User:Martha Forsyth/Madison Meadow

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Work in Progress Work in Progress - comments welcome

Madison Meadow is a two-acre plot of undeveloped land in Eugene, Oregon, United States. In the fall of 2003 the property was put up for sale by its owner, a resident of New York City.[1] A prospective buyer had plans to build several houses on the property. Neighbors, concerned that a new owner would develop the property and displace the native wildlife, began a campaign and started a non-profit organization to purchase the land and preserve its wild character. As of late 2007 they had raised nearly all of the $500,000 necessary to purchase the property.

add a map? and certainly a photo

Contents

[edit] Background

Spearheaded by Linda Prier of Eugene[1], neighbors formed a non-profit group called Madison Meadow in June of 2004[2] and attempted to raise money to buy the property. Owner Eric Frye, a resident of New York City whose father had owned the property, was responsive to the group, and offered to sell the property for $450,000, if they could raise a $200,000 down-payment by the end of 2003. The group was unable to meet that goal, but neighbors Paul and Stephanie Niedermeyer bought the property, and offered the group another chance to raise the money and buy the property. The group was successful this time in raising the down-payment, and purchased the property, assuming Frye's mortgage. The group made interest-only payments on the mortgage until 2008, when a balloon payment was due.[1] They were able to make the full payment, due in part to members loaning money to cover the shortfall; the group continues to raise funds to cover these loans.


[edit] The Campaign

The Madison Meadow group used a multi-faceted approach.

  • They weighed the pros and cons of denser city/more open space around it, vs. a less tightly packed city that contained green space, for the benefit of both wildlife and the city's people.[3]
Petenote: The background for this is Senate Bill 10 of 1969, and also SB's 100 and 101 of 1973. It's a vital bit of Oregon history that, unfortunately, is not well documented on Wikipedia yet. This is our draft/outline.
  • They set about educating people to the value of having undeveloped space within city limits, and developing community awareness of this particular parcel of land.[4]
Petenote: This could certainly be cited to one of the newspaper articles. Marthareply: Yup!
  • They researched and published the history of the tract of land in question.[5]
  • They developed a web site, through which they set about raising the $500,000 necessary to make the purchase. They accepted donations through their website.[6]
  • Field Fairies [ref. their article

[edit] Success!

By November of 2007 the group of neighbors had met their most critical goal: they had raised enough money to purchase the land in the name of the trust. A small amount still needs to be raised.


need to add:
Photos (get permission to put at least one photo on Commons and use it)
Press (see website)


[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Russo, Edward. "Clock ticking on Madison Meadow", The Register-Guard, April 5, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-03. 
  2. ^ http://www.taxexemptworld.com/organizations/eugene_or_97405.asp
  3. ^ Maben, Scott. "Development vs. meadow", The Register-Guard, June 18, 2004. 
  4. ^ http://www.madisonmeadow.org/faq.php
  5. ^ http://www.madisonmeadow.org/MMHistory.pdf
  6. ^ http://www.madisonmeadow.org/donate.php


[edit] Possible external references

Keep here for possible use on the page. (will need proper citations)