In this latest round of proposals, the nonprofit group, Charlotte Center City Partners, was the first to get its plan on the table. The group's president Rob Walsh and Bank of America executive vice president Jim Palermo, have presented a plan for an eight-acre park in First Ward, close to the city's growing arts district, according to a published report.

Local landscape architect Jane Alexander says, in a published report, Charlotte has no green place where you can go and watch people and just be by yourself. Queen City residents have talked for years about having a park that would be as important to Charlotteans as New York's Central Park is to New Yorkers.

A group of influential residents share the vision put forth by Charlotte Center City Partners, but they think the park should be built on three blocks in Third Ward, near Ericcson Stadium. In their Center City 2010 plan, the city and county had specified Third Ward as the right spot for a park.

But that could be a problem, because two of the blocks have been selected for the new basketball arena. In a letter to City Council members, the group's spokesman, Pepper Dowd, said acquiring those two blocks is the city's last chance to assemble enough land to build a viable park. Dowd thinks the city could have two parks, with the Third Ward site being the major one, according to a published report.

Even though critics of the Third Ward proposal say it's a bad idea, the city and the Hornets of the National Basketball Association have agreed the new arena will be built in the Third Ward.

But some politicians argue that a park instead of the arena should still be a possibility. County Commissioner member Becky Carney says, in a published report, the plan to put the arena in Third Ward went forward without any public input. Carney agrees with Dowd that Third Ward makes the most sense for a city park because of its size and location. They say, in a published report, it should be big enough to have some insulation from city traffic and noise and that it should be a short walk from uptown office buildings.

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Business Interests, Residents Mull Eight-Acre Park Concept

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