Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 08:59:12 -0500 (EST)
From: Brad Page
Subject: Chatham County and Iran
Iraaaaaaannnnnn?
Yup. Iran.
We have a lot in common with those folks over in that desert. Here in Chatham County we’re sharing the same experience except we can see it coming and have a few choices left if we stiffen up and demand our elected officials ask about them and then demand complete answers that speak fully to the questions.
Of course, I’m referring to the Chatham Park Master Plan better know as the road of half-truths and lies of omissions. I send you this quote from a recent story in the New York Times. It lets you know how bad things can get when you don’t ask those uncomfortable questions:
“While Iran is shooting monkeys into space to advance its missile program, the Rouhani government, low on funds because of the impact of the international sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program, has not made any money available for efforts to restore the lake.
Even if it were, officials say, it is probably too late to save Lake Urmia. All the money in the world can be poured into the lake, one of the officials said, but in the most optimistic projections, it would take decades, if ever, for the water to reach its old levels. There are simply too many problems, too many competing interests, for the rescue to be feasible.
Not doing anything, or not enough, will still create many problems. In 2010 and 2011, violent protests over the lake erupted in Urmia, and security forces had to be flown in to restore order.
‘We are not allowed to speak of the lake,’ said Morteza Mirzaei, who lives in Urmia. ‘But they built their dams, and now everything is gone.’ Others said ordinary people were also to blame, but ‘the government is the steward of the country,’ said Mushin Rad, who sells printer equipment. ‘They are responsible.’
Mr. Ranaghadr, who grew up around the lake, said he spends free time battling poachers in the hills around it. ‘You know what the real problem is?’ he said. ‘Everybody across the world is only thinking of money. We did, too, and now our lake is gone.'”
As a Chathamite (used to be a Mecklenberger but these past 8 years I’ve had the privilege to belong to this county whose name doesn’t sound like something you should put cheese and pickles on) I understand these are just ordinary people who are hurting because those in charge gave in to the money and the pressure that money brings. Makes you wonder how they painted their “progress” propaganda and got all those dams built that strangled a desert saltwater lake.
The next time you get that choking feeling you have a pretty fair idea what Chatham Park’s Master Plan will bring us without rigorous oversight from the Town Board.
Brad Page