Chelsea Gardens, created by the Norwich City Council in place in June 1993, is an idea past its time.

The citizens of Norwich should not be placed at risk of losing the natural park and picking up the mess with taxpayer’s dollars when Chelsea Gardens fails to complete this unnecessary episode of grandiosity and delusion.

What is Chelsea Gardens responsibility if they don’t have the funds to complete the process? Why are they cutting trees if they don’t have full funding in place? Will the taxpayer be left with the bill for cleanup or just a barren destroyed piece of land that used to be Mohegan Park?

Visitors will range from 60,000 (2014 estimate) to 200,000 (2015), according to the Chelsea Gardens CEO. Those projected numbers are not believable. To reach projected $2.7 million income per year would require 60,000 people, which is 164.3 people per day each spending $45 or, with 200,000, 547 people per day each spending $13.52.

Does anyone really believe this will happen?

The park was preserved because the donors wanted this and no one has had the need to sell the trees before. By the way, how much did the out-of-town loggers benefit from those second-rate trees?

Chuck Evans Jr.

Norwich