Save Seaside, don’t pawn our parks

The Day’s recent editorial, “Why Formica’s proposal to sell Seaside makes sense,” supporting state Sen. Paul Formica’s (R-East Lyme) proposal to sell Seaside State Park, one of Connecticut’s few public coastal spaces on Long Island Sound, was not only shortsighted, but would set a bad precedent that puts all state forests, parks, and open spaces at risk.

Threatening these lands threatens Long Island Sound, drinking water, wildlife, and outdoor recreation.

Since the dedication of the park — Connecticut’s first in 50 years — the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has created an extensive master plan with broad public and private input and identified a potential revenue stream to support the park. It is now in the process of requesting proposals for a private-public partnership to assure Seaside State Park’s future as a destination for locals and travelers alike.

The scheme to sell Seaside would short-circuit a process years in the making.

While sale proponents hope to use the sale proceeds of this state park to fund intellectual and developmental disability programs, it is unfair to make cuts to these vital programs and then pin hopes on the potential sale of a state park. The intellectual and developmentally disabled community deserves stable, long-term, dedicated funding, not uncertainty.

At a time when our federal government is attempting to sell off public spaces, expand drilling on federal lands, and knee-cap environmental protections, citizens rely on their state government to protect their interests. Now it appears this same approach of seizing public land is happening here at home too.

What’s up for sale next? Hammonasset, Harkness, Wadsworth Falls, Sherwood Island? These lands were dedicated state parks for their ecological, recreational, and public value. They are the state’s treasures and public’s access points to the Long Island Sound, forests, and rivers that are our common trust.

More than 70 percent of Connecticut’s shoreline is in private hands; we ask the legislature to protect the few public spaces remaining.

Once Seaside State Park is gone, it’s gone forever. Don’t pawn our parks.

Leah Schmalz is the chief program officer for Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound.