When it comes to big changes, we're great at saying "no" here in New Orleans.

We're not so good at saying "yes" or even "maybe." We don't always open our collective minds to the possibility that different could actually be acceptable, if not better.

Look around. It shows.

It showed once again at a Tuesday night meeting called to talk about a handful of new proposals for City Park.

Several hundred people showed up to hear presentations on three new developments pitched for the 1,300 acre urban oasis: a Louisiana Public Broadcasting headquarters, a new site for the Louisiana Children's Museum and a golf complex proposed by the non-profit Fore!Kids Foundation.

And then, for the most part, they promptly lined up against them.

Some raised concerns about parking. Others complained that the proposals would sully favorite spots such as Roosevelt Mall. Some simply don't think the park should offer golf.

The overall gist: "What about the green space?"

And yes, that's a very important concern.

But it's not the only one. The people running this treasured institution also have to be realistic.

"It takes money to run a park," development director John Hopper said Wednesday. "Pre-Katrina, we got 2 percent of our operating budget from the state, and everything else we raised ourselves. Now we get 30 percent from the state, more in line with what parks get nationally, so that still means we have to come up with 70 percent of our operating budget."

"We want green space also, but you have to have a maintenance staff" to keep up those areas and "make the open space useful."

The truth is that even if all three projects come to fruition -- and nothing, as of now, is carved in stone -- nobody's talking about paving the place over.

City Park currently has four golf courses, but the Fore!Kids Foundation proposes two 18-hole courses and a nine-hole half course. That could well free up more space.

And the Children's Museum would incorporate outdoor spaces into its design.

What planners are talking about is bringing in some projects that would both allow more people to enjoy the spot and bring in more money.

It's not a radical idea.

Major urban parks everywhere have cultural attractions and sports facilities. If designed with care by people who know how to balance competing agendas, they can be both beautiful and financially solvent.

The challenge now is for everyone to take a deep breath and see if there's room for compromise on any of these projects -- different locations within the park, creative parking solutions, whatever.

For their part, the folks who run City Park aren't tone-deaf to public input.

When they held meetings on a master plan for the park pre-Katrina, they fielded complaints that the proposal didn't include a dog park or a skate park, neither of which was on their radar at the time. Thanks to the public input, both are now on drawing board.

And the park's brain trust is ready to go through the process again.

In fact, rather than being discouraged by Tuesday's showing, Hopper said City Park officials were, by and large, pleased.

"It's much better to have 300-plus people who are passionate about the park because they love it so much than to have an empty hall," he said. "Caring people can just disagree. You take all those things under consideration."

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