Letters: Don’t turn State House into Finlay Park

It is appalling to read Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin’s proposal to turn our beautiful Capitol grounds into a picnic venue. It is actually scary, since I see what has happened to our beautiful Finlay Park.

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Local citizens don’t even go near it because they feel unsafe; you can’t find a park bench or swing to sit on because the homeless are sleeping on them and under every patch of shrubs. Just two weeks ago as I traveled down Taylor Street at 10:30 in the morning, I saw a man standing on the sidewalk, urinating into the lawn at the park. Why would anyone want to visit this park and witness such behavior?

How does he plan to prevent our Capitol being turned into the same type of disgrace that Finlay Park has become? I hope our state legislators will prevent this from happening.