Changes envisioned for Diamond Hill Park
Changes envisioned for Diamond Hill Park
CUMBERLAND - Town leaders are talking about changes to Diamond Hill Park that would reconfigure the stage to bring performers and audience closer, and add some recreation options, including a water slide, paddle boats and splash pad.
It's one of several new-year ideas Mayor Daniel McKee has been trying out with small groups. Another is the Sixth Village town center near Chapel Four Corners, reported Jan. 5 by The Breeze, that's received mixed reviews.
But first at Diamond Hill Park, says Parks and Recreation Director Michael Crawley, the parking lot needs attention.
"The parking lot is a disaster, to be nice," he told The Breeze. "The town highway crews do their best, but it's beyond being patched," he says.
"It's a beautiful park, and we could do a lot of things with it, but straightening out the parking lot has to come first," he said.
In search of help with it, Cumberland has applied for a $75,000 state grant, to matched with $75,000 locally.
Crawley says that won't cover the cost of a brand-new surface, but might buy a two-lane road that circles the lot with parking on a gravel lot.
Cumberland's park and former ski area, secured from the state in 1998, is 90 acres of rolling land with a stream, two ponds, woodlands and trails up and around the Diamond Hill itself.
If the parking lot is the first priority, the second is relocating the stage or the pond that sits in front of it.
The current arrangement, say performers, is a distraction that forces audiences to sit back from the stage.
"It's like they're playing for the water," says Crawley.
It's also a hazard since the wall that surrounds the muddy pond is easy to climb. Even Crawley says, "It would be easy to fall in." He notes that it isn't deep, but worries a child could be stuck in the muck.
Russell Gusetti, executive director of the Blackstone River Theatre, has booked his 2nd annual, multi-stage Summer Solstice Fest on June 16 after staging a successful event last year and in 2007 and 2008.
He says the center stage location behind the pond is such a problem that he'll once again make it a dance stage and not even try to put musicians there. Four other stages will feature the Irish sounds of this festival, he said, where audiences can snuggle up close and make eye contact with the performers.
"That pond is so huge," he says, "you have to blast a lot of sound across the water just to reach the audience. And before you know, now you're bleeding over onto other stages areas."
Reducing the pond, perhaps, to a sliver of water, would retain the landscaping "and all of a sudden you'd have the possibility of 1,000 more people. You could get bigger acts and it would be amazing how much more you could do without even changing the size of the stage. It's all about changing the pond," he says.
McKee says he talked with the owner of a Plymouth County area water park in working on plans for added attractions that he says would be created "not for thousands, but for hundreds."
But the overall focus would be on music. "The idea is to create a more intimate venue," he says.
Current challenges notwithstanding, the promoter of a Cajun-style Bayou & Boogie Festival has won preliminary Town Council permission to stage a Memorial Day weekend event at the park.
Joe Giocastro of Cranston is part of the team with Chuck Wentworth that annually produces the Rhythm and Roots Festival in Charlestown as well as the Mardi Gras at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet.
He expects to offer dance, workshops and music. Six bands a day would perform Friday to Sunday.
Comments
(Comment policy)Cumberland_resident, I think
Cumberland_resident, I think you make some good points. I agree the Mayor has done good things for our community, but the Mayoral Academy/Charter School movement is the wrong direction.
In many ways, it has divided our community. I really wish the Mayor could focus his energy on working with the Cumberland School Committee, in a supportive role, improving education for ALL.
I've heard all the arguments supporting the Mayoral Academy position, and yes, I agree to disagree. Unfortunately, the mayor's ship has sailed and is supported by the Federal Government's reform efforts.
I suspect that some day people will wake up and realize there was a better way...we spread ourselves and our resources too thin, and we now have all these Charter Schools fighting for more funding, building political influence on the process.
I'm sorry, but in my opinion having the Mayor head up the charter school is a conflict of interest.
Why can't I have an aide or a 2nd teacher in the room
Mr. Lemois can be the sounding board for the Mayor but lets look at the whole picture when it comes to the schools.
If the Mayoral Academy was not here in Cumberland, then the $680,000 would be staying in the Cumberland School System.
Why don't we have middle school sports, music, teacher aides or 2nd teachers in the classroom like the Mayoral Academy? Why do school go without?......Money..........
If Mayor McKee was rooting for and seeking grants for the regular public school children instead of trying to educate children from surrounding communities, then where do you think our school scores would be?
I don't hate the mayor, I believe he is doing a stand up job managing this town. The sore spot is the mayoral academy.
