Parks At Risk

Together Including Every Student (TIES)

Democrat and Chronicle

Letter to the Editor:

Are you saddened every time you pass a once-green and wild area only to find bulldozers and houses on it? Thank God for our parks! …We think! Today our parks are at risk. They are dangerously being focused on for what profit they may bring the development industries instead of their intended focus: to provide enjoyment for generations to come and to be a haven for wildlife. At public meetings held on July 17 and 18, we learned that Monroe County is hoping to build the new Soccer Complex on our Greece Canal Park and on a parcel of fallow fields designated as parkland. A wooded wetland with two creeks running through it will be stripped of its critical habitat for many of the birds, like the American woodcock, that find haven in its trees, bushes, and grasses. These are birds that fly from the south each spring and settle in and around Greece in order to find rest before their long haul across Lake Ontario. We are continuously being told that the Town of Greece is supportive of efforts to save our green space for our migrating birds, but now Greece officials are letting our green space be gobbled up. In addition, the adjacent field is being eyed by a local farmer, who would like to farm it. How wonderful it would be if an abandoned farm was brought back to life again.

You may ask what the complex involves? That question has remained unanswered because written plans, posters at the public meeting, and word of mouth from soccer coaches, all differ. Some say there will be 20 regulation fields and two championship fields. Mr. Max Streible, deputy to Supervisor Auberger, says there will be one championship field, and soccer aficionados say there will be three indoor fields. What is it? At any rate, a 2,000 car parking lot, concession buildings, a picnic area, and bleachers are all in the mix. Soccer parents say we need additional fields. But do we need them in our Greece Canal Park? I’m afraid that soon after construction, our soccer parents will find that they are once again scrambling for soccer field space as they compete with all of Monroe County and with out-of-town leagues. Why not have each suburb build a few more soccer fields? A great source for soccer-worthy land very often is seen in huge lawn expanses in the front of some churches. Or, build the soccer complex in the space vacated by Kodak at Elmgrove.

If you would like to save Greece Canal Park, write to your county legislators and tell them you want a more suitable site for the soccer complex. Let’s stop the County from using our parks to fatten up the pockets of developers!