Porter Park Clean-Up a Success

On Saturday, June 20, Better Family Life sponsored a clean-up at Ruth Porter Park. The terrific employees and some young people from a probation and parole program made swift work of picking up the litter and sweeping up the broken glass in the park. Overall, the park looked great when we finished.

However, we couldn't help commenting and reflecting on the poor condition of the facilities in the park. Seating areas near Delmar are becoming a serious hazard.

Public forum on Porter Park June 15

The community is invited to attend a public forum about Porter Park, as well as the other segments of the St. Vincent Greenway that will be located in the City of St. Louis. The forum will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 15, at West End Mount Carmel Community Outreach Center, 5935 Horton Place. The design consulting firm, CH2M Hill, will make a short presentation, and then citizens will be able to interact with the planners to talk about desirable features.

While it is true that Great Rivers Greenway will concentrate on providing the features that are placed alongside any other regional trail, such as benches, GRG intends to respect prior neighborhood surveys and planning efforts undertaken by Saint Louis University studio classes.

This year GRG will complete only preliminary design, but it hopes to finish that work by about August 15. Cost estimates then can be prepared so that the project can be considered as budgeting for 2010 occurs. The earliest construction could begin is sometime in 2010.

After the forum the project manager, Nancy Thompson at GRG, has indicated she would try to be available to neighborhood groups wishing to talk with her in greater detail about the project. You may contact her at 314-436-7009 extension 104.

Ruth Porter Park: Defining a Vision

Ruth Porter Park (officially named Ruth Porter Mall), is a linear park spanning nine blocks north from Delmar Blvd. to Etzel Ave., and one block west from Debaliviere to Goodfellow Ave. The movement to revitalize the park stems from a desire to make it a more inviting and interactive place for neighborhood residents as well as bicyclists and walkers traveling along on the St. Vincent Greenway Trail, which will soon pass through the heart of Porter Park on its way from St. Vincent Park in North County to its end at Forest Park.

In March of 2009, a connection was forged between Great Rivers Greenway District, the government entity leading the design and construction of the St. Vincent Greenway, and the St. Louis Urban Corps, an organization comprised of local students and young professionals interested in the betterment of St. Louis through member-driven civic projects. Together, Great Rivers, the Urban Corps, and members of the West End and Cabanne neighborhoods have joined forces to find out from the community what they would like to see done in Porter Park.

Currently, Great Rivers has only a plan to build a trail through Porter Park along the existing pathway there. Beyond this, the project is a blank slate. In order to gain a better sense of how neighbors and community members want to fill this blank slate, Great Rivers and Urban Corps have created this blog.

Anyone interested in the revitalization of Porter Park should leave their ideas below, such that they may be considered by the engineers drawing up plans for the park's improvement.