Buckroe's Lots B
By Bob Padgett
Daily Press
August 24, 2006
Hampton recently hired LaQuatra Bonci, a Pittsburgh-based firm that specializes in designing parks, to develop different options for the former Buckroe Amusement Park sites (now known as Lots B). I know this because of the Aug. 9 article "Beach's fate shifts from laymen to draftsmen," by Kimball Payne, and from comments by the "green space ladies" before Hampton City Council meetings.
I keep waiting for Hampton's leadership to tell us when Hampton residents are going to be invited to participate and add input to LaQuatra Bonci's early planning on options for Lots B, just as the city of Hampton recently permitted everyone interested in the fate of Fort Monroe to meet and work beside the hired consulting team on developing options for the possible reuse of Fort Monroe. The same consideration and courtesy must be given to Hampton's residents for the Buckroe bayfront, including Lots B.
Hampton's Buckroe bayfront issue is not unlike the Fort Monroe issue. Buckroe is as much of a "national treasure" to generations of Hampton residents as Fort Monroe is a "national treasure" to generations of Americans. Hampton's weekly City Page in the Daily Press is the perfect vehicle for reporting a schedule of dates, times and locations for LaQuatra Bonci's introduction and its working schedule for the Buckroe bayfront.
I encourage all interested Hampton readers to contact the City Council at council@hampton.gov and request that residents be given the opportunity to participate in the developing of all options for Buckroe's Lots B prior to any three options being chosen for further consideration by the council. Visit www.buckroebeach.org for additional information.
Bob Padgett
Hampton
