Common Wealth....

commonwealth: n. 1. the people of a nation or state; body politic 2. a nation or state in which there is self-government; democracy or republic.

As we eat our turkey dinners, celebrating the first settlers’ survival, I’m thinking about the home they built for us on this continent. We’ve neglected this home in many ways, but opportunities abound to do better.

One example is our city park in Lindsay, scheduled for reconstruction beginning next month with a $500,000 grant from the State after the west half was demolished building the Aquatic Center.

I love this park. I love its plainness and soft edges, its ancient trees. I love the way you can drive into it, park and get out wherever you find a good place. I love the ways different people use it: old men gathering to play cards, multigenerational families holding birthday parties and picnics, cars emptying kids to swing and slide, couples sitting on the grass. I love the memories it holds for me. It is part of our common wealth here.

One memory is from Nov. ‘92, the funeral procession and ceremony to heal from the 1990 Freeze. Recently I found the unmarked gravesite where the horse-drawn caisson unloaded the coffin, where people left their written hopes and fears while dignitaries spoke of this town’s future.

With the $500K, the city will 1) eliminate all the old roads, including the one to the golf course cafe; 2) replace the arbors, picnic tables and playground equipment with new ones; 3) fill in the soccer field they dug during the construction of the aquatic center and replace it with a baseball diamond; and 4) pave curvaceous bicycle paths lined with new trees and bollard lights.

Parking will be along the extension of Sierra View Avenue, which will be constructed with Federal $1,250,000 loan. Sierra View will cut right between the park and Senior Center, obliterating the abandoned swimming pool where Lindsay Skimmers competed for decades. When I protested that this change will seriously impact those multi-generational families who need the park most, the staff explained to me that change is hard, but we just have to get with the future.

These plans have been made without any public input, although the park funds have stringent public participation requirements. What’s left of our city park could be restored to health much less expensively simply by not completing Sierra View Extension, which will indebt this town even further, and using the State funds to fix up what exists now.

At the Nov. 8 council meeting, I asked Council to put the plans on hold until more public input could be gained, with no response. This park is part of our common wealth, and we, its citizens, have the responsibility of protecting what belongs to us all. I ask you to contact our council members and tell them you want a say in the future of this park, as well as the town as a whole. Think of it as a Thanks-Giving act.