What A City Park Should Look Like

Over at Michael Molovinsky's blog he has been frustratingly trying to defend Allentown's parks former designs. I'm not trying in this post to feed off of his, but rather to add some remarks of my own concerning this topic.

Below are some pictures I took of the 'Union Canal' trail through 'Heritage Park' in Reading, Pennsylvania. It typifies everything I think a park should look like. There are several things that should be pointed out about the pictures below..* The trail is composed of crushed stone that allows ground percolation when it rains.

* The water flowing through the park is controlled by the 'Blue Marsh Dam' which is fed by the 'Tulpehocken Creek'. There is also a dam located by 'Gring's Mill' and yet another further down stream. If it weren't for these three, the park wouldn't have the aesthetic appeal you see in these photos.

* The pavilion is located right next to the stream with a beautiful unobscured view.

* Note that in some areas the embankments are stone lined instead of having weeds riparian buffer zones.And yes, to this day there is opposition to all three of these dams and the stone lined banks by conservationists.

I wish to put a few questions to my readers.(1) Can a mile or so of not having riparian buffers make a real difference (especially considering many of our city's street storm drains are fed directly into the creeks)?

(2) Would lining the creek's sides with stones (to prevent erosion) be not only the cheapest initially to install but also the least costly to maintain?

(3) Most importantly, what would most people prefer?(a.) A park were dogs can enjoy a splash without coming home with ticks or burrs. Parents enjoy a view of the creek and fish without having to employ the use a machete?
OR(b.) Obscure the view by providing sanctuary to a variety of invasive plant species, insects (including moist ground for mosquitoes) and who knows what?I'd much prefer (a.)

If people truly want to clean up these streams and rivers within Allentown's parks, the last 3 miles before they empty into the Lehigh River (with storm drains emptying into them) isn't going to get the job done. People who say otherwise are kidding themselves. It starts many miles upstream where fast growing suburban development runoff occurs and where water streams are being diverted. This whole thing is like closing the barn door after the horses have already left the stable.

What say you?