Answer Man: Why am I looking at parking lot and not river?

Answer Man: I was walking my dogs along the Ozark Finley River Greenways Trail — where the career center is — and realized some of the park benches face away from the river. One bench actually faces the back of the recycling center, which is not a pretty view when the river is right behind you. Why is this? — Anita Brill, of Ozark

I went to the scene, Anita, and that's where I found friends Linda Chaff of Ava and Valerie Clayton of Squires sitting on the first bench off of West Jackson Street.

They were eating lunch while taking a break from shopping.

Guess what they were talking about?

They were wondering why the bench, which is affixed to the concrete, faced away from the river.

"They got the park benches facing the wrong way," Chaff says.

"We get to look at all these cars," Clayton adds.

To be fair, from where the bench is, I could not see the river through the brush along the bank.

Still, the brush was a better view than the parking lot.

The bench was positioned that way by design, says Samantha Payne, city of Ozark director of parks and recreation.

This particular area along the Finley River is left uncut because it is a riparian corridor.

"Riparian" means "adjacent to, or living on, the bank of a river."

Payne says, "We need the roots to keep the banks from eroding. ... We work very hard to keep it very natural.

"It is important for the health of the riverbank to have grass, shrubs, trees growing to stabilize the banks."

The trail is a two-mile loop with four benches. The first two benches face away from the river, she says, because you can't really see the river.

The other two face the river and offer a good view of it, Payne says.

The benches were installed about eight years ago when the trail opened.

Sounds to me that if you want a better view, you're going to have to walk a bit farther down the trail.

Keep those questions coming. Send them to The Answer Man at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 N. Boonville, Springfield, MO 65806.