This is not my first letter on this subject. My wife and I moved here from Maine so that she could attend Bastyr University to become a doctor of naturopathic medicine. I am very proud of her. It is a very intensive program and as far as we can tell, the best in our country; and she’s awesome. I digress:

We were very fortunate to have found “our” neighborhood. We live next to Big Finn Hill Park. We have made lifelong friends through the school and in our neighborhood and we are eternally grateful for each and every one of them. They are all very near and dear to us and our dogs.

It seems to me that since our arrival here, this park has been under attack. There was a proposal to build a fire department as well as a new road through the park. It amazes me that nobody seems to realize what a gem this park is.

It may seem irrelevant to some, but we cherish our privacy and stand up for what we believe in. As such, we and our neighbors believe that this park is perfect exactly the way that it is.

King County Parks has given a minority user of the park, a majority voice in the future development of the park.

I have tried everything in my power to stop the changes to the park, including contacting the King County’s ombudsman’s office and state representatives. I have received no satisfaction and very few responses.

I am at my wits end and must now call upon the daily users of the park to at least raise a fuss to King County Parks; and any ear that may listen and be able to act. This will ultimately affect “your” lives more than it will my own.

My wife graduates next June. I would like to walk with her in the park when we come back for a reunion; and I would love for that park to be the way it is now. That is what most of our neighbors want as well. We love the haphazard and redundant trails. That means that we will never have to walk the same way twice. If Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and King County Parks have their way, that will not be the case.

The majority of the daily users of this park do not want this to become a bike park.

Big Finn Hill Park is a jewel and a magical, untamed paradise in the sprawling scourge of the metropolis of Seattle. It does not need to be adopted, it does not need to be improved. It needs to be cherished and protected as it is, as a final frontier against the ever encroaching density of the metropolis of Seattle.

Sean M. Cash, Kirkland