We can’t afford yet another tax

As a former member of the city of Snohomish Park Board I urge a no vote on the Metropolitan Parks District tax to fund the city of Snohomish parks. This is very bad news for senior citizens. I’ve been retired for 21 years and on a fixed income.

Some of us have toiled for decades to build beautiful parks. For example: The large 155-foot dock accessible for those with disabilities, the small shelter, the large shelter; the barbecue pit and parking lot were built by the Snohomish Sportsmen’s Club and Tillicum Kiwanis.

The Snohomish Lions Club constructed a beautiful picnic shelter in the upper portion of Hill Park and a nice house for the caretaker. The city parks department removed both, along with the security fence and caretaker position. The city also removed the Mathison Memorial Dock at Hill Park along with the Smith Memorial Dock near Ferguson Park and replaced them with two expensive and dangerous docks with no railings. Seven people have drowned in Blackmans Lake in my lifetime. Some of us who really care belong to service clubs that strive to improve and create beautiful parks.

The city should never have removed RV camping from Ferguson Park; it was nationally recognized for tourists.

The new Ludgwig Park was a bad idea. We need to build parks where the people are.

This Metropolitan Parks District tax deserves a loud no vote. We can’t afford this tax and we can’t trust the parks department to improve and take care of our parks.

Bob Heirman

Snohomish

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