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In regards to the current need for more ball fields, all of your statistics are city generated rather from the <br />community as a whole. In the most recent community survey, which is the only statistically valid report to reflect <br />the desires and concerns of the community, playing soccer or baseball is not listed in the top 20 recreation <br />activities people would like to do more often (Community Survey, p.20)! In addition, team managers have been <br />99% satisfied to very satisfied until fees have been raised when their satisfaction was reduced to 90 % - -a rate that <br />is still very high. You use the number 24,000 participants, whereas in the City Budget FY 04 the number used is <br />16,000. Even the focus group of sports advocates state the declining popularity of baseball and softball. The city <br />has exceeded the bond goals of updating fields by four (19 instead of 15), so I see no need for the continuation of <br />updating when other priorities still exist (pools, path connectivity, light shields, landscaping, etc.). I have to <br />question why it is that your numbers and representation are so biased toward sports field development. <br />We must be honest and begin to really listen and respond with action and resources to the overall community's <br />desire of what they want their parks to look like —more natural, trails, habitat protection, youth programming, and <br />pools (see Eugene Outdoors, p 7). Creating more ball fields, of any kind, especially in a wetland, requires a <br />ridiculous amount of drainage, money, and chemical treatment in a park that is clearly more than 50% developed <br />and that has a natural element that needs protection. Creating a more natural park would dove -tail with the huge <br />efforts of the city, EWEB, County, State and Federal agencies expenditure to keep our streams clean. Amazon has <br />a unique water feature, which no other park in Eugene has and needs coordinated not conflicting developments <br />comprehensively planned. <br />It has been incredibly frustrating working with the city staff who seem to have a switch and bait approach to our <br />questions and concerns. It took from March until the end of September to end the illegal pool parking on the <br />grassland. And now to protect Amazon park, I must spend my time pointing to city documents that already guide <br />the city staff on what is the right thing to do. Building more ball fields is counterproductive to the project of <br />naturalizing the stream that the city hopes to do with the aid of other entities. I would like to see a <br />comprehensive plan that includes the coordinated effort with the Corp of Engineers before we implement <br />any more sports field updates. Since a good amount of bond money is still left, a pool or other youth recreation <br />should be explored in order to meet the priorities and desires of the community. <br />I do hope to stay involved in the process and request that all public process and mayor's committee meeting dates <br />and locations be listed in a timely fashion on the website that encourages citizen involvement —i.e. providing a <br />month notice for meetings, giving dates for subsequent meetings at the current meeting, and updating minutes <br />regularly. Please include my name on any interested parties list for public process or park governance meetings. <br />What I am bringing to your attention is not a minority opinion about a single park issue but a majority opinion <br />about our entire park system. I hope that all future correspondence from the city will be more fair and accurate. <br />cerely, <br />Marcy Cauthorn <br />Citizens for a Natural Amazon <br />2739 University Street <br />Eugene OR 97403 <br />cc. Carolyn Weiss, Project Manager <br />Kurt Corey, PW Director <br />Renee Grube, Recreation Division Manager <br />Dennis Taylor, City Manager <br />Mayors Advisory Committee <br />Floyd Prozanski, State Representative <br />Lauri Segal, 1000 Friends of Oregon <br />Jeff Krueger, LCOG <br />Johnny Medlin, POS Division Manager <br />Angel Jones, LRCS Director <br />Scott Duckett, Natural Resources Manager <br />Mayor Torrey and Eugene City Councilors <br />Planning Committee <br />Peter DeFazio, State Representative <br />Jan Spencer, Citizens for Public Accountability <br />Randy Webb, Institute for Wildlife Protection <br />