No sooner have the barricades surrounding Johnstown’s Central Park disappeared and I see our elite masters are looking to compile a “Master Plan” for Stackhouse Park.
Lord save us.
I will admit to not yet having trod the abundant pavement of New Central Park. I have seen photos and videos indicating that, as feared, there is a whole lot more concrete, a lot less grass and shade, not to mention fewer seating opportunities and a lot less bucolic splendor and charm than the old place offered.
All that new landscaping is unlikely to survive the next use of the park as a host for the Woke fringe celebration of the moment. The Wokesters tend to be pigs in terms of the garbage they leave behind, and they don’t respect property. Grass survived them better than this stuff will.
As for that new gazebo/shelter, it looks like someone got a deal on one of those ubiquitous metal carports that have popped up through the area – better than nothing, but not exactly a garage for one’s cherished vehicle.
If this is progress, I hate it.
The official opening is weeks away, yet already the elites are engaging in orgies of self-congratulation for taking leftover millions of dollars in the federal begging bowl, and redistributing it to a few friends under the guise of progress. What, should we have just given back the money? Surely, you jest.
The usual vague talk of economic gain, the same sort of stuff that attributes $20 million of impact any time two vendors and some organization set up an event in our town, has been heard.
If business owners are anticipating increased business, they might want to break out their calculators and come up with an estimate of how much revenue they lost in the year or so this park upgrade (a misnomer in my view) was being completed.
I see a WTAJ-TV report on the place features Afghan Amy prominently. You could almost hear her mind whirring over how many Afghan refugees could be housed in the new gazebo.
Afghan Amy expressed excitement and claimed others are just as excited.
For those counting on this to revitalize downtown Johnstown, be prepared to be considerably less than excited.
But new frontiers await, like the chance to pave Stackhouse Park and turn that gem into yet another bad dream filed under the heading of new and improved, sort of like New Coke.
Scanning through the survey, it is the usual mishmash of questions. Your answers will be considered as long as you agree with the vision of the elites. It happened with Central Park and will just keep on happening. It’s a Johnstown thing.
Sprinkled throughout the survey are reminders that money is needed. Think of it as the pledge breaks that I presume still dominate public television. I can’t be sure because I stopped watching years ago when PBS became somewhere to the left of Joseph Stalin in its content.
My suggestion is to rush out to Stackhouse Park and enjoy it before the elites reshape it with their warped, self-interested visions.
The good news is there is no way they can afford to concrete over the whole 277-plus acre park. Even the Feds aren’t stupid enough to give them money to do that.
Sam Ross Jr's site 