Regarding David Cuzela's letter, “Disappointing,” referring to our Fountain Park: On first reading this, I was a little incredulous. How could there be so many things wrong with our Fountain Park to make it an embarrassment?

Ironically, I had just finished writing to a friend describing our park: “Fountain Park and the fountain are the centerpiece of the town, and the fountain is indeed out in a small lake. It is a beautiful green park with many trees and a one-mile, paved walking trail encircling the reclaimed-water lake (also a higher one-mile lake overview ridge trail, just on the outskirts, for hiking).

“There is an impressive veteran’s memorial, a beautiful area with shade structures, mini-water-park things/playground for kids, a wind-chime structure with very soothing sounds, nice restroom structure, a desert garden, and life-size bronze sculptures of six great presidents greeting visitors at the park entrance on the main drag. You can’t beat this town park!”

Can anybody please inform me how I could have gotten my observations so wrong?

Shallow water bodies, when heated up by the sun, produce algae blooms, with accompanying green-colored water and low dissolved O2. A fish kill in this case is a natural (and temporary) phenomenon. If we spent many millions aerating the entire lake, then maybe this could be prevented; but I don’t think that’s a good idea.

I would say if you don’t like the allegedly stinky water, then don’t smell it. And if you don’t like seeing fish floating belly-up until natural scavengers take care of them, then don’t look at them. In the meantime, I think we can continue to be extremely proud of our unique and beautiful Fountain Park.