Look how fun and "EZ" activism can be!
USE THESE POINTS TO WRITE TO OFFICIALS:
(Watch Jean Enersen bust the Parks Department's phony process at the end of a story on June 12, almost 2
months before Parks Superintendent Bounds "Decision". Click on "Paul Chambers Reports" on the middle
right of the page)
Write to the Seattle City Council Budget Committee, and the Seattle City Council
Parks Committee. Here are some points to consider including in your letter:
- The Loyal Heights review process was fraudulent and stacked against neighbors
from the beginning. There is a key cultural difference between parks/organized
sports teams and the rest of us. The organized sports folks were involved early in
the process precisely because they were sought out by parks. Starting the process
with them put them front and center, and left the rest of us moving on with our daily
lives, washing our cars, watching TV, unknowing that key decisions were being
made about our park and our neighborhood. Then, when we heard about the public
input period and were basically told to get lost, it was very demoralizing. Parks see
their natural constituency as organized sports programs, and this is a real flaw.
Users not members of the organized sports syndicate (baseball, soccer, football,
softball, frisbee) are constituents too, use the park, supported the levy, yet are
dismissed in this bizarre process. (Or "byzantine", as Parks staff acknowledge.)
- Parks ignored a letter from the City Council Parks Committee recommending that
they consider alternatives to the all-synthetic parks proposal.
- Parks ignored the 2002 City Council resolution directing them to have thorough
public involvement for projects such as Loyal Heights.
- Parks ignores their own stated commitment to thorough public process before
finalizing decision at Loyal Heights.
- From the very beginning of the recent "public input" charade, Parks staff clearly
indicated that they were not listening to neighbors. They said that. They told us to
shut up, they tried to control us at meetings, they tried to intimidate us by insisting
that we not use the term "plastic grass" in meetings. This is in violation of their
stated policies, and is a matter of public record.
- The 2.3 million dollar Loyal Heights budget should be withheld form the Parks
budget, and the process should be re-opened, with a third party such as the King
Count Dispute Resolution Center brought in to conduct the new hearings and
meetings.
- There has been no public process in the last several years, in spite of Parks windy
and over-done list of all the meetings that have taken place. They all occurred
before 2002, and hardly constitute "fair review".
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