ROBERT P. GIBB, M.D.

PATHOLOGIST

204 VIEWCREST RD., BELLINGHAM, WA 98229 * (360) 733-5775 robertpgibb@comcast.net

 

To:  Edgemoor Neighbors Association

 

SUBJECT: Greenway Levy

 

After attending the ENA Board meeting last evening and rereading the mayor’s letter to Responsible Development last June, I have resolved my ambivalence concerning the proposed Greenway Levy. 

 

As a past co-chair of the Beyond Greenway Levy passed ten years ago, I am a strong proponent of acquisition and preservation of open space for the benefit of future generations.  Parks, trials and recreational playgrounds are part of that space.  Equally important is the preservation and limited development of critical, environmentally sensitive natural areas, especially those that nurture and protect endangered resources such as salmon.  The Greenways movement addressed by the First and Beyond Greenway levies emphasized the latter.  We promised acquisition of property on King Mountain and the Chuckanut Ridge property.  For a variety of reasons, neither has come to pass but the money pledged and allocated for these acquisitions has been spent. 

 

Even though the mayor has repeatedly reiterated  his opposition and threatened veto to spending Levy money for acquisition of the Chuckanut Ridge property should it become available, we are led to believe that there is somewhere between 2 and 8 million dollars that may be allocated for  this purpose.  I remain to be convinced. 

 

Of equal concern is the unspecified allocation in the Levy of about 20 million dollars for development, maintenance and operation of parks, apparently at the discretion of the City Parks Department under control of the mayor.  If the grossly misspent over-development of the Interurban Trail at the junction with the Old Samish Highway, without neighborhood input, is an example, my concern is intensified.  It is my impression that maintenance and operation of the parks are appropriately components of funding in the city’s general fund budget. 

 

Reluctantly, I am unable to support the current Levy proposal.  The mayor’s suggestion that development of a Park District with commissioners elected specifically to manage and control acquisition, pres ervation and development of greenspace within designated areas, is the prudent way to go.