mougl - 28-2-2012 at 01:45 PM
It's brutal here finding a decent place to ride and I finally got a local park open to buggy on. It has been a little painful getting to this point
but hey, worth it. The field is not perfect, there are trees to break the wind up if the wind is not coming from the perfect direction but it's better
than nothing. The park is county owned and operated but our county looks at kiting as if it were as dangerous as playing in traffic soooooo they have
not played very nicely up till now.
I got in touch with a county official here who works in the parks and recreation department, explained what we do and what we are all about. He seemed
intrigued by what he heard so I showed him a few kites, my buggy, all my safety gear, etc. He was impressed by the measures that we take as far as
safety goes and said it would be ok to use the park. WOOT!!!!
The park is not large by any means, but its the largest area we have here so I'm super stoked! It's the size of 3 or 4 soccer fields side by side,
with 2 baseball diamonds at the far end. Just navigate thru the mid field bleachers and a few goal posts and you have a decent run.
The wind was blowing (barely) today so Sheska and I took a ride over to the field and launched. The Bego was not too happy with the choppy wind we had
so I decided to help Sheska out with her static skills for a bit on the Viper. 30 min. later, the wind picks up....WOOT!
No sooner did I get a kite in the sky and sit in the buggy a phys ed teacher from the school next door (we will call her buzzkill to simplify things)
and the following words were exchanged:
Buzzkill: You are going to need to get the hell out of here, I have a class!"
Me: Excuse me ma'am?
Buzzkill: The school has a contract with the county and we can use this field any time its open so you need to leave NOW!
Me: Oh, ok. May I ask your name please?
Buzzkill: *mumbles something*
Me: Ok, we will be out of your way shortly, we just need to pack up.
Buzzkill: *irritated exhale*
I happened to notice buzzkill was wearing a name tag and noted the name. I then went inside the parks office when I reported what happened (in a very
cool, concerned way) and I was informed by the park that this is not the first time buzzkill has acted this way and this will not be tolerated.
Furthermore, I was informed that she had NO right to "kick us out" and county reps will inform buzzkill that this is NOT to happen again. The contract
stated they may use an OPEN field and if we were using it, it was NOT open. I thanked the park for their support in this as well as their support in
our sport. I let the park know that if this had been approached in a different manner, we would have GLADLY moved a bit down the field to give them
room, that we were just surprised by the manner in which this was handled by the buzzkiller.
A small win scored today, I like to think it was due to a bit of tact and diplomacy.
BeamerBob - 28-2-2012 at 01:56 PM
You handled all that really well and probably are even more accepted now having gone through it.... Except for "buzzkill". lol
indigo_wolf - 28-2-2012 at 02:17 PM
Good story.
It's nice to know that even former chalk board monitors can find gainful employment. 
ATB,
Sam
shehatesmyhobbies - 28-2-2012 at 03:02 PM
Kudos Mougl! Another victory for the kite community! Keep up the positive vibes!
DAKITEZ - 28-2-2012 at 04:13 PM
nice job! 
PHREERIDER - 28-2-2012 at 04:51 PM
cool !
Kamikuza - 28-2-2012 at 05:01 PM
Awesome!!! Good to hear the successes all round there 
3-4 soccer fields :o I'm stoked if I can find a single field to ride on - let alone covered with grass
snowspider - 28-2-2012 at 05:06 PM
Nice mougl , that's like a ray of sunshine!
Drewculous - 28-2-2012 at 07:05 PM
Im lucky I guess... I know all the city guys, they got my back lol
Its the ayso soccer coaches I have to worry about
Good job tho brother, its always hard to bite your toungue when cronfronted with a complete a-hole... Been there many times
lunchbox - 28-2-2012 at 09:03 PM
Way to go mougl!!
Flyfish - 28-2-2012 at 09:29 PM
Good job Mogal! I'm going to call you next time I need some diplomacy!
BTW... What's wrong with playing in traffic?
mougl - 28-2-2012 at 09:33 PM
Depends on the traffic!
mougl - 28-2-2012 at 10:00 PM
Thanks for the kudos everyone! I don't think I deserve kudos for anything I did but I do appreciate it
Just trying to help change the local image of kiters a little at a time. Might help the sport grow a bit