So many new activities and sponsors for the Sept. 15 Green Hills Park Festival!  Walk/Bike Nashville will be putting on a bike rodeo (skills and games for young bikers).  And, in addition to the movie that we will show when the sun goes down, we will have a separate trailer set up to watch that day's college football!

Two more things: 

• Bike to Work Day is May 25.  Meet at 7:10 am in the park and we'll ride down Music Row to downtown (ride ends with coffee and doughnuts at Cumberland Park).  https://www.walkbikenashville.org/biketowork
• Interested in helping with publicity and social media for the park and the Festival? Or curating the Little Library? Email friendsofghpark@gmail.com if so.

Have you "liked us" on Facebook?   https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofGreenHIllsPark/

Great things are happening in Green Hills Park! 

Thanks to everyone who came out for last night's community meeting  to talk about the park.

In case you missed it, here are pictures of the sidewalk plans for Belmont Park Terrace.  Public Works and Civic designed the plan to connect Lone Oak to Arden Place by coming into the park (to avoid cutting down all the trees along the park border).  A portion of the asphalt walking path will be replaced with sidewalk, for ADA compliance. The trees that are removed to make way for the sidewalk will be replaced.  Public Works was asked to look at placing a cross walk at the Castleman intersection and said that they will do so. Comments at the meeting were that many wished the plan had covered the segment from Shackleford to Arden Place, instead of the park segment, because it is more dangerous.  ​

If you have comments on the plan, let us know and we will share them with Councilman Pulley and Public Works.  

And here are the items discussed about the park:

​Friends of Green Hills Park is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that formed with three goals:

1. Engage neighbors of all ages in the park to foster a better sense of community in Green Hills.  
2. Build on and care for the park’s assets, including adding play equipment for all ages, flowers, and caring for the wetlands area.
3. Advocate for safe connections to other green spaces within walking and biking distance of the park, such as Sevier Park, Radnor Lake, and the Green Hills Library.  

Accomplishments since forming in 2015:

• The Green Hills Festival has been held for two years in a row (the next Green Hills Park Festival will be September 15, 2018)
• Parnassus donated a Little Library that has been installed at the Park, and Parnassus regularly supplies books
• Installation of a water fountain by the Parks Dept.
• Park cleanups have been held​
• Purchase and installation of a new entrance sign
• A sidewalk will be built in alongside the park
• Grass berms have been installed for play and picnics
• Collaborating with the Cumberland River Compact and Lipscomb sustainability class on wetland improvements
• A row of crape myrtles will be planted this spring (thanks to generous donations by Arden Place neighbors)

What is next?

• Finding funding for more improvements (e.g. an obstacle course for all ages, bike racks, frisbee golf baskets, art?). We can place plaques to give credit for funding (but not logos).  Donations can be made online.
• Beautification (adding and maintaining shade trees, benches, flower gardens).
• 2018 Festival (finding sponsors, finding silent auction items, thinking of activities that neighbors would enjoy). You can go to this link to access a volunteer sign-up and sponsorship form for the Festival: www.friendsofgreenhillspark.org/festival.
• Action committees & volunteers are needed - what are you interested in?

Please contact us:
Lora Barkenbus Fox, President & Patrick Bradley, Treasurer
www.friendsofgreenhillspark.org
615-496-0464
friendsofghpark@gmail.com

What else is new in and near the park?

• Crepe myrtles are coming to the park! Thanks to our Arden Place neighbors for their generous donations towards these beautiful trees.
• The concrete bench that was donated by former Councilmember Ron Turner has been moved by the Parks Dept. to a storage facility, so that it won't be damaged during the Belmont Park Terrace sidewalk construction.
• The sidewalk construction has finally begun at Lone Oak and Overhill!  It will connect Lone Oak all the way to Shackleford.  Hooray!

What a great festival!  Thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed our beautiful park, vendors, and movie. Attendance was estimated at 600.  Big thanks to everyone who bid in the silent auction - you raised over $1000 for the park! All funds raised will go toward improving the play equipment in the park.

Want to be a vendor, sponsor, or member of next year's organizing committee?  We would love your support.  Email us and let us know: friendsofghpark@gmail.com

Did you miss the Festival?  It's not too late to go to the Green Hill's Fleet Feet store and buy this cool t-shirt that benefits the Park.

