The final day to submit comments and concerns to the National Park Service and the planning committee for the City+Arch+River project has arrived almost as quickly as it was announced. The groups are soliciting opinions from everybody -- residents, businesses, those with general or vested interest; you just have to have randomly found it on their website, subscribed to their newsletter in advance or follow a few of St. Louis' fine blogs who worked to post the info as quickly as possible.
The three questions asked are: 1) Do the purpose, need, and objectives reflect what you think the NPS needs to accomplish with this project? If not, what else do you think needs to be accomplished? ; 2) What concerns do you have about the potential impacts of the project to revitalize the park? How do you think these concerns could be addressed? ; 3) Please submit any additional comments in the box provided. I would encourage anyone who has a stance on the current design plan (or the handling of the initiative in general) to go to the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment page and share your thoughts, both positive and negative. You can check out City to River's submitted comments on the City to River blog.
The City+Arch+River project has the potential to signal the start of a serious effort to advance our city to a higher status. For those who have been following its progress, you know there are some worrisome developments -- from the radio-silence over the past seven months, the severe slashes to the original design and the questionable additions to its current iteration, just to name a few.
Following are my own additional comments, submitted yesterday:
