From: Sara Wasmith
Columbus
When you visit New York City, probably one of the places you visit is Central Park. Central Park was established in 1857, a tract of land in the middle of Manhattan of approximately 843 +/- that was designed to be a free, open space – a green space. Go to Boston, Massachusetts, and you will find a beautiful 50-acre tract of land in the middle of the city called the Boston Common. This area was set aside in 1634 and has been used by the public since then. These are just two of the many green spaces that are so important to our country and to the public. These acres were set aside from commerce and development by forward-thinking men and women for the use and enjoyment of those not yet born.
We have our own green space in Columbus. It is one of the many things that make Columbus such a fantastic place to live and raise children. Our green space was established in the 1930s by the men of the Greenbelt Golf Club. We now just call it Greenbelt, but it is much more than a golf course. This beautiful tract of land offers peace and serenity to all who pass through. Whether golfing or jogging or hiking or cross-country skiing. It is so much more valuable to Columbus and her citizenry than just a golf course. We can all see, visit and commune with nature right here in the middle of our busy city. I feel that if we let this property go, to be developed, we will be making a mistake of enormous proportions. I am reminded of a poem I read in high school by Omar Khayyam, and it goes like this:
"The moving finger writes, and, having writ, moves on: nor all the piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all they tears wash out a word of it."
We must be careful with this decision because once Greenbelt is gone, it is gone forever. We talk of losing money in these hard times, but without this green space, the real losers are the citizens today and those who are yet to come.
