West Seattle, Washington
20 Saturday
You might recall the story we published earlier this week, written by Tilden School‘s fifth-graders, who are working on forest restoration. They’re volunteering weekly at nearby Dakota Place Park, too – removing trash as well as weeds and other invasive plants – as did last year’s fifth-graders, and Tilden shared the photo to help remind you of a communitywide work party TODAY at Dakota Place – it’s been on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar since Jennifer Cargal from Friends of Dakota Place Park sent word: “You’ve been enjoying that park. Well, it’s time to grab your gloves, a trowel or a shovel and join us for a work party … LABEL ALL TOOLS!! And come prepared for the weather! We work either way. We hope you’ll join us as we work together for a great fall clean-up for Dakota Place Park. Hope to see you at the park!” If you haven’t been to the park (dedicated exactly one year ago), it’s on the northwest corner of California/Dakota – here’s a map.
(What else is up in West Seattle today? Here’s the calendar!)
If you can spare time Monday night to be at Miller Community Center on Capitol Hill, you can help two community-envisioned park dreams in West Seattle come true. As first reported here last month, two local projects are among the finalists for the first round of Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund money, the upgraded Highland Park Spray Park plan, and Puget Ridge Edible Park, each seeking about half a million dollars from the voter-created levy fund. Supporters of both are asking for support at Monday’s citywide public hearing on the 15 finalists – first, here’s the pitch from Carolyn Stauffer, a Highland Park resident hoping the currently planned bare-bones conversion at the closed HP wading pool can be a real spray park:
Don’t Forget!! The Highland Park Spraypark was one of 15 projects citywide that made it to the “Draft” Final List for funding from the Opportunity Fund! We need your continued support to make sure we stay on the list! Here are two ways that you can help:
1. Come to the Public Hearing this MONDAY NIGHT to tell the Oversight Committee how awesome this project is and how much you support it. You get three minutes to speak, the signup sheet for speaking goes up at 6 pm, and the meeting starts at 7 pm. Details: October 25, at Miller Community Center: 330 19th Ave E, Seattle. We need people… the more physical presence we can have at this hearing the better, you don’t have to speak – someone can speak on behalf of a group of people too…
2. and/or you can e-mail Susanne Rockwell your voice of support at susanne.rockwell@seattle.gov, or call her at 206-684-0902.Please forward this to any other neighbors that might be interested in helping out by demonstrating to Parks one last time that the Highland Park Spraypark has the support of its community. Here is an excerpt from the final application that summarizes what we would like the priorities for the project to be:
* Water Conservation: Sprayparks are already using a precious natural resource; we would like to ensure that our park demonstrates a water-wise approach and uses our region’s resources responsibly. With this as a goal, we would prefer the use of a recirculating pump for the Highland Park Spraypark.
* Exceptional Water Play: We would like to see the design incorporate a combination of high and low-flow spray nozzles and present outstanding, inspiring, and diverse play opportunities for our neighborhood’s children and youth of all ages.
* Integrated Sustainable Design unique to Highland Park: We don’t want an “amusement park” type of spraypark that could be plopped down anywhere. We would like to see a design that is distinctive to Highland Park, one that demonstrates state-of-the-art technology for water use and re-use, and is a model of sustainable practices.And here are some current numbers – this additional funding for the spraypark would help us:
* save 19,400 gallons of water a day, or 2.2 million gallons a year – that’s 98% less water than the proposed system would dump down the drain
* save over half the annual cost of running the spraypark
* reduce the 20-year life-cycle cost by 63%
* manage wastewater from the spraypark on-site, reducing sewer fees substantially and allowing for groundwater recharge
On behalf of the Puget Ridge Edible Park proposal, also one of the 15 finalists citywide, Stu Hennessey‘s urging support at Monday night’s meeting too:
The acquisition grant that the Puget Ridge community is looking to obtain would be used to purchase an exsiting original homestead in West Seattle along the Puget Creek Watershed and create an urban working farm. This farm will be dedicated to permaculture design and will provide an excellent learning center for the public and our community. We also look forward to a future with brighter local food security. We need your support at (Monday’s public hearing) … Speakers are encouraged… This is the final hurdle…. We can do it….. We need to show the same kind of community support that we had at last summer’s presentations. Please contact me for carpooling.
Stu’s e-mail address: alkistu@hotmail.com. Miller Community Center is at 330 19th East; here’s a map – again, the public hearing is at 7 pm Monday, signups at 6.
