Daddy? Where can we play now?

NOTE: The following is OPINION. It is the Point of View of the author, and he alone takes full responsibility for the content therein

I (normally) try to limit the scope of my contributions to national and international affairs and, on occasion, something that concerns our state or region.

However, certain recent events have compelled me to address a local issue, one right here in Ellington.

That issue is our evaporating ability to access and use Open Spaces.

The most recent example of this is the planned Lacrosse and Soccer athletic fields at the Santini Conservation Park, in which land that once was able to be enjoyed by all, will now only be available to a select few.

I, and many other people in town, voted against this proposed park for various reasons; the expenditure of a half MILLION dollars, that will see our taxes go up to pay for, being a prime consideration. But there were other reasons as well. My reasons were personal, and had to do with seeing Open Space Access for the public disappear in my home state of Tennessee, in a little town not far from where I grew up called Pigeon Forge. Developers came in and built a massive theme park that took a healthy bite out of the lands that all of the people could once use for free.

Those lands disappeared, and ‘Dollywood’ arose in their place.

“Everything has a price, but not everything should be bought.” I forget who once said that, but it seems to sum up the situation pretty dang well here. Land for free public use is rapidly becoming an endangered treasure in our nation. Developers have constructed ‘little boxes’ of sub-sub-subdivisions all over this area, driving out indigenous wildlife, and replacing it with the ‘Lifestyles of the well-to-do and shameless.’

My question is: How many of these people that pushed for this athletic field are native to Ellington? How many of them go back 3, or even just 2, generations? How many of those that supported this additional expenditure and the loss of more Open Space recognize that the fertile soil of this area is more precious than any development?

No, I’m not originally from this wonderful town, but I’m from a place different only in name, where farming was something to be proud of, and we could look up into the night sky at the constellations and not have them dimmed out by the sodium vapor lights of the cities and suburbs. Nights were quiet, other than the sounds of the nocturnal critters rummaging around, and people were at peace.

We hiked the trails, fished the streams, rode our bikes, and played pickup baseball games.

Like I said, different only in name.

But then our little town saw the influx from the bigger cities, and we saw those fields paved over and the streams diverted.

No more hiking, no more fishing, no more baseball games.

We lost the peace.

Is that what has happened here in Ellington? Did we allow ‘Big City Mentality’ to influence how decisions are made? Are we so desperate to ‘keep up’ with the larger urban jungles that we have forgotten that Ellington’s charm comes from the fact it’s not like Hartford, Manchester, or Vernon?

It’s no secret that Ellington has attracted a great deal of escapees from larger municipalities. How many of them escaped the crime, asphalt, and concrete of Hartford, came here, saw the gorgeous green cornfields and thought “That sure would be a great Lacrosse field, wouldn’t it?”

The YMCA is just down the road apiece, but I guess there’s just not enough ‘status’ associated with the ‘Y.’

Did they ever take the time to get out into the field and fly a kite with their children, or experience the joy of an R/C airplane? Did they ever take the time to walk their dog, or just take a leisurely stroll?

Did they ever take the time to simply enjoy something that wasn’t developed?

How many of them have ever enjoyed true peace?

Or was their first thought “That needs to be put to better use.”

What ‘better use’ is there for Open Space than for people to enjoy? All people. Everyone. Not just a select few.

Joni Mitchell said it best;

They want to pave Paradise and put in a parking lot.

And they call that ‘Progress.’

And with it, we will lose the Peace.