Apologies if there is already a forum on STL parks...

Tilles Park in the North Hampton neighborhood is undergoing an impressive prairie restoration. Pop Up Prairie, the organization making it happen, wants to convert 10% of all park space across the entire city to pollinator/prairies. Thrilled to see their work so far. There is so much underutilized space in our park system. I captured some highlights from [url=http:// http://www.stlouiscitytalk.com/posts/20 ... p-prairies]a discussion with Pop Up Prairie folks[/url].

Speaking of under utilized park space, is there more boring park than Minnesota and Hill Park in Mt. Pleasant? You could see this whole half acre park become a prairie. 

This is a cool effort. We need a more coherent plan and to start doing this with vacant lots, especially those that either aren't near any homes or those near homes with agreeable neighbors.

Since the pandemic hit, I've been spending a lot more time outdoors. I bought a giant bag of black oil sunflower seed birdseed to spread around to all the forgotten and unkempt places I walk past, mostly in Old North and the Near North Riverfront.

Most didn't grow (some due to mowing), but where the sunflowers did grow, you can't walk past without seeing bees doing their thing. It adds life to lifeless areas.

The acreage of vacant lots the city mows has got to be immense. It would seem some type of plan to prairie-ize vacant lots could be incredibly beneficial on several levels.

Nice to see a fundraiser for the Lyle House in Carondelet Park. Nice story in the PD:

The Holly Hills Improvement Association and the Carondelet Community Betterment Association are hosting a fundraiser Nov. 13 called the “Lyle Mile,” a walk-run, silent auction and concert in the park. Their goal is to raise $50,000 toward getting the house “user ready,” for a tenant such as a restaurant, cafe, retail store or caterer. The home is owned by the city.

Carondelet historian Nini Harris says the house is the oldest high-style wooden frame house standing in the city of St. Louis. (There are older ones that are smaller and simpler.) 

Since the house belongs to the city, they have more control over what happens to it and how to fix it up, the women said. They haven’t had a formal estimate done about what the home needs, but believe most work would be cosmetic. Parking could be available at a nearby maintenance building.

Nice posting, thanks Mark,

I wonder if any restore act funds, this year or next year slugs would make way to city parks.   I think long term quality of life impacts can be had between putting some funds towards parks & infrastructure as well as workforce development.  

What do you think about Fultz Field being bulldozed for...grass/no plan? Are baseball fields a thing of the past? Is soccer and pickleball a higher use? Should we think about preservation of park infrastructure, or just chalk it up to modernization and let it be replaced with the newest passing fancy?
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/city-razes-fultz-field-longtime-baseball-hub-in-river-des-peres-park-40579361

^That's a tough question. I certainly don't think soccer and pickleball are a "higher" use, but they are growing more popular at a time when baseball is slowly exiting the limelight stage left. Not at all sure if it will have another entrance, and public parks are, above all, places for people to enjoy. So if people enjoy soccer more . . . get rid of the blasted designated hitter, cut the commercial count, soften the ball, and play smarter, faster baseball. Wait . . . if people enjoy soccer more, teach them to fish. No, that wasn't it either.

Whatever else it may be, I don't think the world's oldest and most popular sport is anything akin to a passing fancy. Maybe we're getting a bit less quirky over here. I like quirk. I'll miss it. But there's nothing passing about soccer. (Except for the passing, that is.)

Beyond the demand for different sports, baseball fields are a lot harder to maintain for viable use.  Dirt fields get weedy, uneven, too hard or too muddy.  Soccer fields just need to be mowed.  One of the fields in Fultz has a grass infield, making it even harder to properly maintain.  Even in Tower Grove where there was a lot more money, attention and users, some of the fields were fine for kickball, but pretty much unplayable for baseball and softball (might be better now with the upgrades).  

Looking at River Des Peres Park it's almost entirely baseball fields, seems to make sense to open it up for other uses.  Wilmore Park just across River Des Peres has six fields that seem to get pretty regular use.  Seems better to focus on maintaining a few fields that get regular use rather insisting on keeping and maintaining all the baseball fields.

City received a donation of $100,000 from United States Soccer Federation for the construction of two small soccer pitches at O'Fallon and Fairground park.

350 trees being planted this Saturday in O'Fallon Park for anyone interested: https://moreleaf.org/event/ofallon-park-tree-planting-2-0/

12:30 - 3:00 PM.