“Construction of our new park is almost complete,” says a brand-new update on the Seattle Parks webpage for the under-construction Myrtle Reservoir Park (map). Thanks to Heather for pointing out the update, which bears today’s date; we hadn’t checked with project manager Virginia Hassinger since she reported in early October that there was at least another month of work left. The new update says in part:

In the next several days we will be testing and commissioning our irrigation system and doing final cleanup work.

We also will be installing temporary protective fencing and signs within the park to direct people away from the newly seeded lawn and to protect SPU facilities. We are working closely with SPU to install fencing as soon as possible.

Once these things are done we will selectively remove construction fencing at the entry pathways, opening the park pathways and play area to the public. Our goal is to provide public access to the new park before the Thanksgiving weekend.

The park’s been almost four years in the making – we started covering the process when the second round of meetings began in early 2008.

Fairmount Playground‘s upgrades are done and it’s open for the serious business of having fun. “Granny Annie Lenssen” shares this photo of someone who already gave it a test run:

Just wanted to send you this photo of my grandson, the official First One To enjoy the newly updated park with the ferry, swings, climbing net, and more. You can tell from his expression that he’s loving it! And this is in pouring rain! The workers had just removed the fence and said he was the first one to visit!

Remember this MOHAI Minute video about what lies beneath Skylark Café and Club (WSB sponsor)? The team’s come back to West Seattle, this time to tell the story of Schmitz Park, and e-mailed us with news of the clip. (It’s actually a three-minute “minute.”) P.S. Want an up-close-and-personal look while doing a good deed? Tomorrow happens to be a work-party morning at Schmitz Park, 9 am-noon – details on the Green Seattle website.

We’re watching the latest meeting of the City Council Budget Committee right now – they’re taking a closer look at Parks and Recreation budget items, and potential changes in the mayor’s original proposal. One that’s just come up is a new plan to study the possibility of paid parking at about half a dozen city parks – including, a city staffer told the council, possibly Lincoln Park. Specifics weren’t mentioned, but they envisioned possibly $1/hour for parking, which, if put into place at “6 or 7 parks” under consideration, could bring in almost $1 million/year. City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen noted that this idea has come up before and was not received well by the public, so he urged plenty of “public outreach” before that idea moved much further. (Note: There’s an explanatory paragraph in this document; the study wouldn’t be finished till middle of next year.) Also at this hearing, it’s been mentioned that they intend to put back 3 Parks apprenticeship jobs that were targeted for cuts. We’re still monitoring the hearing and will add anything else that comes up; you can watch it live here.

Jennifer Cargal from Friends of Dakota Place Park said this afternoon’s work party at the park was on, no matter what the weather did – and she wasn’t kidding. Despite the intermittent rain and wind, “hardy volunteers prevail(ed),” as she headlined the note in which she shared these two photos and this report:

Despite the weather, we had a dozen or so hardy volunteers who came to weed, plant and prune at Dakota Place Park Sunday afternoon. Through rain, wind and even a little sun, we accomplished a lot and even had some fun.

Dakota Place Park was dedicated a year ago. One final phase has been on the drawing board a while – completion of the old substation building’s conversion into auxiliary space for Hiawatha Community Center programs.

As reported here on Monday, renovated Fairmount Playground is almost ready to open – and we just got a note from Seattle Parks saying, “There are a couple of minor items to be fixed before we can open the site, but these should all be completed by next week and we anticipate opening the playground on Friday, October 29th.” Project manager Kelly Davidson had told WSB on Monday that the “punch-list” inspection was set for today.

Some speed bumps lately for a few West Seattle park projects – as reported last week, Delridge Skatepark now won’t be built till after rebidding next year, and grading/utility challenges are pushing Myrtle Reservoir Park into next month – but this one is really on the home stretch: We just checked in with Fairmount Playground project manager Kelly Davidson, after noting that the hoped-for reopening date of October 15th had come and gone (our photo was taken last night). Here’s her update: “I just scheduled our punch-list inspection for Wednesday afternoon, 10/20. The contractor installing rubber surfacing took a bit longer than expected. The fence should come down after this inspection.” The project, designed with two community meetings last winter, is funded by about $170,000 in Parks and Green Spaces Levy money.

(WSB photo from this year’s Alki Art Fair)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“Pretty dramatic stuff.”

That’s how Seattle Parks Board vice chair Neal Adams of West Seattle described the briefing that Seattle Parks finance director Carol Everson gave last night to the board – a city-convened citizens’ advisory group – on the cuts and changes to Parks operations contained in the budget Mayor McGinn proposed late last month, six months after Everson delivered a dire warning to the board (WSB coverage here) of what was to come

As part of the briefing, Parks staffers provided the board with a document that they say will be frequently updated through the budget-vetting process – which the City Council is in the middle of now – featuring specifics on the budget’s potential effects. Covering the meeting last night, that’s when we heard for the first time that one of the casualties would be the popular annual midsummer Alki Art Fair, as part of the proposal to cut Alki Community Center operating hours to a bare minimum.

