Monday, January 8, 2007, 10:14:00 AM, you wrote:
js> My problem is this.  Tennis courts cost money.  How much do people
js> have to pay to get in the park if they want to play tennis?
[and]
js> I know nothing in life is free.  I also know that Athens Clarke
js> County Leisure Services gets a hell of a lot of money through
js> local city taxes. 

[sorry in advance for the long email, I tend to ramble]

A couple things. First off, the park is not upset about the volunteer
turnout (heck, they're the ones that nominated us for volunteer group
of the year). _I_ am the one that's upset (I am a volunteer, not an
employee). They're extremely appreciative of even a few hours of
volunteering per year.

Your statements sound like you feel the park system is practically
flooded with money, which is just silly. So is the thought that disc
golf is bringing in 50% of the park's visitors. The park wants to have
more staff to do things like help run disc golf leagues and clinics
and whatnot, but they can't afford it right now. They hope to in the
future. The park is simply understaffed and that's because the budget
is very tight.

That said, there are other activities in the park that cost extra
money. The dog parks are $1 per dog. Horses cost extra as does
reserving any field or building in the park. When the rugby team plays
games out there (which we do a handful of times each year) the fields
cost us $40 in addition to entry fees. That's a bargain for us and
we're happy to pay it.

Disc Golf has been a volunteer driven thing the whole way, but that's
the way parks work. It's the government, which is the people, which is
you and any group that works to make itself loud enough to warrant use
of the public's land and resources. I'm thrilled that they paid for
the course, to be honest. In the original proposals _we_ would have
paid for it ourselves by raising donations (and we proposed that), and
then we would have installed it and to some extent maintained it.

Yes, the disc golf course will pay for itself after a few years and
eventually may bring the park some profit. That's a _good_ thing for
the disc golf community, not a bad thing. It means the course will be
maintained and expanded over the years. I, personally, have a hope
buried deep down that one day we'll get to install the Crucible full
time. If that were to happen it would have to be because disc golf did
so well that they could afford to take 80 acres of parkland and
massive upkeep manpower and dedicate it to disc golf.

You say it's a matter of principle, not money, but have some faith in
a park that's done so much for us and is working to do so much more.
They charge an extra $1 because it helps them make the park work. Come
out and help us work on things and then be proud of what you helped
do.

Anyway, hope to see you out at the crucible and at the next workday...

cheers,

doug