Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to the City of Elmira and Mayor John Tonello for providing direction, resources and support, enabling us to engage in a meaningful project. We would also like to thank our Project Advisor Jamie Vanucchi, and Community Contact, Zsuzi Kadar, as well as the Department of Landscape Architecture at Cornell University: their support and advice were critical to the success of this process. We would like to thank all the steering committee members: Andy Avery (City of Elmira), Ron Bentley (Chemung Canal Trust Company), Sherri Geary (Southern Tier Economic Growth), Jenn Herrick (Elmira Downtown Development), Mike Hosey (Elmira Savings Bank), Zsuzsi Kadar (Elmira Community Development), Mike Kenna (Clemens Center), Jim Lynch (NYSDEC), John Maycumber (City of Elmira), Jenn Miller (Elmira Community Development), Bill Ostrander (Chemung Valley Audubon Society), Jim Pfiffer (Friends of the Chemung River Watershed), Scott Rodabaugh (NYSDEC), Charlie Shaffer (City of Elmira), and Dan Smithers (City of Elmira). Forming a solid foundation for the project, the steering committee guided our goals and objectives. They helped us form strong ties with the community at large and also disseminated information about community meetings. The participants in community meetings and design charrettes fundamentally shaped the Mark Twain Riverfront Park Revitalization proposal. We relied on participants’ intrinsic expertise about the City of Elmira and Riverfront Park. As we moved forward through process stages, from research to concept and then to proposal formation, City of Elmira residents provided both qualitative and quantitative information about design preferences, priorities, program preferences and goals. We would also like to thank the Elmira Star-Gazette, WENY, and WETM for diligently tracking our progress and reporting back to Elmira.
Mark Twain Riverfront Park Revitalization