We have an issue with the lake. Anyone who has tried to use the lake or even driven by it knows that. The question is, what to do about it and who is to pay for it?
When Lake Mitchell was our domestic water source, there was no need to rally public support for cleaning up the lake. It was a must and a given that the lake be kept as “pure” as possible. How many of you remember the summer of “fish”? The fish smell of the lake water was terrible. I don’t remember the year exactly, but it was somewhere around 1995. When you turned the tap on in your home, the stench of fish was unbearable. The water tasted like fish and the City began to more vigorously pursue the Missouri River as our water source.
The Lake has gone from a general amenity to a neighborhood problem in the eyes of the public. Today it is viewed like traffic and noise around Joe Quintal Stadium or Hitchcock Pool. You saw the stadium/pool when you moved in, what did you expect? The same is now true of the lake; the “rich” people live around the lake, let them pay for their private amenity is the attitude of the general public: “I’m not a fisherman, why should I pay?” “I don’t own a boat, why should I pay?” “Who in their right mind would swim in the lake, why should I pay?” is the attitude I ran into when I was going door to door running for Mayor in 2018.
It didn’t help things when a former City Councilman, and a lake resident, suggested that non-lake residents pay a fee (I believe $5 is what he suggested) for using the lake. It just reinforced that the lake is “private” and “belongs” to those who live around it. That was tone deaf, counterproductive and made things even more difficult for those of us who wanted the lake cleaned up.
Three things got me defeated in my race for mayor; 1) People were upset they had to put in sidewalks, and I had been one of those on the Council that made people do that for almost a decade. 2) I was very forthright about my belief that we had to drain the lake, dredge, redo the gabions, restore habitat (like the pussy willows) and procure a wetland. 3) I had been in elective office of one kind or another for over two decades and people were just sick of me. It didn’t help my electoral ambitions that Bob Everson was a popular, credible candidate. The People don’t always know what they want, but they always know what they don’t want, and they didn’t want me. It turns out that Mayor Everson has been a much better mayor than I ever would have been. I applaud his efforts on behalf of the City and am appreciative of his service, especially when it comes to his work on Lake Mitchell.
When I was on the City Council we had an issue, the particulars of which I don’t recall now, that led to an initiated measure to declare all City owned land around the lake to be “park land”. The City would like you to vote “yes” to revoke that initiated measure. Their plan is to sell the lots the City owns around the lake and to use the money to help fund the clean-up of Lake Mitchell. The City is trying to use assets they already have in order to help defray costs to try and avoid raising taxes or borrowing money. I think repeal is a good idea and will be voting “yes” myself.
I realize that proximity has meaning and those who live on the lake will obviously use it and enjoy it more than those of us who live in town. I realize that some lake residents act like they own the lake. However, they do not! All of us together, the citizens of greater Mitchell, own it jointly. The stench and look of the lake are important factors when employers are seeking to move their businesses to Mitchell. Right now, it’s a Catch-22; people don’t use the use the lake because the lake is unusable. If it were cleaned up, more people would swim in and recreate on the lake. It belongs to all of us.
Lake Mitchell was created during the Great Depression, in part as a way to put people to work and also to create something wonderful at the same time. The Mayor and the City Council are taking the proper steps to clean up the lake and to make that restoration sustainable – along the lines I suggested in 2018 (I couldn’t resist the, “I told you so” moment). It is a long and expensive process. The fact that they want to sell land the City owns and use the proceeds to help finance the clean-up is frugal, fiscally responsible and laudable. They need our help to do that by repealing this initiative.
When was the last time you used this “park land” around the lake? This “park land” mainly consists of spaces between privately owned property that, unless you had the specific locations, you wouldn’t know is “park land” instead of private property. Would you rather pay higher taxes to clean up the lake so that some around the lake can enjoy their “public park land” privately? Or does selling these separate, disparate parcels to fund a larger goal make sense?
Vote “Yes” on June 6th.