Major changes proposed for some of the city’s Neighborhood Matching Fund grants will be discussed in West Seattle again this Wednesday, this time in a presentation to the Southwest District Council. Meantime, the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council, which got the presentation last month, has followed through on its plan to send city leadership a letter opposing the changes. More on both of these updates – including the full text of that letter – ahead:

We first wrote about the proposed changes after covering the DNDC’s October meeting, at which they were presented by Jackie Ramels, former Alki Community Council president and city Parks Board chair, currently serving on an advisory committee that drew up the proposals. Other committee members are taking the proposals to other district councils around the city (there are 13 in all, each with representatives from local community councils and organizations).

The concern focuses on the proposals to open the Large Projects Fund to non-geographic-based proposals, and to remove the District Councils from the vetting process; currently they review community members’ applications and make recommendations before the applications move on to the next steps and ultimately toward a city decision. Since its meeting two and a half weeks ago, the DNDC has sent Mayor Murray a letter not only spelling out its opposition to the proposed changes but also alleging that they violate city policies:

(If you can’t read the embedded letter above, see it here as a PDF.) Signing the letter, DNDC chair Mat McBride and vice chair Pete Spalding say the proposals also violate the spirit of Mayor Murray’s election promise to rebuild the city’s relationship with and commitment to neighborhoods.

Meantime, if you would like to hear about the proposed changes firsthand, the Southwest District Council meeting on Wednesday is open to all – 6:30 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle (Oregon/California in The Junction). A final decision on whether they’ll be implemented for next year’s grant cycle is expected by year’s end, according to a document handed out at last month’s DNDC meeting.