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• <br /> October 7, 1996 <br /> tif <br /> To: Bob Hammitt <br /> From: Robert Emmons <br /> Re: Scobert Park Advisory Committee <br /> In 1980, when I bought a house around the block, the Scobert <br /> property was a vacant lot overgrown with blackberry and thistle. A large, <br /> dilapidated building, moved by the Scoberts in the 1920's from a location <br /> along the railroad tracks to the southeast corner of the lot, served as a <br /> transient hovel. The Whiteaker neighborhood was at the nadir of a long <br /> decline. <br /> To begin the difficult task of rejuvenation, the Whiteaker Council <br /> adopted the Whiteaker Refinement Plan which established guidelines for <br /> neighborhood development. Administered by the city under federal <br /> regulations, low interest loans restored what was a blacksmith shop in <br /> horse and buggy days and later a seed store to what is now the Red Barn <br /> Grocery. George's Garage became Johan's and then the New Day Bakery. <br /> Houses throughout the neighborhood were transformed from termite <br /> nests to solid comfortable homes. NEDCO was formed during this period <br /> and has since operated with great success. <br /> A park seemed essential to this redevelopment, and the centrally <br /> located Scobert site had long lain fallow. <br /> ,, In an era when neighborhood groups and neighborhood cooperation <br /> were strong; when there were paid liaisons between city agencies and <br /> neighborhoods; indeed, when neighborhood groups set policy and were an <br /> effective force in city affairs, the concept of a neighborhood park, <br /> designed, built and maintained by neighbors with block grant funds, came <br /> to fruition on the Scobert site. With a budget of less than $30,000, <br /> however, the park absolutely depended on volunteer help for its genesis. <br /> Accordingly, I helped form a small group of neighbors who met <br /> regularly to discuss strategies for soliciting and coordinating volunteers <br /> for the arduous task of removing 12' high blackberries, weeds, years of <br /> accumulated debris and a large shed full of transient bedding and the <br /> artifacts of their dead -end lives: Night Train Express, Thunderbird and <br /> Diamond Red bottles and suppurating tins of tuna, Spam, and Vienna <br /> sausages. <br /> Group consensus and a neighborhood survey determined to retain as <br /> much of the property's original, pastoral character of shaded woods and <br /> open meadow as possible, and still create a vital, viable park. In fact, <br /> above the weeds and brambles rose something of an arboretum. Mature <br /> and resplendent big leaf maples, horse chestnuts and bay laurel; apples, <br /> plums, filberts and cherries; butternuts and walnuts toppled in last - <br /> winter's storm- -but now regeneratingl- -sprang from the cuttings and <br /> nursery gleanings of Mrs. Scobert, who planted and nurtured them in the <br /> luxury of Class I soil seventy years ago. These trees and their progenitor <br />