Kezar Stadium Closing?

UPDATE:


An excerpt from the SF Chronicle website:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=3D55&entry_id=3D36=
553

All SF parks staying open -- no matter what you've heard

Amid swirling and unfounded rumors of park closings, the San Francisco
Recreation and Parks Department has posted a schedule of hours for city
recreation centers and swimming pools.

The schedule, posted on the department's Web site and effective May 1,
hours_staffing.pdf>follows
layoffs of about 50 recreation center staffers because of budget cuts.

There have been many false rumors, including recent ones that claim Kezar
Stadium and Cow Hollow Clubhouse will close. In fact, Recreation and Park's
interim general manager, Jared Blumenfeld, said no facility will close. In
fact, some hours will be extended because the department has standardized
operating hours and distributed remaining staffers more equally around the
city.

*********************************************************************


I've done a few track workouts at Kezar stadium, it's a very cool place to run, especially at night, so I found this news disturbing.

Per the Golden Gate Tri mailing list...

Good Afternoon GGTC'ers ,

We recently received some upsetting news. Amidst the budget cuts going on
in San Francisco Kezar Stadium (which falls under the Parks/Rec dept) will
officially close to the public on May 1st and be sold off privately.

Given the importance of this public track to many athletes in the bay area
(particularly to us as we train there every week for our track workouts) we
wanted to pass this information on to you all. Please find a link attached
with information about what we can do to prevent this happening. If you
feel as strongly as some of us do please go to the town hall meeting on
Monday at the below address to support keeping Kezar open.

The GGTC board of directors meeting falls on the same date at the same time
of this meeting. We are needing a helping hand in having people represent
GGTC and make your voice heard.

Community Budget Town Hall
Monday, March 2 at 6 PM
First Unitarian Universalist Society =93Church=94
1187 Franklin at Geary Street

http://savepublichealth.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/community-budget-townhall-=
monday-march-2nd-6-pm/

If you are want to write in about this here are some helpful suggestions
for people writing letters that you might add in the outbound communication
(Thanks Kathryn for these)

1. don't forget to say to your supervisor that you are a registered voter i=
n
that district. if you live in districts 2 or 5 which border Kezar, this is
especially important to mention. say you'd consider taking your
residency/taxpaying dollars to another district if your track gets taken
away.

2. offer to provide testimony on behalf of the supervisor's constituency at
the hearing.

3. focus on the fact that the track helps you lead a healthy lifestyle, and
is critical to your quality of life as a SF resident

4. people who go to the track tend to visit neighboring establishments (bar=
s
and restaurants), which supports the local economy (while we're at it, we
should get Kezar pub and other Cole valley places to write letters)

5. might as well add that we are a nonprofit entity that supports community
building, youth programs (girls on the run)

Thanks for reading,

Best,
Lara Z