HomeMy WebLinkAbout010324 email feedbackKate, Heidi, Greg,
I have one specific piece of feedback that I would like to pass along. Next time you put pickleball courts right next to houses where people live I advocate that you talk first to the
immediate neighbors. I understand from talking with Matt that when you put in the pickleball courts at the courthouse you consulted with the community and the “community” was in favor
of locating the courts there. I can only assume that the “community” was the future users of the pickleball courts who most likely lived further away from the courts than the immediate
neighbors. At times the noise is really awful and, in my view, very unreasonable (not always, but at times). I assume that none of you live across or adjacent to the pickleball courts.
But it is done now and all I can do it to urge you to give any future residents the opportunity to be part of the decision making process. It has been suggested to me by one of my neighbors
that this was in fact done “deliberately”, by the county commissioners “to stick it to the elite residents of Port Townsend.” I doubt that very much and said as much to my neighbor.
I think it was most likely a well intentioned action on your part that has had very negative unintended consequences for a few of us (who are certainly not “elites” in any sense) and
we will just have to live with it. As far as the noise goes, it seems to depend on two things
1. The kind of bats people choose to use (some are much noisier than others)
2. The respect, or lack thereof, shown by users to the neighbors. Some players are fairly quiet. Some players seem to believe that they are at a Seahawks game and feel the need to shout,
scream, yell, bellow, swear, hurl insults and generally behave like English soccer fans after a losing game.
That’s all I have to say. There are more important things to focus on. I will live with the noise and disturbance and not complain again.
On a more positive note, I would like to congratulate you for the game changing work that you have supported – undertaken by Brent and Emma and the planning commissioners to try to figure
out the thorny question of “permit ready ADUs”. I attended the meeting with Emma and Brent and I’m excited and grateful and impressed that you are getting this off the ground – great
work all around on something that matters a great deal more than pickleball. I was very impressed when I saw what Port Angeles had done and I did some research (as did your people of
course) and discovered that this a trend and a good one.
My last comment, while I might still have your attention has to do with my reaction when I looked on the county website and looked (with astonishment) at the list of responsibilities
that you each have. It made me think about time that I spent working very closely for a few years with Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft. He used to say “I can really only
do 4 things – leaders can really only do a few things – but they need to be the right things.” I find myself wondering “who thought that it was reasonable to give each of you such an
extraordinary list of responsibilities?” You are being held to a rather daunting standard if electors think that you can do all that you are asked to do. I hope you cut yourselves some
slack. My advice, for which you are not asking, would be to list your responsibilities in order of importance, pick the top few, and delegate the rest. That assumes of course you have
someone to delegate to. But your lists of responsibilities are truly daunting!
Best wishes,
Peter West
Port Townsend