Letter Writer Decries Removal Of Shrubs At Crescent Park

Dear Editor:

You may have noticed lately that our Park and Recreation Department have cut down all of the shrubs that were separating Crescent Park from our Third Avenue NE.

According to a phone conversation I had on September 13th with our parks and recreation manager Mr. Blais Administration had decided to remove all of these shrubs because they said they we're apparently all dead and that they we're planning to put a concrete side walk all along Third Avenue NE.

I asked if Administration was plannjng to replant new shrubs so that we could keep the benefit that those bushes brings to our Park. I was told that no, they we're not planning to replant anything because of two main reason.

One reason is because the Police department want to be able to see what is going on in the park as they drive by.

The second reason was that administration thinks that the Park would be more inviting to people if they could see inside the park from the outside.

As you may recall these ideas that people would be more inclined to visit the park if all the shrub were remove was first brought up to us a few years back by the firm we hired to come up with a plan for the future of our Downtown.

I was present at one of the presentations given by that firm at City hall and I stood up to object to these ideas of cutting any shrub around the hedge of Crescent park which is one of the greatest jewel our City has.

Those shrubs are like the exterior wall of our house or like the fence we have that make our outdoor yard also more cozy.

All of these shrubs (when they are not cut too short) create a good separation between the business of our city and the quietness of our park.

They stop some of the wind and some of the dust from our winter sanding from reaching Crescent Park.

They also stop in great part the exhaust fumes and some of the noise that comes from the vehicles that drive by.

The bushes also keep out of our sight the view of vehicles which help our mind to be more at peace by being less distracted by all those passing vehicles.

These shrubs are a great part of the living soul that give us the warm feeling of being in a magical place and they are the delight to many birds that enjoy them for the good food and the good resting place they provide to them.

These shrubs are also a delight to look at when either you are in or out of the park.

Now I understand that we may have at time some undesirable activity that may happen at the library, the outdoor pool and a few that may occur sometime in or near Crescent park, just like they do happen all over town. But I don't believe that these ideas of cutting our beautiful shrubs around Crescent Park will truly help us resolve any big crime problem in our City or inspire people to visit the park.

If the police want to see what's happening in Crescent park they can still use their car and drive inside the park. They have been doing for a long time. They can also walk there.

My point is that our Administration often keep telling us stories that don't make much sense to me.

Just like all the stories they came up with as to why we should have had LIP program for cast Iron, or again telling us story as to why we should have to move all of our plastic bins onto our beautiful street.

We are all witnesses over time how all of these stories don't hold water and now they want us to believe that cutting all of the shrubs around Crescent Park is the new greatest idea that our Administration have been blessed with.

I do appreciate the desire of our police services to try different ways to tackle crime in our town but this idea that cutting our shrubs in Crescent Park is necessary doesn't appeal to me at all.

Just like I never understood why the police and the RCMP did apparently lobby our government to have our smiles taken out of our pictures on our driver licences and on our passport. That is what I was told on the phone by a high official from our Provincial Government after these ideas was put into law.

I think some elected officials and some Administration seem to have a hard time saying no to a certain group of people when their ideas doesn't make much sense. Now we all look like dead People on our Canadian identification paper and for what?

Now we may end up with a park with no border.

Perhaps this idea of cutting all of the shrubs has more to do with not having to spend time and money caring for them or buying new ones when the old one dies.

This amount of money saved could probably end up going towards hiring more police force as the mayor said he would like to see. More officers on the street and more involved in the community like sending police to our schools to put handcuffs on our children, scare them with dog and stories.

Illegal drugs like crystal meths and other crimes do cause some real problems to a certain degree in our town but I don't believe that it has the great potential to destroy our City as some want us to believe.

Right now besides climate change that may very well kill us I am also worry about some people at city hall trying to control our information to perhaps protect their image and their point of view instead of letting the flow of energies circulate freely among our community.

Communication policy, police state attitude and in camera secrets as well as seeing our elite keep taking more of our taxes dollars years after years for their high salary, high benefit and high pension plan may have a better chance of destroying our community in more ways than any drug could do so far. Our poor investment in social services doesn't help either.

As I mention to our Park Manager Mr. Derick Blais, let's replant new shrubs and let's invest in our path way in the south west side of our park close to Fairford street. Let's take the garbage can and the big stone out of the main entrance where we have our Arch and let's pave a wide path all the way to where the bridge is.

Let's also pave a wide path that connects the entrance to the park in front of the First Avenue East all the way to the main path so that people can stop muddying their (wedding) shoes, their stroller, their walker, their wheel chair and so on.

We also don't need to have staff working in the park on weekends as Mr Blais is contemplating doing. Let's just enjoy the park as it is on our weekend.

Let's take the time together to reflect a little bit more on what kind of a community we truly want to built for us and for our future generation.

Michel Labonte

Moose Jaw SK

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