Today my friend Stacy Cates posted her views regarding the effort to sell our city's Burwell wetlands for private development:
------------------
by Stacy Cates
Here are the reasons I think we should protect Burwell Creek Natural Area instead of replacing it with a shopping center and apartments, even though it would create new jobs.
A combination of characteristics makes this property supremely unique, unlike ANY other property. The location in the center of the city and between two other parks means that it can complete one big Central Park.
-- We can't do that with ANY other property, ever. --
It's right next to our tourist and civic centers, so more visitors and residents - and visiting business developers - will notice and enjoy our beautiful and unique city greenspace.
-- There is no comparable adjacent property with which we can replace the lost acreage. --
It's ecologically important, has diverse flora and fauna, has old mature woods, is beautiful, is easily walkable, and is full of potential.
-- That's not replaceable in a center-city location. --
It's near other educational resources - the ECO Center, the library, and Jackson Hill, which makes it all the more a convenient location for learning opportunities for children.
-- That is also not replaceable with an equally eco-educational property. --
CRBI and others have been working on spreading this message a long time. People have started to become informed. They aren't blindly jumping on a bandwagon. There's a movement now because there are overwhelming legitimate reasons that this unique property in it's natural state is extremely valuable to the community, it's children, and future children. Now that our residents know about the value of this treasure, I don't think they will stop until they've protected all of it - the whole property they paid for and still own.
In contrast, there is plenty of other property in sufficiently traveled areas of the city that can be much more easily and inexpensively developed into a shopping center and apartments – places that could still facilitate the creation of jobs. But even if this particular developer lost interest, what kinds of jobs would we be losing? Let's be honest - a majority of non-living-wage, minimum-wage jobs, typical for these kinds of businesses.
We have a great town, I think we can also attract businesses that pay reasonable-wage jobs, especially with all the natural beauty, outdoor activities, and the many other wonderful and diverse things we have to offer.
I don't think anyone wants or intends to do anything to stop the creation of jobs or to impede developers from making a profit. I appreciate the good things developers do for us. If anything, by keeping this property, it seems to me we would be making a developer's job easier. Filling in mountains of dirt, incorporating the diversion of huge amounts of water, and a PR nightmare of a devastated community couldn't be desirable conditions or inexpensive tasks for a developer.
I think we have space for all and can have it all. Let's keep our Burwell Creek Natural Area and Wetlands and work to combine different locations with deals that foster business growth and job creation.
No comments:
Post a Comment