cloud713 Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 hey guys.. i want to start a Kickstarter for a local project that i think would help improve the Houston parks system, but i dont know how to go about doing it.does anyone have experience creating a Kickstarter, collaborating with departments of the city, or a keen knowledge on project/development cost estimates?im having a hard time figuring out what a feasible goal would be for the Kickstarter to help get the project built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 it looks like it might be worth shooting the Kinder Foundation and the Buffalo Bayou Partnership emails..?any ideas/input would be greatly appreciated. im very serious about pushing this effort but i dont believe that i currently have the resources to get a successful campaign started myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 What's your idea cloud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 well i wasnt really trying to throw it out there, but its not like this is a money making idea or something i should be protecting from infringement. i got inspired by the Houston Needs A Swimming Hole guys to start a campaign to build a "Boardwalk", a la the Ann and Roy Butler Boardwalk Trail at Lady Bird Lake in Austin, but have ours connecting Memorial Park and Buffalo Bayou Park. i figured since the city is dropping close to $60 million on Buffalo Bayou Park, possibly $250 million on Memorial Park, and $415 million on the Bayou Greenways Initiative to improve the hike/bike trails and green space along the bayous that we could start some kind of initiative to build a boardwalk along the bayou connecting a few of the major park improvement projects, along with creating a continuous trail system from downtown to uptown.the only thing i see being an issue is there are a few private residences through there (though there were a couple private residences along the Austin Boardwalk too), and im not sure if just building the boardwalk along the other side of the bayou on those stretches would be kosher. fortunately there are large stretches/banks of the bayou owned by River Oaks Country Club, MFAH Bayou Bend Collection, some large vacant tract, and a few large residential complexes which would likely be delighted to have direct access to the trail system. the MFAH would probably be cool. no idea who owns the vacant land. the country club is the big if i guess. if all of those are cool with the trail it might be possible to build across the bayou from most all the private residences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 and i guess the real issue at hand, now that the idea is out there.. im not sure if it could be built in a similar manner as the Austin Boardwalk. given the width and depth of the bayou through there.. so it could be an interesting construction/engineering challenge? assuming everything went fairly similar, the boardwalk in Austin cost around 28 million, and is almost identical in length to what i believe would be suitable for the Buffalo Memorial Boardwalk.obviously 28 million is too much to raise through Kickstarter. even the 1.9 million the city of Austin forked over for designing and permitting seems like way too high a goal for a public fundraiser. so thats my other issue.. what could be done with a realistic amount of money in order to get the wheels in motion for a bayou boardwalk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Cloud I like the idea, but I think it shouldn't span the entirety of the bayou. Memorial Park is a natural beauty and as much should be done to preserve it for nature and not pave & pile a boardwalk. That, and the multi-million dollar River Oaks Mansions that front the Bayou (including the River Oaks Country Club). I quite like the trails currently in place from Shepherd to Downtown. This idea could work, or is somewhat in the works, for East of Downtown. There have been some great proposals and renderings showing the potential and desire to create this more pedestrian/boardwalk-esque plans. If you were worried about someone stealing your plans you could have PMed me. But like I said a similar idea is planned for the east side of Downtown. The problem though with building over the water is that with the slightest increase in rainfall the bayous rise quite a bit. If you notice most of the trails are elevated a few feet higher than the water line. As you pointed out the bayou is quite narrow so I don't see how the side walks would create anything along the banks, hovering over the water. Also would be displacing a lot a trees. You don't want to be in the Swamplot headlines do you? JAWS WILL DROP! just kidding... Please take this as constructive criticism, I really like how enthusiastic you are about your ideas and you have a drive to make this city a better place. Something even some of our city leaders lack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Kickstarter isn't really for things like big public projects, it's more for personal and private endeavors. For instance, a local brewery wanted to get a canning line so they could sell cans and bottles to supermarkets instead of delivering kegs to local bars. Supporters got everything from badges to t-shirts to being exclusive "beta testers", and the stretch goals included adding things to make their "backyard" area more hospitable for watching live entertainment. Similarly, a now-defunct webcomic that I used to read was trying to get their comics published in a book form, so that if you contributed a little you got a free book, and higher supporters got things like copies of all three (autographed), their name in the book, and also a personalized comic drawn for them. Whereas most Kickstarters raise thousands of dollars, what you're talking is MILLIONS of dollars. Compounding that is possibly taking private property, and that would be hard to do politically and money-wise. Instead of wasting your time with Kickstarter, you could try to convince a foundation/private donors to at least cover part of the cost (that's what happened with Klyde Warren Park). (Additionally, I couldn't help but notice how old your version of Google Earth is...I still run 5.2, but that's even older!