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Window On Main - Opportunity takes some knocking
(by Barbara Christian - August 14, 2008)
Opportunity takes some knocking
We have questions. Why are some of the good people of Chagrin Falls looking a gift horse in the mouth? It's just another day at the office as far as we're concerned and one more example of how nothing ever happens in our town without a controversy.
You may have read that there is an anonymous philanthropist in our midst who has asked to fund a grass-hill amphitheater in Riverside Park.
But was this generosity met with appreciation? Not exactly. Instead, there was immediate skepticism, because it was the Chagrin Foundation for Arts and Culture which received the proposed donation. You'd think the Trojan Horse just rolled into town.
What someone should have said loudly and publicly was, "Tell the donor thank you. We will immediately begin work on plans, so we can accept his or her generous gift properly." That did not happen.
To digress a moment, the foundation still has some work to do on its image, not to mention expressing its mission and motives. For instance, folks are still confused about the status of the foundation's initial projects: renovation of Town Hall and creation of an arts district around it. It seems to follow that the foundation, with its well-defined dreams but ill-conceived action plan, has become a source of suspicion. Too bad.
Then there was a the minor and silly dust-up over who had the amphitheater idea first. To clear the point, the amphitheater was on the master plan for development of Riverside Park in the 1930s.
That was followed by a bad description of the amphitheater which appeared in another publication. It was termed a "theater," which got people riled. To them, "theater" meant a building, and buildings in the park are not on anyone's plans for betterment of the area.
The village works in mysterious ways, but, at last, amphitheater plans are moving along. The parks commission folks have chosen the location in a brushy spot behind the library.
But the good-intentioned parks folks are thinking too small. Their vision for the amphitheater is too little to be of any real use, and there is no stage. An amphitheater without a stage is like Abbott minus Costello.
And did we mention that it is to be integrated with a new walkway from the park to the library? The reality is, the village has no money for the walkway. It's been taken out of the village budget for years.
Question: Can the amphitheater be built separately from the walkway, and how long will it be before someone suggests the donor pay for that too?
If planned correctly, the amphitheater will be another draw to a park which has always been a place where people go to enjoy themselves. Time to get real. Lately, someone has been calling Riverside Park a "passive park." Yeah! About as passive as the paparazzi on the trail of Paris Hilton.
Question: Why are we still saying "amphitheater"? Just about everyone in town has an opinion about the project, but they are of a single voice when it comes to the "A" word. No one likes it.
The parks folks want a new name and came up with "the terraces." Close but no cigar. That sounds like a condo development, and the Hollywood Bowl and Roman Colosseum are already spoken for. Ideas, anyone?
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