The City doesn't have enough money to maintain its sidewalks, but it has enough for this?

My daughter who owns a home in Mountain view forwarded this news about the butterfly park. It is of interest to me because I have made two large scale sculptures using a butterfly theme. These sculptures can be view on my web site: www.maryannbaker.com.

I would love to contribute a sculpture to this park!

Mary Ann Baker

Let alone properly maintain existing parks

Does this council disapprove anything that involves spending tax-payer money in the midst of a recession? Oh wait, I forgot, the recession is over.

New parks are mostly funded by developers via something called a "Park Land Dedication In-Lieu fee". For any housing development with more than one unit, the City collects $15,000 to $20,000 per unit that goes into a special pot of money for building new parks as a mitigation for the increase in residents.

That money can't be redistributed for repairing sidewalks, or hiring police officers, or whatnot. It has to be used for parkland. The City has been saving up those fees for years and now they've collected enough to build two new parks: Mariposa Park as shown here, and Del Medio Park up on the north side of town.

I for one am thankful the City has the foresight to collect fee revenue during the good times so it can still move forward with needed open space improvements during the bad times. Added benefit: the park's design and construction is pumping money into the local economy and putting people to work during hard times.