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PREFACE <br /> TO <br /> NOTICE OF CONCERN <br /> TO <br /> ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ORANGE COUNTY RECREATION AND PARKS DEPARTMENT <br /> BY <br /> CITIZENS OF RURAL ORANGE COUNTY <br /> Members -of the Orange. County Board of Commissioners: <br /> A number of citizens. from rural Orange County have attended the <br /> recent series- of "public hearings" on your Master Recreation and <br /> Parks Plan. . The - level , 'of- attendance at these meetings is a <br /> result °of: .community: actian. -- Information was passed by telephone, <br /> personal -;contacts and - at- church.- services. Sufficient to say that <br /> the attendance, _ although not _ nearly great enough, far exceeded <br /> the .55 that attended- the four meetings held during the course of <br /> your "study". -(See page 5-2 of the Master Plan) . It seems quite <br /> obvious that the effort made by the staff of the Recreation and <br /> Parks Department to inform the citizens of rural Orange County <br /> was the minimum necessary to comply with the law. <br /> Notice of meetings were published in the Orange County News <br /> (circulation unknown) . In view of the importance of this issue <br /> for the people, and their response at the recent hearings, it is <br /> certainly reasonable to assume that a deliberate effort was made <br /> to quickly complete a plan before any substantial opposition <br /> could be mustered. You seem to have no difficulty getting <br /> notices of tax increases, necessary to finance these sort of <br /> endeavors, to the property owners in rural Orange County. Why <br /> not use the same procedures in distributing tax increase notices <br /> that were used in advertizing public meetings for the Master Plan <br /> (i . e. , publish a small obscure notice in the Orange County News) ? <br /> Only those who saw the notice should be required to pay the <br /> increase in taxes. <br /> At least a small number of people in rural Orange County have now <br /> had the opportunity to review your Master Plan. This is only <br /> because we were able to obtain a copy at one of the <br /> public <br /> meetings. Mary Anne Black was generous enough to hand out two <br /> copies to be <br /> passed around for review during the one hour meeting <br /> (attendance was approximately 75 to 100 peOple) ; but she insisted <br /> that she must have them back ! One was retained and a few copies <br /> have been reproduced and distributed to people in the rural <br /> townships. At least a small number of people now have had the <br /> opportunity to review it. <br /> The plan is an exercise in misinformation. It is <br /> conceived. poorly proposed. and poorly <br /> idealistic solution in search a poorly presented. It is an problem. It does not iustify <br />