Read on for what else we’ve learned about Alki Community Center as well as other Parks programs:Read More

(Christopher Boffoli‘s video tour of the park-construction site, from our update last month)
Since the most recent online update regarding Myrtle Reservoir Park had mentioned a scheduled construction-completion date this week, we checked again with project manager Virginia Hassinger. She has just shared an update that will be published on the Parks website and also posted as a sign at the park site:

We are making steady progress toward completion of the new park at Myrtle Reservoir in fall of 2010. We are eager to open this site to the public as soon as possible.

The final concrete pour was completed on Sept 30. The critical work for the next two weeks will be completion of the irrigation system, followed by importing and spreading of topsoil, and finally hydro-seeding. Other remaining work includes installation of landscape plantings, handrails, installation of bike racks, a variety of finish detailing, and site cleanup.

The Myrtle site has presented us with a variety of challenges in the last two months. We encountered differences in the grade between our plan and the final reservoir site. We also found existing underground utilities at elevations or locations that conflicted with our planned improvements. The designer (Nakano and Associates) and construction team (Ohno Construction) have been able to make field adjustments without compromising the design intent. We have added time to the contract to allow for these changes; our current contract completion date is November 12, 2010.

Parks is planning on a “soft opening” soon after the work is substantially complete. We want to get the lawn areas seeded as soon as possible. Actual germination and growth will be somewhat weather dependent. Protection of the new lawn is a concern and we are working on a plan that will allow us to protect the lawn while opening the play area and viewpoint to the public. An official public opening celebration, yet to be scheduled, will follow the “soft opening.”

After another question about how much longer work will continue at Fairmount Playground – “we’re anxious to get our playground back,” as the asker explained – we checked today with project manager Kelly Davidson. She tells WSB the work should be done in about a week and half, because she is “expecting the site to open on the 15th.” (Two public meetings were held last winter; we covered them here and here, and you can see the final Parks and Green Spaces Levy-funded design here.)

As reported here yesterday, the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee has drafted a list of final contenders for the first round of the levy’s Opportunity Fund money, after a months-long process reviewing the 95 community-generated projects that sought a share. One of West Seattle’s reps on the committee, Pete Spalding, had told us that the draft list included 2 peninsula projects, Puget Ridge Edible Park and an expansion of the planned Highland Park wading-pool-to-spray-feature conversion. The full citywide list wasn’t available till today – but now you can get it (PDF) from the Parks website. As Pete also mentioned in a followup conversation today, the location of the October 25th public hearing has changed – it’ll be at Miller Community Center on Capitol Hill, signups at 6 pm, hearing at 7. The full timeline for decisions on which projects get funded can be found here.

9:52 AM: A source in one of the Seattle Parks budget briefings – as noted in our previous report, employees are being told whether their jobs will be affected by the budget Mayor McGinn will officially announce at noon – says $10.2 million in cuts are being proposed for Parks. That includes 192 people whose jobs will be affected by proposed reduction of 103.3 “full time equivalents” – apparently many jobs are being proposed for reduced hours rather than outright layoffs. Our source also says that next year, if you are found to get four parking tickets, you’ll get The Boot (immobilizing device) – unpaid parking tickets represent $15 million in uncollected revenue (not sure why this came up in the Parks meeting, but it did). Again, this is all reported to be in the mayor’s proposal – nothing is final until the next few months of meetings, hearings, and votes are over. More as we get it.

10:20 AM: Latest update from our source: The community centers that are reportedly to be proposed for closure include Alki Community Center in West Seattle. Also reportedly proposed for closure: Ballard, Green Lake, Laurelhurst, and Rainier Beach (a new building is in the works at RB anyway).

11:01 AM: More from our source: Child care/preschool could remain at Alki (among others) under a partnership model. Also, NO pool closures are proposed, we are told – and beaches with lifeguards will keep them. Again, the mayor’s official announcement is due at noon – Seattle Channel is offering a live online feed and we will post that in a separate story.

12:59 PM NOTE: See our separate, ongoing story about the budget address, and the online documents with details. The mayor described the Alki CC changes as “limited-use status.” Still sorting out full details.

Both Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Executive Dow Constantine are scheduled to announce their proposed budgets today, and neither is expected to make anybody happy. Constantine’s budget address is scheduled for 10:30 am (KCTV will run it live); McGinn’s is set for noon at the Rainier Beach Community Center, and it’ll be streamed by Seattle Channel (link to come). Their respective proposals won’t be the final word – hearings, discussions, proposals and counterproposals will ensue, but we know that at least one group of employees will get the word in advance about whether their jobs are likely to stay or go: Seattle Parks staffers have meetings set this morning with Acting Superintendent Christopher Williams, starting at 9 am, according to a memo shared with us by a source. (Acting Deputy Superintendent Eric Friedli had told the Parks Board earlier this month that managers planned to brief workers on potential budget impacts before the news went public.)

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