To:   Mayor Bruce Harrell (bruce.harrell@seattle.gov)

        Councilman Dan Strauss (dan.strauss@seattle.gov)

        Councilman Andrew Lewis (andrew.lewis@seattle.gov)

Green Lake Pickleball (GLP), a vibrant, welcoming and fun community, comprising people of all backgrounds, ages and athletic abilities, gathers daily for pickleball play at the public courts near the Green Lake Community Center.  However, shorter daylight hours in the winter significantly curtails activity at Green Lake East courts, which are not lighted.

Lighted courts, at nearby Lower Woodland Park, go unused by tennis players during the winter season.  Just two of the ten lighted courts could easily be converted into six pickleball courts, at no cost to the City, by placing removable tape to temporarily designate boundary lines.  

Temporary winter evening pickleball play at Lower Woodland courts would have absolutely no impact on the tennis community, nor will noise from play there affect any Seattle homeowner.  Tennis players rarely use even one of the ten "tennis" courts during winter evening hours, and the nearest homes are almost 1,000 feet away, across two ballfields and busy Green Lake Way North.  

To foster the continued growth and health of the burgeoning Green Lake Pickleball community, we request that you direct Seattle Parks and Recreation to designate two of the ten Lower Woodland tennis courts for pickleball play after 4:00 pm, from October through March.  The community has repeatedly made this request of SPR since August 2022, receiving no response other than, “Lower Woodland courts are for tennis, only.”  The action we request is both in the public interest and in direct alignment with SPR’s mission to “support healthy people, a thriving environment and vibrant community.”  It will turn a public resource, otherwise unused and wasted during our long winter evenings, into a vibrant, welcoming, and fun space for the hundreds of players making up the Green Lake Pickleball community.