Tom Lee Park - Mediation ends, Plan heads back to Drawing Board

* Agreement between City, Memphis-in-May, and Memphis River Parks Partnership on Tom Lee Park.  Link

* Coverage by the Flyer, Link

Tom Lee Park - 3 Takes on the Plan

Amid lots of controversy, it's sometimes hard to get the facts. A big thank you to "Memphis Downtowner Magazine" for presenting the main tracts of thought on the $60M plan for Tom Lee Park. LINK

Statements by 1) Memphis WAKE UP: Get OUR Riverfront RIGHT!; 2) Ray Polhman, Chairman Memphis River Parks Partnership; 3) Mayor Jim Strickland. Click to enlarge or go to "Memphis Downtowner."

Plan for Tom Lee Park

Studio Gang and SCAPE were hired by Memphis River Parks Partnership (MRPP/RDC) to redesign Tom Lee Park.  LINK to plan.

The plan is to relandscape Tom Lee Park; add a recreation facility with basketball courts and an educational lookout tower; and make infrastructure and road changes. The estimated cost is $60M.

Grizzlies Pop-Up Fitness Trail Opens along River in Tom Lee Park

 

When you see the smiles or catch a sunset in Tom Lee Park, it's hard to believe that in 1997, the City planned to allow residential development of this park.  Today it covers about 30 acres, much of which is landfill added in 1977 to stabilize the Bluff and create the grand expanse that holds Memphis in May events. The park was again expanded in 1993, and recently several acres were added for Beale Street Landing.

Thanks to the Grizzlies and BlueCross BlueShield, a wonderful, new pop-up fitness trail now stretches along the shoreline, and there's a beach volleyball court, too. Designed by Askew, Nixon, Ferguson the trail is on trial, so be sure to go down, check it out, and GetRiver Fit!

Riverside Drive on "test" Road Diet

The year-long experiment - to see how well Riverside Drive functions as a 2-lane road and how the addition of a bike and pedestrian path benefits the riverfront and downtown - is underway. 

From Beale Street south to Carolina, the 2 lanes closest to the River will be closed to cars and open as paths for pedestrians and bikers. The lanes to the east, closest to the Bluff, will be for car traffic. Reworked cuts and crosswalks will permit access to Tom Lee Park and its parking lots. 

Reducing the number of lanes on a road is a national trend to see if cutting lanes slows-down traffic and makes an area more walkable, bike able, and people-friendly. The cost is minimal, and the change is being monitored to make sure there are no unexpected, ill side effects. 

Riverside Drive's "road diet" was a recommendation from urban-consultant Jeff Speck to the City, but this "test" run differs from Speck's suggestions in a couple of ways, such as not including on-street parking and not keeping a center boulevard-style median. Here are Speck's recommendations for this southern section of Riverside Drive :

• Reduce Riverside to 2 lanes of car traffic, 1 on each side of the median.
• Replace what is now the most eastern car lane (nearest the Bluff) with cheap or free parallel parking to eliminate the need for parking lots in Tom Lee Park.
• Replace the current most western car lane with a 2-way bike lane
• Plant the median with shade trees to form a tree canopy.

For Jeff Speck's full riverfront report, click HERE. 

For more info. and to see the results of "road diets" in other cities, click "Road Diets - Loosing Width and Gaining Respect." 

For coverage in the Daily News, click HERE.

Beale Street Landing - FOR RENT

WMC TV reports a change at Beale Street Landing. It now joins River Terrace and Harbor Landing as the 3rd troubled riverfront restaurant to become a private banquet and party facility.

All three riverfront restaurants were built primarily with City money, are owned by the City, and are operated by the Riverfront Development Corporation.  Any income from the three goes to the RDC, not back to the City.

In addition, the City pays the RDC a management fee - for next year the Administration proposes to pay them $3M, which the City Council Budget Subcommittee voted to approve.

'Unexpected high demand' for RDC restaurant space - Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

Good Time to Remember Tom Lee

It was May 1925, river levels were up, and the American Society of Civil Engineers was holding its Mid-South convention in Memphis. The Corps of Engineers had provided two riverboats for a sightseeing excursion for the engineers and their families south to Cow Island to see how the levees were holding up. On the return trip, one of the boats, the M.E.Norman capsized. No one ever knew the exact cause, but Tom Lee, then 39 years old, spotted the problem, headed back to the calamity, and in his small open boat the Zev rescued 32 survivors. Another 20 survivors swam to the bank. Twenty-three passengers and crewmembers lost their lives.


Tom Lee was nationally recognized for his bravery and flew to Washington, D.C. to be honored by President Coolidge. Subsequently Lee worked as a City sanitation worker until his retirement in 1948. He died April 1, 1952.

Tom Lee Park is named in his honor, and the beautiful sculptural depiction of his valiant and brave action is a highlight on the Memphis riverfront.




Click HERE for some fascinating details.
Click HERE for coverage by Bill Dries for the "Daily News."

Park Becomes Parking Lot

Strange as it seems, in Memphis parking for cars still beats out parks for people on our waterfront.

The levelled, football field-size area in Tom Lee Park is not a skate park, playground, or outdoor terrace under construction. It's a chunk of park on its way to becoming a new parking lot for Beale Street Landing.











Except for a tenth of a mile, the west side of Riverside Drive will be lined with parking lots.















Two City-owned parking garages, built in the 1950s, stand on and block our riverbluff promenade. Now we're repeating the mistake in Tom Lee Park. Even with public parking and trolley stops nearby, a waterfront park for people is beoming a parking lot for cars, not something normally associated with a project billed as "world class."