Image: Flickr: Laurel Fan

If our Seattle Parks are important to you, it’s time to tell the Seattle City Council how you feel. Parks need your help more than ever.

Please consider attending a Public Hearing on Monday, April 7 at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 600 4^th Avenue to let the Council Members know how you feel.

The Parks funding proposal now before the Select Committee on Parks Funding was developed by a 15-member citizens committee I co-chaired. We spent 9 intensive months looking at the needs of the Parks System. Our recommendations were enthusiastically supported by Mayor Murray and with only a few minor changes he sent it to the City Council for their consideration. The Council now needs to decide the final package and pass an Ordinance placing it on the August 2014 ballot for a public vote. Here is a link to the full recommendation.

The funding proposal will provide $54 million in annual funding to address a $270 million major maintenance backlog; keep community centers open longer to provide more programs for kids and seniors; improve ballfields and playgrounds; fix crumbling infrastructure at the Zoo and Aquarium; preserve open space for our growing city; ensure safe connections between our greenways and parks; and restore our urban forests.

In the past, the Parks Department has been reliant upon levies to make up for huge cuts in their budgets and this is not sustainable.  Community center hours have been cut drastically and there basically aren’t any funds for new projects, e.g. connections to greenways, development of land-banked sites, community center programming, natural area restoration, etc.

Unfortunately, our backward and regressive taxing system doesn’t allow cities to provide basic services and parks is a basic service. Recreation programs are mostly for those who can afford to pay. In my mind this is all unacceptable.

Not only do we need to take of what we have, but we need to plan for the future Park System. Our city is growing and neighborhoods are becoming more densely populated. We need to ensure all residents have equal access to the benefits of physical activity, the natural environments, and community connections. All citizens deserve to have opportunities to lead healthy lives.

If you cannot come to the meeting, please send an email to the Council Members letting them know about your support.  Here are their email addresses:

sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov
tim.burgess@seattle.gov
sally.clark@seattle.gov
jean.godden@seattle.gov
bruce.harrell@seattle.gov
nick.licata@seattle.gov
mike.obrien@seattle.gov
tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov
kshama.sawant@seattle.gov

I urge you to support the creation of a parks district with sufficient revenues to meet the overwhelming needs of the Seattle Parks System.  If we don’t fix them now, they will continue to deteriorate and be more expensive to fix in the future.

Thank you so much for supporting Parks.

Barbara Wrigtht