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 interesting perspectives, thanks!Montrose, what do you mean "the entirety of the bayou"? the boardwalk, or the trail system? obviously the boardwalk would just be from the eastern edge of Memorial Park to the western edge of Buffalo Bayou Park. no more than necessary. its already going to be expensive. if you meant the trail system, why wouldnt you like to see the gaps filled in and the trail system "completed"?what do you mean this is somewhat in the works for east of downtown? ive never seen a proposal for anything like the Austin boardwalk anywhere in Houston?nah im not really worried about anyone "stealing" my plans. i just wanted to get things a little more established and figured out before i started throwing my idea out there. heh..yeah, the boardwalk would definitely be elevated above the Bayou at least the height of the Austin boardwalk (5-6 feet.. likely higher), and meander over the water as little as possible (the couple spots where it would be necessary to jump from one side of the bayou to the other to avoid private residences).not sure i understand this part.."As you pointed out the bayou is quite narrow so I don't see how the side walks would create anything along the banks, hovering over the water."the sidewalks would create what? its just supposed to be a path filling in a major gap in the Buffalo Bayou trail system. no more, no less.lmao.. Swamplot headlines...IronTiger.i agree. i guess thats part of why i was so perplexed by the Houston Needs A Swimming Hole campaign and how they went about doing their Kickstarter. yeah, millions is way too much. thats why i was wondering if anyone had input on a smaller piece of the project that could be feasible, in the tens of thousands of dollar range or so.yeah. im seriously considering writing a letter to Nancy Kinder, but like i said earlier, i wanted to get the idea a little more established and thought out before putting it out there so publicly. the Kinder Foundation has already donated money to the Bayou Greenways 2020 project and Buffalo Bayou Park (along with numerous other green spaces), so i figured they would be the perfect candidate to see through a Buffalo-Memorial Boardwalk.haha.. i didnt realize it was that old. i only use it to map out paths and stuff for fantasy developments/projects now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 going off of Google Maps, a boardwalk looks doable... hopefully the building at the end of Ashbury Pl isnt a private residence because other then that it looks like the majority of the boardwalk could be built along the banks across the bayou from any private residences. assuming some property owners (who owns those 2 random strips along the bayou south of the Rains Way houses?) allow it to be built on their land. which hopefully wouldnt be an issue because that land is undevelopable flood plain land anyways.. right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Kickstarter isn't really for things like big public projects, it's more for personal and private endeavors. For instance, a local brewery wanted to get a canning line so they could sell cans and bottles to supermarkets instead of delivering kegs to local bars. Supporters got everything from badges to t-shirts to being exclusive "beta testers", and the stretch goals included adding things to make their "backyard" area more hospitable for watching live entertainment. Similarly, a now-defunct webcomic that I used to read was trying to get their comics published in a book form, so that if you contributed a little you got a free book, and higher supporters got things like copies of all three (autographed), their name in the book, and also a personalized comic drawn for them. Whereas most Kickstarters raise thousands of dollars, what you're talking is MILLIONS of dollars. Compounding that is possibly taking private property, and that would be hard to do politically and money-wise. Instead of wasting your time with Kickstarter, you could try to convince a foundation/private donors to at least cover part of the cost (that's what happened with Klyde Warren Park). (Additionally, I couldn't help but notice how old your version of Google Earth is...I still run 5.2, but that's even older!) you could have something similar though. I mean, think of the wall in the MFAH. Who doesn't fantasize about their name being on that wall? Anyway, so you have levels. a $1000 donation would get your name on one of the pavers used for the boardwalk (I'll assume it would not be wood decking). a $10000 donation would donate a bench along the boardwalk (with a little engraving with your name on it). a $20000 donation would get you on a plaque as a major contributor. something like that, but that would take some negotiation, or something. and yeah, the amount of funding needed for something like this would be more huge than kickstarter style. it would be cool though to have something that blended with the environment, I'm imagining a treeway path, like from the ewok villiage... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 you could have something similar though. I mean, think of the wall in the MFAH. Who doesn't fantasize about their name being on that wall? Anyway, so you have levels. a $1000 donation would get your name on one of the pavers used for the boardwalk (I'll assume it would not be wood decking). a $10000 donation would donate a bench along the boardwalk (with a little engraving with your name on it). a $20000 donation would get you on a plaque as a major contributor. something like that, but that would take some negotiation, or something. and yeah, the amount of funding needed for something like this would be more huge than kickstarter style. it would be cool though to have something that blended with the environment, I'm imagining a treeway path, like from the ewok villiage... I'm not familiar with ewok village.. I assume it's Star Wars related? But something like this would be desirable, meandering across and along the banks of the bayou, and hopefully not piss off any tree people. And yeah, I was thinking about people that donate over say $1,000 (or some agreed set amount) getting their name etched into a boardwalk "plank" for the donation. Not sure how they could make different "rewards" for higher and lower goals though. Obviously whoever made the biggest donation (hopefully the Kinders would jump on board) would get the whole boardwalk named after them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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