In 1963, Abbie Cromer gave 1.6 acres of green space in guardianship to a school board of honorable and ethical people who for 49 years kept that legacy for the people to whom it was intended: the Overlook Heights neighborhood.

Now, citing maintenance costs and liability, another school board might betray that trust and convey this land to a highest bidder in defiance of the original restrictions that this land remain forever green space free of commercial interests.

The current board’s desire to unload liability is understandable, but to destroy that legacy and sell that land to commercial interests contrary to the desires of the gift giver is not.

We question the wisdom of the highest bidder who would buy a property that he knew beforehand was not large enough and was in a neighborhood that does not welcome actions that diminish the nature of its residential area.

Of course, if this betrayal occurs and the land is no longer green space, its value will explode way out of proportion to the money the current school board would receive. Perhaps, that is the motive of the board and the commercial interests.

Fred and Nina Hammer State College