{"id":1099,"date":"2012-02-17T09:50:53","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T14:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/the-group-overwhelmingly-supported-the-building-of-matt-portwood.html"},"modified":"2012-02-17T09:50:53","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T14:50:53","slug":"the-group-overwhelmingly-supported-the-building-of-matt-portwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/the-group-overwhelmingly-supported-the-building-of-matt-portwood.html","title":{"rendered":"The group overwhelmingly supported the building of… —Matt Portwood"},"content":{"rendered":"Second of two reports on last night’s VLPRA steering committee received today. -jsq\n
\nThe message of\n\nValdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority<\/a>\n\n<\/a>\nExecutive Director George Page was clear at tonight’s Master\nPlanning Steering Committee workshop when he told the group “I’m not a\nfan of the status quo.” If you’ve followed the work of Mr. Page and\nthe staff of the VLPRA,\n\nespecially their work on securing the upcoming\nbaseball tournament<\/a>\nwhich is projected to have an economic impact of about\n$250,000, then you know that this is no exaggeration.\n

\nThe meeting tonight was the first of a series of meetings that are\ngeared toward getting public involvement in the upcoming Parks and\nRecreation Comprehensive Master Plan. The VLPRA has contracted with\n\n<\/a>\nthe Nashville-based architectural and land planning group\n\nLose and Associates,<\/a>\nto conduct the comprehensive plan. Lose is pronounced\nmore like the geologic term defining windborne silt (loess), and less\nlike how we identify the team that scores fewer goals in a soccer match\n(lose). The meeting tonight, which was led by two Lose planners, was\nfocused on evaluating current VLPRA programs and facilities and\noffering suggestions for future improvements.\n

\nThis evening’s group of about 15 participants consisted of\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

\nparents,\n\n<\/a>\neducators, retirees, coaches, and even\n\none scrawny bicycle advocate.<\/a>\nThe group identified facilities maintenance, safety and\nadvertising\/promotion among the critical issues VLPRA must address.\nSeveral parents mentioned feeling unsafe at Valloton Park at night\nfollowing their children’s games. The group also suggested VLPRA\nimprove their website in order to access the younger community.\n

\nAfter suggesting a variety of future programs and facilities the\ncommittee was asked to vote on their favorite ideas. The group\nseemedmost interested in a coach training program, a youth cycling program\nand an aquatics program among others. The group overwhelmingly\n\n<\/a>\nsupported the building of a multi-purpose recreational facility\nduring its vote on facilities. Other facilities ideas included an indoor\nwalking and running track, an equestrian facility, and a cycling\ncomplex. Also the group discussed the creation of a VLPRA foundation\nasa creative approach to funding future projects. Other funding\nsuggestions included instituting parking fees, leasing out\nfacilities, and using SPLOST funds.\n

\nAccording to Lose and Associates, about 3,500 families in the\nValdosta-Lowndes area will be receiving direct mail surveys in the\ncoming weeks. These surveys will discuss many of the same topics of\nevaluating current facilities and programs and suggesting where\nyou’d like to see the VLPRA focus its energy in the coming years. If you\nreceive one of the mailers, be sure to fill it out since community\ninvolvement is important for developing a successful master plan. If\nyou don’t receive one of the surveys there will still be several\nopportunities for you to get involved. In March there will be about\nsix public meetings concerning the master plan. According to Mr. Page\nthe meetings will be advertised on the VLPRA website, in the Valdosta\nDaily Times, and by word of mouth.\n

\n-Matt Portwood\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Second of two reports on last night’s VLPRA steering committee received today. -jsq The message of Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority Executive Director George Page was clear at tonight’s Master Planning Steering Committee workshop when he told the group “I’m not a fan of the status quo.” If you’ve followed the work of Mr. […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,1362,14,2,21,1923,3,450,3051],"tags":[8704,2816,8701,7,2507,2508,8847,6,2275,8768],"class_list":["post-1099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-bicycle","category-economy","category-government","category-planning","category-sports","category-transparency","category-vlpra","category-vlpra-2012-02-16","tag-economy","tag-george-page","tag-georgia","tag-lowndes-county","tag-parks","tag-recreation","tag-sports","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-lowndes-county-parks-and-recreation-authority","tag-vlpra"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-hJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}