(7:44 pm – updated with Parks Board chair’s reaction in appearance before Alki Community Council)

ORIGINAL 5:44 PM REPORT: Just in from the Parks Department:

Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Tim Gallagher today decided to relax the rule that would have banned smoking in parks effective April 1, 2010, and to approve the recommendation of the Board of Park Commissioners.

The Board recommended this language in the Code of Conduct: “Smoking, chewing, or other tobacco use is banned within 25 feet of other park patrons and in play areas, beaches, or playgrounds.”

“Based on the input from the public that followed my initial decision,” Gallagher said, I have decided that a gradual approach to a smoking ban is reasonable.”

We were first to report yesterday that Gallagher had decided not to accept the Parks Board’s recommendation and instead was going to put a total tobacco ban in place; strong reaction ensued, including (so far) 90+ comments on our Wednesday afternoon story. We’ll hear from Parks Board chair Jackie Ramels in about an hour, as she is scheduled to guest at the 7 pm meeting of the Alki Community Council at Alki UCC.

7:44 PM UPDATE: We’re at the Alki CC meeting now, where Ramels says she was asked by a reporter earlier if the turnabout represented a waste of time – first the superintendent decides to overrule the board, then changes his mind – but her reaction was instead: “I think it illustrates that the Parks Department is responsive to public comment.” In response to questions, she acknowledged the board had concerns that a total tobacco ban would be part of what some had seen as a pattern in the proposed code changes of grounds for targeting homeless people for park removal. She also said she expected enforcement of the new code would be focused more on downtown, since “that’s where the park rangers are.”

We’ve just confirmed with Seattle Parks that Superintendent Tim Gallagher has decided NOT to go with the Parks Board‘s recommendation regarding tobacco use in parks – and will instead put a full tobacco-use ban into place. It’s part of Gallagher’s final decision on the “Code of Conduct” that the board reviewed over the past month. He issued a memo today including this:

The Board (by a vote of 3-2) recommended limiting the ban on tobacco products (Section 3.2.10) to select areas within parks. The inclusion of a ban on tobacco products is in response to the recommendation from Public Health: Seattle King County (Attachment 1) and Seattle City Council members. It is also a stated goal in the Departments 2008 Strategic Action Plan (2.A.3) which was developed through extensive community input. The majority of the comments received by the Board on the Code of Conduct supported the prohibition as well. The negative health effects of tobacco are well documented. As an agency that has as a fundamental mission to support the health and wellbeing of Seattle residents, it is appropriate and beneficial to prohibit the use of tobacco products at parks and park facilities. I have decided to retain the language proposed by staff prohibiting smoking, chewing or other tobacco use anywhere on Parks and Recreation property.

Here’s the full, final Code of Conduct. Side note: Parks Board chair Jackie Ramels is scheduled to talk about this and other parks issues at tomorrow night’s meeting of the Alki Community Council (of which she’s a former president), 7 pm Thursday, Alki UCC.

Compared to the semi-uproar that erupted when a new draft Code of Conduct for Seattle Parks was presented to the Parks Board a month ago, there wasn’t much attention when the board voted on a revised code this past Thursday night. We couldn’t make the meeting but checked in with Alki-residing board chair Jackie Ramels on Friday to ask what happened. First, she points out, 80% of the code – “25 existing rules and regulations pertaining to parks” – is from the Seattle Municipal Code, Revised Code of Washington, or current Parks Policy and Procedures. Six new rules/regulations were added. And there were some changes from the last revision of the draft code. Ramels says:

The proposed Code of Conduct passed, with some changes; these are pertaining to new rules:

1. we re-worded and shortened the bathroom one (improper use of restrooms)

2. smoking and use of tobacco products we recommended for playgrounds, playfields and beaches within 25 ft. of another person, rather than ALL parks

3. the other new proposed rules, we passed

She adds, “We made some additional recommendations pertaining to existing rules” – including expanding the language about dog owners cleaning up after their pets, “owner carry scoop equipment AND USE IT,” and recommending that Parks “coordinate with other city departments to address homelessness — a topic that came up several times during the public hearing two weeks earlier, which also saw passionate testimony for and against a total smoking ban. Final say on the Code of Conduct rests with the City Council; it’ll show up first in the Parks Committee, which has its next meeting Thursday, 9:30 am (though its agenda for that meeting isn’t online yet). The committee’s chair, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, was at the Thursday night Parks Board meeting. Parks Board side note from Ramels: “Last week the board had a nice breakfast with most of the living former board chairs (there are seven total). Of the five who attended, two are from West Seattle: Bruce Bentley and Margaret Ceis.”

Editor’s note postscript – As pointed out later in comments, this does NOT go to the City Council – it’s an administrative rule.

KING5.com reports that the gun ban in certain Seattle Parks facilities has been overturned by a local judge. The case in which the ruling was made is NOT the one filed by the Kent man who invited media to come see him walk into Southwest Community Center with a concealed weapon last November (here’s our coverage), but that man – Bob Warden – has sent out a news release pointing out this afternoon’s ruling. We asked the City Attorney’s Office for its reaction; spokesperson Kathy Mulady has just sent this short statement – “”We will comply with the court order and we are weighing with our clients the options for an appeal.” (By “clients,” she says, they mean the mayor and City Council.) The park gun ban was ordered by former Mayor Greg Nickels last October; one of the first signs seen around the city was the one in the photo at left, shared with us by Hillary and shown here 10/21/09. 7:43 PM UPDATE: We’ve been away from the desk for a little while, and more reaction’s come in, in the meantime. From Mayor Mike McGinn:

“I am disappointed in today’s ruling. Cities should have the right to restrict guns in playgrounds, pools and community centers where children are present. The court’s ruling was based on a state law, RCW 9.41.290, which preempts Seattle from regulating the possession of firearms. It’s time for the state Legislature to change that law.”

