My wife and I have lived in Fountain Hills for more than 20 years and Fountain Park was one of the primary reasons we picked Fountain Hills for our home.

First stop for guests was always to show off the park. Since the town took responsibility for the park, all manner of add-ons have been applied to the park, many at fairly high cost. Most were not improvements, in my thinking.

The latest, the installation of an excessive number of re-purposed military surplus ordinance light fixtures, being my least favorite.

Money was also spent re-building a parking lot that was really just fine for parking cars. The industrial strength irrigation system that had proven itself for decades was replaced with less durable system of unproven lower quality devices.

Meanwhile, the once lush green, often soaking wet turf has turned into patches of struggling weak pale grass, weeds, and large patches of dirt. The once healthy mature shade trees are now stressed and dying from a lack of the necessary deep thorough watering they had received for most of their earlier lives.

There seems to be an effort to restrict the watering of the park when sometimes a week goes by in the hot summer with no water being applied. It makes no sense.

Given the effluent is free, it costs little to simply apply water -- why not water the park? The irrigation system does need major repair, but that should be no surprise. It is essential.

I, and others, had tried to alert park staff about failing sprinklers, but you get shrugged off with “we know” and all manner of excuses.

We no longer take guests to the park. The smell of the water and the condition of the turf and trees are now an embarrassment.

Water the park, please.