A response to a 'letter to the editor'

Thankfully the Kingman Daily Miner updated their web-site sometime late yesterday. I always enjoy the updates and I rarely read the hard copy (I wish they'd share more articles online and offer them in a more timely fashion... it is the 90's after all right??)

I'm responding to this letter linked here. Fisking to follow.

I'm sure this contributor is a nice person and I have nothing against this person. I only present this as a rebuttal.

I do not believe that the City Council approved the Kingman Crossing amendment when it's against all its own rules for amendments. Sure, there is nothing "written in stone," but where are all the "final" plans that should have been approved before this vote.

What??

Is this city so anxious to be turned into another Los Angles or Las Vegas - no open space for the future generation to enjoy?

Las Vegas has tons of parks. I lived there. Way more than 168 acres worth. I lived near Sunset Park and enjoyed many activities there. I'm guessing this is nearly 400 acres worth of park. But notice the location... it is not off an Interstate. In fact there are zero parks directly located off ANY of the Interstates in Las Vegas and zero near a traffic interchange. Trent Park is located off Rampart of the Summerlin Parkway and is another large park. But Summerlin Parkway is NOT an Interstate.

The city's 160 acres, which are designated as "open space and parks," wouldn't that be wonderful to keep for our grandchildren and others to come. Instead of having to drive maybe a hundred miles to find some "open space." While this area is turned into a huge parking lot? And tiny high-density home lots?

Look around, there is no need to drive 'hundreds of miles' to find open space in the Kingman area.

And hmm... would I want my granddaughter to be playing in a park near an Interstate or somewhere a little closer to my neighborhood??

Los Angeles and New York City have their "huge parks" that people love and use all the time. Can't the city of Kingman be more forward thinking about this? Why sell this piece of land and then try to "scrounge up" more land for parks? Little bits here and there? Here's an opportunity for a wonderful regional park!

Regional park?? You mean like Centenial Park?? Which is like only a couple of miles away??

I'll agree that Kingman could use another sports complex/large community park in the near future. But do you really think the Kingman Crossing area is the most ideal location??

Besides, aren't we in a long and extreme drought here? We haven't had any rainfall at all this year. Where is all the water going to come from to supply these huge commercial developments?

So are you proposing a 168 acre dirt and gravel park?? Should we act like it doesn't take tons of water to keep grass green?? I sort of thought that grass is needed in a park. I sure wouldn't want my granddaughter playing in a dirt park, and therefore wouldn't want to see the city waste prime real estate on such an endeavor.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not against growth, but let it be within reason! That's why I applaud the RAID group. They are looking out for our interests. And also the interests of our grandchildren.

Applaud the efforts. They certainly are the champions of park lands in this town. I hope they can help identify other areas could be more sensible in creating needed park space.

Kingman is surrounded by millions of acres of open land and none of it is 100's of miles away. It won't be hard to find.