Dear Editor,

I attended the July 17 five-hour City Council meeting with the future of the golf course on the agenda. I gave a public comment in support of the hybrid option for the golf course.

I’ve been involved in the Engage PT for the last several months watching the best and worst of our citizens and leaders.

In my public comment I said Port Townsend is at a crossroads. Let’s not fracture our community and cause more divisiveness. I asked the council to vote for a solution that will mean some compromise on both sides keep the golf course and include amenities and opportunities for the public to use the space for non-golf features, open to all.

The consultants and the stakeholders group did their job in the Engage PT process. The City Council (as a whole) and the Mayor did not do their job.

Professionalism was not on display at the meeting among some of our representatives on the council. Personal biases, experiences of “being kicked off the golf course,” feeling like an “outsider” or a vision of an “invisible barb wire fence around the golf park.”

The council’s job is to review the two proposals from the stakeholder’s group, discuss the facts from the surveys, budgets, community input; the current state of the golf course, what would the city do, if there's a decision to keep the historic, nearly 100-year-old course; how would they support and finance a “Central Park.” One council member submitted a good proposal for, "non-profit" golf course with City oversight and public input for alternative uses, voted down. The council kicked it back to the stakeholders group to do what?

Ginny Adams