July 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 49

called " A Community Thrives, "
awarded a $50,000 grant to help
the Conservancy transform the former buoy storage site into a beach
and playground. That grant led the
way for other philanthropic support
from the Knight Cities Challenge,
the William C. Davidson, Jr. Foundation and others. Atwater Beach is
slated to open in spring 2019. Near
Atwater Beach, the Conservancy is
working with the city of Detroit to
provide a bike and pedestrian path
to the riverfront called the Joseph
Campau Greenway.
On the West Riverfront, construction is nearly underway on
another project. " We have recently
announced the winner of an international design competition for the
22-acre site, which is called West
Riverfront Park, " notes Wallace.
Michael Van Valkenburgh Asso-

ciates will design West Riverfront
Park. What's more, the DRFC is
close to constructing a boardwalk
through an existing marina that
connects the current RiverWalk
to West Riverfront Park. Wallace
adds: " This is going to be a really
important place for the local community and for the city of Detroit.
Those residents can walk and bike
to the park and folks throughout
southeast Michigan can come to
explore Detroit. "
Given the myriad projects under
construction around the riverfront,
partnerships are crucial to the
DRFC's funding. " The Conservancy has been blessed to have remarkable partners - from the execution
end and from the funding side, "
Wallace says. " The state DNR
Trust Fund has been very generous
to us and very supportive of our

work. All told, we've raised $170
million, and almost all of that is
through individuals' philanthropic
efforts and corporate giving. "

Log Cabin in Palmer Park
Palmer Park is a 296-acre park that
was designed by landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and
Charles Eliot during the late 1800s
and donated to the city in the 1890s
by U.S. Senator Thomas Palmer
and his wife, Lizzie.
During the 2000s, however, Detroit was saddled with mounting
debt and constricted budgets, forcing the city to announce the closure of the historic Palmer Park in
2009. This didn't sit well with the
neighborhood.
" There was protest and a group of
people got together and said, 'You
can't close our park! It's too im-

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Parks & Recreation

July 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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