Citizen's Group
June 6, 2005 Update
In April a group of architects, landscape architects, City officials, journalists and concerned citizens met to discuss the fate of the Nations Bank Plaza Park designed by Mr. Dan Kiley. In light of the Mayor's decision to scale back the size and possibly the location of the new Tampa Art Museum, the group felt they were given a window of opportunity to raise the awareness of this unique and world-renowned Park and to mount a campaign to save it. The group determined that they should host a public forum where the designers of the integrated Building and Park could discuss the genesis of the project, explain why it should be saved and restored and provide the public the opportunity to ask questions and address concerns that have been raised about the park.
On Friday, May 13th, approximately eighty people attended a forum and open discussion about the Nations Bank Plaza Park at the Tampa Art Museum. The guest lecturers included Mr. Harry Wolf, Architect of the Nations Bank Plaza buildings, Mr. Peter Schaudt, who worked with Dan Kiley on the design of the Nations Bank Plaza Park and Mr. Robert McCarter, architect, author and former Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Florida. Mr. Wolf and Mr. Schaudt presented images of the design process and explained the unique synergy between architect and landscape architect in the creation of project. Insight into the geometry that was formed by the relationship between the site, the river and the city and how it informed the physical layout of the building and garden elements. Images of the garden at its completion and comments from the award-winning Architectural and Landscape Architectural juries were shared with participants. The public discussion portion of the evening allowed for the public to ask questions and ask for clarification about a host of issues from construction detailing to the lack of maintenance of the Park by the City of Tampa.
On Saturday, May 14th, Mr. Wolf and Mr. Schaudt gave a guided tour of the building and garden to approximately thirty-five people. Both Mr. Wolf and Mr. Schaudt discussed the design process for the project and presented options for the park's restoration. Discussions ensued with participants about the garden being used as a sculpture garden by the Tampa Museum of Art, phased restoration of the elements that had been removed by the City of Tampa and the re-use of the existing buildings as both condominiums and future art museum space.
During the garden tour, a group of young architects known as the "YardOps" were in the Kiley Garden cleaning up trash, removing leaves and debris from the drained water features, pruning the overgrown palms and crape myrtles and spreading the word of what we can do to save our endangered public spaces in Tampa Bay. Find out more about what the YardOps group is doing to raise the awareness of neglected public spaces such as the Kiley Garden by contacting Chris Vega (e-mail: yardops@yahoo.com ) and volunteer to attend their monthly clean-ups.
Since the May 13-14 Garden Forum several other activities have taken place to keep the park in the public eye...
During the May 19-21 Florida Trust for Historic Places Annual Conference, the Nations Bank Plaza Park was officially selected as one of "Florida's 11 Most Endangered Historic Sites for 2005."
In addition to this important nomination, an article was written in the May 6th edition of St. Petersburg Times by Susan Thurston explaining why the Kiley Garden is worth saving (left).
A second article was also written by Ellen Gadalius in the May 17th edition of the Tampa Tribune where she describes the condition of the Kiley Garden and the summary of the two-day forum (left).
Finally, in the June 2nd edition of the Weekly Planet two articles were written discussing what was being done to awareness of the uniqueness of the Kiley Garden and efforts to try to save it were written by Mary Mulhern and Wayne Garcia (left).
While we have started our efforts to save this important Tampa treasure, there is more to be done and little time to act! We need your support!! Please e-mail your letter requesting that the Mayor designate the park as an historic landmark and that the park be restored. The City and the Owner are currently in negotiations on the repair of the subsurface parking lot, which means that the park is in eminent danger of demolition without any commitment to its restoration. Please send your letter of support to e-mail the Mayor at:
Mayor Pam Iorio
City of Tampa
306 E. Jackson Street
Tampa , FL 33602
or via e-mail at: pam.iorio@tampagov.net
be sure to copy (Cc:) the city Council at: tampacitycouncil@tampagov.net and SAVEKILEYPARK@comcast.net so your letter can be included in both the state an d national register nomination submittals.
Thank you for your assistance! Together we can make a difference!
Sue Thompson, ASLA |
