Flagpole+"Landscaping" = Park?

photo by some lo-cale loser

video capture from wcpo.com

On May 23, 2005, the Hamilton County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court ordered the closure of the Mt. Airy Motel on North Bend Road after a long sequence of arrests on the property and complaints by neighboring residents and merchants. Built in 1952, the motel recently had been known to allow renters to stay in excess of 30 days, thereby crossing the line from motel to apartment and violating fire codes. Constant police visits - over 60 in one three-month period - got the place branded a nuisance.

After the closure, Green Township arranged to buy the Motel from its owner. In order to ensure that it is not re-opened to again serve an undesirable public, the township has decided, according to minutes of their meeting on November 14, 2005, that "the building will be demolished and be replaced with some landscaping, benches and possibly a flag pole." Subsequent news reports indicated that the site would be a "public park."

photo by Glenn Hartong, the Cincinnati Enquirer

All of this begs a few questions. First, do "landscaping", benches, and a possible flag pole on publicly owned land constitute a park? Second is there an expression of park-ness that can acknowledge the unsavory history of the site while still providing safety and security to the nearby day-care center and the "Victorian Village" condominium complex next door?


Parking Lotphoto by some lo-cale loser

Side Driveway

photo by some lo-cale loser

Posted!photo by some lo-cale loser

Looking Eastphoto by some lo-cale loser

Looking WestNothing satisfies Victorian sensibilities quite like pyrus and thuja.
photo by some lo-cale loser

Clippings
Documented troubles: stabbings, hot pursuit, and robbery.
First threat of closure: solicitation and thuggery.
On the Closing: morning paper, afternoon paper, TV 9, TV 5.
The "Park" Proposal: government, media.