Part of Vance Park to become parking lot?

[Adam Schneider]

http://www.theoutlookonline.com/news/story.php?story_id=123916109696420300

I have to think, though, that if they're talking about paving some of the park, it would NOT mean taking out mature fir trees, so the course is probably safe.

[Vector_2008]

If you live near this park or play there you need to write a letter to the county and the city. The more negative mail they get on this issue the better.

Think 10 years down the road when they want to install another playground and the DG course is in the way because less land is available in the park.

[Adam Schneider]

What if the city let them put some parking spaces on the south end of the field (west of the DG course), but as a condition, made them open those spaces up to park users when church isn't in session? It might be nice to have off-street parking at Vance.

[Kris Hagner]

Hey, I help out at PARK PLACE COFFEE sometimes (Next to Vance Park) and I have dug up some info on what the real story is with Vance Park becoming a parking lot and some other scary stuff:

For 10 years, the Church on the other side of Vance Park has been trying to buy part of the park. This year money woes may see Multnomah county do just that. The Church wants to buy either the soccer field (Good Riddance) or expand back into the park and destroy holes 1, 2, and 3. This is big trouble. The church wants to buy the land cheap under the guise of "Expanding Parking" but a lot of local people worry that their real intent is to build some sort of building (a senior center) and turn the park into a profitable "Non Profit" business. People have tried to talk with this church, it is clear that they don't care about the work we did installing the course at Vance Park or that their purchasing part of the park would ruin our Disc Golf Course. This is an evil plot to pave our disc golf course and put up a parking lot!
I talked with the president of the Rockwood Business Coalition, he told me some other scary stuff as well. His idea is to house Elephants (Yes, Elephants) in the rock quarry below Vance Park. I don't think that will happen, but, it could.

MOST SCARY OF ALL: "Metro Recycling" wants to install a FOOD WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY in the rock quarry! make no mistake, that would be the end of our nice smelling park, rotten garbage fumes would encompass the whole park! That's how these facilities are, it would be STENCH some 100 times as nasty as McFarlands in clackamas, which, on a windy day, spreads its stench for miles. You would smell it at Rockwood Central Park for sure.

The news stories about these proposals seem to ommit the fact that Disc Golf in Vance Park has run out all sorts of Gang trouble, Drug Use, vagrants, prostitution and the general lack of safety in the park. Disc Golf has been the best thing that could have ever happened to Vance park, for us golfers, and all the users of the park. I guess we need to contact the Oregonian, The Gresham Outlook, and Mulnomah County Parks Department.

Stop by Park Place Coffee Next to Vance Park, the Owner, Dina DiNucci, has alot of information about these proposals to take our park, and she can put you in touch with local Rockwood City Council members.

My opinions here don't reflect those of Park Place Coffee.

-Kris

[ParkPlace]

Originally Posted by Adam Schneider

http://www.theoutlookonline.com/news/story.php?story_id=123916109696420300

I have to think, though, that if they're talking about paving some of the park, it would NOT mean taking out mature fir trees, so the course is probably safe.

Adam, don't feel too secure. They CAN take out the trees, and despite the City of Gresham and the local neighborhood association's letters and testimony to the County to NOT sell, it is still very much an issue they are considering. They are considering 1) selling the land behind the church (where the holes lie) and/or 2) the land to the south of the church that is the baseball diamond and soccer field.

Either way, in my eyes its a loss for the neighborhood. And, since I of course love disc golfers at Park Place, I am certainly going to keep an eye on this one!

If I do hear that we will lose the course, I am hoping we can get the disc golf community to stand up and be heard publicly!