West Seattle, Washington
22 Friday
Thanks to Brian from TouchTech Systems in The Junction for sharing that photo of the intensifying work at the site of Junction Plaza Park, where groundbreaking earlier this month followed more than a few long years of work to finish fundraising and designing it. The Parks Department has said it expects to have the park done by early June.
Thanks to everyone for sending all kinds of event announcements to WSB so we can share them via the WSB Events calendar. This one is a unique jaunt through a local gem, with limited space, so we’re sharing it immediately:
May 9th. 9 to 12, Lincoln Park field trip. Learn more about the diversity of native plants in the forests of our park and about community efforts to protect and maintain that diversity. Stewart Wechsler is an experienced and knowledgable naturalist and field trip leader, who has done an extensive inventory of the natives in Lincoln. Sharon Baker is the volunteer forest steward and organizes and leads restoration work parties in the park through the Green Seattle Partnership. We will walk (slowly) up to 4 miles on good trails with some elevation gain. Sponsored by the Washington Native Plant Society. Call Sharon at 206 935 1769 or e-mail sbaker@uw.edu to sign up and get details. Limited to 15 participants.
Three meetings of interest to mention tonight – two just announced today: The Seattle Parks Board will get its next briefing on the budget situation during its meeting at 6:30 pm May 13, Parks HQ (100 Dexter N.) downtown. The briefing is expected to include information on the midyear reduction the department will be asked to make, as well as the outlook for next year. (We covered the board’s briefing from Parks’ finance boss a month ago.) 
Also announced today, the date for the West Seattle Triangle parking discussion, promised by city planner Susan McLain during the first Triangle Advisory Group meeting. She says SDOT will host a meeting to talk about Triangle parking at 6 pm May 20th, Senior Center of West Seattle. That’s also the location of the full group’s next meeting, 6 pm May 12th. (If you lose track of all this, don’t worry, it’ll all be in the WSB West Seattle Events calendar.) By the way, the potential “streetscape” options shown at the last advisory group meeting two weeks ago are all linked from this city webpage now – labeled as “parking options.”
We did not get to Beacon Hill last night for the first City Council/Mayor public hearing on the city budget, but monitored more than an hour and a half of testimony via a live stream (which ended before the hearing did). 
Most of it focused on citizens’ pleas to spare Seattle Parks facilities and programs from the deep cuts that have been rumored, and warned of, as city departments face “midyear” cuts shortly, as well as the plan for next year’s budget. One of the most impassioned voices was that of Alki’s Jackie Ramels – prefacing her remarks by noting she was speaking as a private citizen and not in her role as chair of the Seattle Parks Board – all but telling the council and mayor they had no right to even think about slashing parks, given how much public support they have: “How can you even think about closing parks and community centers, when the public has approved parks levies time and time again? The public gives and gives and gives, and the electeds take and take and take. … Fund parks, fully, now.” The image above, by the way, is our screen grab from the aforementioned live feed; Ramels tells WSB she got the EPIC FAIL T-shirt specifically for the occasion. (She also provided the crowd shot we used above.) Liesa Rose from Alki Community Center‘s Advisory Council spoke of the value of Parks programs such as after-school care, saying she could not work if there wasn’t someplace safe, affordable and convenient – 
the community center is adjacent to Alki Elementary – for her child to go. West Seattle’s Bruce Bentley (screen-grab image at right), on the board of the Associated Recreation Council that runs many programs at Parks facilities, said its revenue is $11 million, more than it’s ever been, because of the value citizens find: “We touch so many different lives across this process.” If you could not be at this hearing, another one is set for May 5 in North Seattle – details on the City Council’s page – where you’ll find council contact info (mayor contact info here) – even more budget info on the Budget Committee‘s page. Side note: We haven’t seen a comprehensive article about last night’s hearing from any regional-news sites yet, but will add a link if/when we do.
One other Parks note, in case you hadn’t already heard: Deputy Superintendent Christopher Williams was named Acting Superintendent on Wednesday, two days after Superintendent Tim Gallagher announced he’s resigning. Delridge Neighborhood Services Coordinator Ron Angeles, when forwarding this announcement to his mailing list, pointed out that Williams is a graduate of Chief Sealth High School (as noted in the last line of the official city news release about the appointment).
