I was distressed to see former County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido, who is now in charge of the South Kitsap Community Park board, doing her best to block the development of a skating rink and skateboard park, as well as several other recreation opportunities for the kids in South Kitsap.

It was vintage Charlotte, using the same tactics she did to stall all the development at Sedgwick and Sidney roads, saying “We’ll need to study this.” That’s Charlotte’s way of saying, “No.”

As everyone knows, all the development that wanted to be at Sedgwick and Sidney, is now in Gig Harbor because Charlotte needed to “study” the impact. Well, we know what that impact is now — over a million dollars a year of our sales tax money being sucked right out of Kitsap County.

Charlotte has managed to chase everyone who used the park away — the skateboarders, the BMX riders, the train people, the softball teams, etc. It’s no wonder the park is in dire financial straits.

What Charlotte Garrido doesn’t understand is that it’s a park — not a nature preserve as she’s tried to make it. If people want to commune with nature they can go to the Howe Farm or Banner Forest. Parks are meant to be used.
Now I hear Charlotte wants to be commissioner again. Let’s “study” that idea!

Sharon Glass
Port Orchard