Parcel 11

As we as a class reflected on the environment this past week, I began thinking more and more about a plot of land in our very city. On Tuesday I attended a School Board Workshop to fill my quota for AP Government. What I thought was going to be a couple of boring hours filled with mundane budget proposals a decisions such as whether the toilet paper in schools should be one ply or two, I was pleasantly surprised that while some of those things, the meeting also brought out a passion in this community I didn't even realize existed.

The first thirty minutes of the meeting were left open to be filled by public comments, the Board would not reply, just sit silently as citizens poured their hearts out in front of a microphone. The topic of discussion at this meeting? Parcel 11.



The little section of woods, about seven or eight acres, is going to be sold by the school board to create an early childhood development center-- basically a glorified preschool. And while I have no skin in the game either way, it seems many are strongly against this decision... and those for? Well they didn't even bother showing up.

I watched people cry over the birds, deer, and elusive Bald Eagle that may live somewhere within the parcel. I watched people argue over diminished property value, and the educational value of the woods. I listened to people in their fifties reminisce about playing in the trees, about watching their children play in them too.

Although I had heard about this issue a few weeks before attending the meeting from a friend on Facebook, I hadn't realized how big of a deal it was for the people directly effected. There are 795 supporters on change.org, I am now one of them, and the number is still growing.

It would truly be a shame if the government refused to listen to this outcry of voices, each one protecting something bigger, older, and purer than their self. The people are calling, it is time our board listened.