The Mayfield Escarpment: Our Other Park

Above the end of Savannah, Frankfort and Memphis avenues is Mayfield Terrace. Between it and Kentucky Street is a natural escarpment owned by the City. Mesquite, Palo Verde and other southwest flora grow there. Quail live there and fox and cougar have been seen passing through. For over seventeen years, Chief Justice David Chew and his wife, Mandy, along with Bob and Jeanne Fossett have "managed" this beautiful piece of the Franklin Mountains and the Chihuahuan Desert. They have picked up litter. Bob has labeled plants so that those who pass by will know the various names.

Recently utility workers laid new water and sewer pipes down the alleyway between Savannah and Frankfort. Workers threw away their bottles and paper sacks and other lunch refuse directly on the ground of the escarpment or close enough that it blew into the creosote and other bushes. David and Mandy and David's sister, Judge Linda Chew, picked up quite a bit of this trash. The workers plowed through with backhoe and dirt remover crushing and breaking trees and other vegetation.

No doubt it is time for us to start paying attention to the Mayfield Escarpment: our other park.