The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Park users like pier project
Council to consider endorsement
A pier proposed for the west side of Lorain’s Lakeview Park already has won over some fans.
Members of the Lorain Rotary Club and the Polish Fishermen’s Club, with support of Lorain County Metro Parks, have proposed an effort to build the $12 million structure as a way to enhance Lorain’s shoreline and attract new visitors.
Lorain City Council on Sept. 18 will consider a resolution of support for the new Rotary Sunset Pier, an 800-foot-long attraction that would extend into Lake Erie from the west side of Lakeview Park.
A day before, some of Lakeview Park’s faithful and some newcomers gave their own endorsements to the idea.
“When I first saw it, I was like, oh my gosh, that’s beautiful,” said Tracy Taylor, of Elyria.
“I’m thinking that’s awesome,” said her aunt, Benita Hunter. Taylor saw images of the new pier in
news reports, while Hunter first saw a picture on Sept. 17.
“That’s what I was like,” Taylor said. “That looks like a pier from California. That’s going to be awesome.”
They were at the park with Taylor’s grandchildren, Diamond Taylor, 15, of Lorain, Tristan Taylor, 10, of Elyria and Izaiah Taylor, 9, of Norwalk.
Taylor first began visiting the Lake Erie shore with her own mother as a free but beautiful way to relax. Now her grandchildren, especially Izaiah, want to visit Lakeview Park frequently, she said.
The park already is beautiful and the pier would be a welcome addition, they said.
“I hope they’ll be able to make it a project they can do,” Taylor said. “If they build it, we’ll come, right Benita?”
“That’s true, that’s true,” Hunter said.
“I’ll be sitting out there watching the sunset all the time,” Taylor said.
A $1 admission price for maintenance is reasonable, as long as it does not go up in price every year, Taylor said. She suggested having a season pass for the pier, while another man visiting the park with his grandchildren suggested the pier might do better with a donation box instead of fixed admission.
Two Lakeview Park newcomers were Denise and Bill Workman, of Shelby. Workman has relatives that moved back to Lorain from Seattle this year and when he was growing up, his grandparents lived in Elyria.
Now the couple’s children are old enough to be responsible at home while they make weekend trips exploring the Lake Erie shore in the family 1964 Corvette convertible.
Would they go out on the pier? In a word, “yes,” Bill Workman said. Sept. 17 was their first time at Lakeview Park.
“The water view is breathtaking,” Denise Workman said.
“This park is gorgeous,” Bill Workman said.
“It’s beautiful,” Denise Workman said. “It is very beautiful, well maintained.”
She added she had never seen anything like the Lakeview Park Rose Garden, which was a Rotary project. The pier would be an added attraction as long as it does not disrupt the beauty and maintenance of the park, Denise Workman said.
“I would go out. I know some people that would use it,” said Merci Taylor ,of Lorain. She visited the park with her great niece, Aliah Mathna, 10, to take photographs of a still, sunny and generally beautiful late summer day.
Taylor said her son, Leonard Taylor of Lorain, already fishes off Lorain’s East Pier, also known as the Mile Long Pier, and likely would use the new Sunset Pier as well.
“It looks like a neat idea,” said Sandra Lambright of Amherst.
“Would they have fishing off that? That’s cool,” said her friend, Roy Mueller, of North Ridgville.
The pair visited the park with Lambright’s cat, Bonnie Brae, 1. The feline opted to stay in her carrier and not go swimming while her human friends relaxed on bench and overlooked the West Beach.
A week earlier, Lambright said her church, the Community Congregational United Church of Christ in Amherst, held a Sunday service at the park. Members brought food to share and spent time reflecting on Jesus, who was no stranger to teaching and performing miracles on a lake shore, she said.
A new pier likely would draw more people in, they said. Lorain Rotary and pier supporters have a lot of work ahead to make it happen.
“It would be worth it, though,” Lambright said. “It would be very worthwhile. How many people don’t come here? And we live so close.
“Even if you don’t fish or sunbathe, you can peoplewatch, you can boat-watch,” she said. “It’s a nice thing.”