MANY BIRDS in the Civic Center Park (OC Tribune photo).

There are almost always two sides to a story. Sometimes there are three or four.

In a recent column, I urged the powers that be that in reconfiguring the Civic Center Park in Garden Grove to keep the ducks – and other water fowl – in whatever will remain once all the changes in the civic center end up becoming.
Those fine-feathered friends bring – in my opinion – a level of vitality to the park. They fascinate children and allow us to get up close and personal with a species other than the family cat or dog.

In fact, there’s even a strangely simpatico mallard, a big bird I call Big Duck, who is literally huggable. Friendly as can be, he seems to enjoy human contact to a degree I would shy away from.

But, as I mentioned, there are definitely some duck skeptics out there. One reader commented to us that avian poop was a problem underfoot: not only messy but slippery and therefore more of problem than an asset.
Of course, the bigger design issue is water. Ducks and geese are there because the streams and ponds provide a modest habitat for Daffy’s relatives. Water fowl and water are tied together.

Garden Grove – outside of swimming pools and the occasional fountain – has darn little in the way of water. I don’t expect The Big Strawberry to launch its own beach, but it would be nice if some place existed for the public to enjoy a waterside picnic or suntan.

The other two water places in town are the West Street Basin (Chapman Avenue and West Street), once known as Kid’s Haven. Technically a flood control basin, in its heyday it was a place for fishing and camping. That’s fallen by the wayside, but there’s still potential to make that more of a park.

The other is the Haster Street Basin – once known as Twin Lakes Park – located at Haster Street and Lampson Avenue. Recessed below street level and partially out-of-sight, it was the location for too-many “bad things” as one city official told me. In re-doing that place, soccer fields and playground equipment were added but the process essentially cut off access to the water … unless you were a duck.

Water is calming. It’s a home for nature. It’s beautiful to look at and fun to dip your toes into it (metaphorically). I’d hate to lose the birds and the last remaining spot of its kind in the whole 18 square miles of this entire beautiful but-water-short city.