Help needed to save Pease... AGAIN

[bettercounsel]

See below a message from Waterloo Disc Golf Club, I ask that you please express your support for Peace Park Disc Golf Course to the Austin officials listed below. Please call AND send emails.

"Heads Up Texas Disc Golfers, your help is needed, and quickly!
The City recently announced that they will be closing Pease Park Disc Golf Course by the end of the year. This announcement comes months after telling the community that the course would remain open until there was another course opened (possibly at Roy Guerrero Park) so that the other area courses are not drastically overused, drastically exaggerating environmental impact at every other area course. This was a complete lie. There will be no course at Roy G for many months, if ever. City officials strung us along, just to shut us up and announce their real intentions while the citizens were not paying attention. They did this on a Friday afternoon at 4:45 pm right before the short Thanksgiving week. Here is a link to the KXAN story on Friday …
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/disc-golf-almost-done-at-pease-park-
The City also promised that they would work towards (or at least consider) reinstating some aspect of the course at Pease once the storm-water work is completed. Given that this information came from City officials, it is unclear what will be the final result, especially with their recent track record of inconsistent stories.
So, if you are interested in having future disc golf recreation in Austin, or are interested in simply having city officials which tell the truth and follow ethical protocol standards, PLEASE make yourselves heard. There is no chance that they will ever show the community respect if folks simply accept this as the way government works.
If you wish to contact the following people to express your opinion, here are the phone numbers of the elected representatives. You may e-mail them using this website
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm
Mayor Lee Leffingwell - (512) 974-2250
Council Member Chris Riley - (512) 974-2260
Council Member Mike Martinez - (512) 974-2264
Council Member Randi Shade - (512) 974-2255
Council Member Laura Morrison - (512) 974-2258
Council Member Bill Spelman - (512) 974-2256
Council Member Sheryl Cole - (512) 974-2266
Sara Hensley, PARD Director – (512) 974-6716
Assistant City manager Bert Lumbreras – (512) 974-7717

To widen the scope of your responses, here are the email addresses of the Mayor and Council, many of their aides, the Parks Dept. Director and 2 of the Assistant Directors, and the Austin Parks Board. ALL of these people need to hear about this from you, and they need to hear about it often. The groups opposed to Pease are getting to these influential members often and vocally, the disc golf community now needs to do the same.

The city is, at best, breaking their word about keeping the course open until a new course is completely installed and operating. This was a publicly stated commitment.

Mayor & Council
Lee.Leffingwell@ci.austin.tx.us; Chris.Riley@ci.austin.tx.us; Mike.Martinez@ci.austin.tx.us; Randi.Shade@ci.austin.tx.us; Laura.Morrison@ci.austin.tx.us; Bill.Spelman@ci.austin.tx.us; Sheryl.Cole@ci.austin.tx.us

Mayor\Council Aides
Mark.Nathan@ci.austin.tx.us; Nancy.Williams@ci.austin.tx.us; Amy.Everhart@ci.austin.tx.us; Matt.Curtis@ci.austin.tx.us; Janet.Jackson@ci.austin.tx.us; Lewis.Leff@ci.austin.tx.us; Matt.Parkerson@ci.austin.tx.us; bobby.garza@ci.austin.tx.us; Andrew.Moore@ci.austin.tx.us; Laura.Williamson@ci.austin.tx.us; Elaine.Diaz@ci.austin.tx.us; Glen.Coleman@ci.austin.tx.us; Grace.Corpus@ci.austin.tx.us; Robert.Levinski@ci.austin.tx.us; Barbara.Rush@ci.austin.tx.us; Barksdale.English@ci.austin.tx.us; deena.estrada@ci.austin.tx.us; Beverly.Wilson@ci.austin.tx.us; Stephanie.McDonald@ci.austin.tx.us; Tara.Long@ci.austin.tx.us


PARD Director & Assistant Directors
Sara.Hensley@ci.austin.tx.us; Cora.Wright@ci.austin.tx.us; Kelly.Snook@ci.austin.tx.us


Austin Parks Board
lhg@grandecom.net; saramarler@sbcglobal.net; whabell@gmail.com; jfrancell@tnc.org; clee.parks@gmail.com; jerry.perales@gmail.com; janehrivera@austin.rr.com "

[bettercounsel]

If you want help finding the words for your email, here is a copy of the email that I sent to the Mayor and City Council of Austin. You may cut and paste it into your email.

"Dear Honorable Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Distinguished City Council Members:

I am writing this email in support of Pease Park Disc Golf and the disc golf community in Austin, Texas. I became concerned when it was announced in the KXAN story on Friday that the City of Austin announced that the Pease Park Disc Golf Course would be closed before the end of this year, despite the previous assurances by the City that a new course would be established in the area before closing Pease Park Disc Golf Course.

Please keep Pease Park Disc Golf Course open at least until a new course can be established in the area. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

[derek]

Sad that it couldn't be saved:

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/d...at-pease-park-

I think my favorite part is how they are closing the course because of 'too many people enjoying disc golf'