Pia Hansen : Officials should let the sledding issue slide

The Spokane Park Board’s decision to ban sledding and cross-country skiing from its golf courses has got to be one of the most harebrained decisions I’ve heard in a long time.

What part of Near Nature, Near Perfect doesn’t the Park Board understand?

Sledding is on its way to becoming a subversive winter activity here in the Lilac City, and it’s out of the question on golf courses, where it ruins the grass, deterring springtime golfers.

Spokane Parks and Recreation Director Mike Stone says no taxpayer dollars are spent maintaining the courses, which survive only on fees from golfers.

“In our neck of the woods, we can’t get the grass to grow back until May,” Stone says. “The first things golfers look at are the tees and the greens when they decide if they want to golf.”

OK, so what we are really dealing with is a bunch of angry golfers out to protect their turf.

But this is not just about grass, it’s about lawyers and liability, too.

If you drive past the crowded sledding hill in Manito Park after a good snow, you certainly can’t tell, but the parks maintained by the city of Spokane are not for sledding, period.

“We don’t sanction or encourage sledding anywhere in our park system,” Stone says.

In Spokane Valley, Parks and Recreation Director Mike Jackson says he is “aware that sledding exists. But it’s not something we sanction or encourage in any way.”

Exists where?

“I’d rather not name the park,” he says. “You’d hate to put it on the map.”

Everyone knows it’s Mission Park. Duh.

This is a sledding hill we are talking about, not a hot drug-dealing spot, but heaven forbid kids find out where it’s at. They could have fun there, for free, outdoors and all.

The Valley has put up “sled at your own risk” signs at some runs, and at the advice of its insurance carrier closed some areas where Jackson says “collisions are very likely.”

Back at the golf courses, one might think people golfing in the summer and skiing or sledding in the winter on the same property is a recipe for quiet and wholesome coexistence. Apparently, that’s not true.

For the past umpteen winter seasons, the Parks Department has put up fences to protect the most sensitive areas of the golf courses, but Stone says someone tears them down. The fences are put back up, only to be torn down again.

OK, so there’s a problem. But there has been no attempt at a dialogue whatsoever.

And now the Park Board wants to hire security staff to keep winter wanderers off the golf courses for good. Why not use those rent-a-cops to direct people around the sensitive areas?

In my neighborhood, we tried getting a permit for a block sledding party.

Neighbors talked about a long-ago time when the Fire Department would ice down the street so kids could go sledding. Burn barrels were lit so they could stay warm, and neighbors left their houses to mingle with each other, watch the kids and chat.

But the answer today is no – the liability is too high. The city told us not to apply for the permit because we’d be denied.

Think about what we’ve lost because people refuse to take responsibility for their own actions, not even for an afternoon of sledding fun.

So, should we expect a crackdown on snowsuit-clad toddlers and their moms anytime soon?

Stone says no, we are nowhere near a crackdown.

But this could still get ugly. Stone doesn’t think snow lovers are easily deterred.

“I think people are going to continue to do their winter activity where they have always done so,” he says. “There will be a backlash at the golf courses.”

You better believe it: Who’s up for a civil disobedience sledding party next time it snows?