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
As previously reported, there’ve been questions concerning the bidding process for Delridge Skatepark (to be built at the northeast corner of the park adjacent to Delridge Community Center), after the low bidder was reported to not have met an amendment to the qualifications requiring a certain number of skateparks of a certain size to have been built within a certain time – Parks was deciding whether to give the project to the second-lowest bidder, or to re-bid it. According to a note just received from project manager Kelly Davidson, they’ve made the latter decision:
After internal review and review with the City Attorney’s office, Parks is rejecting all bids for Delridge Skatepark. The project and qualifications will be reviewed and the project will be re-bid. I will follow up with more information on the re-bid process once we have determined the dates and revisions to the qualifications.
Just after we published the first version of this, another e-mail came in, this one from Kevin Stoops, a top manager in Parks, confirming this means a months-long delay in skatepark construction:
Earlier today we decided to reject all bids for the Delridge Skatepark and rebid this project later this year or early next year for mid-2011 construction.
This decision has been reached after a review of the very restrictive supplemental bidder qualifications that were issued by addendum to the original project requirements. These focused on volume of work rather than specific construction requirements to complete the work, and are unnecessarily restrictive. the project will be re-bid with clearer contractor qualification requirements outlined in the construction documents. The design of the skatepark will not be changed.
Further, issuance of a construction contract involving excavation and concrete work at this time of year will be problematic was we are now ready to enter a wet rainy period for some time. The construction window for such concrete work is already rapidly coming to an end for 2010 and an extremely wet winter is forecast. Starting construction in the face of such would likely lead to unintended site costs due to wet conditions.
From tonight’s meeting of the citywide Skate Park Advisory Committee downtown: No resolution yet to the question of “who’ll build Delridge Skatepark?” – but a little more light was shone on the concerns regarding bidder qualifications.Read More
The request comes from Karin, who shared photos of some of her fellow volunteers at today’s 350.org tree-planting party at Schmitz Park – adding new growth to the existing old growth:
I had a great time with this group, and we planted mega amount of trees. The trees all have bright ribbons to mark them, and we ask the community to be watchful where you walk along that area by the stream to ensure survival of the plants. Thanks to Dylan, who was our organizer and leader.
This was one of many work parties for this year’s “10/10/10 Global Work Party” – here’s our coverage from the “350 Day of Action” last year. P.S. The significance of “350” is explained here.
That’s the final design for the long-awaited Delridge Skatepark, for which groundbreaking was anticipated soon, since bids came in two weeks ago (as reported here), with two bids below the original $505,000 estimate. The second-lowest was $502,000 from the West Seattle company that designed it (as a subcontractor), Grindline. But the low bidder, TF Sahli Construction ($413,000), may not meet the qualifications – and therein lies the controversy. West Seattle skatepark advocate and city Skate Park Advisory Committee (SPAC) member Matthew Lee Johnston has been covering this closely on the citywide website he keeps, SeattleSkateparks.org. On Tuesday, Johnston wrote this item openly critical of the low bidder and the construction process for the Seattle skatepark Sahli recently built, Lower Woodland. Today, he wrote a followup, suggesting that Parks has determined that Sahli did not meet the qualifications but would seek to re-bid the project instead of giving the contract to the 2nd-lowest bidder. That report drew concern from one North Delridge neighborhood leader who has long helped marshal support for the project, Nancy Folsom, who wrote a letter to Parks Department manager Kevin Stoops (as have Johnston and 2 other SPAC members) saying in part:
I urge you to reconsider. I’m sure you have only the best interest of the budget in mind, but a contract that seems cheap up front can end up costing far more in the long run. This will be a major city feature for many years. I will have to leave across the street from it. Let’s make it something that we’re all proud of. I don’t want to regret encouraging my neighbors to support the park and process.
We checked with Parks to see if the re-bidding report is true. Project manager Kelly Davidson was unavailable, but spokesperson Joelle Hammerstad tells WSB that Sahli has been given “until close of business today” to submit “additional documentation” regarding its qualifications – in particular, she mentioned, having to “have built six 15,000-square-foot or larger skateparks in the past six years.” So what happens if Sahli does not submit documentation confirming that? we asked. Parks has the discretion, according to Hammerstad, to either give the contract to the next lowest bidder (Grindline) or to re-bid. Since Monday is a furlough day for the division working on the project, we won’t know anything more before Tuesday – but this issue is certain to come up at SPAC’s next monthly meeting, which happens to be Monday night at Parks HQ downtown, 7 pm.
