One Sick Trickle

The parks and other greenways throughout the community would serve as more than just recreational amenities. They would also store and cleanse water during heavy rainfalls, rather than letting the rain run directly into the drainage system and the creek. Such a plan obviously wouldn't happen overnight, Williams cautions. "The objective of master planning happens not in a vacuum but with the community," he says. "We need to set up incremental steps to get there. But," he adds, "the opportunities are phenomenal for this community!"

While idealistic, the plan isn't as incomprehensible as it first might appear. Indeed, the creek has not completely expired biologically. The water still supports aquatic life, however sparse: A few turtles and a variety of fish -- snook, needlefish, mullet, tilapia, brim -- somehow manage to survive in the creek's sordid depths. And in certain stretches, if you squint your eyes and hold your nose real tight, it's possible to see a beautiful urban waterway that the community could be proud of. The hallucination won't last forever, though. The human imagination is only so elastic.