[SJAAboard] Houge Final Letter

[Rob Hawley]

Here is a copy of the letter that I sent.  It went to the mayor, all council
members, and the head of PRN (Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhoods). The
district 9 member (where Houge is) and my district 10 member also got hand
written notes. I made some minor last minute changes after running it past my
"management consultant" (a former senior director at Sun). He emphasized keep it
to one page!

http://www.sjaa.net/0806-intro-ltr-final.pdf

I redacted my home address.


> Various comments on expanding the scope of the letter

It is important that we focus on the single issue of Houge. Hearing "Houge Park
offers us a situation that would be very difficult to replace" is quite
different from what PRN is telling the council. Adding more stuff just dilutes
that message.

We will include all of the other information in our response to the RFP.  That
is the time to document the breath and credibility of our organization.

>Including a copy of a newspaper article or photos would be
>worth its weight in gold to include with this letter.

I found one article from the Campbell Community Newspaper (wrong city).  It
would have definitely NOT been helpful.  It quoted Mike complaining about Houge.

>Well, that puts a different light on it.  I thought we
>were writing one of those please-don't-close-our-park
>letters.  But what we really want is a don't-shoot-
>yourself-in-the-foot letter.

I emphasized this point during the board meeting.  This has been a political
process since the start!  The council has been involved at every step.
Expecting PRN to treat us fairly is like expecting a wolf to select fairly which
chickens should remain in the coop.  I would not want to be a chicken under such
circumstances.

More disturbing I came upon this.

http://www.sanjoseca.gov/prns/doc/CommunityForumFeedback.pdf

This implies that none of the conversations Mike had with PRN have been relayed
to the council.  

I plan to write an Emphermis article asking the San Jose Resident members to
write their council member.  In July we will discuss handouts at our star
parties.

I am perfectly happy to participate in the Reuse RFP process, but I definitely
want some leverage. Saying we have an alternative location plays to PRN's
agenda.


Rob Hawley