Barker River Park

In last week’s Town Council meeting, there was much that felt out of sync and whiplash inducing. I ranted a bit, though I am not publishing that. If you’re interested, let me know. I will be completely unavailable today, Tuesday, November 18, most of the day without internet even. But I find I cannot put this baby to bed without a little bit of “what the…?” about the Barker River Park expansion. All of a sudden there’s this much better version, still not as simplified as I would have preferred, but a reasonable compromise between minimalists (like myself) and the lavish redo on the town website preferred by others. (Cost issue concerns remain, but not to be discussed now). In the November town newsletter when they gave an update on the expansion, the verbiage sounded like it has been cut back greatly in scope, so I went to the website and looked up the project and it was still there in all its elaborate glory. What was one to assume? The new, significantly simplified version will be on the website in a week or so, according to Ryan Gubler, Director of Parks and Recreation.. I wish I could feel more like, “just take the win.”

When Mr. Gubler presented it at the meeting, he said they had listened to citizens so basically they’ll make the new property usable without the fence and with grass and sprinklers, walking paths, etc., improve parking, and make some upgrades to the bathrooms.

Why did we have to go through so much angst to be listened to? And why, why, why did they hire someone to ask us what we wanted???? Why in tarnation didn’t they just ask us? This whole process has been absolutely illogical to the point of absurdity, and expensively so. My wee mind be boggled.

I’ve written about trust and why we might not always trust our leaders. I’m beginning to feel like the real issue is: why don’t they trust us?