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Why is Goosetown so low on park matrix?

To the editor:

There is something wrong with the New Ulm park location criteria when 140 +- homes more than four blocks from a playground in an area cut off from everything else by railroad and river for 100 years, where you could buy land for $20,000 per lot can come up last in line for a new playground. I am talking about the Goosetown area. That area was rated way lower in the recent criteria than did a new and smaller subdivision of more expensive homes and another new subdivision that is mostly tax-forfeited because nobody has chosen to live there. The criteria favored the newer developments and failed to address the needs of the older neglected areas of the city.

In Goosetown there are available single lots of 50′ frontage with good access, and construction could start immediately. They are small parcels that would be adequate for a playground and would serve that population very well. They would be far less expensive also. The kids would be able to play, have fun and grow up healthy. I think the Parks & Recreation Commission criteria relies too much on numbers and forgets the purpose and benefits of the smaller playgrounds that a lot of us grew up with and enjoyed.

The criteria for park location that the parks commission came up with is not valid. The one thing that it WILL DO is to ensure that there will never be a playground in the southern side of Goosetown. The criteria should be readdressed.

Dennis Born

New Ulm

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