Article Contributed on: 12/4/2006 11:00:43 AM
I am unimpressed with the endorsement of community groups composed of business owners who may or may not live here and other interested parties.
Adding 1,000 families would line their pockets with gold, including city government. Priceless open space disappears at a dizzying rate, we need to dig our heels in.
Photos of the two sites show the land the City would get in exchange has serious drainage problems, that it will always be a series of ditches for runoff. Any deer trying to use it as a wildlife corridor would break a leg. So the developers want to chuck the ditch land and acquire the rare, flat land of Iron Spring Park instead.
That's the whole point, isn't it? I wonder if they could build much of a housing project without this "special" trade. Shall we find out? This land, next to other major parks, should be open space, was given to the City especially for use as a park.
If we kill the swap, it can't be touched by the City. Want to send a message to the City that we don't want parks used for real estate development? That we don't favor hi-density development here? That we dislike it catering to the desires of real estate and retail groups? Any of the above? Vote No on the land swap then. Simple.