Date:
October 23, 2023
To:
Mayor Bruce Harrell (bruce.harrell@seattle.gov)
Councilman Dan Strauss, District 6, including Green Lake (dan.strauss@seattle.gov)
Councilman Andrew Lewis, Chairman of Public Assets and Homelessness Committee
(andrew.lewis@seattle.gov)
From:
Peter Seitel, Green Lake Pickleball Representative (peter@sla.com)
Cc:
AP Diaz, Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) Superintendent (ap.diaz@seattle.gov)
Andy Sheffer, SPR Deputy Superintendent of Operations (andy.sheffer@seattle.gov)
Danyal Lotfi, SPR Pickleball Liaison (danyal.lotfi@seattle.gov)
SPR Board of Commissioners, via Benjamin Burtzos, Board Administrator
(benjamin.burtzos@seattle.gov)
Greg Wong, Deputy Mayor (greg.wong@seattle.gov)
Frank Chiappone, Seattle Metro Pickleball Association (SMPA) President
Nicole Bidegeneta, SMPA Board Member and GLP Representative
Miguel de Campos, former SMPA Board Member
Re:
Request for wintertime evening access to two lighted Lower Woodland courts for pickleball play.
Green Lake Pickleball (GLP), a vibrant, welcoming, and fun community of people from all backgrounds, ages, and athletic abilities, gather daily for pickleball play at the public courts near the Green Lake Community Center. Barring darkness or rain, the courts are packed with players seven days a week; during busy times, 32 people will be playing on eight courts with an additional 50 – 70 players waiting on the sidelines to rotate into a game. At a time when we all struggle to find community, Green Lake Pickleball fosters camaraderie in a fun, active, and healthy environment.
Green Lake’s beauty, central location, and easy access to public transportation are key ingredients to GLP’s community-building success. However, shorter daylight hours in the winter significantly curtails activity (Green Lake East courts are not lighted); effectively preventing the community from gathering to play pickleball after work or school from October through March. SPR has no plans to light the courts at Green Lake East, nor to line and light other nearby underused courts at Green Lake West or Upper Woodland. The nearest lighted courts with pickleball lines are five miles away at Bitter Lake Park, a venue that is much less popular and more difficult to access.
But unused lighted courts do, in fact, exist at nearby Lower Woodland Park. Just two of the ten lighted tennis courts could easily be converted into six pickleball courts, at no cost to the City, by placing tape to temporarily designate boundary lines. These courts would be used by dozens, if not hundreds, of pickleball players every evening. In the spring, the pickleball community would return the courts back to exclusive tennis use by removing the tape and power-washing the courts.
Temporary winter evening pickleball play at Lower Woodland courts will have absolutely no impact on the tennis community, nor will noise from play there affect any Seattle homeowner. Most, if not all, of the facility’s ten lighted tennis courts go entirely unused during winter evening hours, and the nearest homes are almost 1,000 feet away, across two ballfields and busy Green Lake Way North.
To foster the continued growth and health of the burgeoning Green Lake Pickleball community, we request that you direct SPR to designate two of the ten Lower Woodland tennis courts for pickleball play after 4:00 pm, from October through March. The community has repeatedly made this request of SPR since August 2022, receiving no response other than, “Lower Woodland courts are for tennis, only.” The action we request is both in the public interest and in direct alignment with SPR’s mission to “support healthy people, a thriving environment and vibrant community.” It will turn a public resource, otherwise unused and wasted during our long winter evenings, into a vibrant, welcoming, and fun space for the hundreds of players making up the Green Lake Pickleball community.
Thank you, in advance, for your support and interest in our active Green Lake Pickleball community.
Best regards,
Peter Seitel, GLP Representative
