People want more parks - and don’t think about them in terms of ‘Return on Investment’

Now I know the blogger’s kryptonite - nice weather! It’s hard to get online when the sun is finally out. So…with that in mind, sorry about the lateness of this post.

Last week I briefly stopped by a meeting of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Citizen’s Advisory Committee’s final public hearing. You can get the entire meeting notes here.  But if you want a quick summary of what the public thinks - parks are a very emotional issue - the public thinks about quality of life, improving the environment and reducing the pressures of city life.

However the reality of any public effort is that there is only so much money to go around.

So, here’s what’s being reduced and what’s being considered to the list of projects that would be included in the levy. You can see the list here.

Projects Removed
- Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center - $5 million
- Bathhouse Theatre - $1 million
- Citywide Bicycle Facilities - $1.35 million

Reduced Funding
- Northgate Urban Center Park – reduction from $3.2 million to $2.5 million
Total Savings - $8.05 million

And here were the projects considered for addition to the levy:

Projects Considered for Additions

-Increasing acquisition by $5 million
-Increase shoreline by $500K
-Increase forest and stream restoration by $500k
-Increase green space acquisition by $2 million
-Increase funding for Magnuson Park by $2.75 million
-Lake City Acquisition $1 million
-Seattle Chinese Garden $500k
-Belltown Acquisition $3 million
-Off-leash Dog Areas - Magnolia / QA $70k
-Off-leash Dog Areas - Queen Anne $70k
-U-Heights $2.5 million
-Tree inventory $1 million
-Jefferson Park $3.6 million
-Discovery Park $500k
-Denny Park $500k
-Northeast Queen Trail Project $200k
-Opportunity Fund $5 million
-Carkeek Park Acquisition $180k
-Maple Leaf / Waldo Acquisition $5 million
-Restore neighborhood playgrounds $1.35 million
-Waterway #1 at Laurelhurst $50k

Industrial Area Park Acquisitions $2million
-Downtown/SODO Street Parks $2 million
-Pools - Study + UV $1 million
-I-5 Colonnade $250k
-14th Ave W - Ballard $1 million

Grand Total for all of this
$41.52 million

(photos from the meeting)