(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.
Two West Seattle projects are moving ahead in the quest for the first round of money in the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund – created in the voter-approved 2008 levy so that community groups/members could propose projects, separate from city-initiated projects funded by the levy. Pigeon Point’s Pete Spalding, who is on the Levy Oversight Committee, tells WSB, “We met until about 10:30 pm (last night) 
putting together the draft list of projects that will move forward in the first round of the Opportunity Fund. Two projects from the SW sector made the list. The two projects from the SW are (1) Puget Ridge Edible Park and (2) Highland Park Spray Park.” Here’s a little more info about the Edible Park; the spray park (converting the wading pool at right) already is set for bare-bones city funding, but the Opportunity Fund proposal (as explained here) seeks money to upgrade the plan. Citywide, 95 Opportunity Fund applications were received; they are listed here. We are checking with Parks staff today to see if last night’s full citywide draft list is available for publication yet. This Parks webpage lists the next steps to determine which projects get funded (including a public hearing in about a month).
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.)
As the saying goes, “try before you buy.” In that spirit, Seattle Parks is in another round of “Try It for $2” (as advertised on WSB) – and that goes for certain programs and classes at the Parks facilities around West Seattle. Matt Richardson from Southwest Pool has some suggestions on what you can get for your two bucks:
The Seattle Parks Department is repeating its popular “Try It for $2” promotion through October 9th. All Community Center and Pool sites are offering selected classes at a reduced promotional rate. The first class of a course for a trial $2.00 fee. If you enjoy your first visit, you are invited to sign up for the remainder of the session.
At Southwest Pool, we would like to invite everyone to try our Fitness Classes at the $2.00 promo rate for their first visit. This includes Water Aerobics (both deep and shallow water) and Masters Workouts. It is a great way to get out of the house, have some fun, and do something good for your body.
Our regular attendees can get an even better deal. If you have taken Water Aerobics classes or Masters Workouts and would like to get back into it, your visit will be free if you bring in a brand-new participant to try a class.
The eligible classes are listed below.
Another milestone bringing the Delridge Skatepark closer to reality: Bids for the project were opened today, according to Seattle Parks‘ Kelly Davidson, who’s leading the project. She notes that nothing is final immediately – so this doesn’t necessarily mean the low bidder gets the contract: “We have a lot of paperwork to complete before this contract can be awarded. The process to review and approve all necessary paperwork usually takes at minimum two weeks. This contract will not be considered awarded until all documentation has been approved by the City.” That said – TF Sahli Construction – which built the two-year-old Lower Woodland skatepark – appears to be the low bidder, at $413,000; second lowest was Grindline Skateparks, the West Seattle firm that designed the Delridge project (subcontracting for Abbotswood, Davidson clarifies; final design shown above) – $502,000; A-1 Landscaping and Construction came in third at $576,000; Construct Company, LLC, was the high bid at $589,000. Construction is expected to start next month. THURSDAY MORNING NOTE: Matthew Lee Johnston, a West Seattleite who’s on the Skatepark Advisory Committee and runs seattleskateparks.org, has published his thoughts on this there.
Today’s semi-surprise sunshine ended right before the speeches concluded at this afternoon’s Seattle Parks celebration in honor of the newly named Walt Hundley Playfield by High Point Community Center. But the event continued with the cheery atmosphere of a family-and-friends reunion – which it was, with dozens of people on hand in addition to the official participants shown above – from left, Mr. Hundley’s son Evan, former mayors Wes Uhlman (1969-78) and Charley Royer (1978-90), former Parks superintendent Ken Bounds, Mr. Hundley’s son David, acting Parks superintendent Christopher Williams, and former Parks finance director Curt Green. Mr. Hundley had held other city roles, including budget director, and Uhlman recalled appointing him to the job in which he made history, serving 1977-88 as the city’s first African-American parks superintendent:
Everyone who spoke remembered Mr. Hundley’s mentorship skills – Williams, too, cited him as an inspiration:
Walt Hundley died in 2002; here’s his biography on HistoryLink. Members of the Hundley family noted sadly that they had hoped to have Walt’s widow Felisa Hundley would there to share in the tributes. She, however, died just weeks ago, two days before what would have been her 79th birthday (here’s her obituary). (added Sunday morning) Evan Hundley – who heads Explorer West Middle School – read a Maya Angelou poem that, he explained, his mother originally was planning to read at the event:
From a distance, the PARK(ing) Day (explained here) “park” set up on the street outside Easy Street Records fits right in, with foliage echoing nearby street trees … but if you look closely, it’s more than greenery:
As you might surmise from the display, this is the “Free Speech Garden” that newly transplanted arborist/advocate Michael Oxman told us about in a PARK(ing) Day preview three weeks ago (read about it here) – there’s a citywide design contest for the one-day “parks.” You should be able to see this one in person for another hour or so. Oxman noted in that August preview that the PARK(ing) Day concept explores what might be done “when we run out of oil” – that happens to be the topic at next Monday night’s Sustainable West Seattle Community Forum, 7 pm (September 20) at the Senior Center of West Seattle.
