LEDDYPARK.ORG WRAPS UP - PARK PROTECTION CONTINUES

Dear Supporter of Woodland Preservation at Leddy Park,


I’m happy to announce that this is my final update on disc golf in Leddy Park. I've realized that many of you may not have not heard about the recent and definitive outcome on the disc golf controversy, and after all your support and effort, I want to be sure you hear the good news.

It's official - there will be no disc golf course of any size constructed in Leddy Park.

On June 1, 2009 the Burlington City Council passed a resolution on disc golf in Leddy Park that referred the disc golf matter to the Council’s Parks, Arts and Culture Committee (PACC). On March 8, 2010 a memo was issued by PACC communicating their unanimous decision to not allow disc golf in Leddy Park, and this communication was then accepted by the City Council. A copy of this memo can be found on LeddyPark.org:

http://www.leddypark.org/wp-content/uploads/documents/burlington_city_council_pacc_disc_golf_memo.pdf

The efforts of several public officials were instrumental in achieving this outcome and I’d like to recognize the service of the following people:

• Former City Councilor, Russ Ellis.
• City Councilors Kurt Wright, Paul Decelles, Nancy Kaplan, Vince Dober, Karen Paul, and Mary Kehoe.
• Parks & Recreation Commissioners: Dave Hartnett and John Ewing.
• Former Parks & Recreation Department Director, Wayne Gross.
• Mayor, Bob Kiss.
• Parks & Recreation Disc Golf Working Group members: Joanne Hunt, Pat Kearney , and Greg Jenkins

Your support was also essential in achieving this outcome. It wouldn’t have happened if so many of you had not made your positions on park preservation known in the letters you wrote and at the numerous public meetings you attended.

Thank you all!

You can continue to support preservation of the Leddy Park woodland areas by joining Friends of Leddy Park. Friends of Leddy Park is a volunteer group that works to provide leadership in ongoing preservation and stewardship efforts in the natural areas of the park.

Friends of Leddy Park is organizing the Green-Up Day efforts in the park this Saturday, May 1 at 9:00AM. Meet at the tennis courts. Bags and plastic gloves will be provided, or bring your own. Young and old, and in-betweens, all are invited and welcome.

If you can’t come to the Green-Up Day event and want to learn more about Friends of Leddy Park or just want to be included on meeting notices please reply to this message or drop me a note at k.mark.barlow@gmail.com .

Mark Barlow
LeddyPark.org

Thank you, Mark, for your tenaciousness, your organizational acumen, and your inspirational leadership. People tend to sit around and gripe, until a leader inspires us to stand up and speak out! And special thanks to the people who wrote letters, sent emails, and went to meetings, stood up, and spoke out!

Twitter'er Totten Announces No Disc Golf in Leddy Park

Karen Paul (I-W6) sez #BTV Parks Art Culture Commission met & recommends no #discgolf at Leddy Park.

Disc golf will not displace popular trail areas of Leddy Park. Still hoping to find a place for disc golf in Burlington, local players visited a wooded area at the edge of the Intervale, below Manhattan Drive. Formerly a city landfill, now capped, a grassy knoll is surrounded by a wooded area separated from the nearest homes by a steep embankment. Players were very enthusiastic about the possibilities. Varied elevations of fairways could radiate off a picnic area and dog park on the knoll, and there was plenty of space for an official 18 fairway course.

On Ch15 Progressive Thought, City Councilor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak ridiculed the idea of locating disc golf in the wooded terrain around the base of the landfill. She said it would displace a homeless encampment, and she said a former landfill area is not very nice place for disc golfers. Suitable for homeless people, but not for disc golfers.

The proposed disc golf area is connected to the ONE, the Intervale, and the North End via sidewalks and a paved bike path. It's a short walk from the King Street Youth Center and would be an economic boost to ONE cafes, convenience stores, and taverns. City Councilor Berezniak was interested in investigating potential benefits of converting the reclaimed land to a family sport and recreation area for ONE residents, and creating space for disc golf had potential. Similar areas have been successfully redeveloped for recreational use in other cities.

Mulvaney-Stanak was playing politics, trying to discredit Councilor Berezniak who was running against a progressive challenger who was supported by Mulvaney-Stanack (same M-S who criticizes others on Council for playing politics instead of looking at the merit of an idea). Mulvaney-Stanak moved to Ward 3 and ran for City Council unopposed. Local people in that ward get awards, free dinners and parades, but political empowerment and mentoring for leadership positions on City Council? No. Ward 3 is groomed for carpetbaggers.

Update: The well-worn quiet walking trails in Leddy Park continue to be accessible to residents who walk through the park to the shopping center, bike path and lakeshore on a daily basis; COTS continues to work with homeless people to provide safe, warm, dry shelter, health care and counseling services; Counselor Berezniak continues to represent his home ward honestly and sincerely; and Ward 3 has a carpetbagger Councilor who ridicules the North End for speaking out against disc golf in an area of Leddy Park that is a network of popular walking trails.