According to a memo shared with us by a reliable source, Seattle Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher has just turned in his letter of resignation. By all accounts, the department is facing a budget crisis – as we reported here a month ago – and may be hit the hardest of any department, according to what City Council President Richard Conlin told the Southwest District Council in West Seattle earlier this month. Read ahead for the memo that includes Gallagher’s resignation letter (ADDED TUESDAY MORNING, reaction from West Seattle-residing Parks Board chair Jackie Ramels):Read More
10:18 AM: We’re at Southwest Community Center, where more than 100 people are at the third public meeting for the West Seattle (Westcrest) Reservoir Park project. First big announcement: An artist has been chosen for the art project that will be at the new park site – David Boyer, from Reno. He makes kinetic sculptures that move in the wind, according to Parks reps (there’s more info about his work at his website). Project manager Susanne Friedman also sought at the start of the meeting to dismiss rumors that the project would take away part or all of the Westcrest Off-Leash Area. She also said the city arborist has turned thumbs down on a disc-golf course in the park’s forested area, though that doesn’t rule out disc golf elsewhere on the site. Now they’re about to unveil the current design concept alternatives, which will be discussed in small groups afterward.
11:07 AM: Attendees are now marking up their thoughts on black/white printouts of the three park-design concepts that have been shown. Key features of all three include a community garden area – which might or might not be a P-Patch site – plus an “expanse” of lawn atop the new reservoir lid, and one option would move the Off-Leash Area’s small/shy dog area, though it was stressed again in response to a question, NOTHING will be taken away from the dog park – one option even calls for an added trail to connect with it. Unless something dramatic happens when the small groups “report back” shortly, our next update will be a full report on the meeting, the discussion, and what’s next, later. 12:45 PM: One addition first – we’d asked for the graphics from the meeting as soon as we could get them, and the project team provided them on a flash drive so we could download them – here’s the “short form” of the presentation, with all three design concepts plus the project priorities. They’ll be broken out individually in the aforementioned full report later. ADDED: We’re adding highlights of the hearing incrementally:Read More
These are both in the West Seattle Weekend Lineup, both happening tomorrow:
RESERVOIR PARK, MEETING #3: Thanks to Geraldine for that photo of the West Seattle Reservoir-covering project site at Westcrest Park, taken today. Tomorrow morning at Southwest Community Center, it’s the third of four planned public meetings on the park that’ll go atop the reservoir cover – and those who attend will get the first look at the design “schematic” that Parks staff and architects have mapped out following the first two meetings. You are likely to see a sizable presence from those who use the current Westcrest Off-Leash Area – the only official off-leash dog park in West Seattle; a group member who attended the Seattle Design Commission discussion of the plans last week says the off-leash park will be affected, and they have drafted a list of issues they want to be sure are addressed by the design.The park meeting starts at 10 am tomorrow; here’s a map to SWCC. (Here are our reports from the first two meetings – December, and February.)
ALSO TOMORROW: Seattle Public Schools‘ hottest topic of the moment is its budget, and if you have concerns about that, or any other SPS issue, your next chance to talk with West Seattle’s rep on the Seattle School Board, Steve Sundquist, is coming up tomorrow afternoon – 2-3:30 pm at High Point Library.
Barely a block from High Point Playfield (subject of our previous story), construction is finally about to start for the park atop newly buried Myrtle Reservoir. It came up in the WSB Forums last week; now Cindi Barker of Morgan Community Association has confirmation from Parks’ project manager Virginia Hassinger that the project’s going out to bid, with bids to be opened May 12th, construction to follow. (This’ll be on the agenda at MoCA’s quarterly meeting Wednesday night, 7 pm @ The Kenney.)
(WSB photo of High Point Playfield, taken this afternoon)
A few days ago, the city circulated a news release seeking name suggestions for three parks around Seattle. One is High Point Playfield. The news release didn’t explain why a not-new park was in the market for a new name, but we followed up, and just got the answer – it’s the first step toward potentially naming the playfield in honor of trailblazing former Parks Superintendent Walt Hundley. Read on for more:Read More
Another view of tonight’s sunset, this time from Alki’s David Hutchinson, and it reminds us of one thing we hadn’t included in our report on last night’s Alki Community Council meeting – the latest update on the ongoing brick/plaque sale to raise money for Statue of Liberty Plaza maintenance. Since the committee that raised money for the plaza has disbanded as planned, the ACC now is accountable for this part of the project. According to information presented at last night’s meeting, since mid-November, they’ve sold more than 250 bricks, plus 4 tribute plaques; 5 plaques are still available, and an undetermined number of bricks. The next round of installation is set for early May. If you’re interested in a brick or plaque, all the info’s on the ACC website.
