I missed this Shoreview meeting and was wondering how it turned out; I hope
the general populace doesn't label tweeters/birders as anti-baseball; we can
play hard ball too! Does anyone have any follow-up on the hearing?

Kevin Li
Seattle

> ----------
> From: Ed Newbold[SMTP:newboldwildlife at netscape.net]
> Reply To: newboldwildlife at netscape.net
> Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 1999 12:30 PM
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Shoreview Park: ready to rumble?
>
> Dear Tweeters,
> Shoreview Park is in the city of Shoreline by the Community College and by
> Boeing Creek. The park contains good bird habitat, as many lists posted
> over
> the past year by Michael Dossett will attest. The best bird area is in
> the
> west part of the park south of the creek and north of an existing baseball
> field and soccer field. (With two playfields, this little park is already
> burdened by a heavy athletic load). This is also the place where a
> majority of
> the Shoreline City Council wants to put a new little League ballfield.
> The
> Little League field apparently germinated with a Mariners grant of $75,000
> but
> the project envisioned will now cost taxpayers about $2 million. (The
> Mariners have recently, privately, distanced themselves from endorsing a
> site
> that is environmentally destructive). There are cheaper alternative sites
> for
> a field, some involving simply coordinating times between public school
> fields
> and the little league.
>
> I attended two Shoreline council meetings on this project and let me tell
> you
> a few of the people on the Shoreline City Council don't seem to be losing
> any
> sleep over the fact that this tax-and-spend project will destroy bird
> habitat.
> After hearing testimony about birds seen in the park, Councilor Bob
> Ransom
> stated, "There couldn't be many birds in the Park, there's so many dogs
> there." At one meeting about 50 people spoke, all opposed to the
> ballfield,
> including a young girl who had seen a Redtail catch a Garter Snake there
> and a
> Shoreline Professor who has brought his students there to study and
> observe
> nature. All the eloquent testimony from so many citizens appeared to have
> fallen on deaf ears.
>
> This could be a done deal if we don't get an unprecedented turnout at the
> Shoreview Community Council Chambers on July 7. I 'd like to see a first
> annual Tweeters family Get-together there, one with everybody that has
> ever
> posted or lurked! As a sidebar, Don Baccus and Dennis Rockwell will hug,
> Price and Weber will have an Empid call contest, and there will be a
> fly-by by
> a Xantu's Hummingbird. It 'll be fun, and I'll bring the lemonade.
>
> Contact Jo Ann Laz at 206 546 6792 to sign up in advance. Jo Ann and Ray
> Pelley deserve a lot of credit for creating opposition to this bit of
> athletic
> tyranny.
>
> Also, see my ad about this in this Sunday's Seattle Times. It should be
> in
> the local section of the Times.
>
>
>
> -Ed Newbold, Seattle (newboldwildlife at netscape.net)
>
>
>
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