• A city highway cutting through Keystone Commons, Windsor Park, Beauty Creek and Silver Lake neighborhoods designed primarily to indulge developers planning major construction on the west side of Valpo
• Commercial development across from the high school
• A cost that keeps escalating—estimated at $3.6 million by the Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC )
• Continued delay of repairing many miles of existing crumbling roadway
• Polluted run – off and projected flooding in the Silver Lake and Flint Lake neighborhoods

Here’s what the Friends of Silver Lake are proposing:

• A city park  featuring 200 year old trees and natural wetlands
• Biking and hiking paths winding  through the woods and wetlands without traffic noise and water pollution
• An educational area for Valpo schools and citizens
• Protection and preservation of the last natural green space within city limits
• Maintaining the integrity and safety of our neighborhoods for our children

This beautiful forest and wooded wetland should be preserved for nature study instead of a road.  More consideration is needed of drainage problems, the environmental damage that will result from the road construction, the enormous published cost estimates, that inadequate studies have been provided on the economic, environmental, water quality, and traffic flow that may result from the road, the unstable and hydric soils that may cause the road to sink and deteriorate; and the potential benefits of the alternatives such as Project 7: the city's alternative plan, which would save millions of dollars, improve traffic flow, have less negative impact on drainage, water quality, the watershed's environment, and provide a better long term solution to the perceived traffic problems about which the Redevelopment Commission is allegedly concerned.  Dr. Mark Reshkin, chair of the city's drainage board, suggested that environmentally sensitive areas be inventoried and slated for preservation prior to development.  The city should be advised to proceed with this recommendation instead of going ahead with the extension of Vale Park Road.
Dorothy's radio commentary, WVLP 98.3.....Dorothy Graden..