The agenda for this Thursday’s Seattle Design Commission meeting just arrived, and a West Seattle project is on the schedule: The West Seattle (Westcrest) Reservoir Park “concept design” is scheduled for review at 10:30 am Thursday. This will come nine days before the next scheduled public meeting on the project (that’s set for 10 am April 24 at Southwest Community Center). The new park is being built on what is in essence new land, created by the undergrounding of what was an open reservoir. Thursday’s Design Commission meeting is open to the public and will be in the Boards and Commissions Room at City Hall downtown.
From left, Susan Melrose from the West Seattle Junction Association (WSB sponsor) and Cari Day Day wielded the shovels this morning at the ceremonial groundbreaking for Junction Plaza Park (northwest corner of 42nd/Alaska). The park will have both grass and paved areas, as well as numerous native plantings, and work should be done by June. Here’s a rendering from last fall, showing landscape architect Karen Kiest‘s design:
As soon as the park’s done, there will be a special community event to help with plantings, and everyone’s encouraged to join in – to get on the notification list for that, e-mail Melrose at susan@wsjunction.org. ADDED 1:12 PM: Early this morning, a few hours before the groundbreaking, the park contractor was out taking soil samples; Christopher Boffoli spotted the work and got this photograph:
After the ceremony, Seattle Parks project manager Gary Gibbons explained in a short interview what the sampling is for, and what happens next:
As we’ve been reporting over the past year-plus (here’s our coverage archive), while Junction Plaza Park has been in the works for more than a few years – the site was purchased in 2005 – one last major community-contribution push involving WSJA and the Junction Neighborhood Organization helped make the long-held dream a reality.
(Photo added 12:19 pm – Sheryl and Donna at the Youth Activities Fair, on behalf of creek stewardship)
First – go check out the Summer Youth Activities Fair happening right now, continuing till 2 pm today at High Point Community Center (map) – tons of info and ideas to make this a lively summer for West Seattle kids and teens. And here’s another idea:
The group shown in that photo we published during last year’s West Seattle Summer Fest was Delridge Community Center‘s class of “Digital Darkroom” interns. They worked on multimedia projects, and you saw some of their work here on WSB. Seattle Parks and the Associated Recreation Council are now recruiting interns for this year’s “RecTech” program, which includes Digital Darkroom as well as different programs at sites in South Park and the Central District – read on for the official announcement:Read More
From the WSB Forums: Lowman Beach Park neighbor Dr. Ron Sterling has set up a website to rally those concerned about the possibility of the park being dug up to place a large wastewater-storage tank underground if King County chooses that as the solution to “combined sewer overflows” (CSO) into Puget Sound. He had the most to say at the county-led public meeting last week on what the county has announced as its 3 options for the Lowman Beach (formally known as Murray) pump station’s CSO solution. His new website is at soundangels.org. As he writes on the site, the next chance for public discussion is the April 21st Morgan Community Association meeting (7 pm, The Kenney), but in the meantime, some of those commenting on our coverage of last week’s meeting had asked how to get involved. In addition to sending official comments to the county (go here), those who are concerned can join an online petition just linked from the soundangels.org website.
Just confirmed with the Parks Department that Monday will mark the official groundbreaking at Junction Plaza Park – two weeks after Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher announced at a Parks Board meeting that the construction contract was finalized. The pocket park on the northwest corner of 42nd/Alaska in The Junction has been years in the making; the city bought the site five years ago with ProParks Levy money, but it languished without construction funding until a new community effort revved into high gear a little more than a year ago. You can see the park design at its official city webpage; it’s scheduled to be finished in time for summer events in The Junction, including West Seattle Summer Fest. ADDED 5:49 PM: The West Seattle Junction Association has issued an official announcement of Monday’s groundbreaking, which includes a 10 am ceremony. Read on:Read More
(Easel display from February reservoir-park meeting; photo by Dina Johnson)
As reported here in February, the third city meeting about the new park at the West Seattle/Westcrest Reservoir is set for April 24. Today, the city is sending official reminders about that meeting (here’s the flyer), which like the last one will be at 10 am on a Saturday morning at Southwest Community Center. We covered the first two meetings – here’s our report from December, and our report from February.
(Photos courtesy Tilden School)
It’s all about partnerships. Our previous story included a public-private partnership to fix up a stretch of local sidewalk, and here we have what you might call a public-private partnership with local students adopting a park. In this case, Tilden School‘s fifth-grade class has been taking care of their closest park, and sent along this story:
Tilden School has officially adopted the beautiful Dakota Place Park, and we, the fifth grade class, are enjoying being park stewards! We will visit the park weekly to clean up trash, pull weeds, and remove invasive species. Before the end of the school year, we will teach the fourth graders how to care for the park so they can be the park stewards next year.
