As Promised

Seems to me I saw a facebook post a while ago from someone who would disagree with me and does want this fancy park upgrade. I don’t remember who or what exactly they said. If you think differently about the park upgrade, please comment and open up that dialogue. Just hit reply and tell me what you think! This is your newspaper.

Recap:

Issue 9: Article about potential reasons to not always trust Town Council’s ability to do what is best for Springdale, giving ten reasons for that uncertainty

Issue 10: addressed in more detail the first of those ten reasons: the workforce housing overlay zone change

Issue 11, last issue: addressed item 2: The land-swap proposal for a medical clinic

Issue 12, this issue, will address items 5, 6, and 7 (skipping 3 and 4 for now). These three items all have to do with the George A. Barker Springdale River Park.

When the parcel of land right by Barker Park came up for sale, the Town decided to buy it. They were advised by local real estate experts that it was way overpriced, but they went ahead and bought it without an attempt to get it at market value. As boo boos go, not the worst in the world.

The Mayor spearheaded a proposal to use that purchased parcel as a location for a history museum. Thank heavens others in the community saw how that would completely destroy the use of Barker Park as a local amenity. Petitions were signed, complaints were registered and eventually, the writing on the wall was clear, and the proposal was withdrawn.

Ah, then, what to do with an expanded Barker Park? Why, hire consultants to fancy it up now that it has more land. So the consultants came with ideas in hand to present to Springdale residents. I attended those meetings. They asked which of several delightful options did we prefer. Everyone I heard speak said we wanted to keep it pretty much as is. The bathrooms may need upgrading, make the new parcel usable, but if we fancy it up it will become another tourist destination, of which we have plenty. Let’s try and keep this for locals.

They responded, “We hear you. Now, which would you prefer, a playground or a hammock area?” I felt like I had walked into an optometrist’s office with perfect 20/20 vision, the optometrist sat me in a chair, put those big things over my eyes and said, “Which is better? One, or two? One, or two?”

I answered, “Well, one but, really, it was better without anything.”

“OK, which is better then, 3 or 4, 3, or 4?”

“Well, I guess, 4 is better than 3, but really, …”

I wasn’t able to find out how much was spent just for the consultation but the proposed fix for that which was not broken is in the 2 million dollar range. (See Barker River Park Expansion Project Update, page 7)