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I was driving on Valley Street today- and instead of looking at Children’s Medical Center construction- I looked North at the corner of Chapel and Valley- and what was- was no more.
Flood Memorial Park is no longer there. Dedicated in 1992- nothing is left- no brick twists, no house with an attic window- and no more gates. I seem to remember that this was a pretty expensive little project- with donors being hit up to buy bricks. If this is the best we can do for public art- maybe we need to reevaluate building a huge memorial to the Wrights at the corner of 70 and 75- or any other public art projects.
Take a look at the info on the following link:
Flood Memorial Park : The Sculpture Center / OOSI [2]
Andrew Leicester
Flood Memorial Park
I love public art- but, prefer the interactive sort. That was one of the short comings of the flood park in my opinion.
No! Are you sure?!?
This was actually a pretty neat bit of public art/scultpure (sort of a mix of landscape architecture and sculpture) It was all themed around geography and memorable images of the flood.
Fortunaly I took a bunch of pix of it during one of my photographic excursions into the city.
If it is indeed gone I will need to post a memorial thread over at Urban Ohio.
I am a bit speechless about this.
I’ll look extra hard next time- and take a picture-
but, I’m pretty sure it’s been replaced with some pine trees.
In October 2006, the city gave Children’s Medical Center a $25,000 grant to relocate the park. To where, I don’t know. CMC’s public relations department should have the answer.
Hmmm…public art that plays hide and seek with you.
It doesn’t get much more “interactive” than that, David.
Yep, its gone all right.
I am going to send an e-mail to the Childrens Hospital people to see where it is going to be relocated to.
Anyone want to take bets if I get a reply?
Here is a pix thread at Urban Ohio in memory of the Flood Memorial Park:
http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=12261.0
Sorry to have been the bearer of bad news-
but glad to know- I’m not suffering from Dementia- it really is gone.
I seem to remember some serious cost overruns in the original park design- and questions about lime leeching from the brick.
I wonder how much we invested in this temporary park/monument?
I sent an e-mail to Childrens last night. No response yet as of this evening.
I am thinking of contacting the parks department, too. Did this even make the DDN?
Jeff-
If it did make the DDN – I didn’t see it.
Excelllent News! The park is being relocated! I recieved this from the Childrens Medical Center PA person: As you know in 1987, The Children’s Medical Center of Dayton and the City of Dayton entered into a land lease agreement for the Flood Memorial Park. Since that time, Dayton Children’s has cared for the property and we have experienced significant issues with the usage and ongoing maintenance of the park. it was a problem that affected the neighborhood, our employees and the thousands of patients and families that come to our facility. Yet all of us at Dayton Children’s wanted to find a solution that continued to honor the history of the neighborhood and one that added value to the community.  As a result of discussions with the City of Dayton and an open neighborhood meeting held in May 2005, a task force with representatives from the City of Dayton, the Old North Dayton Neighborhood Associaton and the Old North Dayton Business Association was created to develop a plan. The team developed a proposal to best utilize any art pieces, honor the original park donors and find a way to honor the history of the neighborhood. The team developed a proprosal to join the key elements of the existing Flood Memorial with several educational elements in a new home just across the Keowee Street bridge next to the river. The plan was presented to the City of Dayton, the Northeast Priority Board, The Old North Dayton Development Corporation, the Old North Dayton Business Association and the Miami Conservancy District for feedback. The plan was approved and the new park will include the iron gates, the steeple mosaic and a monument listing the original donors and new educational panels located along the river detailing the history of the flood. The new revitalized space will be dedicated in honor of Joseph R. Kanak, a lifetime resident and dedicated advocate for Old North Dayton.  The new park monuments are almost complete and a dedication is being planned for Spring 2007. The old park is being converted into landscaped, green space. If you… Read more »
Dale Huffman of the DDN had this in the paper today:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/oh/story/opinions/columns/2007/03/27/ddn032807dale.html
Apparently- parks are no longer good neighbors….
[quote]Since that time, there were issues about maintenance and usage of the park,” said Vicki Giambrone, vice president of marketing and development for the hospital. “It became a problem that affected the neighborhood, our employees and our patients.[/quote]
I doubt that it affected the employees and patients as they parked in the big parking lot across the street.
I bet the deal here is that the city never budgeted to maintain or police the place, or even work to do some sort of programming for it (it was set up as sort of stage). And, in the end, they paid Childrens $25 to take it off there hands.
Huffman reports what Childrens’ PR person told me, as quoted upthread. But no real investigation as to the facts on the case. Just some happy talk about the “new” Flood Memorial, which is sounding like a collection of pieces from the old park.
The bottom line is that a park was built, a pretty good park, that no one wanted.
Dayton, the city of why bother.
Does anyone have any printed copy about the dedication of the new park?