Dear editor:

No kudos to either Parks Canada or the Town of NOTL if they open up the interior of Niagara Shores Park to traffic again, (“Niagara Shores Park could reopen next summer,” The Lake Report, May 20).

It would totally ruin the wildlife habitat that has grown up beyond the locked gate. The present Parks Canada administration seems sensitive to this disastrous consequence, and they should be since their mandate as expressed in the new management plan stresses awareness and conservation of the ecology for both the lakeshore lands and the Commons.

The town, which has been well-informed by the Harmony Residents Advocacy Group many times over the dozen years that group of volunteers has been campaigning for making the area to into an Eco-History, not a recreation park, deserves absolutely no “kudos” for its knee jerk reaction to the Ryerson Park problem.

Suggesting Niagara Shores Park would be a perfect substitute for Ryerson Park because it offers sunset views and access to Lake Ontario exposes the total insensitivity of the town’s administration to the area's delicate ecology and valuable research.

Keep the Niagara Shores Park gate closed and locked.

If there is a parking problem, use the space around the entrance to create parking spots for roughly 20 cars and encourage cars to park along the Newark Park laneway right across the road.

In the interests of public safely (the town seems to be highly sensitive to that issue re: the Village) put pedestrians crossing signs on Lakeshore Road on either side of the entrance to the nearby wastewater plant.

And look at the possibility of using part the old rifle range as an extension of Ryerson Park.

It has lots of parking space, a sandy beach, lots of space for parking, low-risk habitat (maybe a wild turkey or two and the odd bobolink) and a lovely view of the setting sun with the Toronto skyline as a sub-motif.

Ryder Payne
NOTL