FYI: Magnuson Park pickleball plan is getting the Lincoln Park treatment by bird advocates

Parks project page: https://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/projects/outdoor-pickleball-court-planning

Opposition statement and petition: https://secure.birdsconnectsea.org/a/protect-birds-and-wetlands-magnuson-park

I’ve been wondering when the formal opposition would emerge, ever since Joshua Morris of Birds Connect Seattle (formerly Seattle Audubon) spoke against the pickleball court plan at a Seattle Parks community meeting back in November.

Feel how you want about the planned courts, but know these are the same people who fought against and succeeded in blocking an old decommissioned tennis court from being repurposed into pickleball courts in West Seattle’s Lincoln Park last year. They did not then and have not now provided any actual scientific information to support their claims that pickleball specifically is disruptive to birds. They’re using the exact playbook they used for Lincoln Park, relying on emotional appeal to rally opposition. For LP, they cited an adjacent “peaceful meadow” (literal field of invasive grasses and weeds illegally used as an off-leash area) and “environmentally-critical area” (steep slope due to the bluff–the children’s playground and restroom nearby are closer than the courts would have been).

I don’t visit Magnuson regularly at all, so I don’t know whether pickleball is appropriate for the park. What I do know is the space the courts would occupy is an existing active recreation area (sports fields) and adjacent to parking and other active recreation, just like at Lincoln Park.

I’m also not a pickleball player, but I am a birder–and I am opposed to the tactics Kersti Muul and associates have used for their other fights. Muul has repeatedly misrepresented facts and her own credentials to convey authority and expertise, including claiming for nearly two years to hold the “wildlife biologist” seat on the Seattle Urban Forestry Commission. She has refused to answer questions about her education. Joshua Morris is also not a scientist, and has been part of other dubious causes at BCS. For anyone familiar with the local tree advocacy scene, you’ll recognize Sandy Shettler’s name. Shettler is a retired social worker. While she’s not named yet in this cause, she has been very active in helping organize for Kersti’s other causes, so I’m sure she’ll make an appearance in this fight.

Again, feel how you want about this project, but think critically about anything Muul, Morris, etc. say in this fight.