Friends and Acquaintances from the Olympia Area,

Many of you know about my project for building a BMX and mountain bike park in the Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater area. I have submitted an application to the City of Olympia to be part of the all volunteer Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (http://www.ci.olympia.wa.us/cityservices/par/PRAC/) . The Committee is responsible for advising the city council on maters of projects, programs and plans relating to parks planning for a three year term. 

My interest in serving on this board goes beyond the bike park project. I feel that the Olympia youth between the ages of 12 and 18 that are not interested in traditional sports and who can not afford programs offered at the Olympia Center are under represented in parks planning right now. Several youth centers have opened and closed over the past few years in downtown Olympia. As a father of two girls entering this age group I plan to serve on the board to represent this under served group as well as help make Olympia's great parks even better for everyone. The city, county, and state are all entering a period when budgets will be tight and many programs will be in question. I feel that my ability to think outside the box on issues could be of great benefit to the parks department and the residence who use them. In preparation for this job I have thoroughly reviewed the all of the Olympia codes, plans, and standards (http://www.ci.olympia.wa.us/citygovernment/codes/) to better familiarize myself with the larger picture of park functions. As many of you know I am a student at The Evergreen State College and am continuing to focus my education on public service.

I have an interview on Tuesday afternoon with city council members Jeff Kingbury jkingsbu@... (Mayor Pro Tem), Craig Ottavelli cottavel@... and  Rheneda Strub rstrub@... who are the portion of the city council making public recommendations of appointment to all of Olympia's advisory boards. I am one of six residence interviewing for 4 positions. We only have a 10 minute interview to impress upon the council members that we are the best for the job. I would like to ask that you send an email of support to the above mentioned council members for me in serving on this committee.

Thank You,
Joseph (Jody) Ott
Mountain Bike Captain
Capital Bicycling Club
www.capitalbicycleclub.org
Olympia WA
soulbikes@...