LAUNCH: Removal unjust to the public

One winter day a decade ago the city proposed closing the ball fields and the boat launch. For those proposing this public land grab, it was a great January idea because the boat people weren't using their Third Street launch and the baseball players certainly weren't thinking about their ball fields.

I assisted with a petition to the city from more than 1,800 very upset citizens protesting the closures. I learned later that a city front-end loader was poised to immediately commence closing your boat launch that day 10 years ago. The city finally voted the proposal down.

What amazed me then was that the city via an expensive $100,000 Portland, Ore., study planned the ball field and Third Street boat launch closure even though it was illegal to do so unless other property of equal value and equal utility could be found. Federal funding set those restrictions; the city was going to violate those laws anyway.

Just like 10 years ago the new proposal presents no other suitable boat launch facility of equal value and utility as required. The Third Street launch area is some of the most valuable real estate in Idaho. The Blackwell Island launch doesn't qualify in value and doesn't even belong to the city (it's BLM property and is inaccessible half of the year). It's a joke to say this is property of equal value (Higgins Point is miles from the heart of Coeur d'Alene).

Is it mere coincidence that we are rushed with a closure proposal right after Christmas, and not in summer when it would be convenient for the public to comment? I propose a moratorium on the ball field and boat launch closures until the summer, when the users can be heard.

Closure of the boat launch prohibits access by the general public to their lake. Use of the lake then goes only to the rich. Apparently some landowners nearby are obsessed with not letting the regular guy with his boat use his lake. Perhaps owners of those empty condos adjacent don't think it looks good for someone to launch his boat at Third Street.

The tax expensive proposal in these hard times does have some good ideas, such as the skating rink, ADA partial access to Tubbs Hill and a public stage area.

But it's not OK to give us these amenities in exchange for closing public access to Lake Coeur d'Alene. This isn't a rich man's lake; close the launch and that's what it becomes. Go to Seattle and you will find plenty of rich men's lakes.

Proverbs 22:2 says, "The rich man and the poor man have this in common, the Lord is maker of them all."

Act now or you will see the front-end loader come again, this time for real. Send your comments to stevemarathon@gmail.com.

STEVE BELL

Coeur d'Alene