It's too bad alleys have gotten such a bad rap on TV and in movies. Putting waste, recycling, and service vehicles here helps the public side of the street function easier. Though, the picture above is probably a bad example of that.
Below is Robert R. Haggart Memorial Park at the corner of Genesee and Clinton Streets.
So glad the city finally put this thing up to block it. After a sinkhole was discovered, it was roped off and barricaded. Soon after, people ignored the signage, garbage was tossed all over the place, the tape was ripped down, and the barricades were all scattered about. This gray wall quickly deterred it all.
I'm curious to see what kind of park improvements the city makes with this. I live nearby and haven't heard any construction equipment going on so I'm assuming this will stay boarded up until Spring '12.
Let the record show that I generally despise the term and entire idea of a "pocket park". I'd much rather see a thin, 2 or 3 story building constructed here over a tiny corner park that merely heightens the idiocy of putting two "green" areas kiddy-corner to one another. I'll dive more into this area at another time.
To be continued...
Nice point regarding that particular pocket park. I think pocket parks have their place, but the one at Clinton and Genesee is bad for a couple reasons.
ReplyDeleteFirst, as you noted, that corner badly needs a building on it. That area is lacking in urban definition - the Post-Standard building has an excessive setback and is too low, the west side of the square is dominated by surface parking, and the intersection has a vacant lot masquerading as a park. Even the temporary construction fencing gives a better street presence. It's a shame the small triangular building was torn down - it probably isn't economically feasible to recreate it.
Additionally, Clinton Square is often maligned as barren and desolate. When there's a small park on every other block downtown, this is inevitable. For our major public squares to see some vitality, we need fewer pocket parks (such as this one, the vacant space at Warren and Fayette, and the horrible Perseverence Park at Lincoln Center) sucking the life out of them.
I couldn't agree more. The Warren / Fayette park in particular is one that I'll be sure to rip apart on this blog. I've written several letters to the editor of the PS about it over the last couple of years. It's one I'm partial to criticizing and in all honesty, it helped to fuel the passion for starting this blog. Surface parking lots aside, it has to be one of the worst uses of public spaces downtown - yet several politicians and journalists continuously justify it and champion it as a great spot of urban development. It's completely mind-boggling.
ReplyDeleteIf you search "pocket park" under google images, you get some interesting designs. And I've seen a few in NY and Boston. They seem to function at their best in higher density areas. Even in Syracuse, I'd say the Armory Square / shot clock park works well for the most part. It generally functions at all times of the day and is almost like a mini-Clinton Square for the immediate set of buildings. They can work. And perhaps I shouldn't write them off altogether, but like you mentioned, not if the energy is being drawn out by a huge public space, in this case, Clinton Square. The pocket parks around downtown create redundancy and they don't serve a real purpose - other than catering towards the downtown workforce for lunch. They're strong examples of the city laying over and being suburbanized and they do way more harm than good in most cases, even if their intentions are good (which I think is where some people get lost when they talk about these kinds of things). Green isn't always green and green isn't always good.
As for the pictures, I think the park at Genesee and Clinton does have one positive: it provides a heavy amount of shade on summer afternoons (something that Clinton Square can't really do). And I think the park here could somewhat be improved if it provided people with something different than what other downtown pocket parks have (I'm going blank but maybe board game tables or something...). But even so, it wouldn't solve anything. The park provides little to no use whatsoever for local residents (why would anyone who lived nearby sit here on an afternoon when they can either sit in their own private dwelling or walk across the street and sit at Clinton Square instead?).
Also, you pointed to the elephant in the room, the Post Standard building. What a complete waste of space. I plan on doing a post about this monstrosity fairly soon.