Yesterday at John Prince Park...

After seeing the "nature walk" written up in the Palm Beach Post in John Prince Park and the following announcement on the Residents of Lake Osborne Heights blog, I decided to go and be a part of the group that was to assemble at 4 p.m.

 

So, it was a beautiful day yesterday. When everyone was assembled, there were about a dozen there. Half of those people were from other parts of the community and not from the area near the park. I brought my camera in hopes of getting Dorothy Brindle's history and description of the park. When I started videoing, hackles rose and one gentleman insisted that he not be videoed. The other blogger also requested that I not record her. So much for being in a public park and listening to someone tell us about the natural areas there. The one gentleman even suggested that someone should call the sheriff. I said, "Well, do that. That would be interesting." The sheriff wasn't called and we went on.

I am pleased to report to all the camera shy people there that, for many reasons, the video didn't turn out well and you won't be seeing any of it here. But I do have these still pictures that I took of some of the places that we went and who was there.

The above is before when Dorothy Brindle was talking about the history of the park. From the parking area near the Recreation Department's administration building, we left for the area in the north part of the park where the playground is. This was said to be one of the locations of the new stadium.

Here we are looking over Lake Osborne. This event even drew a former Commissioner out of hiding! See below.

Again, here we are at the first stop. There I talked with Pam Bergsma and she shared her strong feelings about John Prince Park, the lack of green space there is already east of Congress and how baseball isn't the economic generator we think it is. She did agree to be video-taped, but as I said, the video did not come out well.

We then went to the area of the park near where the campground is. There are a series of nature trails there and we wandered through this area.

This is where the group split into two groups and the front group, I come to find out later that all those that were so camera shy...well, you'll see.

It turns out that Channel 12 was there to video a segment for the newscast that evening. Can you imagine? Here they are interviewing Robert Waples  and Dorothy Brindle about what the park means to them and the impact a baseball stadium would have on the park and the surrounding area.

 

Here are snips from the broadcast last night. The piece aired at 11:47 p.m., after the NCAA basketball tournament. I would guess that viewership was low at this time and on a Saturday night. The piece is not on their website, which I find interesting.

It turns out that all the camera shy people weren't too shy for the photo opportunity to look at all the nature there. The guy on the right, below, said he couldn't be photographed since he was wanted in a number of states. Anyway, I left disappointed not to hear more about the park and ended up hearing all the terrible things that a baseball stadium would bring to the park.

 It's also worth to note some of the other people that were not present on this outing. The Ciocis, Jennifer Marchel and Katie Mcgiveron immediately come to mind.