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Several of the commissioners also noted that donors who contributed to the development of Barnum Park in 2009 were repeatedly reminded of those guidelines.
“I’m a little concerned about the process and the precedent of an individual who has money determining something to go in a public park,” Commissioner Rackeline Hoff said at the meeting. “If he wants to give the money as a gift, that’s one thing. But to come up with an idea on his own, and to get to the point where he’s picking out the rocks that are going in, it seems to me it progressed too far before the commission got involved.”
A PASSION FOR PARKS
Lasser was in France for business Monday and unable to attend the meeting. Here’s how he describes the project in his letter:
“The design of the garden will be Japanese-inspired. It will contain stone paths; a dry stream; hills formed by boulders; specimen conifers, Japanese maples, ground cover, and oriental grasses; boulder and rock groupings conforming to principles of Japanese garden design; and Japanese granite ‘lanterns.’ There will be no water.”
City Commissioner Tom McDaniel, an accomplished gardener himself, said he became involved in the project 6-7 weeks ago and actually looked at the boulders Lasser wanted to purchase. He also walked the park with him.
McDaniel said Lasser has a lot of good ideas for the city’s park system. A possible future donation, for example, would be for a foot bridge over the Rouge River to connect Linden Park and Linn Smith Park.
“He loves Birmingham and he has a particular eye for a lot of our parks,” McDaniel said.
Over the past year, Lasser has donated 40 trees to the city which were planted at Linden Park. He planned to purchase the rocks and boulders from American Aggregate at a bargain price of $10 per ton. The conifers would have been purchased from vendors that have existing accounts with the city.
Birmingham residents Patricia Bordman and Anne Bray also spoke up at the meeting, against the project. Their main concern was the planting of non-native trees and shrubs in the park.
Bordman pointed to the city’s master park plan and how it emphasizes the planting of “native Michigan plants.” The reason behind that is sustainability: the local insect population lives off the native plants, which in turn provides nourishment to other creatures along the Rouge corridor.
“The fewer the native plants, the fewer the insects, the fewer the birds, frogs and toads,” Bordman told the commission.
Bray also talked about the efforts to bolster the Rouge Corridor with native plantings. She even took exception to some of the non-native trees Lasser donated to Linden, and suggested the city remove them.
Overall, the tone of the meeting was appreciative. But commissioners – and residents – stood firm in their belief that a process was in place which needs to be followed.
It’s just a matter of principle.
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