About the Merrie Christmas Park issue

Regarding the Merrie Christmas Park issue of the neighbors not wanting the workout equipment in the park. I was notified by Ron Nelson, Commissioner Sarnoff's Chief of Staff, last night that the size of the area where the equipment is going is not the size of two tennis courts. It is smaller.

I am advised that many neighbors want the equipment installed and I am advised that all the neighbors were notified and the plans have been published somewhere or other. If The Grapevine was notified of the plans, we would have published them here, since this is the obvious place where Grove residents get their news and this is where the plans should have been announced if they had wanted people actually to know of the plans.

It's my job to see these things and I have not seen any notifications or plans, I am at most meeting in town from Village Council to Village of Center Grove and others, and I have not seen or heard of the plans, I have not heard of neighbors being asked to voice their opinions on the plans. To be fair, at the last Village of Center Grove meeting, Commissioner Sarnoff did mention the work out equipment, I don't remember if he mentioned Merrie Christmas Park, but he mentioned something about equipment going in around City parks. It was a statement and not a debatable issue at the time.

I was also told that Sarnoff's office sends out a newsletter, which explained the plans. I have never seen the newsletter. If people are for the proposed workout equipment, please email us and tell us your side. I don't live on that end of town and I was just reporting the news. There are quotes in the story where the neighbors' opinions were expressed.

People in the neighborhood should decide what goes in their park, not one person, especially in the Grove, where people seem to be more involved in their neighborhoods than most areas. This should have been discussed in public before anything was done. The orange netting fence went up and that is how most of the neighbors were notified.

And now after the fact, the Commissioner has agreed to meet with neighbors to discuss the issue, which should have been done before the fact.