2 Replies to "Happening today/tonight: Four Saturday highlights"

• John Nuler October 11, 2008 (8:20 am)

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  A little history. After getting the city to purchase this site, purchase supporters immediately neighboring the property began encroaching, illegally cutting trees, storing motor homes & vehicles, building walls and structures in the city’s property and allowing the whole property to become overgrown with invasive plants.
  The Orchard Street Ravine was a mess until some well connected adjacent property owners realized that there was $175,000 up for grabs from the Parks Levy.
  The Parks Dept.Levy description states: “This project, part of the 2000 Parks Levy, develops trails to access ravine.” Although natural area restoration is not mentioned in this statement, it is discussed as a key element in all neighborhood planning documents that supported this Levy project, and was reaffirmed as a key element through the planning process.” – Parks Dept. Web Site.
  At the first community meeting stacked with a secret group that had had preliminary discussions with park personel, the NIMBY flags were raised. Because of crime, safety, property values, access, lack of facilities, parking, infrastructure etc. this group supported only “natural area restoration” despite the wording of the levy. They stood up at meeting and ridiculed the “concept” of the “Green Crescent”. Parks D. employees at that meeting Kevin Krauthamel, Karen Galt and Ted Holden claimed that Seattle’s Critical Areas Codes prohibited a trail on such slopes. After the meeting Kevin expressed to me his pleasure that no one wanted a trail. The next day, I phoned Kevin who then expressed his dismay that “the Levy wording requires a trail”. When this info got out the same group along with Parks figured a way to access the $175,000 by constructing their own Trail to Nowhere. This is the pathetic Loop Trail now complete for this weeks opening. It loops through the only portion of the ravine that has been cleared of invasives.
  Although “natural area restoration” is apparently where our money has gone, it has only restored the portion desirable to the NIMBY group. Much discussion at the meetings concerned clearing invasives from the hillside. Parks arborist Mark Mead talked at length about a machine called a Spider to clear the hillsides. Now Parks is saying that the hills will not be restored although that is still listed by them as a top priority. Indeed the new through trail is proposed to be cut through an eight foot wide tunnel of blackberries with no restoration.
  After members of the community at large, not just those immediate neighbors of the city’s land, got up to speed we formed our own open group and complained to Parks. This led to Ken Bounds, then Parks’ head and reputedly former neighbor of the NIMBY group’s organizer, to set aside another $140,000 for a through trail as worded by the levy.
  This in turn led to a through trail feasibility study that contradicted Parks’ claims. Unfortunately, “garbage in- garbage out” the primary criteria for this trail was, “Foremost among the criteria we provided was that the chosen
  option should have minimal impact on the land.” This criteria must have been designed to eliminate the communities’ preferred trail route. Which it did. Now Parks is eager to go ahead with a trail they have always claimed was not possible and one that does not have “minimal impact on the land”. On Saturday, Parks confirmed that they still were working off of a discredited LIDAR topo survey and have not done any soils tests as required by DPD Critical Areas Code.
  A trail through the park could provide exceptional views and an organic route to the Myrtle Park above. It could be used by families with kids at Gatewood. This new “hail mary” trail offers none of that and should be an embarasment to its designers.
  WSB reports that I “had been trying for months to get updates from the city”. True partially, I contacted Joe Neiford last May, July, August and September by e-mail and phone to get updates. He provided updates claiming in May that the design was 99% complete and construction would be starting in a few weeks. He made similar less believable claims all summer long. I even wrote asking why the city has a honeybucket at the stair site that has had no use for six months @$100 per month.
  He also assured me that park boundaries would be delineated with signage. Now read the handout from Parks received at Saturday’s meeting – “Survey markers were installed at most lot corners adjacent to Parks property…However, many of those survey markers have been removed by persons unknown…Addressing property encroachments onto Parks property is not part of the trails project.” This appears to be an invitation to encroachment.
  On WSB we often see NIMBY issues around parks – opposition to skateboards, play areas, lights and facilities. But never have I come across a group of NIMBYs as successful as in the Orchard Street Ravine. They have managed to acquire a park for themselves surrounded by an inpenetrable thicket of blackberries all the while consuming several hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars.
  Please do come to the Mayor’s grand opening this weekend to see for yourself where our $300,000 went and why this process has been a disgrace to the community. And maybe speculate on just who might be once again expanding their backyards through disappearing survey markers. Also please note the Alamo like masonry wall that is in the middle of 38th Ave right of way, yes the property line is between the wall and the house, hence the “extreme lack of parking” for the event.

  Comment by John Nuler — October 6, 08 11:15 pm #

• John Nuler October 11, 2008 (8:49 am)

  Does this park need a new name?
  Suggestions – NIMBY Park, Donut Hole Park, Blackberry Moat Park, Private Park, Vacuum Cash Park, Park Fraud, RV Park, Slippery Slope Park, Park Stay Out, Lost Funds Park, Levy Lies Park, No Use Park…
  Should we be asking where the budget for the Grand Opening Celebration came from and what is the cost?
  Should there be a name for the promised and now eliminated after $90,000.00 design, stairs? The now promised, formerly “impossible”, trail could be called High Impact Low Use Trail, Money Trail, Blackberry Tunnel Trail, Spent Levy Trail, Trail of Perpetual Invasives…
  Mayor Nichols, pols and Park Officials should be ashamed to show their faces.
  Same ol same ol, Announce a Celebration, Declare Victory, move on.

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