This will be going out to everyone through email in the next few days, but I feel it is important that I share it here as well.
Preparations for the 2010 Spring Softball Seasons are currently going on and we need your help contacting the Placerville City Council! Also, more information on new PGSA stuff at the bottom.
Recently, a number of the board members attended a Placerville City Council meeting where the first version of the "Parks and Recreation Master Plan" was being presented. This plan will become the blueprint the City will use in developing new and redeveloping existing parks over the next 10 years. As a league, we were able to stand up and voice our concerns about this plan and the lack of attention that Girls Athletics and other organizations received. While I am not sure that our concerns were heard by the Council, they did agree to extend the comment period on this plan another 30 days (until Oct 13th), which is why we are contacting you.
We need your help in letting the City Council know that Girls Organizations are important and need to be specifically included on the plan. Steve Youel (syouel@cityofplacerville.org), the City Director of Community Services, has let us know that he is willing to receive our comments and pass them on to the consultants working on the plan. When you email him, let him know there are a few items we are specifically asking be included in the plan (do your best to re-write these so it doesn't come across as a form letter):
- Youth Softball Fields need to be an independent item on the list of facility needs. Softball is currently mentioned as needing an additional 5 fields, but they make no distinction between Youth or Adult usage. This is a major concern because currently all City Softball Fields are used 6 days a week by Adult Leagues.
- Girls Organizations and their unique Parks and Rec Facilities needs and requirements should be included and discussed equally with primarily Boys Organizations. Currently, Baseball, Football and the Stake Park are mentioned in the plan but not a single predominantly Girls Organization is mentioned.
- Development/Redevelopment of a Youth Softball Facility needs to be included as a High Priority item which should be completed in the next 0-3 years. Currently the City supports Rotary Park which is a Little League only Facility and this plan calls for almost $400k in improvements to this park over the next 10 years. We would like to see an equal investment in Youth Softball.
Other Information
PGSA has joined the Internet age with a new website at http://www.pgsasoftball.org (more updates and information being added soon).
We have also started a Facebook page (Placerville Girls Softball Association) and linked that to Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/pgsasoftball) and will be using these sites to send updates and information out all year long.
Spring Registration should open online in November, more information coming soon!
If you have any questions/comments please email us at fastpitch@pgsasoftball.org or use the contact form on the new website.
Thanks,
Stephen Macy
President
Placerville Girls Softball Association