Please stop trying to develop Saint Edward Park as a hotel space. We are sick and tired of trying to defend it as a space for people to enjoy nature as it grew. And it is for animals too. It needs to be dark at night.
Washington Park staff who think a hotel in Saint Edward Park is a good idea need to understand that in Kenmore, there are more and more houses built every day, that there are more and more cars driving through our streets because of the tolled bridge and I-405. We need this park, this unique park, for a bit of fresh air, to see the kingfishers, to hear the thrush calls, to walk among the trees, to walk down to the lake and hear the water lapping against the shore and watch the ducks and the clouds. One would think people who work for parks would understand this better than most.
I’m so sick at heart to see so many large single family lots here in Kenmore that held deer, Douglas squirrels and little Mountain Beavers razed flat, then several large houses built on them. Those backyards have been habitat for decades. Full of little critters left homeless, who get attacked by cats and dogs then squashed flat by cars. The tall trees are felled, and there are less birds, less squirrels. They really miss the mulberry, cherry and walnut trees that were next door until last summer. No more little flocks of quail running by, no more band tail pigeons flopping about in the tall trees, far fewer woodpeckers and ducks. There was even an osprey nest one street over. Coyotes trotting in the dusk. I used to see all of these animals passing through or near my yard, even three years ago because there were more large backyards surrounding it. And the stated purpose of increasing density – all this “in filling” was to slow development in surrounding areas. And it failed. Total fail. It hasn’t slowed sprawl one little bit. What it has done is severed the connection we had with nature in our special location at the top of the lake. Kenmore has a lakefront and the slough. And it has a very special park, a unique park, Saint Edward. A small oasis away from houses and traffic and stores. And you want to plunk a hotel into its center. Stop guys, you are stabbing its heart.
When all the backyards are filled in with houses, the park will be our backyard. We will need the park more than ever. We will need it without a hotel, and without parking spaces for more cars and preferably without lights on at night. Some people like to gaze at the stars now and then. I like the seminary building. And I like it silent and dark at night.
The McDonald 10 acres are already habitat. We will trade the center of our park for that ten acres then probably develop it in some way. That will be a loss of two more areas for animals. No net gain for nature there! People and nature don’t mix well. I vote for nature.
Lisa Valore, Kenmore
