In This Issue |
 |
Sen. Sessions to Tour Park Friday — Will Announce $1M Fed Allocation
U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) will be in Birmingham Friday afternoon, to both tour RMP and to present a check for $980,000 to the Red Mountain Park Commission. The Senator has long been pushing to include RMP funding in the 2008 Federal Appropriations bill and his efforts have now paid off. Read the full Press Release here.
It's short notice, but all are welcome to attend the check presentation and reception. We owe Senator Sessions a great deal of thanks for championing this allocation and seeing it safely past several threatened cuts. I hope you can join us in showing our appreciation in person:
| When: | Friday, February 1st at 2:30pm |
| Where: (view map) |
Oxmoor Valley Golf Course (Clubhouse)
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail 100 Sunbelt Parkway Birmingham, AL 35211 (205) 942-1177 |
Three Parks Initiative Raises $15 Million
From the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham's Press Release:
"The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and Region 2020 are celebrating the successful completion of the Three Parks Initiative, their joint campaign to raise money from area philanthropic foundations and businesses for Railroad Park, Red Mountain Park and Ruffner Mountain Nature Center. These two new parks and one expanded park will transform Birmingham into one of the greenest cities in the United States."
"The targeted campaign began in the fall of 2006, reaching out to area businesses and philanthropic foundations. As of January 2008, businesses and foundations have committed $15 million toward the $17.35 million goal, including a $1 million grant from the Community Foundation."
Read the full release | Read the Birmingham News article
We are very thankful for this tremendous contribution to greenway expansion and civic pride within our city. The Friends would like to extend specific thanks to Kate Nielsen, president of the Community Foundation and Dalton Smith, executive director of Region 2020 for getting this initiative off the ground. Birmingham business leaders Ruffner Page of McWane Inc. and Claude Nielsen of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. led the charge which drew contributions from several other city firms. We thank all of those who contributed.
Certainly too, while we are in a thanking mood, I want to again single out U.S. Steel, whose original offer and patience with the Park's up and down financing was the foundation for all that we are now realizing. They have been a consistent and unwavering supporter from the start.
What's Going On, What's Next?
The question we hear most these days generally goes something link this: "Now that the promised land [yes] is in the hands of the RMP Commission, when can I start using it?" The answer is actually sooner than you might think. The RMP Commission and the Friends organization have begun taking small group tours of hikers and bikers along existing roads and trails currently running through the RMP lands. If you would like to participate in one of these outings, email us or look out for a general announcement. We are trying to get the next group up sometime in late March, so stay tuned. Be aware though, since the land has not been surveyed fully or marked for natural and man-made hazards, liability issues exist, so general public access is still prohibited.
Other questions generally concern the Park planning efforts and the timetable for a Phase I opening. Here's what we know: the RMP Commission has been meeting monthly (open to the public) and their most immediate efforts center around hiring an executive director for RMP. The Commission will likely engage the services of a professional search firm, so we can look for the position to be filled in the next 4 to 5 months. Things should really get rolling then. Wouldn't it be great if we could see a groundbreaking before the end of the year?
Friends Open Online Store
We have setup a storefront at www.CafePress.com/redmountainpark to sell RMP logo'd swag—we got your t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, messenger bags and more. Head on over, get you some goods, and start looking the part. The store tacks on a $3 to $5 surcharge for all items which goes to the RMP general fund. So, not only will you be stylin', you will be contributin' too.
OUR TAKE & OUR ROLE
Some good things have come our way lately, speaking both on behalf of the Park and of the city, as different coalitions are pulling together for some common goals. There seems to be a general stirring around town that times are on the verge of changing, or at least that change is possible. We want to capitalize on that, to keep folks enthused about the city's potential and specifically RMP's possibilities. Maybe a tipping point is near, as the Birmingham News' editor suggests:
We are at a critical point in Birmingham, with an energetic new mayor urging an often-skeptical community to do something. Building consensus for progress, though, is going to require building more trust. Trust is not built by announcing grand plans; it is built by working together.
Our work together—the way we ensure trust—means getting folks out to visit the property, keeping folks excited about the project, tracking the RMP Commission's progress and following up on feature requests we think are central to the vision of a people's park that shed's a warmer and more inviting light on a city still perceived to be just thawing out in some regards.
For the Friends of Red Mountain Park—all of you reading this email—our goal should be to raise RMP to top-of-mind status for folks all around town, be they future users or possible contributors, young urbanites or jaded suburbans, lawmakers or plain citizens, hyper-athletic types or apathetic gripes. Join us for a hike, wear your new RMP hat to the game, forward this email to a friend...
Thanks for enduring my own editorializing. Now tell somebody else about Red Mountain Park.
John Cobbs
Friends of Red Mountain Park
[ Contact Us | Visit the Site ]