Design workshops set for California Place Park

Just in from Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral, whose proposal to add a “playscape” to tiny California Place Park (Google Street View above) has drawn some neighborhood controversy (our past coverage is archived here) – the dates are now set for design workshops:

Mark your calendars! We invite you to attend a series of design workshops
that will allow the community to explore various ideas and design options
for California Place. These three workshops will be led by Karen Kiest,
Landscape Architects. We are looking for ways to increase community use of
the park by people of all ages, and create a naturalized and safe area for
the neighborhood to enjoy now and for generations to come. As an option, a
supervised area for childcare will be available during each meeting.

Tuesday, 2/3, 7 – 8:30 PM
Saturday, 3/7, 10:30 – 12 Noon
Thursday, 4/16, 7 – 8:30 PM

All the meetings will be held at:
Alki Community Center
5817 SW Stevens Street

FANNA obtained a city matching-funds grant to pay for the design process, but any changes to the park would require a different round of funding – could be all private, all public, or a combination.

Barbmc January 15, 2009 (7:53 pm)

Why not Hiawatha? Will anyone from the Park Dept be there?

TWAR January 15, 2009 (8:58 pm)

I agree it needs to be at Hiawatha or in the hood anyhow. This is an Admiral District issue not Alki. Many community members are walkers and bikers. The city wants us to walk or use public transportation, yet they do not locate the meetings close the park in concern? The city removes or limits parking , yet locates the meetings in one of the worst out of the way areas to try and walk to or park? Crazy.

Ann Limbaugh January 15, 2009 (9:08 pm)

The last meeting was held at Hiawatha Community Center and the acoustics made it very difficult for people to hear what was being said. The project manager from the Parks Department, Kellee Jones, will attend the meeting. Hope to see you there!

WSB January 15, 2009 (9:35 pm)

Hiawatha DOES have horrible acoustics. We even noted that in the last line of our story about a Design Review meeting there last September.
https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=10402

WS pet lover January 15, 2009 (10:01 pm)

WHY do we need a park at this location? Right on California Avenue? Do we really want our little ones playing near a very busy street and sandwiched between the street and the church? This makes such a pretty entrance for the church and a nice treed open space. Leave it alone please.

TWAR January 15, 2009 (10:36 pm)

There is a PA system at Haiwatha that can be used. If you are unhappy about the location of the meeting contact the superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation Timothy.Gallagher@seattle.gov he will be very interested in your opinion.

acemotel January 16, 2009 (4:10 am)

Alki is not one of the worst, out-of-the-way locations! It’s a very pleasant walk / ride from Admiral to Alki. Some people will complain about everything! This project is a good example. Save your complaints for the things that really matter if you want credibility. Emailing the parks super about the location of a meeting (1 mile) when your real issue is the development of a park is not smart thinking.

Alvis January 16, 2009 (11:23 am)

Provided one has the time and inclination, it can indeed be a very pleasant walk/ride from Admiral to Alki. But let’s not overlook that the return trip to Admiral is entirely uphill.

Gloris T January 16, 2009 (12:06 pm)

Now I am confused: One of the opposition arguments is there is no need for a playscape in Admiral because Alki is close by and a huge natural playscape for free. Now they are complaining about a meeting in the close by Alki Community Center. Go figure.

dwar January 16, 2009 (2:02 pm)

This is an Admiral Park; this is an Admiral project; and these meetings should be held in the Admiral area!! This area has at least three venues to hold them; Hiawatha, West Seattle High School, Lafayette Elementary among them. There is no convenient parking at the Alki Community Center location. The area residents should be able to decide the fate of this proposal in their own area and not be required to travel to Alki. What about the City’s trip reduction goals and Mayor Nickels’ green initives?? This is just a ploy by the upstart FANNA group to discourage support for No Change To the Park Campaign. They don’t have any support in this neighborhood so they are moving the deciding venue outside this area. Don’t fall for this ploy. The Park Dept. should stop this partiality and hold the meetings in the Admiral area!!

dwar January 16, 2009 (2:23 pm)

Why are these meetings scheduled fo 8:30 P.M. To discourage participation I suppose.

acemotel January 16, 2009 (2:29 pm)

ha ha ha. Why are these meetings held on Tuesday, and Thursday nights? The best TV nights? very suspicious!!! And Saturday, everyone knows people are having picnics on Saturdays. It’s a conspiracy.

