speechGSPC

April 27, 2005, City Council Meeting

Bayfront Initiative

2005 Buckroe Master Plan

by Phyllis Flanders

Good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members,

On the slide you see the updated numbers of Hampton citizens who have signed the citizens petition to keep the green space green at Buckroe Beach including the three lots as designated in the body of the petition. We reported at the last city council meeting that the total was 2,343 signatures. The current total of signatures collected is 3, 008 and that breakdown by zip code is as follows:

23661 - 193

23663 - 401

23664 - 700

23666 - 508

23669 - 1090

Miscellaneous - 116

The citizens of Hampton want you to know that we do not live in isolated island neighborhoods – what happens in one neighborhood affects all of Hampton’s neighborhoods because each of them bring something unique to the city as a whole. We are a city of citizens coming together as one group, moving through all neighborhoods. We don’t live in closed communities. We move freely within our city to shop, to eat, to seek entertainment, to worship, and share time with our friends. Buckroe Beach is a gathering place for all of Hampton’s people. It belongs to all of us not just the few who live at the waterfront and in the surrounding blocks of the Buckroe neighborhood.

Mr. Mayor, as a person who has devoted 29 years of his life to helping young people understand their worth, the value of living in the Hampton community and how our remarkable democratic process works at all levels of government, can you really say that you want to deny the people of Hampton the right of being heard? Can you say you want your legacy to be that you pushed through something that the citizens don’t want – that you abused their trust and your promise to be open and honest with them and listen to them?

This land belongs to the people – they paid for it - not the city council, not the planning department, and not the developers. We live by majority rule - that is our democratic system – and the majority is speaking to you now – now that they finally know about this plan for the Bayfront - and you are not listening.

Is this the legacy you wish to leave for those children you have taught and continue to teach?

I’m asking all of you – in the name of the citizens who have signed and continue to sign the petition - is this how all of you want to be remembered by your children and grandchildren and the children and grandchildren of the citizens of Hampton?

In future meetings we will bring the youth of this city to this meeting to present their visions of the green space to you. Since they are not old enough to sign the petition, they have asked to come before council to share their views with you. These children are the future of Hampton and they will be voting in two years, and four years and six years. Do you really want to explain to them why you are selling their inheritance for a few dollars after their parents and other relatives worked hard and paid taxes to purchase it? Do you want to explain to them how a few people get to override the desires and wishes of the majority of a city’s population who paid for the property in the first place – or do you simply want to tell them that the majority didn’t count so you never even asked all of the citizens what they thought, and never gave both sides a chance to be fully heard… Once this land is gone it is gone forever – what is your rush to do this right now after twenty years of waiting?

Times change, purposes change, and just as Mr. Frank Blake always says - we must move forward. However, moving forward is to move past the plans of twenty years ago and move toward saving the green space as a well-developed park with full amenities and tax revenue support options that do not include housing or industry. We need to see this green space developed into a park that is saved for, and savored by, all the citizens of Hampton not just the few.

The small strip of land you now propose to leave is not big enough for 147,000 citizens to enjoy as a park. Please listen to your citizens!

E.P. Flanders

June 8, 2005, City Council Meeting

Bayfront Initiative

2005 Buckroe Master Plan

by E. Phyllis Flanders

Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members,

If you will look at the screen you will see that the number of petition signers continues to grow. We are now at a total of 5, 454 signatures of Hampton residents and property owners. The people of Buckroe and the rest of the citizens of Hampton are speaking to you – I hope you are listening…

Tonight I am going to make three additional points in my remarks.

1. I recently asked two surveying engineers to go to Buckroe and give an approximate idea of how much acreage would be remaining once the Bayfront Initiative is implemented in the Buckroe Beach Master Plan. According to them, once First Street is cut through, and the fronting parking is cut in to the pavilion area, and the parking lots on the ends of the pavilion lot are extended, there will be just a smidgen over two acres of green space left. Now – how do you plan to put 147,000 citizens on that land for picnics, reunions, and just plain beach fun? If, you believe that thisat estimate of remaining space is wrong – would you please report on and publish the actuals of the remaining space according to your engineers? Every time I have asked for the actuals I have been told, “the plan is just a vision – it is not drawn to scale”. Where are the drawings to scale? When will they be available?

2. Many people have emailed me and called me and asked me to speak about the “blue- collar’ workers of Hampton. Hampton is a blue-collar town and we are proud of that. People who worked hard for a living doing manual labor founded this city. Farmers, fisherfolk, shipbuilders, soldiers, and merchants have stood side-by-side to build Hampton and give their families, for all of their generations, a safe and wonderful place to live. The families of Hampton work hard to provide for their children, give them a good education, teach them a great work ethic and instill in them positive values. The people of Hampton reach out to each other and lend a helping hand when it is needed and that help crosses all lines and imagined barriers. These same people sacrifice to be able to save to send their children to college – they don’t take fancy vacations and live in fancy houses and drive fancy cars – they save for their children’s futures and for their retirement. And, when they have a few days off – or want to get away for a Saturday, or after church on a Sunday they go to Buckroe Beach to relax. You have no right to take away the green space for which their hard earned tax dollars paid. You simply have no right to do that to them.

