Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor (September 23, 2005)

Bazaar blocked by Art & Wine toilets

Editor:

The ladies at Trinity United Methodist Church at Hope and Mercy streets worked for several months on their annual bazaar, which is held as part of the Art and Wine Festival.

Every year we look forward to participating in the city's most exciting event. This year we planned to devote half of the funds to the young Volunteers in Mission from the church. The youth are planning to go to New Orleans next year to help victims of the hurricane.

The other half was to go toward making the education building (which is not up to code) safe for small children and to refurbish the sanctuary.

On Saturday, the festival's first day, the women noticed a long high bank of portable blue toilet cubicles stretched in front of the church, blocking the view of the bazaar from the public. The doors to the cubicles faced the street. The vents on the backside of the cubicles faced the sidewalk and the breezeway entrance to the church where the bazaar items and bake sales were being set up.

Perhaps next year the festival could place the toilet cubicles farther away on Mercy towards Hope -- I hope. Or at least across the street where the toilet vents would be open to the bank parking lot and away from our baked goodies. Grace Randall Poppy Place

City has wrong site for Child Care Center

Editor:

Hats off to council memebers Matt Pear and Greg Perry, as well as to Parks and Recreation Commission members Ivan John, Todd Fernandez and John Inks, for their efforts, support and opposition to the Child Care Center at Rengstorff Park.

As a resident/owner at 255 Parkview West, a condo complex that borders the park on two sides, I have been closely following the coverage regarding the matter. I disagree with council members who are in favor of taking public land at Rengstorff Park, which we do not have enough of as it is, to support a money-making project for the city. This action would come at the expense of the neighborhood and is an injustice to the community. I, for one, will remember this come election time.

According to a local newspaper, "Fernandez said the area near the 23-acre park at 201 S. Rengstorff Ave. falls well below the city's acreage standard even before losing the acreage to the Child Care Center."

Then there is council member Laura Macias, who recently suggested relocating the Child Care Center to a city-owned downtown lot, but still supports the move to Rengstorff Park. She said she had "some concerns initially," but that the section of the park slated for the Child Care Center is "ugly space."

I totally disagree and take offense at her comment that the site is ugly. I invite anyone to have take a personal look and make their own decision. The section is possibly the prettiest part of the park, with rolling lawns, redwood trees and a nice barbeque area.

Also, at $1,000 per month per child, who in this neighborhood can afford the Child Care Center? It's our neighborhood park space. Frances Trimmer South Rengstorff Avenue

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