Give Lindsey Hill plan a chance

Editor,

Returning home from a trip with my mother, I read in the Daily Record about the Lindsey Hill Project community meeting at the Price Center with David Lerman and Mark Berins. “Passions flared on several occasions” was the opening statement of the article about the meeting.

As one who has attended many of the meetings regarding this project, and living across the street from the old Lamar School, I know that many people feel passionately about their position on this proposed project. But once again, it saddens me to hear from attendees about the uncivil and mean-spirited comments from those who are opposed to the project. What has happened to our capacity for civil discourse? Why can’t one be passionate about their position and rationale without raising their voices or interrupting presenters?

My observation has been that, despite the ugly tones and barbs thrown at Mr. Lerman and Mr. Berins, they repeatedly respond in the most polite yet honest way, maintaining their own integrity. I cannot say that for all of their opponents… some of our citizens. Secondly, I have thought a lot about the passion of some to recognize the significance of what happened on the Lamar School site regarding the integration of schools after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

I appreciate that the developers plan to have a plaque and educate any who are interested in reading historical plaques. My question is: Might it be equally valuable to have the passion of those voices marshaled in the efforts to renovate the African-American church on MLK Street that has been under discussion for so long? That structure is significant to the history of San Marcos, yet momentum has been in fits and starts around that project. I believe that IS a project that could use such passion from more people.

Finally, as I watch the upkeep and landscaping the developers have done to the Lamar School property, I am reminded that they have been invested in OUR community, improving the property while paying significant property taxes into our city coffers. That is a plus for us.

My fear is that Mr. Lerman and Mr. Berins will soon tire of the snails’ pace and incivility of this process and sell the property to Texas State alumni, who then donate the property to the university. What then?

Dianne Rush Pape