Great cities, great parks

When we think of great cities, we often think of build­ings.  Buildings are, of course, impor­tant, whether the icon­ic ones (Chicago’s Sears Tower, New York’s Empire State Building) or the sky­line as a whole.  But great cities also have two oth­er fea­tures: water and parks.  Winchester has both of these, but we have peo­ple in town who are imag­in­ing bet­ter for both. 

Stephen Berry, in the Clark County GIS office, has been lead­ing a walk-bike strat­e­gy group.  Despite his base­ment office, his vision for Winchester doesn’t sim­ply include more parks, but more con­nec­tions between parks, between neigh­bor­hoods, and even between coun­ties (con­nect­ing the Brighton Trail across the Bypass and across neigh­bor­hoods divid­ed by streams and subdivisions). 

Beth Willett Jones and oth­ers at Greater Clark Foundation have cre­at­ed monarch waysta­tions at the Traveling Trail.  Monarch but­ter­flies, which migrate in multi­gen­er­a­tional tag teams from Mexican forests to U.S. and Canadian fields, feed on milk­weed plants, which are now pre­served from mow­ing and marked with signs (see photos.)

Deborah Jackson and oth­ers with Legacy Grove, a pri­vate­ly owned pub­lic park that most peo­ple know for its play­ground and dog park, have part­nered with the University of Kentucky to cre­ate a pol­li­na­tor and bird habi­tat tucked between neigh­bor­hoods and I‑64.  Like the Traveling Trail, Legacy Grove also fea­tures a wet­land that pro­tects near­by neigh­bor­hoods from flood­ing and helps keep stormwa­ter cleaner. 

We can do more.  Where is Town Branch vis­i­ble, and where could it be fea­tured in our flood-prone down­town?  How can our down­town roofs be used for solar ener­gy and green roofs? 

My wish for you, beloved Winchesterians, is to find your cause — your parks, your routes, your water­ways — and help enrich Winchester by improv­ing and con­nect­ing these resources so your pet caus­es can become pub­lic goods.