Save 60 Acres

60 Acres South on the Dave Ross show!

Dave Ross spent the entire 2nd hour of this show this morning covering the conflict over 60 Acres South. He had Sherman Knight on hand to outline the situation, with listeners calling in and rebuttals from Curt Bateman of the LWYSA.

Dave himself was incredulous that the County would consider this kind of deal. Here he asks Sherman how the deal is not an "unconstitutional grant of public assets to a private organization":
Click here to listen to the audio clip

At one point, Dave asked Curt Bateman of the LWYSA whether the LWYSA pays rent on 60 Acres North. Curt's response: "Well, it's a somewhat complex transact...er..a..calculation..."
Click here to hear it for yourself

Several listeners called in - all supporting the Seattle Area Soaring Society
Click here to listen to Jody in Issaquah
Click here to listen to Tina in Redmond
Click here to listen to John in Seattle
Click here to listen to Jim in Woodinville

Click here for the entire broadcast. You will need to register on the 710 KIRO website.

Anger at soccer deal sparks lawsuit - Seattle Times

The Seattle Times published an article by Ashely Bach today covering the current status of the dispute between the Seattle Area Soaring Society, the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association, and King County.

The most recent salvo in the struggle to save the park came from the Seattle Area Soaring Society along with other friends of 60 Acres South. The group filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, which asks for an order that would effectively boot the soccer association from Sixty Acres North, where it operates 17 fields.

Click this link to read the full article on the Seattle Times

Taxpayer funded giveaway

Members of the Seattle Area Soaring Society board met with King County Parks director, Kevin Brown on Friday September 15. What they learned was startling.

First off, the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association is indeed proposing to turn the east side of the field into a parking lot. Yes, you heard that right - a PARKING LOT. It's no wonder that the LWYSA facilities manager, Curt Bateman, was so sensitive about our last post. Curt sent us an email requesting that we remove the post speculating that LWYSA intends to build a parking lot. Evidently, even the LWYSA knows that they are doing something wrong.

The County is proposing a "concession agreement" with the LWYSA with a term of 30 years. During that time, the LWYSA will manage the park, including all scheduling. If you want to schedule the park THAT YOU PAID FOR WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS, you will have to go to the LWYSA on bended knee and make a request. And you'll be writing those checks to the LWYSA. Furthermore, the LWYSA will be setting the price. We don't know what that will be yet, but the language in the contract allows the LWYSA to charge rates commensurate with comparable play fields. What this means to you soaring, kite, rocket and dog folks is that you will be paying higher rates because of the higher costs of maintaining the field for soccer use.

Here's the best part. LWYSA will be permitted to rent the field throughout the year. So when they say "the public can use the field whenever we're not using it", you can be sure that they will ALWAYS be using it. They plan to rent this field every possible day they can.

Finally, SASS has been pressing for some concessions to the many drop in users of 60 Acres South. The County's response to this is that they will submit this as a "request" to the LWYSA as part of the negotiations. What the County is proposing is 1 Saturday a month on which the LWYSA will not be able to schedule anything. If this is sounding a lot like the rules for that timeshare you never use, you're not far off the mark. And indeed, part of the strategy seems to be to make using the park so impractical for drop in users, that they'll eventually stop coming altogether.

The LWYSA has two key problems, parking and revenue. This tidy deal with the County will allow them to solve both those problems AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE. The proposed deal between the County and the LWYSA is so egregious and displays such wanton disregard for the taxpayer, that we can hardly believe they can talk about with straight faces. The County and the LWYSA have been busy lobbying your King County Council officials, so be sure they hear your voices as well. We can beat this if everyone speaks out.

WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please visit the Take Action page for letter templates and addresses of your King COunty Council members.

Click here for letter templates

Click here for names of your King County Council representatives

Send your letter to your Councilmember's attention (and copy all the others) to:

King County Courthouse
516 3rd Avenue Room 1200
Seattle, Washington 98104-3272

Northwest Parks offers an alternative

Northwest Parks has created an innovative proposal that represents a REAL win for passive and active recreation in the Sammamish Valley, as well as providing farm land for the Lake Washington Technical College. The proposal also returns 60 Acres West, which was originally purchased as part of Forward Thrust, back to recreation.

Download the Northwest Parks proposal as a PDF

Download the Northwest Parks proposal as a PowerPoint presentation

For more information, please visit the Northwest Parks website at http://www.nwparks.org

60 Acres "Highly Unsuitable" for Soccer

A recent study conducted by the University of Washington characterized the soil at 60 Acres North and South as highly unsuitable for active recreation such as soccer. The type of soil found at 60 Acres North and South is rated "severe" for use in playgrounds, according to the King County Soil Survey. The study says that the current use of 60 Acres North as a soccer field "appears to have broken down the structure of the surface soil, compacted the soil surface to about 10cm depth, and degraded its potential for supporting other uses, including simply walking across the soil."

Read the UW Soil and Use study for 60 Acres North and South

Over 1000 soccer fields in King County!

Did you know that there are over 1000 soccer fields in King County? Check this list and ask yourself if we really need another.

King County soccer field locator

US Boomerang Team Sounds Off!

A letter from Clay Dawson - United States Boomerang Association President and Soccer Coach in Lake Hills. (edited for space).

Dear Executive Sims, I'm the president of the United States Boomerang Association (www.usba.org) and our organization would like to add our comments to the list of protests lodged against the giving of 60 Acres South park to the use of Lake Washington Soccer Association (LWSA). The USBA would like to see 60 Acres South park maintained as an open space available for use by all people. Currently 60 Acres South Park is shared by radio controlled glider people, kite fliers, dog runners, walkers, sun bathers, model rocket launchers, and boomerang throwers. 60 Acres South Park also remains one of the few large and flat open space parks in King County that hasn't been developed to be used exclusively for field sports or baseball. Is it too much to ask that the county leave one park open for uses other than field sports and baseball?

Over half the United States Boomerang Team lives and trains in King County. A large flat park is needed for boomerang training because it gives the team room to practice out of the way of other park users and room to throw boomerangs that travel more than 70 yards away from the thrower. The windy, thermally weather around 60 Acres South Park is ideal for training to compete in international competition, which along with its size is why the US Boomerang Team trains at 60 Acres South.

Best Regards, Clay Dawson, United States Boomerang Association President

Save 60 Acres Key Message Points

We believe that the proposed land sale of 60 Acres South Park to LWYSA for a partial interest in Muller farm is

1) Not permissible within the scope of Forward Thrust
2) Not legal under Washington State Law
3) Not in the best interest of taxpayers within King County.

This field has value to the County residents, serving a variety of user groups for over 30 years, and should remain as is. Please have a look at our position statement on the proposed land sale of 60 Acres South to the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association.

Download as a PDF file

Lake Washington Youth Soccer's troubled past

These articles were published last year in the Seattle Times. They recount the roots and recent history of the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association. From its humble roots in 1971 to the bitter internal struggles of 2004, the organization has had a checkered history that includes legalized gambling (bingo), disastrous business decisions, intra-association lawsuits and board meetings so contentious that they required armed guards.

Is this really the kind of organization you want in control of your community parks? Is this the kind of behavior that we want our children to learn by example?

Read the stories on the Seattle Times and decide for yourself:
Sept 4 2004: Teen reinstated to soccer team; was banned after dad's touchy questions
Sept 9 2004: Court reinstates soccer association's board
Nov 11 2004: Eastside soccer group is expelled
Nov 12 2004: Adults' bitter squabbles foil youth-soccer association