I recently did a blog post entitled "Hey Pawling...It all started with selling Chickens!" (click here to see it, if you happened to miss it).
My post was all about the Pawling Lions Club having created Edward R. Murrow Park back in the 1960's and how it all got started with their members selling bbq'd chickens.
A number of years ago, Murrow Park was taken over by the Town of Pawling. However, as part of the deal, the Pawling chapter of the Lions Club were granted the right to continue to meet in the Murrow Park main pavilion. In some of the comments that appeared on Facebook, some Lions members mentioned that they were having a meeting there last night (July, 23, 2019) so, I decided to attend.
Unfortunately, I was shocked and saddened by what I saw at the meeting. The state of the inside of the pavilion was horrendous. In the corner of the large meeting room was a sheet of plastic attached to a large section of the ceiling. That plastic was being used as a make-shift funnel to direct rain water (leaking through the roof) into a large garbage pail. The large garbage pail (I'm guessing a 30 gallon pail) then sat atop a blue plastic kiddie pool...which was there to catch overflow water.
As the Lions members went about their business, which included greeting me and another guest, Town of Pawling Supervisor, James Schmitt, it was very apparent that the building had not been maintained in an acceptable fashion. After the Lions finished their "Year in Review" which was filled with positive things they had done in the community, there was a lot of conversation about what was happening with Murrow Park.
In an effort to be brief, I'll say that the maintenance of Murrow Park was brought up to the Supervisor and it seems that lack of money is the main reason that Murrow hasn't been properly maintained. Apparently, the 20 year note that was taken out to finance the purchase of Lakeside Park still has 4 more years of payments...and these are substantial. The Supervisor also noted that he had only one vote on the Town Board and couldn't just get things approved that he wanted to. He asked the Lions members to show up to tonight's Town of Pawling Board meeting so that the other Board members could see that there was support for fixing up Edward R. Murrow Park (or at least the pavilion...as a starting point).
There was much more to the conversation and I will say that I believe the Supervisor is trying to make a positive impact. However, I to think that the Town Board and the entire Village and Town of Pawling should be aware of how dire the situation is at Murrow Park right now.
To that end, I went to Edward R. Murrow Park this morning with my camera and attempted to put a little video together. It will give you an idea of the current state of Edward R. Murrow Memorial Park.
If you would like to share this video in email, the link is:
My personal belief is that our community will rally around Edward R. Murrow Memorial Park and raise funds to make (at least) repairs and hopefully, improvements.
I will be starting a GO-FUND-ME page to try and raise money for improvements and I will post that link in the upcoming days.
If you're from Pawling, the home of positive thinking, take whatever action you can to help. Go to the Town Board meetings, email the Town Board, think of friends that might be able to help save the park with a financial donation, or make your own Facebook-Twitter-Instagram post. Together, saving this park will enhance our community.
Please also consider joining the Pawling Chapter of the Lions Club. Their next meeting is August 27th at the Murrow Park Pavilion.
This blog reflects the personal views of Taren Tanner only and do not reflect views of his broker.