Feb 6, 2009

Parks Dept. does not answer....

Wayne,

Please sensitize the disc golf working group to the issue of homelessness in our community. A good person to speak to the group would be Mike Schirling, Chief of Burlington Police. He spoke on the subject recently on Ch17 Live@5:25 . It is unkind to refer to homeless people as tramps, or as otherwise undesirable. A selling point for disc golf in any location in our community is NOT that it will displace or drive away homeless people. If homeless people are creating problems in the park, we have an excellent community policing program that will work with residents, social service agencies, and homeless people to resolve that issue. The solution is NOT disc golf.

And the trash that the golf course designer said they cleaned out of Leddy Park? They did not clean it up, they left it in piles and Friends of Leddy removed it. Why isn't trash cleaned out of the park by park staff?

Finally, I have some unanswered questions on your desk and I would appreciate answers. Our NPA steering committee meeting is this Thursday, and we have been asked to follow up on the way the working group was formed. You may recall that there was some confusion about the selection process, we gave you a list of recommendations, and now we observe that many people in the working group are affiliated with the golf club and have a clear conflict of interest in recommendations the group will make. Whatever your thinking was when you formed the group, we would appreciate hearing from you about it.

Lea
NPA Steering Committee, Ward 4