Hi All,
I've just returned from an exhausting 1-week trip to Tampa/St.Pete, Florida
to move my Mom into an apartment after selling her house. The weather there
is as humid and hot (90% RH/90°F) as it gets anywhere. It was real cool for
me to see 5 or 6 more degrees of the southern sky under Scorpius and
Sagittarius after dark, but the humidity and haze along with all the light
pollution limited naked-eye stars to mag. 5 at best. Believe me, the night
sky out here on the west coast is way better than back east.
Going through my 1,000 or so e-mails, I noticed a reply from one of the
assemblymember mailings I made a few weeks ago concerning the Fremont
Peak/FPOA contract problem. Here it is:
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Dear Mr. Natscher:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the on-going negotiations between FPOA
and State Parks. I have contacted State Parks with your concern and was
assured that they will do everything in their power to come to a mutually
workable solution. I take them at their word and look forward to a good
resolution of this matter.
Please do not hesitate to contact me on this or any other issue of concern.
If the FPOA Board would like to contact me on this issue, please have them
call my Monterey District Director Gary Shallcross at (831) 649-2832.
Sincerely,
Assemblymember John Laird
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-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Natscher [mailto:natscher@No-Spam]
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 11:51 AM
To: Assemblymember.Laird@No-Spam
Subject: Fremont Peak State Park Astronomy Use Policy
The Honorable John Laird
27th Assembly District, California
Dear Mr. Laird,
I am one of over 100 technical professionals who have been enjoying the
pursuit of night time astronomy up at Fremont Peak State Park for many
years. I do this with the Fremont Peak Observatory Association and with
other active non-members who live throughout this region between Monterey
and the greater SF/SJ Bay Area. We observe from within the park after sunset
in the few parking lots and at the Fremont Peak Observatory Association's
(FPOA) observatory area. With continued area population and housing growth,
the night time skies everywhere are becoming more light polluted. Fremont
Peak State Park offers our region the ONLY place to observe a dark night
time sky in our region that is easily accessible and safe to observe from.
The FPOA and the active non-member astronomy group (TAC-The Astronomy
Connection) offer regular observing to the park's visiting public. We
encourage and take a role in the education of the science of astronomy to
the all the visiting public.
We have been in a delicate position of doing public astronomy without any
formal policy written by the Department of Parks & Recreation. Our situation
has been vulnerable by every passing resident ranger or district manager in
Monterey. As a tax payer for our state parks, I want night time astronomy to
be a protected activity in the policy of our state parks and not up to the
discretion of the ever-changing managing office.
Currently, the FPOA is struggling with a new contract (for concessionaire)
mandated on them by the Department of Parks & Recreation (DPR), Monterey
District Office in Monterey. The DPR's new 40-page RFP is a newly drafted
tougher contract that is asking too much for a small non-profit like the
FPOA to adhere to. The DPR won't budge an inch in the negotiation s and time
is running out. It is now looking like the FPOA will have to leave the park
after many years of offering a valuable educational service to our
community. If this happens, than the DPR's next action will be to disallow
any more night time observing by the remaining 100+ non-membership of the
TAC astronomy group. The end product would then be no more public astronomy
at Fremont Peak after many years. Is there something that you could do to
back the DPR off a bit on the contract requirements for the non-profit FPOA
so that the public can continue to enjoy our astronomy pursuits and offer
the public night time astronomy up at Fremont Peak State Park?
Thank you,
Peter
Peter R. Natscher
Technical Graphics
612 Lighthouse Ave. #219
Pacific Grove, CA 93950-2615
Tel. Toll Free: (877) 654-6811
Fax Toll Free: (877) 654-6801
E-mail: natscher@No-Spam
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