This Saturday, the Parks Department will pay tribute to a Seattleite who made history, while renaming High Point Playfield in his honor. Read on for the official announcement of the naming celebration for Walt Hundley Playfield:Read More
That’s Jennifer Cargal at the dedication of Dakota Place Park one year ago, an exciting occasion for Cargal and other neighborhood advocates who worked hard to get the old substation site (map) turned into a park. Last night, she was at the Junction Neighborhood Organization‘s meeting, requesting support for a possible expansion of the year-old park. She says there’s a chance that money from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Acquisition Fund could be used to buy a parcel just north of the park, once planned for residential development. According to Cargal, this idea is in a very preliminary stage – negotiations aren’t even under way – but Parks is doing some appraisal work “and trying to get a measure of community support.” One key point, though: Levy money would just cover the costs through purchase of the land and clearing it – actual park development would then require a community campaign (which is what it took to finalize Dakota Place, and other neighborhood park projects such as Junction Plaza Park and Ercolini Park). One park neighbor who came to the JuNO meeting says she’s “amazed” at how many people use Dakota Place Park as it is now; Cargal also mentioned the students at nearby Tilden School, who (as reported here last spring) have “adopted” the park and do regular cleanups there during the school year. “I think there’s a really powerful argument for adding open space while we have this opportunity,” she said. What do YOU think? Comments, she said, can be sent to Chip Nevins, in the Parks Department’s real-estate division (here’s his contact info); Cargal’s making the rounds of community groups asking for their support, and JuNO pledged theirs. One more report from last night’s JuNO meeting – a followup on the Junction Parking Program – coming up later.
On the heels of our Myrtle Reservoir Park update (miss that story? see it here), we have two more quick updates on Seattle Parks projects in West Seattle: First, Delridge Skatepark (above: Grindline‘s final design) is going out to bid on September 15th (here’s the bid advertisement, courtesy of SeattleSkateparks.org) and should break ground in October, according to project manager Kelly Davidson. She also shares the news that the new play equipment for Fairmount Playground is scheduled to be installed next Tuesday. (The “old” merry-go-round is scheduled to be re-installed, according to our last update from when work began two months ago.)
(Story and Photos by Christopher Boffoli)
If you’ve driven past 35th Ave & SW Myrtle lately, you may have noticed a burst of activity at the new Myrtle Reservoir Park. Virginia Hassinger, Project Planner at Seattle Parks & Recreation, says that the project is nearing completion and should be finished by late September or early October.
However, you still may see some construction equipment at the park as crews continue to finish pouring concrete, installing benches and handrails as well as grading, before landscaping and planting can begin. They still also need to complete the irrigation system.
Despite challenges presented by the topography of the site, Hassinger says they were successful in keeping pathway grades at or below 5%, which is in line with their goal of making the park wheelchair accessible.
Playground equipment is now in place and just yesterday workers were installing a fabric underlay which Ohno Construction site supervisor Lee Falk says will soon be covered with a wood-based, environmentally friendly mulch.
Situated near the top of the park, at the edge of the reservoir cap, is a new sundial area which offers arresting views of downtown Seattle and the Cascades beyond. When complete, the sundial will feature concrete markers that will be arranged in line with various hills around Seattle, visible from that point. The names of the hills and their respective elevations are inlaid into the top of each marker.
The Myrtle Reservoir Park project is one of dozens of park projects funded by the City of Seattle’s Pro Parks Levy. Construction began in June.
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