Second Blog Draft

As of right now my tentative thesis would be that the residents of Novi need to increase their effort for this park. The state grant for the park is very attainable, they just need to put in a better effort to show the state how bad they want this park, and how important the park is to the city.

My opinion is that this park would be very beneficial to the city because of population growth, and because there is no park near the area where they want to build this new one. After reviewing some of the council minutes, I saw that there wasn't anyone attending who was really pushing for this park. If no one in the city is really putting in a big effort for the park, then the city will not concentrate on the issue as much as the other issues which are being pursued by a lot of community members. The community needs to up its participation in this issue so that they can get the state grant, and start building the park.

Sources:
Free Press
Detroit News
Michigan.gov
Along with these articles, I will be using some of the statements that were said during city council meetings. I will be getting these sources from the city council minutes archive which is found at the Novi City Website.

Novi Wants Another Park (Final Draft Photo Essay)

The city of Novi has had an eye on a semi-large piece of land where the city would like to build another park. Last year, the city applied for a state grant in order to fund the project but was denied. The city plans to try again for the grant this year.

This is a picture of the area that the city of Novi is trying to get a hold of, for the construction of the park.

If Novi got the grant, they would use it to build a 269 acre park that would have hiking, and other recreational activities. Novi already has three public parks and numerous recreational facilities that belong to the schools. I do not see what one more park will bring to the city, that the other three parks don't already have. The three parks that belong to Novi offer tons of recreational activities to the public, which is why Novi does not need to build another park.

This is a picture of the huge wooden play-sturcture that is right at the entrance of CSP.
Inside CSP there are nine baseball diamonds, and durring the summer there are always baseball games being played on all nine diamonds.

Power Park which is the second park in Novi is a little smaller than CSP, but it still has six baseball diamonds, two volleyball courts, two play-structures, and a trail for walking through the woods.

This is a picture of one of the six baseball diamonds located in the center of the park.

This is a picture of the beginning of the trail that goes through the woods. In the foreground is the pond that is located inside of the park.

Rotary park is a smaller and more quiet park then the other two, but still has a play-structure, a picnic area, and a couple of tennis courts.

Right at the entrance to Rotary Park is this boardwalk, which runs along 9 mile road, and offers a change to the usual concrete sidewalks.

This is just a picture of one of the playgrounds that belong to the Novi School District. These playgrounds also add to the number of recreational facilities that Novi already offers.

Novi has three parks that offer almost every activity you can think of. They offer baseball diamonds, soccer fields, picnic areas, and trails for people to go walking. There is no need for the city of Novi to construct another park especially one that is 269 acres.

First Blog Draft

I decided to do my final research paper on the same topic as my photo essay. Basically there is a large piece of land located on 10 mile and Wixom rd in Novi, and the city wants to get a grant from the state so that they can build a park that will offer recreational activities like biking and hiking. The city applied for the grant last year but was denied. They plan to try again this year, and held a public meeting to sign a petition for the park. When a city applying for a grant gets a petition, it forces the state to spend a little more time on the decision, and will increase Novi's chance of getting the grant.
I will change up my stance on the issue for the research paper. In the photo essay I argued against the park, but in the Research paper I will argue for the park. As I was doing some searching for information on the grant, I found an article stating that Novi is building another park which is right by the three other parks that they have. I will argue for this FIFTH park because this park would be further away from the other three, and will benefit the residents in that area. They should not have to drive further to get to a park, just because Novi built four parks all within 2 miles of each other.

If you are interested in further information about this topic please visit this site, and let me know what you think about the whole situation.

I think I Love My Wife

So I went and saw "I think I love my wife", and I realized how much i like chris rock. its been a while since i have seen one of his movies, but it was hilarious. i would definitely recomend the movie to anyone who hasnt laughed in a while, because this movie will definitely make you laugh out loud. despite being funny it also has a good moral lesson to it.

