There was a recent out-of-town letter writer who wondered why the city or hospital, and not individual homeowners, possessed much of the shoreline of Fountain Lake. The writer felt the city failed to reap taxes from expensive shoreline property.

The fact is, the city might actually gain by not letting all the shore by privately owned.

When a lakeshore is shared, it enriches an entire neighborhood. This benefits blocks of homes, and usually the homes closest to the public shore are very nice homes anyway.

When the shore is not shared, it benefits only the homes right on the water.

One only has to visit Minneapolis to see the continued benefit of having shorelines under the possession of the city park system. You will see those neighborhoods have the most-enduring property values.

A city stands to gain a lot more in tax revenue by having neighborhoods of value, rather than individual houses of value.

This also somewhat akin to a way of thinking mentioned in the film &8220;A Beautiful Mind.&8221; It is called Nash equilibria. We all stand to gain if we take into account the best cumulative payoff, rather than an individual&8217;s.

Kudos to the city planners for placing so much of the Fountain Lake shoreline in public use long ago. It was a wise decision.