2024/04/17 Council Agenda Packet

From: Kurt Heaven <hurdkevin22@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, April 15, 2024 8:26 PM To: DL‐Council Subject: [EXTERNAL] Disc Golf at Thornton A. Sullivan Park CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Hello Council, My name is Kevin Hurd and I am emailing you in regards to Fund 354 Program 096 (CIP‐3). I live nearby Thornton A. Sullivan Park and learned how to play disc golf at Excalibur. It's now one of my biggest passions and I have been playing for a decade now. Over the past few years I have seen that a fantastic playground and a beautiful walking trail have been installed. I can't thank think of a better next step than to update the disc golf course. Disc Golf as a whole has seen dramatic growth in recent years and this upgrade would help to bolster this growth. I recently volunteered with a large crew of Boy Scouts, City of Lynnwood Parks Department staff and other Volunteers to help install a Disc Golf course in Lynnwood at Gold Park. The expected turn out was around 20 people, we saw nearly 50 people show up, and since the opening of the park a dramatic increase in park usage has happened. Prior to the opening of the Disc Golf course at Gold Park, the park was a vector for crime and drug use, there wasn't much reason to use the park, but now there is a nearly constant stream of park goers, and this has dissuaded people from using the park for heinous activities. I have also talked to a dozen or so people who have said that they are playing disc golf for the first time at Gold Park. I would love to see this continue, and I believe that it can. The Profesional Disc Golf Association was started in 1976 and these are some key statistics. The PDGA took 41 years to gain its first 100,000 members The next 100,000 members signed up in less than a tenth that time Since reaching 200,000, in less than one year, the PDGA has already issued another 40,000 PDGA numbers Conservatively, at least 4,000,000 people play disc golf globally If this funding is passed I am sure that there will be an outpouring of volunteers to help with this project and we will be able to play and grow the sport for years to come. Thank you for your time!