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(Editor’s Note: Old Mission Peninsula resident Kara Koeplin, who walks the trail at Pelizzari Natural Area several times a week, has concerns about a candidate who says there should have been a development there. Read on for her thoughts. -jb)
As I pass my one-year anniversary of being a Peninsula Township resident, and observing some of the comments made by candidates, I’d like to emphasize these several things.
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I walk at Pelizzari Natural Area at least several times each week. I’m struck by how fortunate we are to have such a natural and peaceful setting so close to so many residents. The park is heavily used, and the cars in the parking lot don’t tell the whole story. Countless neighbors to the park walk to it each day. If I didn’t have ready access to Pelizzari, I’d have driven hundreds of miles this year – as would the thousands of other users of Pelizzari – to find a place to walk my dog.
I’ve also volunteered on several parks’ work bees, both at Pelizzari and Bowers Harbor. The workload that volunteers carry is huge, but it’s not enough to think everything can be done by volunteers. Should volunteers shovel the parking lots in the winter, mow the lawns and trails in the summer, clean and repair the restrooms (which by the way, need massive upgrades), maintain playground equipment or ballfields or the lighthouse?
My point is, when I read cavalier statements by candidates who say Pelizzari was a mistake and should have been a development (my understanding is that voters made the decision 16 years ago!), or that the parks can be easily managed by volunteers or handed off to the wineries to care for, I question how informed or caring or serious these candidates are.
Two candidates with competition in this primary who’ve proven to me that they’ve done their homework and care about parks and a lot more in this township are Maura Sanders for supervisor and David Sanger for trustee. They get my vote.
Sincerely,
Kara Koeplin
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When I saw supervisor candidate Kelly Clark say “Pelizzari Natural Area is great, but I would have rather seen development there” in the Gazette, I knew his vision was not right for our community. The south end deserves that kind of beauty and recreation opportunity.
Kara, thank you for your support! I love our parks. We used to live in Bay East Village and found ourselves in Pelizzari several times a week too. Now, we have hundreds of acres in Old Mission State Park to roam as we are at the far north end. My time on the Park Commission several years ago was a very special time for me. We are all very lucky to have our parks as they are necessary for the community to experience the best of nature!