Dear Nelson, I love your city. My family and I have been visiting Nelson for the past six years. We come up every summer from Los Angeles to enjoy your lovely town.
After years of visiting Nelson, I have only one question, one thing I don’t understand.
The goose poop. So much goose poop!
Lakeside’s athletic fields are covered in goose poop. The beach at lakeside is covered in goose poop. The grass area by the playground where everyone sits and enjoys concerts is covered in goose poop.
Playing baseball, swimming and listening to music while continuously stepping in goose poop is not normal. As my wife says, “It’s all so disgusting.”
I see kids kicking soccer balls to each other and at the same time goose poop is flying into their faces. Teenagers share hugs and first kisses in the grassy area at Lakeside while rolling around in poop. Swimmers enter the lake by first side stepping land mines of goose poop and feathers on the beach.
Why don’t the residents of Nelson demand a permanent clean up? Why haven’t the soccer and baseball moms started a riot?
A local resident told me the geese are just too difficult to chase off, so the city gave up trying. If that’s true, that’s the lamest excuse from a city hall anywhere.
This same resident also told me about an interesting solution to the problem. Here it is: Nelson has a homeless population, which lacks access to food. If you harvest all of the geese that enter Lakeside Park, you can feed the homeless and eliminate the goose poop.
I’m no politician but this seems like a win-win. Feed the hungry and clean up the poop. I can hear the chants now: “Four more years. For more years.”
I challenge the mayor and city council to kill two birds with one stone. Feed the homeless and clean up the goose poop in the city’s best parks. The solution is waddling right in front of you.
See you next summer!
Todd Allen
Los Angeles