I wish my children had all the extras that the academy has. I wish they had after school and Saturday programs.
The money may follow the children but when co-mingled with the bigger pot who really is benefiting? Not Cumberland children.
The 680,000 is going to pay
The 680,000 is going to pay for around 1/2 of the cost of the Cumberland students attending the Mayoral public schools. The other funds come from the state. If those students were to stay in the Cumberland Public schools the money would stay there. The money follows the student so to speak. Cumberland taxes would pay to educate those students no matter what. In fact it is actually less money per student sent to the Mayoral Acad. than what is spent per students that attend Cumberland schools.
Thanks,
Councilman Bruce A.Lemois
Town-At-Large
Bruce Lemois said that the
Bruce Lemois said that the tax dollars are coming from the State not directly from Cumberland, than why is there an item in the approved FYE 2012 budget for more than $ 680,000 for Democracy Prep.
TO: "Cumberland_Resident"
Dear Cumberland_Resident;
Thanks for reaching out with your thoughts. It is good to see someone who can agree and disagree with someone and not toss all the ideas out.
If you don’t agree with the Mayoral Academy that is ok; but please know that the tax dollars that go the Mayoral Academies throughout the entire state, as with all tax dollars that have gone to all charter schools for years, are coming from the State and not directly from Cumberland. I understand we fund the state, but the Mayor did not specifically tax Cumberland residents to fund any of the Academies. Also if the children were to go to any Town public school rather than the Mayoral public school the money would have gone to those schools.
The Town’s fire district consolidation project is moving very smoothly with action plans do out soon. (Please note that we are not doing a study, but putting together an action plan to consolidate in some format.)
A major point here to make clear, even if you feel we can do with less public service, our town employees DO NOT have any COLA agreements in their contracts. They DO NOT receive them. Cumberland is one of the few towns/cities that have not given out COLA agreements.
The Town’s pension issue; the police pension is being worked on by the administration and the union. This is very complicated and both sides have always been dedicated to the taxpayers; a resolution to this will be found. It will come over time, but as we continue to maintain a decent pension system it will be secure.
Thanks again for being able to see different sides of the issues, it is appreciated. With your insight please feel free to reach out directly to any Council member; we need input such as yours.
Councilman Bruce A. Lemois
Town-At-Large
401.524.8380
Love him or hate him
You can either love Mayor McKee or hate him but quite frankly he has done a good job in office for all Cumberland Taxpayers. He went out on a limb to push for CHS2010 and it was sorely needed but when he came back for a second term, he gave up on the Cumberland School children and started the Mayoral Academy. For that I hate him for taxing our tax dollars and using it for the Mayoral Academy. Mayor McKee should be rooting for just one school system.
Mayor McKee has brought fought for open space. The fields at Diamond Hill, tennis courts and fields at Tucker Field did not happen without his support.
You can't fault a guy for having some vision to think out of the box. Granted we do need a new town hall and we need to reign in the school system as well. Having the finance office for the schools and the town together is a good thing. Look at all the phony school surplus numbers that came out of Woonsocket.
Do you really believe that Alex Prignano, the schools finance director, did not know that then Supt. Donna Morelle was given breaks on the school rentals? If you believe he did not know then I have a water park to sell you!
So love him or hate him, we are not broke, we have a good bond rating, we are moving forward.
Now if we can only reign in the fire districts (stupid fools for listening to the taxpayers) and do something with the town pension mess.
I for one could go for less police, public works, library, seniors service, town employees etc. if it meant that they wake up and see that their cola's are killing the average taxpayer.
The Monastery
Leave the Monastery alone.
A water slide, really?
I think it's time that the voters tell these "Town leaders" (and their absurd ideas) to go!
First he wants to develop the
First he wants to develop the Monastery and now Diamond Hill... Leave them alone! Enough with the "bright ideas" We have bigger issues to deal with than developing a water park. Get a clue.
Focus Groups?
Two Questions:
1. Can someone explain where these ideas are coming from? Is the Mayor conducting focus/brainstorming sessions with residents? How did these two proposals come about?
2. Anyone know the history of Diamond Hill Park? I'm curious why the water was placed in front of the stage in the first place...seems so odd.
I would be in favor of cleaning up the parking lot and fixing the stage setup...not so excited about water slides, paddle boats, and the splash pad. Would be nice to have a modest, but clean and easy to maintain park that could be better utilized.
Parking
It's wonderful that the parking area will be improved, but please reconsider the plan to pave only the outer edge while leaving the center gravel. The whole thing needs to be paved, given the hundreds of cars that use it when there are events.