Hi Tweets,

Well, this isn't just another rant and a rave about the ballfield they
want to put in at Shoreview Park, this has some good helpful info, so
please hang in.

Well, Shoreview, the last 2 mornings, I have run into this guy named Ray
(he is the same one Jason Starfire and I met over the summer) anyway,
supposedly the proposal which was site number one, now number two, would
cost about 200,000 less than the area west of the current ballfield. It
would also destroy a lot less habitat. County and City Parks, as well as
others all said that this spot, next to the tennis courts, would be much
better suited for such a project, if it has to be at Shoreview.

Here is where it gets more interesting. Rich Gustafson, part of the city
council, used to be the athletic coordinator for the Shoreline schools.
He has been lobbying very hard with his fellow council members. He also
said that there are only two types of bird that use the park. The
(incompetent) people who did the environmental impact statement found
only 35 species of bird using the park. In the last four months, I have
spent a combined 15-20 trips to Shoreview, all of them for less than an
hour, usually about 30 minutes, and I have found over 60 in this area
just that amount of time. This includes two species of special concern
(Band-tailed pigeon and Pileated Woodpecker) as well as other birds which
are considered indicators of critical habitat, and changes in this
habitat.

I have talked to many people over the last week, who were walking there
dogs in the park, and they have ALL said they don't want another
ballfield here. Anyway, we need to make as much noise about this as we
can.

I can't believe the city has the money to waste on this site, when they
didn't even have the million dollars needed to fix their own sink hole!
(cost estimates for this are between 1.7 and 1.9 mill.)

Apparently the city council doesn't have there own web-page yet, but you
can send e-mails to them at the following address:
gsanders at ci.shoreline.wa.us I'll see if I can get a snail mail
address.

I go to Shoreview five days a week now that class has started at the
community college, and I would really hate to see this happen. It is not
too late. *PLEASE* I can't stress that enough, so I'll say it again,
*PLEASE* write to them and tell them what you think. Also, please cc any
response to the city council to me, or let me know that you responded, so
I have an idea of how many of you did so, and so I can tell Ray what we
are doing.

Thanks, I'll get off my soap box now.

Michael Dossett
Bothell, Washington
mpdossett at juno.com

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