Keep Dundas Driving Park alive

RE: City offer for Dundas Parkside site accepted (Feb. 26)

Dundas Driving Park is a jewel to treasure. It teems with life 12 months of the year. The closed Parkside School sits prominently on a four-acre site that slopes down to the edge of the park.

I understand that the city has purchased the land and structure from the school district and now plans to demolish the well-built and structurally sound building at additional taxpayer expense in order to place a cemetery there.

I believe placing a cemetery on such a large and clearly visible piece of adjacent land would be detrimental to the atmosphere of the park. Couldn’t a more appropriate cemetery site be found elsewhere in Hamilton, perhaps on RBG land? Why does the new one have to be squeezed into already built-out Dundas?

I further believe the building could be easily repurposed and someone could be found to do so in a way that would positively affect property values and enhance the neighbourhood as was so wonderfully done with Dundas District School. A portion of the existing structure could be retained by the city and used as bathrooms and locker rooms for soccer teams using the adjacent playing field.

Please, don’t replace a school full of young life and a popular slope for sledding with the lonely solitude of a graveyard. How does that enhance property values? Let’s keep this wonderful park alive! William J. Curley, Dundas