Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Going APES–T about possible Go Ape Zipline
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July 3, 2012 at 3:16 pm #762707
DBPMemberAccording to Tracy’s story, Go Ape has already looked at other sites in Seattle. Apparently they consider Lincoln Park to be their only viable option.
If you’re against GoApe’s proposal, I think your best shot is to show up at the public meeting and talk about its potential impact on the environment and on the public’s overall enjoyment of the park.
I wouldn’t spend any time talking about alternative sites, because that’s not what the public meeting is for. Plus, it makes you look like a NIMBY, like you’re saying: This is not ok in my neighborhood. Put it in someone else’s.
July 3, 2012 at 4:45 pm #762708
inactiveMemberDBP,
Might want to check your assumptions.
I only speak for myself. I live two blocks from the West Duwamish Greenbelt.
Lincoln Park belongs to all.
July 3, 2012 at 7:33 pm #762709
Ravjay1MemberNo, no, no! Not in my tiny bit of wildness. Let them take their corporate encroachment elsewhere. This is a valuable part of our West Seattle commons and we don’t want it sold off to privatization raiders for a few shekels of silver. Join the Facebook opposition page at: http://www.facebook.com/StopGoApeZiplineinLincolnPark.
July 5, 2012 at 6:41 am #762710
SonomaParticipantAbsolutely keep this issue top-of-mind. Bump!
July 7, 2012 at 1:34 am #762711
bettytheyetiParticipantWe are not here to make a business plan for Go Ape??!!! The meeting at Fauntleroy and MoCa are for the appearance of community input. The someone at Parks Board who has been fronting this stealth proposal since last August is unlikely to be actually attending the verbal flame throwing at either meeting.
The “acting” super has already kicked the can down the proverbial road, saying this is in the hands of City Council for up and down vote. The mere fact that a EIS study of the fragile ecosystem at Lincoln Park wasn’t enough to dissuade Parks Board is all by itself troubling.
It is no wonder that “green” Seattle continues to lose more and more of its mature tree canopy and replace them with spindly street trees that they can’t even manage to water.
This Go Ape proposal is sooo disheartening; that is when it is not just making MAD!
July 7, 2012 at 8:54 pm #762712
TrileighParticipantThistlemist, I sure hope you’ll post those links you mentioned above. If you’d like to contact me directly with them, please let me know; you can email me through my blog, which I think/hope is linked to my name in my response. If not, let me know here and we can get in touch.
July 7, 2012 at 9:05 pm #762713
KadooMemberCheck out Preserve Lincoln Park’s website. Looks the the company they’re considering for this zipline has ‘accidentally’ cut down 22 trees when they had a permit to cut down 3.
A zipline doesn’t belong in Lincoln Park, a quiet respite from city living.
July 7, 2012 at 10:10 pm #762714
JeriOMemberWhen thinking about this from a business standpoint, what is the Return On Investment for this proposal? Based on current levels of parks service and maintenance, there is a budget “gap”. This money will not improve or increase park services. This $40-65K per year payment would pay for approx. 1-1 1/2 staff, at current levels. With this proposal, what is the true cost of the increased use, waste, maintenance, parking, traffic as well as increased safety and liability concerns? The company would likely NOT take care of anything beyond the boundaries of their immediate area. How far will the $40-65k go to cover those increases? As an investment, it’s not a smart one. There are many other reasons this doesn’t make sense for our neighborhood. For more information visit http://www.preservelincolnpark.com
July 8, 2012 at 12:00 am #762715
DBPMemberI’m glad you linked to the Herald article, Jeri. It’s a reminder that there’s more to the Go Ape offer than just the annual payment. Go Ape also proposes to:
¶ Put up educational signage in the park
¶ Do clean-up and conservation activities in the park
¶ Give away over 500 free tickets to “Seattle programs, charitable organizations, low income and underserved youth” (—Annually or one-time? I don’t know.)
¶ Work with Seattle Schools to provide some level of free or low-cost access to the course
¶ Create 12 new jobs
Presumably, they would also be using local companies to construct the course and would buy at least some of their supplies locally, so that’s more money injected into the local economy.
I’m not trying to sell anybody on the idea of a rope course at L.P., but as you make your case against Go Ape’s proposal, please be aware that they’re putting more on the table than just the annual payment.
July 8, 2012 at 1:32 am #762716
Genesee HillParticipantI was always hoping for a Giant Ferris Wheel at Yellowstone Park.
July 9, 2012 at 3:44 am #762717
WSBKeymasterThe information DBP cites has been in our previous coverage. It’s from a Parks document quoted verbatim in our first story (last blue-highlighted section, near the bottom):
Treetop ziplining at Lincoln Park? City mulls commercial partnership
As for speculation about who will build the course: A French company has built every course Go Ape has opened, both in the UK and the three in the U.S. See section #5 of this document developed for a U.S. proposal that did not go through (among other sources I’ll be citing in the next story).
http://media.hillsandheights.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Go_Ape_Proposal.pdf
The jobs are elaborated on in that proposal as 2 FT, up to 12 PT.
There is no specific proposed design for Seattle yet. However, a multitude of other materials I’m finding, including more documents by Go Ape itself, indicate the courses are all from the same template. The company founder told an interviewer: “he and his team can now ‘roll out Go Ape courses in our sleep’…”
http://www.growingbusiness.co.uk/go-ape-tristram-mayhew.html?page=3
TR
July 9, 2012 at 9:22 pm #762718
SonomaParticipantDBP, I appreciate your well-thought-out postings, but we all need to recognize PR b.s. when a company flings it, ape-like, in our faces. Believe me, having survived the P.R. biz, I recognize b.s. when I see it.
¶ Put up educational signage in the park
(Oh, really? Do we need “educational signage”? I think walking or jogging in the park, sharing a picnic with family, admiring the stunning scenery, enveloping oneself in the peacefulness of it all, is “educational” enough for me. We don’t need no stinkin’ “educational signage.” How very patronizing of the Ape.
¶ Do clean-up and conservation activities in the park
Ummm…clean-up? You mean cleanup the mess they make? Conservation? That’s like saying Citizens United speaks for the citizens of the United States and not for “corporations as people.”
¶ Work with Seattle Schools to provide some level of free or low-cost access to the course
Now, there’s a brilliant partnership. Because education is all about ziplines and ravaging the environment.
¶ Give away over 500 free tickets to “Seattle programs, charitable organizations, low income and underserved youth” (—Annually or one-time? I don’t know.)
BFD – just about all organizations dealing with the public do that. Nice tax writeoff. And the rest of the folks still pay the ridiculous $55.
¶ Work with Seattle Schools to provide some level of free or low-cost access to the course
¶ Create 12 new jobs
WOW! Those jobs will really boost our economy. I’ll bet they pay handsomely, too.
July 9, 2012 at 9:27 pm #762719
JoBParticipantthe last thing Lincoln park needs is a zip line.
that grove of trees is there because we protected it from people who wanted to develop the park.
July 11, 2012 at 6:48 am #762720
SonomaParticipantPlease be sure to write your mayor and city council to express your views. They are our public servants, and their jobs depend on our votes. Mayor McGinn is desperately trying to improve his image and boost his approval ratings – and we need to remind him that his actions, his leadership or lack thereof – can win him or cost him our votes.
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