8:12 PM: We also have a copy of the judge’s order, courtesy of the City Attorney’s Office. You can see the three-page order here. We are reminded, looking at the plaintiffs’ names, that two of them – Winnie Chan and Ray Carter – were described last fall as West Seattle residents.

As mentioned on Wednesday – this is an unpaid-furlough day for some city Parks workers, and that means some facilities are closed, including community centers (except for child-care and late-night programs) and Southwest Pool. Here’s the full list. And everything’s closed next Monday for Presidents Day.

Seattle Parks (which just joined Twitter – @seattleparks) is out with a heads-up notice about what will be closed this Friday because of budget-related furloughs. Among the closures – Southwest Pool. The list also includes the reminder of closures for next Monday’s holiday. See the full list here. P.S. Parks’ Joelle Hammerstad tells us the Friday furlough/Monday holiday situation, akin to what happened in mid-January, should NOT result in a rerun of this – she says their new security vendor “didn’t get our message to leave the parking lots unlocked last time. That shouldn’t happen again.”

That’s a bit of iPhone video from a stroll along Longfellow Creek, south of the West Seattle Golf Course, one recent sunny day. It works nicely to illustrate a few notes we hadn’t shared yet from last Thursday’s Parks Board meeting in the City Council chambers downtown. There was some expectation of an overflow crowd, because of the controversy over the original draft of the proposed code, but in the end, the crowd maxed out around 50, with speakers focused on two issues: the code’s smoking ban (supporters and opponents spoke) and feared persecution of homeless park users. Next step: A vote when the board meets Feb. 11 (here’s the latest on that from the Parkways website). Alki-residing Parks Board Jackie Ramels (from Alki) said they’d received 135+ e-mails/letters about the code as of the meeting. And she asked that people understand the board isn’t proposing the rules – department staff proposes them, the board reviews them.

Specific notes of West Seattle interest: Longfellow Creek was mentioned when board members talked about the naming process for park land along Thornton Creek – to use a protocol such as “(name) Access to Thornton Creek Natural Area” – and said it would be used for other creeks in the city, most likely coming next to Longfellow. (Here’s the briefing paper on the Thornton process plan.) Also: Deputy Superintendent Christopher Williams said Superintendent Tim Gallagher plans a series of meetings at Parks facilities around the city this year, and two were listed in West Seattle – mark your calendars – April 28 at Delridge Community Center, October 7th at Hiawatha Community Center. Williams noted Parks is “developing guidelines” for use of Facebook and Twitter – “looking to have a policy that’s more liberal than a government organization might provide.”

You probably remember the mini-uproar that ensued after we previewed the Code of Conduct proposal to be presented at the last Seattle Parks Board meeting, including prohibitions on smoking and spitting. The board itself (WSB coverage here) subsequently voiced support for the smoking ban but not so much for the spitting ban. Now the revised Code of Conduct proposal is up on the board’s website, and spitting’s out, smoking’s still in; this briefing paper for the board’s Thursday meeting outlines what’s changed – including a few other tweaks, such as a new section involving plants. The revised draft code can be seen in full here. Thursday night is the official public hearing on the plan, so if you have something to say, be at City Hall downtown, council chambers, 7 pm. Written comments will be accepted through Feb. 10 (here’s how). P.S. Want to be on the Parks Board? There’s an opening, and you have till Feb. 5 to apply.

Think your neighborhood needs a park? There’s more than one way to get it. That’s what the Morgan Community Association heard from a Parks Department manager during its quarterly meeting Wednesday night. Read on for the toplines on that, and other updates including plans for this year’s Morgan Junction Community Festival:Read More

Unrelated to the downed tree along the Lincoln Park waterfront path, two people e-mailed us about LP parking being off-limits today; our photo above shows the gated-and-empty central parking lot along Fauntleroy north of Rose. This posted note on the park’s kiosks seems to explain:

The fine print: Last Friday and tomorrow are the first of this year’s unpaid-furlough days for Seattle Parks staff, and of course those are bookending today’s holiday. This post from Parkways explains how the department’s splitting up those days – but it doesn’t include specific impacts such as gated parking lots; the notice does say that some gates may not be open as a result of furloughs, but “the park is open.” Today, that meant a lot of street parking usage, though after 3 pm the west side of Fauntleroy is off-limits because of ferry traffic.

Story and photo by Johnathon Fitzpatrick
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Last night the Seattle Parks Board took its first official look at a compiled list of potential rules designed to regulate the public’s behavior in parks.

The proposed Code of Conduct (see it here) includes explicit bans on smoking, spitting, cursing, and entering restrooms that are for the opposite sex, as well as more ambiguous language banning any “conduct that unreasonably deprives others of their use or enjoyment of the park or park facilities.”

“We’ve had to deal with these situations one by one and we thought we’d gather it all together in one place,” explained Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter. “We’re trying to suggest good behaviors that make the parks more enjoyable for everybody by putting one little extra piece of trash in the can or by refraining from swearing in front of a 2-year-old.”

But the proposals weren’t all a hit with board members.

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