Dear Neighbors - This should be labeled as "The Highland Park Zoo Wall mural anew - Neighborhood Comments welcome at the Super Playground event". As many of you know, or are about to be faced with, the bend coming through One Wild Place along side the Zoo as you enter and leave Highland Park will be getting a make-over starting next week. The wall is crumbling and the beloved existing mural will be wiped out by the necessary reconstruction work that DPW will begin in the coming days. They are to work on the bend to make it more accessible and safe, and rebuild the wall that really has outlived itself. As the topic of our last meeting on Thursday, 17 MAY 07, Citiparks has taken on the project of replacing the mural with a mosaic that will attached to the wall for future reconditioning, should it need it, as the current mural can not. The wall has totally crumbled, thus the need for rebuilding it, as well as redoing the mural. There have been a couple of meetings with representatives from the stock holders of Highland Park, thus the people that will see and live with this daily. Here is what Citiparks, the Community Council, the CDC, George Morris (the original mural artist), Senator Ferlo, the Zoo, and the Parks Conservancy have been considering as a concept by the artist (Laura Jean McLaughlin and Bob Ziller). Everyone has spoken clearly about how this concept inspires them and what concerns they have. This group of stock holders has been going over the potential designs for this project, and its effect on the neighborhood. Not exactly a big deal, but again something we shall have to see daily. Three areas that we are trying to balance and tie in together are the Neighborhood, the Park, and the Zoo. Using the original ideas of animals, Citiparks has brought in two artists, and they in turn have made some interesting design ideas. Here is their statement of the design concept: The statement of the concept for the new artwork http://www.senatorferlo.com/Events/06-08-2007AnimalAdventureArtistStatement.... The following link will allow you to see the current mural compared with the proposed mosaic (on page 18), as well as the future concept of the animals intermixed with scenes of Highland Park (starting on page 19). The shots before are those of the artists from other jobs, just to give you an idea, but we are trying to be a little more realistic. I invite you to please look over these ideas at the following link: http://www.senatorferlo.com/Events/06-08-2007HighlandParkWallMosaicConcept.p... We are hosting the Super Playground Rededication on Saturday, 09 JUN 07, form 11:00 AM until 2:00 PM. Citiparks will be on hand with a staff to allow kids (and grown-ups who want to get involved) in making the first piece, as well as view the project. You will be able to provide your views and comments directly to the people in charge of this future project. This will provide our community with a unique and fascinating opportunity to help guide the vision for the new wall to remake a neighborhood treasure. Remember, this will be at the Superplayground event on Saturday where the artists and Citiparks will be on hand with the concept on paper and a sample of the mosaic tile in the making: http://www.senatorferlo.com/images/Events/06-09-07SuperplaygroundParty.jpg If you have questions or comments regarding the content of this proposal, please direct your comments or concerns to Morton Brown with Citiparks at bromorton@gmail.com Thank you to everyone whose efforts have brought this proposal to the table, as well as allowing it to be directly viewed and interacted on by the neighborhood community. I hope to see you all at the rededication tomorrow !!! Mike Michael Millet Nadler President, Highland Park Community Council P.O. Box 5036 Pittsburgh, PA 15206 Personal Contact Information: 5916 Callowhill Street Pittsburgh, PA 15206, (412) 363-3483, Fax: (412) 363-2925, E-mail: mike@divehards.com No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.8.11/838 - Release Date: 6/7/2007 2:21 PM