I Live In The Area wrote:
You guys don't understand the concept at all. The school has been trying to buy the land for years, but the city refused to sell it because some brilliant company poured their toxins into the ground. The land isn't worth that much because its so horribly contaminated, and it does need to be cleaned up. LHP has tried to get the city to clean up the area for many years, not only because it would allow the school to eventually buy the land but also simply because the property needs to be cleaned. If it contaminated our water supply, how would you feel then?
And the reason it might not be cleaned for 30 years if the Feds came is because they're horribly inefficient and have many other worse problems elsewhere to deal with. But if the city decides to clean it now, they can probably do so and get the area cleared faster and cheaper.
And LHP owning the land is totally expected. I doubt anyone else would want it anyways. LHP owns land around almost the whole lake, and they've been advocating the cleaning of the lake for years. They can't even use the lake for school activities because its considered too dangerous. LHP deserves the land they're even going to be paying for some of the clean up. They've already come up with plans on how to clean it up too. Who would be a better owner? Besides, the possibility of the land turning into a park is nonexistent and an absurd idea. Building a park would not only cost taxpayers even more money to fund its creation and maintenance, it is also impractical as the area is relatively small for a park, and the lake isn't exactly the largest lake around either. The city will use its money most efficiently and clean up the area, and then sell it so they don't use up as much money.
If you've ever seen the polluted area, you'd know that it probably isn't even worth $2,000,000.
And if you all are really so concerned about education funding, why was that certain amendment passed that gave you $200 back from the state for your houses in exchange for millions in education cuts?
If I "lived in the area" of a known toxic waste dump, I'd be doing everything I could to get the Fed's to start the Superfund process. If that didnt work then I'd be all over the city to fix it up. The VERY LAST THING that would be on my priority list would be worrying about who might eventually buy said land post-cleanup.

I call shennanigans on you, Ms. Live-in-the-area. You are just a sock puppet for an interested party from LHP.