Battle lines drawn
Re: “Hail Mary passes” (8/5/2019): Yes, this is about Edgewood’s proposed stadium in a long-established residential neighborhood and natural area that is already under stress from infill and development. This is not about students playing on their athletic field or religious values. Those aspects have long been part of our milieu. This is about the proposed changes to the Edgewood athletic field to include lights for night games, amplified sound system, increased bleachers, concessions, traffic, congestion, noise, light pollution, etc. Despite neighborhood opposition, Edgewood has continued to raise expectations of its students and supporters. West High students know that night games and competitions are not played on their athletic fields. There are no expectations otherwise. And, they have great athletic, academic and personal success. Why would the city abandon an established city process that is designed to serve the public good for an athletic stadium on the Edgewood campus?
— Ellen Taylor-Powell, via isthmus.com
Edgewood is breaking the promise of the master plan which is in effect until 2024. More than 20 years of work with a neighborhood and Edgewood committee have gone into the agreements we have today. West and East [high schools] have never had fields in their backyards and have been very successful. Edgewood needs to renegotiate with Middleton, or work with Warner Park or Breese Stevens to find a field. The neighborhood should not have to suffer because Edgewood’s enrollment is down.
— Jane Albert, via isthmus.com
Master plans are not set in concrete — they can be changed — either adding to, deleting from, revising, eliminating, etc. What Ald. Evers seems to forget, or not know, is that while he is the elected alder from that neighborhood, and is that neighborhood’s representative, such representation does NOT come at the detriment of the whole city. He was elected to represent his district at the city council, but that does not mean he has to vote in lock-step with the desire of the residents of the district on each and every issue. He has an overriding obligation to consider what is best for the city as a whole, versus what is “best” for an individual neighborhood.
— Michael Goetz, via isthmus.com
