After one and a half plus years of stating concerns to (Mount Vernon) city council of traffic congestion, flooding, water bill attachments resulting from storm water problems and the infringement on current property owners, we felt we were merely a voice that was to be ignored.
So what is the driving force? The road?
How can I convey the communities sentiment? So at 4 a.m. one morning in May, I wrote this poem:
Old wisdom is different now!
Sometimes nature we wish to defy
I observe from my deck high and dry
How nature slows the water going by
The 50 year wisdom of development we deny
The lure of this parcel, what a buy
The cost to develop this parcel, Oh my
Is it an obstacle in a path we want to go by
The cost of the road alone, could we justify
We must not forget the road must go on
So let us defy nature’s groan
Regard not, homes residents now own
Because the road must go on
Let us place our trust in the pond
Of which future residents may not be so fond
Cost of maintenance to which they will be bound
A magnet for geese abound
Despite stored water potential
Compromised by storms torrential
Remember the road is essential
Even if traffic becomes detrimental
Worry not about the terrain
Construction equipment will soon reign
Natural infiltration will decline
The road must go on, keep that in mind
How will history look at this project we make
Will the road be worth all the risks we take
Will we smile at the unmaintained lake
Or will we resign to it being our favorite mistake
Citizens opposed to zoning change
Ronald C. Homan
Mount Vernon, Ohio