Dear Editor,
Well, I guess it’s time to get on the band wagon again, there seems to be something new and stupid happening every day by our Lady Mayor and her council.
I will start off with the fictional man-made beach. This is a total waste of good taxpayer’s money. It has no future! This is another big mistake to cover up for their last mistake, like not lowering the lake level.
Lady Mayor, have you ever gone to a resort area where there was water and no sandy beach? Little kids were building sand castles and watching the gentle waves come in and wash them away, and then they would build new ones? Remember those days?
When people go to a resort area they want to get away from city concrete so why do we have a concrete walk 10 feet wide and nearly a mile long on our lakefront? What a waste! People want grass and sand.
Lady Mayor, have you ever gone to Mexican or Hawaiian oceanfront resorts and seen huge cathedral-like washrooms built on the waterfront? I didn’t think so. They are always in the background for privacy.
Why have we allowed so many developers to build very large buildings on our lakefront and block the view of the lake? This is criminal when we have such a beautiful lake. Enough of this, you’ve heard it all before.
I agree wholeheartedly with three good fellows who have been expressing their opinions on what has been going on around here in Sylvan Lake. Those three are Dale Mannix, whom I have known most of my life, and Mr. Dressler and Somerville. Mr. Somerville mentioned “good common sense” and those are the three words that have been running through my head for weeks. I have not seen anything done by Lady Mayor and her council that showed “good common sense”. We know we can’t stop progress, but we should use “good common sense” in planning the future and doing it in stages, not all at once like they have done (too much waste).
Concerning the lake level. My wife and I purchased a cabin in Half Moon Bay in 1978 (35 years ago). From 1978 on for many years we played volleyball on our beach. We stretched out full length (about 25 feet) of net from our property line across the beach, and still had 10+ feet of beach to the water. We have absolutely beautiful grassy beach for over 35 feet at that time. This lasted for many years. Right now we have approximately 10 feet of beach and 2+ feet of water where our beach used to end.
Lady Mayor told people of Sylvan Lake recently that the lake was at a normal level, but that is crap. It is approximately two feet higher than normal. The water in Sylvan Lake is so dirty right now, from being high, I can’t see how people can even go in it.
I stabilized the shoreline with large rocks in front of our cabin in 2009 to stop erosion. Now the ice is pushing all those large rocks and turf back and piling it up. In winter 2010-2011 we lost four feet of beach. In 2012-2013 we lost 2-3 feet of shoreline again. We just can’t win, the water level is just too high.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. By the way, I think I know a way to lower the lake level with no problems. I circled the lake in my boat and the erosion and trees falling into the lake area scary.
Lady Mayor, time to leave your dream world and stop your spending spree, the coffers went empty a long time ago!
Mannix, Dressler and Somerville, keep up the good work boys.
Al Hallgren, resident of Sylvan Lake on and off since 1931.
P.S. By the way, I think the editor is doing a great job. Very good articles.