To the editor:

Those of us who live on Manitou Beach are disgruntled, to say the least, that the city of Bainbridge Island, without ANY input from those of us who LIVE here, have decided to put a park near Murden Cove. We only learned of it by reading an article in the Bainbridge Review newspaper.

Murden Cove, according to the Kitsap County Environmental Health Board, is already environmentally compromised. Why would the city want to put a park on a stretch of beach that is in need of less human impact, not more?

I’ll tell you why: Because they are not thinking about the environment (except when it comes to the Shoreline Management Program, which is another catastrophic plan, infringing upon property owners’ rights) and because they do whatever they darn well please, these days, with no concern for the residents who elected them.

A park here, at the cost of $54K-65K dollars, is going to be a disaster. Every week, I pick up bags full of garbage, left by people using our beaches and leaving their trash. Many of us see people running their dogs on the beach and rarely do we witness them cleaning up their waste. None of us wants to have to “patrol” our beach, to keep people from digging clams, etc.

The property owners own 140 feet beyond the low tide line, which is, basically, the whole beach. None of us want to have to “police” our beach, but that is exactly what we will have to do.

Many times, I have had to tell people that this is not a public beach, and to not dig clams here. It’s just plain wrong to build a park, where the shoreline is owned by the people, not the city. Lord knows, the taxes we pay are reason enough to be upset by this!

What I really don’t understand, is Fay Bainbridge Park, which is a long, sandy beach park, and has all necessary facilities (including bathrooms, which this park won’t have) is a 5-minute drive from here. Fay Bainbridge Park is in desperate need of upkeep and maintenance, which could (and should) be paid for with the money that has been set aside for this park on Manitou Beach, that none of the residents (that pay huge money for property taxes, by the way) want. This is not to enrich our neighborhood, or better the ecology of the Murden Cove watershed, if anything, the impact will be a negative one.

If we don’t stop the city from just building parks, without any input from we the people, that give access to private beaches, what is next? Just ask yourself this: How would you like it, if the city designated a street end next to your home, a park, and people were walking through your yard at all hours of the day and night, using your property as their own, and leaving their trash and dog waste for you to clean up?

I seriously doubt you would be in favor of that.

All of us on Manitou Beach feel like it’s an invasion of our privacy, because the beach is our front yard.

MEGAN ROSS

Manitou Beach