Urban oasis

While I'd like to see this headline about Slack Plaza, it is about a proposed park across Washington Street from the Clay Center.

A series of terraces, planted with native oak, maple, beech and birch trees. Beneath the trees an understory of mountain laurel, dogwoods and flame azaleas, with a groundcover of Allegheny spurge and ladyferns. A small pool surrounded by limestone and boulders.

This fall, workers could begin to transform a rundown parking lot across Washington Street from the Clay Center into an urban oasis. The long-awaited Gateway Greenspace could be open to the public by this time next year, Marita Roos said.

A principal with Philadelphia landscape architects Andropogon Associates, Roos went over final drawings for the project with a reporter Wednesday, pointing out where different individual trees and rocks will be placed.

I'd like to see the same sort of plan for Slack Plaza. My fear is that it will be turned into a large sidewalk that runs from Summers Street to the mall.

Greenspace is a good thing, especially in the middle of a city.