To the editor:

We are urging voters to vote NO on the ballot issue regarding purchasing additional park acreage.

Bainbridge already has way enough park acreage. For cities of at least 20,000 people, we have among the highest park acreage/resident in the whole nation!

Forcing our neighbors to pay for government non-essentials is morally wrong.

How do our beloved park directors think that we property owners have $5.9 million to spend on such frivolity? Many of us are still trying to recover from the events of 2008.

Even if I wanted my property taxes to go up, I’d choose essentials like fire, police and schools.

For those Islanders who really want to prevent this Sakai property from being developed, why not give to the Bainbridge Island Land Trust? That way those who want to pay for this can do so without forcing those of us who do not want to pay for this. This is called freedom of choice!

Please consider that every time property is set aside for our park district or open space, the properties come off the property tax rolls.  This means less money for all the items property taxes support – schools, parks even our library. Further, if the beneficiaries of our property taxes wish to keep their revenues the same, we islanders have to make up this difference.

Granted, for this one property this is not a great deal of money, but further consider the additional property taxes that would help support our schools, parks, etc. if the Sakai property were developed?  Environmentally sensitive planning for further development adds to our tax base and benefits us all. Conversely, continuing to buy up properties makes Bainbridge Island a more expensive place to live, makes it more difficult for young families to get a start, and more difficult for seniors to keep what they already have.

Let’s be more sensitive to our less affluent islanders. Vote no.

THOMAS W. HEMPHILL

BARBARA J. HEMPHILL

Pleasant Beach