Veterans Park Moves Forward

A dozen people showed up for the planning meeting to re-purpose Village Pond Park as Veterans Park. The attendees included former Army and Air Force veterans as well as relatives of veterans. In addition, Mayor Pro Tem Leah Basile and Parks Commissioners Jim Rosenberg and Victor Sheer were present.

The main issue confronting the group was defining the purpose of the Park – will it be a general park or will it be designed to be more of a contemplative, quiet park.

20,000 square feet on the East side of the pond have been reserved for the butterfly garden, and it’s there that the marker or monument would be placed. So it’s possible to have this area for quiet contemplative activities while the rest of the park could be a general park.

There was general consensus that all 5 branches would be represented and that the group preferred a monument to a marker. Monuments may cost as much as $150,000 so the staff will have to check back with the Council to see if this much money could be allocated.

Among the suggestions –

• Having a flag, but whether or not it was a flag on a flag pole or the flag was inscribed on the monument was left undetermined.
• Night time lights were suggested, even though the park is closed at night.
• Using the park for Veteran events, though not competing with existing events.
• Providing a “Buy a brick” facility where people could purchase bricks to honor someone who served.

There was mixed reaction to the idea of getting some form of military hardware (tank, Humvee, artillery). Some felt they had seen enough of war and wanted the place to be quiet and contemplative. Others felt the military equipment might be a good place for kids to play. There might also be some added costs, though surplus military equipment is readily available.

It was noted that the park, when re-opened, will continue to have lots of ducks and geese, though at much smaller quantities. Yet the park will probably have more ducks and geese than most parks, and this should be taken into consideration. The City did a very poor job restricting people from mass feeding of the wildlife. Going forward, the new City Manager has vowed to do a much better job.

In addition, it was mentioned that the design of the area should be in keeping with the Lake Forest motif.

The report from the group will go to the Council on September 5 and the group will re-convene on September 6 to move forward.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every month. The next meeting will be on Sept 9 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.