Consulting engineers sat at the table and several dozen townspeople sat in the audience facing them. After a brief introduction and an explanation of technical matters such as storm water run-off and mitigation, flood control and parks and open spaces there came the time for questions. Mostly people didn’t have questions. They had things to share with the engineers. They had things to say about their wetlands restoration projects, about calcareous fens, about their concerns that the pavement would increase run-off and thus the risk of flooding in the existing neighborhood. They told the engineers about the difference between agricultural pollution and urban oils and chemicals and fertilizers and poisonous waste that would ruin Swan Creek and the Nine Springs area forever, seeping into the marsh and destroying the spawning ground for the northern pike, ruining a thriving sports fishery and further damaging an already weakened aquatic system. They told the engineers about how the calcareous fens depend on calcium rich ground water for survival and how the urban wells would draw down that ground water and despoil the fens forever.
There were a few questions though… who was paying them: the city. Had they considered that if they recommended against the development there wouldn’t be an open space issue, no need to translate fields and woods into lawns and ballparks?
Who was taking minutes of this public meeting? No one. Why were we there then?
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