I spoke with Virginia Swanson this afternoon. She is the chair of the
Seattle Special Events Committee, which meets tomorrow from 10-noon
in an emergency session to reconsider the permitting of a fireworks
display in Union Bay Friday May 5 at 9:30 p.m.

Virginia was very gracious in our conversation and indicated she
feels the committee was remiss in not routinely including DFW and
other environmental experts during the consideration of permitting
the fireworks display and other events affecting environmentally
fragile areas. She considers this has been highly educational and
will inform future policy about being more inclusive.

Virginia explained that the meeting tomorrow, while public, is not a
hearing. It is her hope that there will be time during the session to
allow public comment. Those who wish to comment should arrive early
and sign up, as comments (if they are taken) will be taken in order of sign-up.

I indicated I had testimony and Virginia agreed that if I submitted
it in time today, she would pass it along to the committee. She also
indicated that all emails she has received regarding this issue have
been shared with the committee.

I intend to be at the hearing tomorrow. In addition to my testimony,
I or Martyn Stewart will be bringing some alrge-format photos of some
of the birds currently present at the Fill, as well as a 3-minute
sound recording of the Fill and the songs of a number of the birds
that may be found there.

If you plan on attending and presenting testimony, my advice is to
arrive early and sign-up, and also to bring printed copies of your
testimony that you can provide to the committee. My testimony is
posted here, should you want to preview the points I'm addressing:

http://www.dartfrogmedia.com/fireworks/testimonyHoffmanMay2_2006.doc

Even if you have no testimony, there is value in having bodies
attending the meeting, so please try to be there:

>This special session of the SEC is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2,
>2006 in the Park Board Room at the Parks Administrative Offices
>located at 100 Dexter Avenue North from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.



Marc Hoffman
Kirkland, WA
http://www.dartfrogmedia.com
mailto:tweeters at dartfrogmedia.com