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Linda McKay

Comments at 1/23/01 GGNRA Advisory Commission Meeting

Hi, I’m Linda McKay, chair of the Fort Funston Dog Walkers.  I had a whole speech planned on what a Section Seven is, but clearly you understand it because it’s been discussed this evening.

What I’d like to offer – you’re asking for solutions; there are several.  We turned out 1,100 just on 12 acres at Fort Funston and I can guarantee you many people in this room don’t care about those 12 acres.  I can’t imagine the volume of mail that you’re getting on this particular issue.  So I’m a little surprised that a Section Seven rule was requested and that we weren’t informed because we are such a resource in that area.  Can you imagine the volume of mail that we could turn out to Washington for that kind of ruling?  And the cooperation you would find with people when they understand that you are working on our behalf to bring something to us that’s really really important. 

I have to say, I’m bothered by the feeling that you’re the enemy.  I’m not comfortable at all with that and I would really like to move past that with you.  So I think that you can definitely look to our support for that. 

The other thing is that we have an organization at Fort Funston, there’s one formed at Crissy Field, these are organizations that can do outreach, education, cleaning, whatever is required to make those parks more useable for other people.  We’re willing to do it and have always been willing to do it.  We’ve been in existence since 1992, have monthly clean-ups and try to tell people what’s going on, educate new people, and unfortunately we’re the only people doing that.  Many people who come to the park don’t understand where the safe and dangerous areas are because it’s not well marked.  So those are roles that we’re willing to play and we’ll continue to play them.

Thank you for your time.

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