Lots of big events last night, including a discussion of Southwest Community Center‘s future – hanging under the cloud of a city-budget proposal to change it into a Teen Life Center and Neighborhood Service Center. We weren’t able to get to that meeting, but Kathleen Lonergan was. She and her children participate in the Family Learning Center programs that have been growing at SWCC this year, and her first note to us led to this WSB story about the programs and participants’ concerns. Last night, she e-mailed us from the meeting; we asked if she would consider sharing a report, and this is the result:

Upward of 40 community members were there which, according to SWCC staff, compares very favorably to the number of folks who have shown up at the other CC meetings in W. Seattle. Upper-level Parks and Rec staff in attendance included Deputy Superintendent Eric Friedli, Recreation Division Director Sue Goodwin, and South Recreation Manager Maureen O’Neill.

It opened with a short presentation by a representative of the Department of Neighborhoods, who detailed the plan to move the NSC from Delridge into SWCC. She was sharply questioned by several community members about security concerns, and was asked what security measures were in place to ensure the safety of people in the center, given that the NSC takes in a significant volume of cash each day. She said the security would resemble that at a bank, and would in fact enhance the safety of the environment at SWCC. There will be panic buttons and video cameras installed in the NSC, and the staff will be protected by a thick glass window.

When pressed about whether this glass would be “bullet-proof,” her response was to say that “no glass is completely bullet-proof” and to stress that the DON has never had a violent incident at any of its NSCs.

Tom Foley, president of the SWCC Advisory Committee, commented that this precedent isn’t actually relevant, as NSCs are independently located and there has never before been a NSC housed in a Community Center. He also noted that it sounds as if the security provided will benefit the NSC employees, but not the staff and patrons of the pool and SWCC. Another community member added that as a mother she is worried about bringing her kids to SWCC for swim lessons, knowing that the NSC feels the need to have all these security measures in place; she wondered whether this type of concern could impact the number of parents willing to bring their kids to the pool or to the Europa preschool program that will continue to be housed at SWCC.

We were then told that we had no more time to discuss the DON move and the discussion moved forward. From this point on, attendees rotated among 4 tables. At each, one or more Parks staff member(s) facilitated a discussion of one of four questions: “What Should We Stop Doing?”, “What Should We Prioritize?”, “How Can You Help?” and “What Should We Continue To Do?” Community members’ ideas and comments were recorded on giant posters which were hung up around the gym at the meeting’s conclusion. Each table was then given a brief opportunity to summarize their main points of concern.

In general, the main point was that people do not want to see SWCC closed. Beyond that, concerns fell into 5 primary categories. Community members would like Parks and Rec to 1) Maintain at least one full-time staff member at SWCC to oversee the private programs (such as our Family Learning Program) that will be housed there; 2) Be more transparent and more proactive about communicating with the larger community about the changes that are happening at SWCC; 3) Find a way to continue the events that benefit the community at large, such as the Halloween Carnival, Family Fun Nights, the Easter Egg Hunt, and so on; and 4) Continue to host a variety of programs that promote diversity and collaboration (including the Senior program, sports teams, wheelchair rugby, etc.); and 5) Ensure the environment at SWCC is safe for all.

The other strong theme that emerged was people’s desire for SWCC to seek additional revenue opportunities that would allow it to continue as a community center rather than to follow the business model it is planning to adopt (under which private groups would be allowed some type of access to the space, but community members at large would be shut out.) This is an issue possibly beyond the scope of Parks and Rec, but people clearly feel that SWCC has unfairly been given the short end of the stick and the community has not been educated about just what is going on. As one attendee put it, “There is a HUGE community being represented here, and this is a relatively small group who showed up to speak for all of them.”

Many people still have no idea what is happening at SWCC, and we all believe the burden should be on the city and on Parks and Rec to get the word out and allow people the opportunity to voice their dissent. That is what the meeting tonight was supposed to be about, but the relatively sparse attendance (given what’s at stake) speaks to the ineffectiveness of their efforts to do so.

Kathleen also included photos she described as showing “some of the suggestions that were written – these are just a few of the MANY pages that were produced by those in attendance.” Here’s one (we’ll add the others later this morning):

All the suggestions, she says they were told, will be posted on Councilmember Sally Bagshaw‘s website within the week. And she says her homeschool community will be getting together to make posters to take to the next City Council budget hearing, which is at City Hall on Wednesday. Meantime, other community centers will have meetings like the one last night at Southwest; the full schedule is here.