Serve Future Generations by Preserving Open Space

To the Editor:

How can a town founded on preservation even consider the destruction of acres of land in a remote, residential area to construct a new fitness facility? The YMCAs desire to place a Wal-Mart sized building in the middle of one of the last parcels of open space in Westport would be a crime.

What exists at Camp Mahackeno today is miraculous, enchanted woodland that every child who passed through camp there, or just passed the day there, remembers for the rest of his or her life.  Remember: Inner cities allocate hundreds of thousands of dollars to send underprivileged children to facilities like Camp Mahackeno.  Have we forgotten how privileged we are to have such a beautiful resource in our town?

It is time to reconsider for whom we wish to construct a new facility: the children….or the YMCAҒs Board. We will best serve our children by preserving Camp Mahackenos pristine open space for future generations. The YMCA belongs downtown in a central and accessible location such as Baron’s South, to name one of several possibilities.  For more information, visit www.YDowntown.com.

Karen Fernandez
Westport