Diane January 16, 2009 (2:55 pm)

acemotel; very funny
~
dwar; read the schedule; meetings are at 7pm

NIMBY nulu January 19, 2009 (9:11 pm)

“This is an Admiral Park” – Comment by dwar.
I thought this was a Seattle Park.
Can dwar tell us where to get our City of Admiral I.D. so that we may attend?

homesweethome January 22, 2009 (2:22 pm)

I didn’t realize that the Alki cc was out of the way – we take the 56 down Admiral all the time and walk the several blocks to the cc. Depending on where you are in Admiral it might be a shorter walk to hop on the bus and get to the cc than trekking to Hiawatha. Carpooling works well too to limit the # of vehicles trying to park. Has anyone considered that in addition to the acoustics being awful at Hiawatha there are many other users to that facility and it may already be booked for other groups? Really, I can’t follow the line of reasoning that the venue is some sort of ploy.

NO CHANGE TO PARK January 22, 2009 (6:47 pm)

At the Nov. 6th “Public Workshop” for the proposed development of California Place Park the **NO CHANGE TO PARK** campaign out numbered the playground supporters more than 2-1 and presented the City a petition with 443 signatures for NO CHANGE. With these numbers Parks Dept. facilitator Mickey Fearn was asked to stop this project. He stated that “This(meeting)may not be representative of the true community.” Thus the continuation of the “process” and 3 more meetings. Looking for the “representation of the true Admiral community”. If this is the case then why are the next 3 Design Workshops scheduled at Alki Community Center? So much for “representation of the true community”.

Rufus Towee February 3, 2009 (12:02 pm)

Despite coverage and comments that suggest residents are polarized about this project, there remain a number of us who are open to exploring the possibilities for this site, hoping for a reasonable outcome which enhances the area, while protecting the existing trees, minimizing sound, light and traffic pollution, and “making sense” and well as “cents”. At the initial November meeting it was clear that this is a multifaceted situation. As a North Admiral resident who lives four blocks from the park and walks by it several times a day, I do have a vested interest in what becomes of this site. There were eloquent comments from residents who live right next to the site, and they should be heard and respected, as they will be most impacted by the final
design and resulting changes. Though claims have been made that this project was well-advertised ahead of time and that local residents had plenty of opportunity for input, we beg to differ. A number of us knew nothing about the proposed play area (natural or unnatural ) until concerned neighbors made the commitment to increase our awareness. Now, those of us still trying to gather information (in a calm and respectful atmosphere) hope that the following questions will be answered either through the design process, or directly by the city officials engaged in this endeavor, and responsible for living up to our expectations of “open government”. 1) Is this intended to be a “pocket park”, “destination park”, “play area”, “play scape”, “urban garden” or “P-patch”? 2) Will care be taken to protect the beautiful, mature trees that grace the area and provide enjoyment for all? 3) Will residents who do not feel comfortable in hostile public meetings have alternative opportunities to provide comments to the design team and the city that will be taken into consideration? And 4)how about having at least one meeting on-site in the publicly available meeting room at the church?

NO CHANGE TO PARK February 15, 2009 (3:46 pm)

SAVE NEIGHBORHOOD GREENSPACES California Place Park and ajacent greenspace..1. Keep the beautiful green space grass–grass was #1 request in surveys during Lafayette Playground Design–individuals and families already use space for football,soccer,baseball,tag,relaxing,and imaginative play and more..2. There is no need for change–it will cost thousands of dollars to design and tear up what is now a beautiful and well used green space–there are many other parks near by with play areas and Alki Beach is a huge natural playscape for free–green is good for the environment..3. Safety–a playscape next to a busy street?(California ave. S.W.)..4. Up keep and maintenance–will City maintain changes?–who will weed and water?(neighbors currently water new trees)..5. Litter and loitering–changes may encourage late-night loitering and littering–neighbors already pick up litter and don’t want more..6. Waste of money–city could better help North Admiral community with traffic revisions, curbs,lights and more.(ONLY CURBS,MAINTENANCE AND TRAFFIC REVISIONS FOR PARK) PLEASE CONTACT: City Councilman Tom.Rassmussen@seattle.gov 206.684.8808 Dept. of Neighborhoods Stella.Chao@seattle.gov 206.684.0465 Dept. of Parks & Rec Timothy.Gallagher@seattle.gov 206.684.8022 California Place Park Project Manager Kellee.Jones@seattle.gov 206.684.7052

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