“I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a pickleball court.”
Wait, that’s not what Joyce Kilmer wrote. Maybe that’s the version the Lakeshore Park Conservancy stumbled onto when they were trying to justify the destruction of more than 20 mature trees in Lakeshore Park to accommodate “a baseball complex, pickleball courts, a basketball court, a sports green, a seating area for small meetings, and walkways to the soccer area.”
Say goodbye to these beauties.
Photographer Elle Colquitt brought the situation to my attention Wednesday, one day after Mayor Indya Kincannon and other dignitaries broke ground on “Phase 2 Part 1” of Lakeshore’s updated master plan. Colquitt shared pictures of trees marked with an alarming red “X.” She also noted that, according to the new master plan, no additional trees are being planted on the sunny side of the greenway.
The Lakeshore Park Conservancy, caretaker for the park, received a “cornerstone” gift from the Haslam family – $35 million – to fund improvements. I guess that was their license to “play ball!”
The conservancy’s website says this:
“In order to build a park that serves the well-being of all Knoxville residents, it is the intention of the following updated Master Plan to provide sites of remembrance and representation to serve as a balm for all visitors. Furthermore, the plan seeks to create a wholistic (sic) model of well-being by providing access to activities that foster physical and mental health and connecting visitors to healthy ecological and social communities.”
Screaming voices and the sounds of bats connecting with balls on baseball fields are not a balm. Grunts and thwacks on a pickleball court are not a balm. Basketballs hitting a backboard are not a balm.
You know what’s balming and calming (to borrow a line from the Who)? Walking peacefully in fresh air on a greenway, rejoicing in the shade and majesty of trees. The physical benefits of walking are beyond dispute, and Lakeshore Park is a mecca for walkers and joggers.
You know what fosters mental health? Nature. Trees. Witnessing “ecological communities” of flora and fauna.
Mature trees play a crucial role in staving off climate change. Even if the developers had plans to plant new trees, they wouldn’t be of much use till after the lifetime of any adult reading this column.
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “park”? Very likely it’s trees. Cutting down trees in a park is counter-intuitive.
Except when you have $35 million to pave paradise and put up a baseball complex and ball courts.
To contact the Lakeshore Park Conservancy: 865-215-1722. lakeshoreparkknoxville.org
To contact Mayor Kincannon’s office: 865-215-2040
To contact the landscape architect who recommended cutting down the trees: Jon Ridenour of Nelson Byrd Woltz, 434-984-1358
Betsy Pickle is a freelance writer and editor who particularly enjoys spotlighting South Knoxville. She loves trees.