Last Night's Meeting

Last night's Parks meeting was interesting! Nudity was a topic on the table, and the local media was out in full force. I appear in a few of the crowd shots on TV last night, along with the "clothed nudists."

There is a public hearing time at the beginning of each meeting, and you are allowed 2 minutes to speak. I presented some of the points in the letter I had sent them. I managed not to pass out, which was good because it's hard to squeeze everything into two minutes and to remember to breathe!

The commissioners asked a lot of questions of Rebecca Salinas, Charles Ng, and Superintended Gallagher. Many of the questions were from my letter. I appreciate that they all took the time to carefully read and consider the points I brought up.

Information learned:
- Most of the $1.1 million that was budgeted for WSS repairs was spent on emergency Burke-Gilman Trail repairs. The rest disappeared in a shrinking budget.
- The RFP says something about a 10-year lease, but Gallagher wants to make that flexible
- The start date of April 2009 is flexible, but despite concerns from the Commissioners about scheduling, Gallagher did nothing to guarantee that events this spring will be able to be scheduled as usual (this is a big problem for SPU who is slated to host the GNAC Championships this year)
- The board is very interested in having input from the track and field community at every phase of this project. Gallagher refused to allow anyone from the track community to be involved in this next phase of the project.
- In response to criticism about their failure to post signs at the facility until after the public hearing, Salinas said that they don't normally do that type of thing. Commissioners Terry Holme called her out on that and said they DO normally do that type of thing in these situations.
- Gallagher emphasized that the RFP does not _require_ an artificial surface on the infield. I am going to call BS on this one. I have spent the past 2 years working on my masters in Sports Administration and Leadership at Seattle University. Based on everything I know about sports economics, grass fields, and this local climate, the only way it will be financially feasible for an outside group to make these investments and recoup their money is to have a field turf infield and to rent the heck out of it.

The board vote 4-1 in favor of moving forward with the RFP, but they made it clear they wanted to be involved in the process.

I would have preferred to have seen it voted down, but I do feel confident that the Board is looking out for the best interests of the track and field community, and as long as we keep communicating with them, we stand a fighting chance.

I hear Mayor Greg Nickels is a track and field fan...