Thanks to the city council, the public who attend the council meetings, Parks and Rec and Public Works staff, the mayor and the city manager for discussions.

1. I’m not sure I understand the differences between Parks and Rec and Public Works as far as their (shared?) responsibility for the quarry maintenance and preservation.

2. I encourage ALL city council members to walk around the quarry (unpaved and off the beaten path; bring bug spray) and the paved path that weaves in and out of Nature Park. (I understand one council member did walk around the quarry.) As a daily walker, my route almost always takes us past Nature Park. It’s a little oasis of calm and feels separate from the rest of Mount Vernon. How special that nature transports us. Just a couple blocks from Ace and a couple more blocks from Uptown, Nature Park allows a person to reflect and relax.

3. I observed children and adults fishing off the quarry dock, another little oasis of calm that feels separate from the rest of Mount Vernon. Because it is!

Suggestions that the quarry be filled in would remove an opportunity for young people to fish locally, or experience time at a body of water, locally. Not everyone is able to travel to experience a body of water, and all that comes with it. Learning about water quality, for example. Learning about stewardship, or taking care of our natural resources, other reasons to preserve the quarry.

4. The quarry is in need of expensive attention. Let’s add to the city’s expense account, repaving streets in northwest Mount Vernon. Consider that guests, visitors, and people looking at real estate in northwest Mount Vernon experience driving over or around potholes and along streets with chunks of pavement gone or in disrepair. It’s ironic to me that historic northwest residences, preserved according to code, are in neighborhoods with streets as rugged as gravel roads.

5. I’ve never had to manage a city. Responsibilities on top of responsibilities, right? I don’t have a solution to preserving the quarry as far as its cost. My two cents’ opinion is it’s worth preserving. Maybe Fareway and Gary’s would “round up” for a quarry preservation fund to get us started. That would be us, shoppers, contributing.