Editor:

I am working on my communications merit badge for Boy Scouts. One of the requirements is to write a letter or send an e-mail to the editor of a magazine or local newspaper. I was wondering what to write about when I realized that our city could use some improvements that would make an excellent topic. Following are some of the ideas I came up with.

Instead of sharing a pool with Freedom High School, a city pool would be very fun for kids and families of Oakley. Or thinking larger, how about a full-scale water park, complete with a snack bar like our sister cities Antioch and Brentwood? Make it unique and keep it clean and well-managed and the people will come. We could generate income and jobs from a project like this, and it would get kids away from all the video games and out enjoying the water with their families and friends.

The only indoor gathering place for our citizens we currently have is the little “White House” that accommodates only a few people. We need indoor facilities with approved kitchens in this city where people can teach interesting classes, hold community fundraisers, wedding receptions, large and small meetings, reunions and many other events.

Bethel Island has its Scout Hall, Brentwood has its Veterans building and several other city-owned facilities that can be rented. It’s time for Oakley to move in this direction as well.

We still need to work on completing the all-abilities playground that was put on hold with the closing of the old YMCA. It is a project that some of our citizens and our city invested in, and we need to follow through.

Some of these recreational facilities could be attached to one or more of the many nice parks we already have in Oakley. In addition, Oakley has acquired other parcels of land that could also be utilized to complete these projects. The old YMCA property and the old Dow properties come to mind.

As a young teenager, I would like to encourage our City Council to always keep these suggestions in their minds as they lay the groundwork for further development of our city. I think they are suggestions that would make our citizens very happy – and would not be that impossible to achieve.

Travis Karbowski, Oakley