User fees for foreigners: If incomprehension is the enemy, are we on Candid Camera yet?

(To myself) ... it simply has to be a set-up, like when comedian Don Novello wrote goofy letters to politicians and corporations in the guise of Laszlo Toth ... but I guess I’m falling for it …

Following is the text of a July 9 letter to the Tribune, unarchived as of yet, but worth examining for insight into life within the confines of the Open Air Museum.

He wants out-of-state visitors to pay

I went to Sam Peden Community Park recently to go fishing.

There was a crowd but considering it was July 4, I should not have been surprised. But after checking out the license plates of the cars in the parking lot, I noticed that 90 percent of these people are from Kentucky.

Why in the world would people drive across the bridge to visit our parks when Louisville has at least five or six parks of their own?

Back in the day, when Community Park was new, there was a fee to get in there. Yes, there was a swimming pool at the time.

But since we have to pay to go into Deam Lake or Buffalo Trace, if you are not a county resident, why not be charged to get into Community Park, if you are not an Indiana resident?

We do not have that many parks as it is and we all know or city and/or county could sure use the money.

-Jim Baird, New Albany

Well, one way to look at it is to separate the apples from the oranges. Accordingly, we see that Deam Lake State Recreation Area is administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and as a state facility, it’s a whole different discussion.

At Buffalo Trace, which is a Harrison County parks property, resident and non-resident alike pay to enter. However, a discount is given for county residents. Interestingly, entrance is free for bicycles and pedestrians – and as a seeming carrot for the physically fit, that’s exactly as it should be. Harrison County’s fees are explained here.

A glance at the NAFC Parks & Recreation web site shows that Floyd County also charges a full range of fees and rentals.

I don’t know why we’ve never decided to gouge Kentuckians for the privilege of using our parks, but it might have something to do with plain ol' karma. That's because there’s another way to look at it. Those Kentucky residents bypassing the dozens of parks owned and operated by Louisville Metro to frolic at Community Park are traveling to it via I-265. Accordingly, they must pass numerous stores, restaurants and other businesses on Grant Line Road while in route.

It’s inevitable that money is being pumped into the local economy by these visitors. I’d venture to say that we come out ahead in the end.

Maybe my take is skewed, but when I see cars with Kentucky plates parked at my own business, I feel pride, not dismay. Sixteen years ago, the prevailing conventional wisdom was that no self-respecting Louisvillian would cross the bridge to drink beer and eat pizza in New Albany.

But they do.

Why on earth would they? To me, it's this: Just because we're New Albanians doesn't meant we must labor under the leaden weight of an inferiority complex. It doesn't mean we can't be good at something, and do it right.

Countless others in New Albany spend their days trying to make visitors feel welcome, secure and unthreatened. It certainly doesn’t help the cause to feel suspicion toward fellow inhabitants of the metro area, and to wonder why on earth they’d want to come here.

Ask ‘em that same question aloud -- why come here? -- and chances are they will reconsider wanting to do so. That’s a self-fulfilling prophecy if I’ve ever heard one, and yet we hear it emanate from the conjoined obstructionist councilmen at almost every council meeting.

Sad. Very sad.