You Can Lead A Horse To Water....

Now, I’m not inferring that you may all be horses!  It is only an expression mind you! And in this case it is being used to describe an instance where the ALSC board has supplied written detailed information on several occasions regarding the status of the fireworks display but of course we can’t force you to read it.

For instance, I had been approached by an individual at the Fishing Derby stating that they had heard there was not going to be any fireworks on the lake this year and wanted to know why – heck, even at the Aprill 22nd council meeting our own council representative from the lake publicly claimed ignorance to the details regarding the Shore Club’s reasons for canceling the show - and he is recognized as being the Chairman of the Festival Committee that we have been collaborating with for the past several months! So for some reason our message is not being received as intended.

I responded to the individual at the fishing derby by asking if they had read the Spring Newsletter that provided details leading up to the Board of Directors unanimous decision to forego the display for 2014 and the reply I received was “yes, I saw it, but I didn’t read it”.

Another member remarked that they started to read it but felt there was just too much detail to finish reading the article.  That’s unfortunate because the individuals who contributed to this article tried to strike an appropriate balance for inclusion of enough detail to demonstrate how much time and activity had been invested over the past eight months toward this effort – yet not delivering too much information as to lose the reader.  Based on the above cases, it seems that we had failed in this objective. 

If you simply weren’t aware of, or maybe hadn’t received a copy of the newsletter containing the President’s Letter covering this topic, you can access an online version located under the hotlink at the top of this page titled ‘Newsletter’. Otherwise at the risk of being too lean on details yet delivering on the essential request of ‘Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!” the situation is:  
  • There is currently no platform available to the ALSC for which to launch the fireworks display from the center of the lake. 
  • Procuring a platform was not a financially viable option for this year; schedule was unaccommodating for the other options that we had also been pursuing.
  • Without a platform and with several other unmitigated risks, this exposed the club to too much liability and therefore signing the fireworks contract at the required due date would not be a prudent decision.
  • The Shore Club will not be hosting a fireworks display this year.
  • The City is prepared to launch a smaller show from the existing fishing piers anchored at the park and will not be visible from most homes on the north-south leg of the lake.
  • Possession and discharge of fireworks are still illegal activities within the City of SeaTac.
Please feel free to contact any board member to discuss your concerns; address your questions; to entertain your ideas and solutions; or collect your information as an interested volunteer to assist with the 2015 ALSC Fireworks Display. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are many more details of why the city did not partnership with ALSC when a great opportunity was presented to the city,. . . but at this point we all support any private/Public partnerships that benefits the total city . . . . Residence/Taxpayers.

TaniRae said...

Thanks fuzz, I wish I had your summary at the alm meeting, as in retelling all the detaill I got some wrong. Which is hilarious considering i edited the Article. This is helpful. What I learned at the meeting however was good and bad. The city has evidently budgeed 12k with a donation from the new garbage Co. That was the good. The bad has me horrified. The park will be closed for swimming on the 4th! That seems crazy albeit safe. Wish we could let them all in to the alm park. Dang if we charged 50 cents a head, we world be funded for years.
On an encouraging note, one alm horse did read the article and said, "we could feel Lonnie's pain."

Angle Lake Shore Club Blog said...

Correct. While the City has plans to change the current dock configuration into a more straight line 'east-west' pointing pier - this still requires a 'safety zone' with a 210 foot radius which will includes the entire beach and therefore will be off limits the entire day for the 4th of July. Additional safety measures are to include NO MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC inside the park boundaries beginning July 1st due to Carnival accommodations. Therefore the boat launch will be off limits and out of use from July 1st through Sunday July 6th, opening for regular use on Monday, July 7th.

My plan is to help the city communicate these restrictions via the ALSC blog post; Facebook page; and Nextdoor.com (although I wonder if anyone will read them!) :-P Just Kidding People!!!

Anonymous said...

Has the newsletter been mailed out? I haven't seen mine yet.I attempted to read the President's Message via the link but the layout made it difficult to follow on the computer screen. I understand why others didn't bother.
The reduced/limited fireworks news is alarming and unfortunate however it seems our board and committee members have gone above and beyond working to set things right. Thanks for all their hard work and late night brain storming efforts on our behalf!

Anonymous said...

Has the newsletter been mailed out? I haven't seen one yet. I just used the link to view it online however the layout was very difficult to follow so I can understand why others didn't bother.
The reduced/limited fireworks and city/park issues are surprising but I hope in time something better for all of us can be worked out. Thanks go to the board and committee members for the late night brain storming and hard working efforts to resolve these issues and give us the best bang for our buck!

TaniRae said...

to answer your question, not everyone is mailed a newsletter. Our mail list is sorted by people who have chosen to receive their newsletter via email and those who want to receive it via snail mail. If you would like to receive a hard copy you should notify one of us to change your option in the mailing list. You can tell me if you would like at tanirae@gmail.com

Angle Lake Shore Club Blog said...

Responding to the comment:
"I just used the link to view it online however the layout was very difficult to follow so I can understand why others didn't bother."

I'm interpreting your response to mean that any article that expands more than a single page should be formatted to display in less 'columns' to increase readability.

This is good input and I'll suggest this to be considered in our future publications.

In the meantime - I appreciate you having struggled through the current format. I've also uploaded a special edition containing only the presidents letter that may be accessed here:
http://bit.ly/1iVN5oJ

Thank you for your support!