A nice story with some parallels to the Gold Rush Park, and other downtown development ideas.
An excerpt.
Off The Tracks
Saint Paul neighbors transform a contaminated railyard into a nature sanctuary while building community across cultures.
By Vicki Monks
Carol Carey admits that not everybody could see beauty in the abandoned railyard on the east side of downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, before volunteer and redevelopment groups in nearby neighborhoods joined forces to reclaim the land.
One of the biggest challenges was to convince others that this long-neglected property near the Mississippi River was worth protecting. "The area was a toxic mess, says Carey, who was active in the effort and now leads Historic Saint Paul, a heritage preservation organization. Oily patches contaminated the soil, and heaps of junked appliances, garbage, and moldy mattresses littered the yard. Graffiti marred the tall sandstone bluffs at the edge of the site, and thickets of spiny buckthorn made walking treacherous.
As a former industrial property, already contaminated, the 27-acre railyard had been eyed for an asphalt recycling plant or a transfer station for concrete trucks. But Carey and others believed that the land would make a great park site. A park on the land would link up four recreation trails that now end at its boundaries, protect bluff-top views down the Mississippi, and provide a natural refuge within an easy walk of Lowertown and downtown. A park would aid restoration of migratory waterfowl and songbird habitat along the Mississippi flyway.
A park also would promote the ongoing revitalization of two neighborhoods: the blue-collar East Side and Lowertown, a former warehouse district. The railyard blocked these neighborhoods from each other, from downtown, and from the Mississippi River corridor, while a cleaned-up park with bike trails would link them to downtown and its vitality. An asphalt plant or concrete station would have only reinforced an existing perception that the site and its adjoining neighborhoods were a wasteland. "It would have solidified an impression that there was no hope for a better community, Carey says.