3. Lately there have been several comments made in the press and in emails by city employees and council members regarding the use and development of the land at the former amusement park site. I would like to address those remarks with this response:

All or nothing thinking is one of the most destructive forms of planning that exists. The “my way or the highway” attitude has no place in today’s society or in our democratic process. Do not insinuate to the citizens of Buckroe that if they do not “get on board” with the entire Buckroe Beach Master Plan that there will be no development completed in the neighborhood until a far later date. That sounds like a, only very slightly, veiled threat and will win you no friends or votes among the citizens of this city. Buckroe residents pay taxes just like every one else in this city, and, of course, they want their area to be developed and upgraded – but they will not have a piece of the puzzle that they are completely opposed to shoved down their throats just to be able to get the improvements accomplished that they do want. If, the best you, the city council and the planning department employees, have to put on the table to negotiate with for the implementation of the Buckroe Beach Master Plan is the offer of “take it all as it is written or get nothing” – then, we the people who have signed the petition take the “nothing” option!

So, we are asking you to “get on board” with us and stop the building of housing in the former Buckroe Beach Amusement Park site and surrounding lots as defined in the Citizen’s petition to keep the green space green at Buckroe Beach.

E.P. Flanders

March 23, 2005, City Council Meeting

Bayfront Initiative

2005 Buckroe Master Plan

by E. Phyllis Flanders

Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council Members,

Based on the belief that Buckroe Beach belongs to all of the citizens of the City of Hampton and that all of the citizens have a right to participate in decisions concerning the future of the green spaces at Buckroe Beach, in January of this year a group formed that call themselves Keep the Green Space Green at Buckroe Beach. Subsequent to the group’s forming, a petition was written, and it began its journey through the community in the middle of January of 2005. Currently the petition continues to circulate with more and more citizens being offered the opportunity to read and sign it every day.

THIS PETITION READS AS FOLLOWS:

We the undersigned petition the Hampton City Council to hear and heed the following requests from Hampton’s citizens:

1. We request that all of the green space at Buckroe Beach that comprised the site of the Buckroe Beach Amusement Park and parking lot and the adjacent lot that is located between Pembroke Avenue, Second Street, Buckroe Avenue and First Street, all of which is now owned by the City of Hampton, therefore by the citizens of the city, be kept as green space for the now and future generations of the citizens of the City of Hampton. We further request that this land be designated as a city park to be named, at a later date, by the citizens of the city and be given over to the Department of Parks and Recreation for design, landscaping and development in partnership with a citizen’s volunteer advisory committee.

2. We request that the funds be allocated from the general funds of the city to provide for the design, landscaping and development of this park and that the funds be drawn from the city at the same time, and in the same manner, that the funds are drawn to pay for the rebuilding of the Buckroe Beach Fishing Pier.

3. We request that this green space, as defined above, be designated as land that is never to be built upon for the establishment of home dwellings of any type or industrial endeavors of any kind. We request that this land be specifically retained for the common use of the entirety of the citizen’s of the city of Hampton. That it be used as was intended by the original owner and builder of the Buckroe Beach Amusement Park - for the joyful pursuit of fun and relaxation by everyone, no matter their status or income.

End Petition.

Currently, we have gathered 1,304 signatures and the numbers are rising every day. Breaking these collected signatures down by zip code there are:

327 in the 23664 (Buckroe Area) zip code,

483 in the 23669 (area surrounding Buckroe) zip code,

161 in the 23663 (Phoebus area) zip code,

228 in the 23666 zip code,

84 in the 23661 zip code,

and 21 in miscellaneous other Hampton zip codes.

If you reduce each of these numbers of individual signatures by ten percent you have the approximate number of total households currently represented by zip code. These signatures certainly belie the belief that the majority of Hampton’s citizens, including the residents of the Buckroe Beach area; support the Buckroe Master Plan as presented by the Planning Department.

Rentals

In addition, it has been stated by the Planning Department’s staff members at each meeting I have attended that the green space area at Buckroe Beach is under utilized.

I submit to you the following figures from the Hampton Parks and Recreations files:

2004 - June – November – Main Stage Private Use Rentals – 14

2004 – May – October – Sandcastle Shelter Rentals – 40

2004 – May – October – Lighthouse Shelter Rentals – 43

Total Rentals - 97

Each rental month consisted of approximately eight weekend days. Some months show more rentals than available days due to shelters being rented for half days by two groups for the same day. These were reservations for rentals that did not require Special Event Permits.

Special Events

There were a total of 35 special event permits granted for events held at Buckroe Beach Park in 2004. Of these 35 permits one permit sponsored 11 movie events and 1 permit sponsored 11 music events. So, there were a total of 55 special events held at Buckroe Beach and, please note, many of these events took place over multiple days. Considering that there are only 52 weekends in a year these numbers do not, in any way, indicate the under utilization of the park – but indeed indicate an interest in using the park in its entirety even though most of the green space offers no park amenities to the participants.

