THE SPECTATOR: BURTON FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS

  

Over one million dollars!  That’s how much the non-profit organization Burton Friends and Neighbors has put back into the City-owned ballpark and the community of Burton.  Over one million dollars in donations have been spent on those fields, along with scholarships for kids for Little League and college, and on other Burton community projects.  I didn’t hear or read anything about that at the last Burton City Council meeting.  Perhaps the Burton mayor and council members have forgotten that the land for the park was donated to the City 20 years ago.  Maybe they don’t know that the only thing asked of the City in a “gentleman’s agreement” was to pay for the water.  Burton Friends and Neighbors have done everything for that park, even paying for the electricity.  Their annual fundraiser has continued to raise money for park improvements, including current plans for building covers over the bleachers and adding LED lighting for the fields.  It just seems to me that a “Thank you” was probably more in order at that council meeting instead of threats to make the non-profit start paying for water…which again is the only contribution from the City of Burton.  Oh, did I mention that the water cost over the past 20 years is just $23,000?  The Burton Friends and Neighbors are an organization that every small town would be thrilled to have raising money for their community.  To be honest, the organization is made up of most of the community, except for, it sounds like, the Burton City Council.

And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.