I appreciate that people feel very strongly about the Hiawatha
reconstruction and put a lot of time from their lives on various positions
for or against the reconstruction. I did, however, want to provide some
context to Mr. Bradley's statement that there was an alternative for the new
alignment Hiawatha Avenue.
I spoke with someone on the original citizen's committee who told me that
there were four basic alignment options originally considered:
- One directly through the lagoon
- One to the west of the lagoon, which would have taken out 280 homes but
not had any impact on the park
- One keeping the alignment where it was which would take out fewer but
still a large number of homes (he didn't remember off the top of his head)
and several businesses and would have resulted in splitting the neighborhood
into two parts
- One moving the alignment to minimize the number of homes taken, the
current alignment
The person I spoke to stressed to me that it was the neighborhood who voted
for the new alignment after very long debate. This person said that the
alignment chosen minimized the number of families that had to move and
maintained continuity of the neighborhood. Cost was not the determining
factor but minimizing the impacts on families was.
So, the basic issue is what is the value of a person's home in relation to
some trees or a stream. Would you give your house up to save a tree? Two
trees? Five trees? Twenty? A hundred? How many trees would it take
before it was worth uprooting your kids from school and leaving your home?
I appreciate that different people have different answers to this question
which has driven them to the different positions they have taken.
The current alignment reflects the values of the persons who were faced with
losing their homes. Although it wasn't the best for the environment, it
reflects the best compromise that they could come up with between preserving
as much of the environment as possible and preserving as many people's lives
as possible. Do I wish there was some ideal alternative where no trees
would have been cut down and no one would lose their home? Yes. But in the
real world, you have to compromise and I respect the people who worked
through this issue to find the best compromise they could.
Carol Becker
Longfellow
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