Or you can make a donation by clicking here.​

Check out the new things in the park!  New park entrance sign, new batting cage for the Girls' Softball league.  And coming soon - grassy berms for kids to run and play on!

The second Green Hills Park Festival is taking place from 4-9pm on September 16!  Admission is free and we will have food trucks, wine and beer, and fun booths including:

• Parnassus Bookmobile
• Green Hills Library
• Ex Voto Vintage
• Ten Thousand Villages
• Lularoe Clothing
• Fleet Feet (they will be selling t-shirts that benefit Green Hills Park)
• Freebirds World Burrito
• Little Gourmand, and
• Music City Brisket.  

We expect to show a movie again, which will start once it gets dark.  New this year will be a family obstacle course and Nashville Soccer mini-arena!  

Please email friendsofghpark@gmail.com you can help by:

• sponsoring a booth (or if you have ideas for sponsors);
• matching donations made at the festival;
• joining a committee to help us gather items for a silent auction; or
• joining a committee to help with set up, clean up, or help time the obstacle course participants.

In other neighborhood news:

• Authority to acquire easements for the Lone Oak sidewalk passed third reading of Metro Council on June 14.  This is one of the steps that will have to be taken before they can start on the Belmont Park Terrace sidewalk. 
• Metro Council passed RS 2017-772, accepting the donation from Green Hills Girls' Softball League for the batting cage and bullpen that will be placed near the entrance to the Park (by the field house).
• Metro Council passed BL 2016-493, which will require developers of single family homes in the USD (this includes Green Hills) to construct sidewalks or contribute to a fund for building sidewalks.  
• Metro Council passed BL3017-740, a "3 foot rule" for pedestrians (if no sidewalk is available, cars must leave a distance of at least three feet between them and a pedestrian walking on the street).
• The Board of Monroe Harding has voted to sell its property on Glendale Lane.  This beautiful green space will be missed. But could development on those 22 acres lead to a sidewalk linking Scenic Drive to the Park?  That would be great news for the park and for the families who want to walk safely to JT Moore Middle School along Glendale.
• Did you see us in Green Hills Now magazine?  Big thank you to Lipscomb University for the great story and pics:

Friends, your voices have been heard. The Parks Department tells me that Green Hills Park is at the top of the list for court resurfacing! But there is a big catch - they have to receive the funding.  Last year, Parks received $10M for deferred maintenance in the budget. This year, it is not clear whether they will get that funding. Or if they do, it may not come until after October (which would likely push the resurfacing to spring, due to the cool weather).  

Part of the problem is that the courts have deteriorated so badly that instead of repainting (at a cost of $4-5K/court), they need resurfacing ($40K/court).  So the cost of resurfacing Green Hills Park courts is likely $120,000.  We'll keep you posted as Metro goes through its budget process in the next two months.

Bike to Work Day was a hit again this year - tons of fun for our group to ride from the park to downtown.  These geese were in the park that morning, but declined to come along for the ride.

Do you know the history of the park?  It was part of John Trotwood Moore's estate, known as Arden Place.  The estate was torn down in the late 1960's to build the school and park.  We've found a few articles on this history, which are shared here. Have more info on the history of the park? Email us at friendsofghpark@gmail.com

Tennis Courts - Friends, we have mysteriously fallen off the Parks Dept's tennis court priority list. Our neighborhood had been told we were next to be resurfaced, and now that has been pushed back to "someday."  

We need your help to get back to the top of the priority list - can you take a moment to email the Board Chair George Anderson (Gja2220@gmail.com) and/or Assistant Director over maintenance rick.taylor@nashville.gov to ask that Green Hills Park courts be resurfaced as soon as possible?

Bike to Work Day is coming! We will meet at Green Hills Park at 7am on Friday, May 26, depart at 7:10AM and follow the Light Blue route on this map down Belmont Blvd and over Music Row to Downtown. Can you join us? Let us know if you're in!

Hooray for the Park Cleanup and Little Library Installation!
Thanks to all our volunteers and to Donut Den and Starbucks for the sweet treats and coffee.  Thanks to Parnassus Books for the donation of the Little Free Library. It is up and running, and they have donated a bunch of books to get us started.  Take a book (and keep it), donate one of your own books later, and have fun reading!