Thomas Polk Park

The writer is president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a national organization.

Polk Park in uptown Charlotte — a rare and important work by landscape architect Angela Danadjieva that is likely eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places — is about to be demolished. But wait. According to the Polk Park Partnership Framework approved by the Charlotte City Council on March 13, 2023, “the park should be demolished as soon as public engagement is complete,” in a process to “be led by the Charlotte Center City Partners.”

There’s one problem. There’s no evidence on CCCP’s website or anywhere else that the public engagement the City Council voted for has taken place. Can the CCCP and the city just ignore the public engagement that’s required before demolition? This is a public park.

Charles Birnbaum, Washington, DC