Page 81 - Life In Naples Magazine December 2014 Edition
P. 81
“ We need to proceed with the
Baker Park plan and build
the park like the people have
designed it – the city residents
have voted for this plan by
coming to the design meetings
and with their pocketbooks.
– Mayor John Sorey ”
the Baker Park design. It was not birthed by one person or one
meeting, or even one hundred people, but by hundreds of people
who have participated in the design vignettes and donated money
specifically for the current Baker Park plan. The design was then
brought to life through the gracious lens of respected architect,
Matthew Kragh and his talented team of architectural landscape
designers. This is the same firm that gave this community the
Naples Dog Park and has worked to preserve our area’s precious
little architectural history.
• Last year’s Baker Park Gala generated over $5 million for the
current park design plan – that’s MILLIONS after donations for
naming rights of individual elements. These funds were not for
a blank slate – the very components that Naples public citizens
asked to have included in the park design helped generate many
of those donations.
• In fact, out of the $6 million raised thus far, people were
inspired by the specifics. Several contributors wrote checks in
honor of items like the lake or carousel or reading garden.
• Baker Park is a public / private partnership. That should
mean when the majority of public opinion and all of the private
citizens involved reflects a favorable plan, it’s a time to celebrate
and move forward, not tinker. People with the best interests of the
community rather than their own personal agendas want Baker
Park to be a world class park. That will require more than simply
planting a giant meadow and nothing else.
• In a recent City Council meeting one opponent to the Baker
Park plan proclaimed, “Olmsted would be horrified with this
plan.” But the facts say otherwise. Considered one of the world’s
greatest landscape architects, Fredrick Law Olmsted wanted
people to be outside. He knew that meant giving them something
to do, not just to see, although visually his work is unparalleled.
Central Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, The Biltmore Estate –
all have evolved to include elements not unlike what Baker Park
supporters have proposed in their plan: as it is designed now, it
will be a park with something for everyone. Because Baker Park is
not just for a few. It’s for a community of generations.
The united support of Baker Park is well documented and
continues to grow. Dozens have posed for photos in front of the
park sign with smaller signs that read, “BUILD OUR PARK”.
They are beginning to post those photos on social media and
encouraging others to do the same.
Baker Park is the people’s park. It is the result of an outpouring
of public and private dedication from the design phase to a
lifelong commitment beyond the generation of supporters who
founded it.
Baker Park plan and build
the park like the people have
designed it – the city residents
have voted for this plan by
coming to the design meetings
and with their pocketbooks.
– Mayor John Sorey ”
the Baker Park design. It was not birthed by one person or one
meeting, or even one hundred people, but by hundreds of people
who have participated in the design vignettes and donated money
specifically for the current Baker Park plan. The design was then
brought to life through the gracious lens of respected architect,
Matthew Kragh and his talented team of architectural landscape
designers. This is the same firm that gave this community the
Naples Dog Park and has worked to preserve our area’s precious
little architectural history.
• Last year’s Baker Park Gala generated over $5 million for the
current park design plan – that’s MILLIONS after donations for
naming rights of individual elements. These funds were not for
a blank slate – the very components that Naples public citizens
asked to have included in the park design helped generate many
of those donations.
• In fact, out of the $6 million raised thus far, people were
inspired by the specifics. Several contributors wrote checks in
honor of items like the lake or carousel or reading garden.
• Baker Park is a public / private partnership. That should
mean when the majority of public opinion and all of the private
citizens involved reflects a favorable plan, it’s a time to celebrate
and move forward, not tinker. People with the best interests of the
community rather than their own personal agendas want Baker
Park to be a world class park. That will require more than simply
planting a giant meadow and nothing else.
• In a recent City Council meeting one opponent to the Baker
Park plan proclaimed, “Olmsted would be horrified with this
plan.” But the facts say otherwise. Considered one of the world’s
greatest landscape architects, Fredrick Law Olmsted wanted
people to be outside. He knew that meant giving them something
to do, not just to see, although visually his work is unparalleled.
Central Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, The Biltmore Estate –
all have evolved to include elements not unlike what Baker Park
supporters have proposed in their plan: as it is designed now, it
will be a park with something for everyone. Because Baker Park is
not just for a few. It’s for a community of generations.
The united support of Baker Park is well documented and
continues to grow. Dozens have posed for photos in front of the
park sign with smaller signs that read, “BUILD OUR PARK”.
They are beginning to post those photos on social media and
encouraging others to do the same.
Baker Park is the people’s park. It is the result of an outpouring
of public and private dedication from the design phase to a
lifelong commitment beyond the generation of supporters who
founded it.
