Draining the swamp isn’t about turning part of Fountain Lake into the Crystal Lagoon. It’s about stopping our politicians from wasting our money on an outlandish and unnecessary project.

We’ve already wasted $38,000 on a study to justify spending $4 million on the lagoon. Common sense should have prevailed, and the mayor and Council should have realized that this is a colossal mistake.

Some council members feel that the lagoon will draw families into town. Having taken part in Vision Fountain Hills, I understand the desire to attract families to Fountain Hills. We have a problem with that: affordability. This will not change. Development costs are significantly more here than in other parts of the East Valley.

Secondly, lower priced homes in Fountain HIlls are in need of expensive updating and repair. So why come here when you can get all the latest amenities in a new home for less somewhere else?

Satellite imagery indicates that more than 70 percent of our homes have pools. So spending $4 million for a lagoon seems redundant. The cost of operating the lagoon will strain our already tight budget. We can ill afford to fund someone’s pet project when so much of our town’s infrastructure needs attention.

As for those who say that the lagoon will attract visitors who will spend their dollars at local businesses and hence contribute to tax revenues, I don’t want to spend my tax dollars subsidizing local merchants and restaurants.

Remember that swamp I mentioned earlier? So to the mayor and Town Council, I say this: Your judgment and leadership is being called into question by our citizens. You can either confirm what many of us are thinking or you can surprise us by not proceeding with the lagoon project.