VOL. 131 | NO. 86 | Friday, April 29, 2016

For a few hours Saturday morning, April 30, in Overton Park there was no one on the Greensward – no cars, no zoo crew, no protesters, no yoga class, no dogs or dog walkers. On an overcast day, there wasn't even a shadow to be cast.

There was just a wet wind whistling through the temporary metal barrier that marks the southern boundary of the overflow parking area from the rest of the Greensward. It’s where the parking on one side and protests on the other side have been meeting for about a month.

All around the soggy, wind-swept acreage there were plenty of indicators of the controversy’s ongoing and changing presence.

A “Save The Greensward’ sign hung around the neck of the Crump statue at the park’s Poplar and Tucker entrance, at times the sign blowing up and back across the bronzed, stern face of E.H. Crump.

A zoo crew had been out earlier to replace several sections of the barrier damaged overnight as well as replace more than 100 of the orange parking cones also used to mark off the parking area.

Zoo officials say the damage was caused by vandals and they filed a police report.

The zoo’s soon-to-be-redesigned parking lot was beginning to fill with cars a bit later than the usual 11 a.m. wave that usually marks when the northern Greensward opens for parking.

The ponchoed and bundled families, some with umbrellas, eager to see the new Zambezi River Hippo Camp exhibit included parents also a bit relieved about the shelter the exhibit’s rondovels – or round houses – offer if needed.

The calm Saturday ended a week of sudden activity around the mediation process between the Memphis Zoo and the Overton Park Conservancy.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland broke his silence Thursday on specifics of the mediation he orchestrated for the two sides upon taking office in January.

He announced the ongoing mediation has produced two agreements – reconfiguring the zoo parking lot and on-street parking on North Parkway.

In an open letter sent by the mayor’s office, Strickland wrote, “In short, I’m proud to report that we are closer to a solution than ever before.”

The zoo and conservancy have reached agreement on:

• A plan to be developed that would reconfigure the existing zoo parking lot, which Strickland says could create 50 to 125 new parking spaces.

• The creation of on-street parking on North Parkway that could create 200 more public parking spaces. “I am directing city crews to begin that process,” Strickland added.

“From just the two items alone, as many as 325 parking spaces can and will be produced – a huge step forward,” Strickland wrote. “And this is hardly the only result of mediation, which remains ongoing. Many other issues are being discussed, and I’m more optimistic than ever that the process will produce a result. Just those two items above are proof that this is working.”

Both of the items have been long-standing suggestions that the administration of former Memphis Mayor A C Wharton pledged to pursue over the last two years. But they never went further than the public declaration that the city would pursue them.

The two ideas resurfaced again April 5 in the release of the OPC’s highly anticipated traffic and parking study of the entire park. They were among numerous suggestions that zoo leaders said they were willing to discuss after reviewing the report from three planning and design firms.

The reconfiguration of the zoo parking lot would likely involve private donors approached by both the zoo and the conservancy as well as others for a process that would remove the current parking lot concrete islands but retain its large trees.

The on-street parking has, in the past, been linked to improving existing sidewalks between McLean Boulevard and University Street and installing sidewalks on the south side of North Parkway all the way to East Parkway.

Strickland directing city crews to begin the long-talked about restriping suggests it won’t wait on the sidewalk improvements.

Strickland’s announcement came the day before he and other dignitaries cut the ribbon Friday on the opening of the zoo’s new $22.4 million Zambezi River Hippo Camp exhibit.

Meanwhile, the committee agendas for the Tuesday May 3 council day deliberations at City Hall were revised Thursday afternoon to add discussion of "an ordinance defining uses for Overton Park" at the council's 2:45 p.m. executive session.

In a statement Friday, council chairman Kemp Conrad said the ordinance reflects a “metes and bounds” or more specific and detailed survey of park boundaries referred to in the council’s March 1 resolution that gave the zoo control of two-thirds of the Greensward.

The council action is the subject of one pending Chancery Court lawsuit and an element in a second.

The ordinance is a reminder to both sides in the mediation that the negotiations have a time limit and it is drawing near. Strickland said again last week he intends to resolve the controversy by the end of June if the zoo and conservancy haven't in the mediation process.

“We fully expect the ordinance to be amended by third reading to reflect the compromise reached by the parties in a way that is best for park users, the zoo and the great city of Memphis,” Conrad said of the council.

Word of the mediation agreements, being overseen by retired Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Janice Holder and attorney David Wade, who is a trained mediator, comes a week ahead of a busy May 7-8 weekend in the park.

That weekend will include the Latino Memphis Festival on the Greensward as well as the celebration of the centennial of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. That’s in addition to the continuing crowds coming to the zoo to see the new exhibit.

The May 7-8 weekend will also be a test of some of the parking recommendations in the consultants’ report that the conservancy plans to use, including better signage and social media updates as traffic patterns change and parking areas open up.