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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

PSA from ECB

posted by on May 7 at 17:20 PM

As I’ve written before, Mayor Greg Nickels is opposed to renewing the city’s $270 million Pro Parks Levy, set to expire this year, because he thinks it will siphon support away from his own $80 million Pike Place Market levy proposal. Richard Conlin and others on the council support renewal, arguing that parks shouldn’t be sacrificed for improvements at the Market, and noting that polls show strong support for both measures.

Next week, the council-appointed Parks and Green Spaces Levy Citizen’s Advisory Committee will hold a series of public meetings to discuss the pros and cons of putting the parks levy on the November ballot. Not that you’d know it to look at the Parks Department’s event calendar (which does manage to mention more than a dozen different “work parties” in May); the Parks Department’s main web site (currently highlighting the “vast and exciting array of classes and programs” that Parks runs); or on Nickels’ web site (which devotes a lavish amount of space to the Pike Place Market levy). In fact, the only place you’ll find any reference at to the levy advisory group on the city’s web site is on the council’s home page, which gives top booking to the meetings. The parks department, which answers to Nickels, has also reportedly failed to send out any notice of the meetings to their extensive list of volunteers.

So, consider this a public service announcement: Here are the meetings Nickels doesn’t want you to know about. I encourage everyone who’s interested in the future of parks in Seattle (whether you support renewing the levy or not) to attend.


Monday May 12, 2008 - 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Bertha Knight Landes Room
Seattle City Hall
600 Fourth Avenue - 1st Floor
Seattle, WA 98104
*Enter building from 5th Avenue

Wednesday May 14, 2008 - 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Northgate Community Center - Multi-Purpose Room
10510 5th Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98125

Thursday May 15, 2008 - 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Rainier Community Center - Multi-Purpose Room
4600 38th Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98118

RSS icon Comments

1

$270 million is too much for a parks levy at this time. There are higher priorities. Nickels is being heavy handed as usual but Pike Place Market and transportation are much more important right now.

Posted by Trevor | May 7, 2008 5:37 PM
2

@1 I can see you arguing that transportation as a crucial issue, but I don't really see an argument that funding Pike Place Market's renovations is more pressing than funding for ALL of the city's parks and public spaces.

Posted by christopher hong | May 7, 2008 5:58 PM
3

i dunno...

i think more money for parks would be a good way to offset the jail... plus we'd get more jobs. woot woot.

Posted by holz | May 7, 2008 7:17 PM
4

Hate to point this out, especially since Fremont has doubled our park space since 2000 ... but we're paying not just for Seattle Parks but King County Parks ...

Tell you what, let's cut the "criminal justice" (aka Locking Up Kids Who Like To Do Recreational Drugs) budget and use it for more parks to keep kids away from drugs ...

Or kill the Cameras In The Parks "Big Brother Spying Is Double Plus Good" program to pay for it.

Posted by Will in Seattle | May 7, 2008 10:07 PM
5

I have a friend who works for the parks department. She gets more shit from the public than any of our mutual friends who work for other city departments. It'll be interesting to see Nickels try to pull this off.

Posted by keshmeshi | May 7, 2008 10:32 PM
6

@2 I think that equity argument is a strong one...what if we paired the parks and pike place levy together to essentially affect a continuation of the funds in the existing pro-parks. then its more the model of libraries for all, etc.

Posted by brice | May 7, 2008 11:15 PM
7

I'm tired of Nickels. I voted for him, he's been great in many ways. But I get the feeling he's increasingly out of touch with the People. (I would vote for both measures, incidentally, but the abuse of the mayoral Web site annoys me profoundly.)

I'm tired of Nickels's weasely approach to governance, evidenced by this and by other things. While I do like his strong-mayor leadership (sorely needed with such an ineffectual city council), I want someone a bit more straight-talking and candid. I never believe a word that comes out of his mouth until I see some action. And action doesn't always materialize.

Posted by Simac | May 8, 2008 5:29 AM
8

Hooray!

I agree with the intent of this post! Save the parks, they're one of Seattle's best assets. I fully appreciate every park in Seattle, and will be there to support them.

Now if only you could make the post without sounding so screeching and accusatory.

Posted by TheMisanthrope | May 8, 2008 9:00 AM
9

We can't deal with climate change without significant investment in open space. Frankly, we need trees and water more than we need roads and tourist dollars - that's a "biological reality." Please help change the "political reality" by showing up to these meetings and asking Nickels to put his money where is mouth is regarding climate protection.

Posted by how green are we Seattle? | May 8, 2008 9:24 AM
10

As has been sort of mentioned above, we currently have a parks levy, which is set to expire. So, we're not talking about an increase in taxes at all; the Council is considering renewing the existing tax that we already pay.

@6, I'm with you in thinking we may see a combined Market-Parks levy at the same rate as currently assessed -- although that would effectively lower the funding for Parks.

Posted by Mickymse | May 8, 2008 10:50 AM
11

Much of the resistance to the Pike Place renovation is due to very real fears that renovation is a euphemism for up-scaling. I do like luxury but I think there are plenty of other places for tony shops than the Market. I don't want to see it gentrifeid into some kind of outdoors Whole Foods/Bloomingdale's that caters more to tourists than to us.

Posted by inkweary | May 8, 2008 12:54 PM

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