To the Editor:
We can all agree that Lake Garfield is a treasure shared and enjoyed by residents and visitors in Monterey. At special Town Meeting October 6, residents will be asked to approve Article 12, “An Act Establishing the Lake Garfield Preservation District in the Town of Monterey.” After careful consideration, I am strongly opposed, and these are some of the reasons:
- It’s undemocratic. This act provides that a small group of citizens, essentially owners of lakefront property, will have rights that townspeople as a whole will not. It establishes a government within a government, able to raise taxes, file lawsuits, claim property, elect officers, and take actions affecting the Lake and its beaches, including “application of chemical and biological weed controls.”
- It’s biased. This proposal was written by a lawyer paid to represent the interests of the Friends of Lake Garfield (FOLG), a small group composed largely of second home owners. It was not initiated or proposed by town officials or the Monterey community as a whole.
- It’s redundant. The lake environment is currently overseen by several town committees and state agencies. A Lake working group, which includes representatives from the FOLG as well as town officials and community members, has been formed recently to work cooperatively as advocates for the benefit of all people, animals and plants which coexist in and around the lake. Friends of Lake Garfield still exists as well. We don’t need yet another lake organization.
- It’s unfair. People who live within the boundaries of the lake district will be taxed in excess of their present tax bill. This will undoubtedly be a hardship for some, as I have heard from several neighbors.
- It’s wrong. This act, if passed, cedes way too much power and decision-making to a select group. Lake Garfield does not belong to only those who “abut directly on the shoreline; or Have a recorded private right of access…where members of the general public may lawfully be excluded…”
Lake Garfield is loved and used collectively by our whole community, two- and four- legged, finned, feathered, webbed, leafy and muddy alike. Please: Read the Act in the Warrant, Article 12, carefully, and make up your own mind before we vote on this proposal. I will be voting against it.
Carol Edelman
Monterey
