(Photo courtesy Kathleen Lonergan, from 10/26 City Council budget hearing)
As reported here previously, the mayor’s proposal for next year’s city budget – currently under review before the City Council – changes the Southwest Community Center into a shared space with Southwest Teen Life Center and West Seattle’s lone Neighborhood Service Center (moving from its Delridge location). SWCC supporters are trying to get the Council to change the plan and keep the center open for general community use. Among them is Kathleen Lonergan, who shares the news that …

… City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen has accepted our invitation to visit SWCC! He’ll be there this Friday, November 4th, at 2:00pm. He will do a meet and greet/Q&A session with members of the community for about 1/2 hour. Around 2:30, he will tour the center with me and other Family Learning Program representatives.

We’d love to have plenty of people there for his visit. Most of our homeschoolers will be gone home by that time, since so many have small kids who need to nap. This would be a GREAT opportunity for West Seattleites to get out and show their support for SWCC.

Lonergan was one of dozens of SWCC supporters who went downtown last week to plead their case at the City Council’s most recent public hearing on the budget. This week, the council has moved into a round of presentations about potential budget alternatives – you can check them out under “Green Sheets,” in the Budget Documents section of their website. Tomorrow morning, when the budget meetings resume at 9:30, Parks (which runs community centers) items are on the agenda, including one titled “Enhanced Hours at Community Centers”; the Green Sheet for that does not appear to be online yet. Next week, the council starts making decisions on potential changes to the mayor’s plan, and final approval is expected on or by November 21st, so if you have something to say, this is the time, as they start locking in on changes (or non-changes) – here’s how (as well as being at SWCC if you can on Friday).