Last Assignment

I don't know about anyone else, but it seems like it would be really hard to find 8 sources on the topic that i chose for my photo essay. Hopefully we can use sources that don't have to do directly with the topic, but that help clarify one of the points or statements we are making. If all 8 sources do have to be directly tied to the topic, then i better find a new one.

Novi Wants Another Park(photo essy, rough draft)

The city of Novi has had an eye on a semi-large piece of land, where the city would like to build another park. Last year, the city applied for a state grant in order to fund the project but was denied. This year, the city is holding a public meeting in order to increase its chances for the state grant.

This is a picture of the area that the city of Novi is trying to get a hold of, for the construction of the park.

If Novi got the grant, they would use it to build a 269 acre park that would have hiking, and other recreational activities. Novi already has three public parks and numerous recreational facilities that belong to the schools. I do not see what one more park will bring to the city, that the other three parks don't already have. The three parks that belong to Novi offer tons of recreational activities to the public, which is why Novi does not need to build another park. CSP, or Community Sports Park, is the biggest of the three parks in Novi. CSP is located on 8 mile rd. and Napier rd. This is a picture of the picnic area available to the public inside of CSP. It is also the location of one of the many restroom facilities located inside this park. This is a picture of the huge wooden play-sturcture that is right at the entrance of CSP. This playground is always jam packed with kids in the summer. This is a photo of the basketball courts which are found right next to the picnic area, and huge playground. Inside CSP there are nine baseball diamonds, and durring the summer there are always baseball games being played on all nine diamonds. This is another picture of one of the baseball diamonds inside of CSP. CSP also has about 14 soccer fields which are across from the baseball diamonds. Unfortunately they were taken down for the winter, so I could not get a picture of them.

Power Park which is the second park in Novi is a little smaller than CSP, but it still has six baseball diamonds, two volleyball courts, two play-structures, and a trail for walking through the woods. Power Park is located on 10 mile rd., between Novi High School, and the Novi Police Station.

This is a picture of one of the play-structures inside of Power Park. In the background you can see one of the two baseball diamonds which are primarily used for girls' softball games.

This is a picture of the other play-structure. In the foreground you can see the sand that makes up the volleyball courts in the summer.

This is a picture of one of the four baseball diamonds located in the center of the park. These fields are usually home to baseball games, but in the late afternoon they all hold softball games for adults.

This is a picture of the beginning of the trail that goes through the woods. In the foreground is the pond that is located inside of the park, which is nicknamed "piss pond".

Rotary Park is the third park that belongs to Novi, and is located on 9 mile rd. Rotary is a smaller and more quiet park then the other two. This park still has a play-structure, a picnic area, and a couple of tennis courts.

This is a picture of the play-structure located insided of Rotary Park. On the very right side of the picture you can see part of the tennis courts.

This is the picnic area which could easily seat 40 people, if you had a big family outing. The picnic area is conveniently located right next to the play-structure and tennis courts.
Right at the entrance to Rotary Park is this boardwalk, which runs along 9 mile road, and offers a change to the usual concrete sidewalks.

This just a picture of one of the playgrounds that belong to the Novi School District. This is one of two jungle gyms that belongs to this elementary school, and Novi has five elementary schools, not to mention the middle school and high school.

Novi has three parks that offer almost every activity you can think of. They offer baseball diamonds, soccer fields, picnic areas, and trails for people to go walking. There is no need for the city of Novi to construct another park especially one that is 269 acres. If Novi just wants to spend money, then they should work on the upkeep of the three parks that they already have.

Photo Essay Topic

I finalized my thought process and decided to do my photo essay on Novi wanting a state grant for ANOTHER city park. Novi applied last year for a state grant to fund the building of another park, and was denied. They are starting a petition, and will try again this fall to get the grant. My essay will basically show all the parks that Novi already has, and how they don't need another one. If anything they should just spend a little money to fix up a few things that are starting to fall apart in the parks that we already have.