LAND USE

At several meetings where the Buckroe Master Plan was discussed people have been told by planning department staff and planning commission members that the old amusement park land was not purchased to be developed as a park. Our committee submits to you that the land was purchased 20 years ago, and as times change so does purpose. The people of Hampton are asking for a full voice in the plan for the Buckroe Beach Bay front land that was purchased with their money.

Therefore we request that you:

Do not approve the Buckroe Beach Master Plan as submitted tonight but send it back to planning for more work

Schedule evening meetings to be held on city property and hosted by the Planning Department that are open to all citizens of Hampton

Schedule meetings and advertise them with advance notice of a minimum of one week

Allow all citizens to be heard and have a vote taken at each meeting that is held

Listen to all of your citizens

Throughout this great democratic process my greatest disappointment is that at the meeting of the Buckroe Civic Association on March 14th NOT A SINGLE ONE of the city staff members present stood up for the approximate one hundred people who were denied the right to have a show of hands vote subsequent to the adjournment of the BCA meeting at the close of their agenda. This vote would have taken less than two minutes of their time. Please encourage the Planning Department staff to support the voice of all of the people of Hampton in future public meetings.

In closing, I would like to thank Sandra Canepa, Trish Ferraro, and the countless other volunteers and retail merchants who have dedicated many hours to this petition drive.

E.P. Flanders

May 25, 2005, City Council Meeting

Bayfront Initiative

2005 Buckroe Master Plan

by E. Phyllis Flanders

Good Evening Mayor, Vice-Mayor, Council Members,

The following are the numbers of those who have signed the petition to stop the building of housing or industry at the former site of the Buckroe Beach Amusement Park and adjacent lot.

The total to date is: 4,603

As you can see we are now well over four thousand Hampton citizens and the numbers of petitioners is still growing. Referencing a remark at last council meeting from a Mr. Merriweather Ingram where he said that the Buckroe Beach Business Owners supported the Buckroe Beach Master Plan, but he provided no evidence to support that claim, we are able to show you and the citizens at home, if you visit our website, that we have eighteen Buckroe Beach and Buckroe Beach area businesses who DO NOT support the Buckroe Master Plan’s bayfront initiative. In addition, there are another ten Hampton businesses who also DO NOT support the bayfront initiative for a total of twenty-eight, and more are signing up every day to voice their support for the citizen’s petition.

We continue to request that you save this green space as defined in the Citizen’s Petition much as these other communities I am about to show you saved their green space from housing and industry developers and established revenue producing parks instead.

Bryant Park, New York City, NY - Bryant Park is only six acres and is located in downtown Manhattan. Among the amenities available to visitors are chess tables, extensive gardens and seasonal planting displays, the Bryant Park Grill, and free wireless access, as well as 2,000 moveable chairs for pausing to take in the sights. Bryant Park provides multiple venues for year-round events and gatherings. Activities include garden tours, a summer film festival, and this park is now the official site of the Good Morning America Summer Concert Series.

Town Green Park, Duluth, GA - The annual Fall Festival now has a highly functional space to accommodate the over 40,000 visitors that attend the three day event. The space helps accommodate over 100 tents and food service set-ups. Citizens have chosen the Green to hold weddings, family reunions, and birthday parties. Local families meet at the Green with a local photographer to make their Christmas card pictures.

Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, MO - It features several winding biking and running trails, Victorian gazebos, beautiful flora and fauna, granite statues, historic wrought iron gate entryways, several benches and resting places, fountains and wading pools, and places for recreational activity (tennis, softball, barbecuing, etc).

Washington Square Park – San Francisco, CA - All the basic amenities are there. Sidewalk cafes ring the perimeter. There are rows of benches along the pathways, and large grassy areas on which to spread out, play Frisbee, etc. It is also the location for many special events.

Philadelphia Children’s Park – The village for Arts and Humanities, Philadelphia, PA - This is a beautiful, inspirational place; mosaic sculptures in parks, vegetable gardens for children, murals of angels watching over the community. This park is an incredible experience for children and adults alike. It is a place well integrated into the community, and accepted with much pride by city citizens.

Union Square Park – New York City, NY – This three-square-block urban park hosts a year-round, open-air farmers market four times a week. The Greenmarket has established a physical presence that draws residents and visitors to buy the produce trucked in from farms throughout the region. A special Holiday Market operates at the end of each year, featuring crafts and gift items selected on the basis of uniqueness and design quality.

Washington Square Park – New York City, NY - Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, this historic park is characterized by its large, central fountain, and triumphal stone arch. Washington Square Park is a major center of community activity, used by so many different groups use that it has become a microcosm of New York City. The park's design encourages activity, with paths laid out so that people cut through it, and facilities to attract people of all ages, including playgrounds, chess area, and two dog parks.

These parks are all beautiful. At one time or another they were all saved from property developers who would have built housing or industry on them. Each one has much to offer its citizens and each is a joy for those people who frequent it. However, as beautiful as they all are, there is one thing each of them is lacking. And, that one thing is something that we have right here – right here at Buckroe Beach in Hampton, Virginia – that one thing that is missing in all of these other parks is – the Chesapeake Bay! Please listen to the citizens of Hampton and honor their wishes to utilize the green space at Buckroe Beach, as defined in the petition.

E.P. Flanders