Don't Back Down

Now don't get me wrong. I like parks as much as the next guy. Heck, I may like them more. The simple fact is that, with the possible exception of Stumptown Park in Matthews, the parks in Charlotte are way underused already. And we have a pretty decent number of them. Freedom Park is one of the largest, and unless an event of some sort is going on, it's not better than a trickle of people.

Marshall Park uptown is one of the worst. It's actually a decent park, with a nice waterscape, close proximity to many uptown employees and everything. Yet it's often nearly deserted. I've seen a lot of people there, and that's only when a special event of some kind is going on. See the theme?

As much as the County Commission wants to believe that by building a Central Park-style park uptown we will magically morph into New York, it ain't gonna happen. We aren't New York. We are hardly even Charlotte. We barely have a million in the general vicinity, and most of them have to drive to get uptown. So they are suddenly going to drive for... a new park? I don't see it.

Yet that's what the oh-so-wise commission has decided to do, with land in the Third Ward. First, I must admit that I've lived in Charlotte for 9 years and I still have no clue about which Ward is which. I think Fourth Ward is the one with cute little buildings and Alexander Michael's, but the other three? No idea. I don't think it matters. People aren't going to drive from the suburbs to go to a park.

There are parks that are closer, there are parks that are undoubtedly better. And (wait for it) there are lawns. A whole bunch of them. If I decide to fly a kite, I'm not going to drive uptown to do it.

Now... would I drive uptown for a baseball game? Probably not. But there are people who might. What's more, a baseball stadium that the county owns (or city) may actually generate something for Charlotte.

And at $35 million, half of which the team has offered to pay, it's a relative bargain. The arena will cost us more than $400 million, and it's not ours. Light rail for one corridor will cost nearly $500 million and no one will ride it. I think the County Commission might just want to look again. After they pull their heads out from wherever they have them hidden.