Park will not be sold following public outcry
Monroe City Council scuttled a proposal to sell part of a city park to balance a $1.1 million budget shortfall, following testimony in defense of the park given in a council chambers that was packed with park supporters last Tuesday evening.
Currie View Park, located near Monroe Middle School, is a large, grassy field with a small playground and a baseball field. Monroe city councilman Mitch Ruth suggested earlier this summer that half the park could be sold for multi-family housing development, and the other half improved to include a covered sports facility. That wold help the city fill a $1.1 million gap that was emerging in the city's 2008 budget, due to slumping sales taxes and home prices and increasing fuel costs.
But supporters of the park told the council during open testimony that they value the park just as it is. "I live right on the backside of Currie View Park," said neighbor Jeremy Martin. "My daughter plays with her friends there every day. For it to be cut in half as has been proposed would be a mistake in judgement. I know that financial times have been tough for all of us with gas prices going up, but when things like that happen, we don't decide to sell of half the back yard. I hoping you'll find other methods of covering the deficit."
The park was originally built by developers and given to the residents in exchange for being allowed to construct homes on lots smaller than the area's zoning then decreed.
That made the sale of it ethically tricky, noted some. And it didn't seem like an opportune time to sell land, given the current real estate market, said others.
Neighbors presented the council with a petition containing 160 names, asking that the park remain intact. After about 20 minutes of testimony, city councilman Geoffrey Thomas made an unusual motion.
"I'd like to make a motion...I move that staff not consider selling Currie View Park," he said, as applause erupted in council chambers. Kurt Goering seconded the motion. A second round of applause and whoops of victory broke out at the unanimous passage of the motion.
"The voice of the people has spoken," said Mayor Donnetta Walser.
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