Eco-friendly Recreational Parks: To Live, Work, Play
Where to go for recreational activities? Instead of visiting a water park that uses tons of water and wastes plenty through evaporation alone, in addition to polluting the environment with chlorine, or visiting zoos where animals live in captivity far away from their natural habitats, consider supporting sustainable recreational parks such as the Rivergate Park at the heart of Cleveland's industrialized Flats.
This park is on the verge of becoming a reality.
The non-profit Cleveland Rowing Foundation (CRF) has an opportunity to purchase roughly seven acres of property and to transform it into a recreational destination which will preserve public access to the Cuyahoga River.
What makes this recreational park green?
1) The park is developed with the well-being of the river and its ecology in mind. The Rivergate urban park serves as a communal backyard for the nearby residents of Tremont, Ohio City, and the Warehouse District. This enhances Cleveland's livability, attract downtown residents, and help support a more compact, cooler, more energy efficient and less auto dependent city.
2) It's an example of environmental, community, and economic development, all in one. Such a model of a park has already been proved viable in other cities: Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City. Hopefully, other cities with comparable natural resources will follow suit.
3) Such a park will offer many ways to enjoy the great outdoors, the ecology, and wildlife: bicycling, kayaking, dragon boating, canoeing, riverside hiking, public art, fishing, bird watching, and many more.
4) Building rain gardens and bioswales will enhance the aesthetics as well as improve water quality by reducing storm water runoff.
5) Reclamation of this site will also enhance the habitat of migratory birds, including the Black-Crowned Night-Heron, which have been found to roost near the Rivergate Park site.
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