market, and the many land owners along Lake Wheeler Road will have tremendous opportunity to improve and redevelop their neighborhoods. The FDDP park plan makes dramatically more money than any plan to develop private uses within the Dix property. This is true because it is so diverse and it produces income from many sources, among them are: increased tourism and visitor related economic activity resulting in increased hotel and meal tax revenue, additional city and county tax revenue from the redevelopment of blighted areas; the conversion of some property from non-taxable to taxable; ground leases for the possible use of State land around the Dix property by private development; rental or sale of housing developed around the Dix land; savings to the State by consolidating DHHS employees in the existing hospital buildings for many years; University and corporate recruiting benefits when attracting businesses and talented people to our city. On the other hand it will be more difficult to orchestrate. A comprehensive land use plan will need to be drawn up by all the stakeholders and the City and County and State will need to be part of that agreement. Many people will need to work together with a common vision of a great park anchoring the central focus of our city between the University, Downtown, and the natural watersheds and wetlands. Granted, it would be quicker and much easier (if one could tame the populous outcry) to sell the land to a developer and collect the reduced profit up front, but everyone would be much poorer, both in money and quality of life (except for the developer). Joseph Huberman

This is the same plan that FDDP is promoting. We have been working together for over a year. The plan isn't new, what is new and fantastic is that we seemed to have moved past some tipping point and influential people are all at once seriously examining the plan -- and they like what they see. I believe we are moving forward. Joseph Huberman

I just got back from the Dix Property Commission Meeting which I am on. It was pretty well scripted. I made several pleas to get the commission to listen to the Friends of Dorothea Dix Park plan before they adopted any resolution, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. I then tried to amend our recommendations to first consider a 306 acre park and only accept development if it were financially necessary - that too was stopped by the chairs. So in spite of our lively debate, and with questionable parliamentary procedures we passed the recommendations put forth by the chairs. The good news is that the recommendations the commission adopted are fully compatible with a 306 acre destination park, (as well as a 200 acre development) so we will continue with our quest to explain and convince anyone who is interested that we can have a 306 acre park and raise more money than a development inside the park and satisfy all the stakeholders and create great opportunity for our state and our region. These are the points I made in my statement... (I prepared this as a handout but the chairs wouldn't let me hand it out.) Highlights of the Plan Developed by Friends of Dorothea Dix Park Conservation [*]Respects the

Friends of Dix hired John Hoal, the designer of Forest Park in St. Louis, MO and he came up with the following plan shown in green. In this park plan map that he prepared, I have emphasized with blue dots the portion of Dix Hospital land that he did not include in the park plan because he wanted clean edges to define the park. The red dots surround the current Dix Campus (306 acres) and the yellow dashes show the current Farmers' Market. This would offer up just over 17 acres along the edge of the park for development. This parcel is quite near the Catholic Dioceses property. Note however, that he includes some of the Farmers' Market property in the plan. Keep in mind that to my knowledge neither the Agriculture Department nor the University have weighed in on any of these plans.

Of course you can have a nice 200 acre park, and Raleigh has a track record that supports that, however in this case the connections to other areas and the synergy with its neighbors is lost in the ULI development plan. Take a look at the following map of the ULI development plan with other boundries superimposed over the Google hybrid map of the area. You can clearly see that the mixed use and residential development cuts off the access to the Fuller Heights and Carraleigh Mill areas. It also blocks the connection into Centenial Campus' natural wetlands area along Walnut creek that leads to Raleigh's Walnut Creek Park under development, the Lake Raleigh Woods and the future golf course. Map showing these wetland connections. It is this synergy that makes the 300 acre park into a 500 acre park with natural areas as well as open fields, manacured groves and an historic district. This perceved expansion of the park with space for oportunities that will present themselves over the decades will allow this space to become a "World Class Park". The burden of proof must be on the developers to show why we should turn over 150 acres of unique inner city land for private profit rather than keeping it in the public domain for eveyone's enjoyment.

The travesty is to sell any of this land for private development! If you do some research on great downtown parks you will find that most are about 500 acres or more. Dix, Farmer's market, links into Centenial Campus & Pullen Park just about get us to that number. The 200 acres by itself or with Pullen will be a regional park and great for the people living near by. There is plenty of land around the park that is already privately held, and that is what should be developed. Look at the development on Cox St., the only private land around Pullen Park. That is what you'll get for your Dix regional park. Look at the development a few blocks away -- no different than any other downtown neighborhood. That is what you'll get in Fuller Heights if you put your big ULI development between Fuller Heights and the Dix regional park.