To the editor:

This Monday night (June 22) at 6 p.m. — but get there early to sign in — at the Great Barrington annual town meeting in the Monument Mountain Regional High School parking lot, we will be asked to vote on CPA and capital project funding for the Lake Mansfield recreation and shoreline restoration plan. You can view a summary of the plan here.

In addition, our cherished Lake Mansfield will face an up or down vote at a subsequent town meeting sometime later in the year. A citizen effort aims at destroying the plans that the Lake Mansfield Improvement Task Force has worked on for years. The LMITF plan calls for closing much of the road, creating a park-like environment. Some citizens call for the opposite: a two-lane road “in perpetuity.”

I request that all swimmers, walkers, hikers, boaters and bikers who enjoy this invaluable resource sign this petition now to show your support. (Be sure to fill out the form that says where you live.)

Regarding that little issue of safety, one signer recently posted this comment, which I agree with: “The current one-way solution is dangerous for bikers and for pedestrians who cross to the roadway to let others pass. The plan to create a WIDE pedestrian/bicycle path is important.”

Jennifer Clark
Great Barrington