Friday, April 13, 2012

Article in the Daily Mail

Catamount creator wants to design park-like space at Community Garden

Posted: Thursday, April 26, 2012 1:00 am
The Village of Catskill Board of Trustees heard this week from the creator of the Catamount People’s Museum on West Bridge Street about his amended plan for a second project.
Last fall, Matt Bua unveiled a proposal to create a hand-built fence around Catskill’s Community Garden, located on property owned by the Town of Catskill behind the Washington Irving Senior Center.

But that idea has been abandoned for the latest proposal, what is being dubbed the “open-air classroom.”            
The project site would be north of the garden.
“The open-air classroom will be created collaboratively by people from the community,” Bua says in literature handed out at the board’s meeting on Monday. “The purpose of the space will be to provide an open-air classroom for the garden as well as a public space to relax. If you like to build, design or enjoy public spaces, we need your help.”                                                                                                                             
Unlike the fence idea, the open-air classroom will not be a permanent installation.
Aspects of the proposal include creation of small shade structures, additional picnic tables, a user-friendly compost system, collaborative drawing surface and more raised beds for the garden.
Bua has talked with the Catskill Town Board about his proposal.
Garden Cleanup Day is Saturday, from 9 a.m. to noon.
Those interested in helping with the open-air classroom project can contact Bua at 917-291-7404 or Jessie Able at 518-943-4221.
The open-air classroom on the web: http://openaircatskill.blogspot.com/.