We would like to thank MARK SINDELL of GGLO for designing such a beautiful green space for the West Seattle community and for all of the many small mammals, birds, and insects that are native to the area. Mark gave us a tour of the park to explain its history, design, and plant life.
We would also like to thank all of the kind donors for giving us the tools we needed to begin our stewardship project. Thanks to JUNCTION TRUE VALUE, MCLENDON HARDWARE WHITE CENTER, and WEST SEATTLE NURSERY. Your generosity is truly appreciated!
Come visit the extraordinary Dakota Place Park, and bring all your friends and Fido on a leash!
Dakota Place Park is at California/Dakota (map) and itself, like many local park projects, involves community partnership, with community volunteers playing a huge role in making it a reality. Tilden is less than a block south of the park.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
For the second time in two weeks, King County Wastewater Treatment brought a team to West Seattle to explain and discuss proposed solutions for a problem that sends more than a million gallons of untreated wastewater and stormwater into this part of Puget Sound in the average year.
This time, at Monday night’s meeting about proposals for the area feeding the Murray pump station at Lowman Beach, the proposed trio of solutions drew even more concern than the trio explained earlier this month for the area served by the Barton pump station by the Fauntleroy ferry dock. (The entire meeting presentation, by the way, is now online – see it here.)
One of them would involve digging up most of Lowman Beach Park, including its unique beachfront tennis court and two century-old trees. Another would involve acquiring homes across the street from Lowman, through eminent domain if necessary. Read on for a look at all three and what the crowd of about 40 at the Southwest Community Center meeting heard and said about them:Read More
That’s Rebecca Hall, assistant coordinator at High Point Community Center, getting ready to give the starting signal to dozens of little ones (and parents) during the week’s 1st West Seattle egg hunt, part of the annual Toddler Eggstravaganza. So what did it look like when the toddlers (and parents) descended?
More egg hunts are coming up starting Friday (nighttime events for tweens/teens) and Saturday – see the list on our West Seattle Easter page.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Seattle Parks Finance Director Carol Everson would have rather been almost anywhere else than in front of the Parks Board last night downtown, presenting a grim look ahead.
“I wish I weren’t here talking about this,” she grimaced from the podium at one point.
But talking is essential – not just to plan ahead for possible midyear cuts this year and all-but-certain cuts for the next two years, but to make sure you understand what Parks is facing, and what might eventually be requested to minimize the misery – maybe even the formation of a Metropolitan Park District (explained here) taxing authority.
Before the board meeting, we met briefly with the West Seattleites who are chair and vice chair of the board, Jackie Ramels and Neal Adams, and Superintendent Tim Gallagher.
Their message: If you care about city park services, please listen up and pay attention, because whatever is done to bridge the budget gap, it will affect the services delivered to you. And that was hammered home again during Everson’s briefing.
Part of the problem is good news with an underside of bad news.
Just in from the Port of Seattle – it’s offering a tour of two of its West Seattle parks, two facilities that some don’t realize are port-owned/managed. Read on for the announcement and how to sign up:Read More
7:06 PM: Also at the Seattle Parks Board meeting downtown: This hasn’t been announced by the county yet, but Superintendent Tim Gallagher has just told the board that a celebration at/for the King County Water Taxi’s new dock at Seacrest is set for Sunday, April 11, noon-2 pm – that’s the first Sunday after the Water Taxi season starts on April 5. 9:49 PM UPDATE: This is now on the Water Taxi/King County Ferry District website too. Free rides!
(Junction Plaza Park design from last round of meetings in 2009)
We’re at the Seattle Parks Board meeting downtown – where the big news will be a briefing on the Parks budget situation, which we were just told in a pre-meeting conversation with board leaders, is a lot worse than you might think. One big problem: No money to maintain the new parks facilities funded by the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, and barely enough to maintain what the department has now. But that’s not the reason we’re writing this in-progress update: Speaking of new parks (though this was NOT in that levy), Superintendent Tim Gallagher has just told the Parks Board that a contract has been issued for construction of Junction Plaza Park, and work should start soon, with completion in time for “several summer events.” (The park is on the northwest corner of Alaska/42nd.) We’ll be tracking that; meantime, we’ll have the full Parks Board story later after the budget briefing.
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