♪♪
-Hey, good afternoon.
The June 24th, 2025
special meeting of the Seattle Park District Board --
the June 24th,
2025 special meeting of the Seattle Park District Board
will come to order.
It is 3:38 pm, I'm board member Joy Hollingsworth.
Will the clerk please call the role.
-Board member Hollingsworth.
-Here.
-Board member Kettle. -Here.
-Board member Moore.
-Present. -Board member Rinck.
-Present. -Board member Saka.
-Here. -Board member Solomon.
-Here.
-Is that six present?
-Awesome, thank you. We will, thank you colleagues.
We will now proceed to the, excuse me,
we will now proceed to the agenda.
If there's no objection the agenda will be adopted.
Hearing none the agenda is adopted.
I also want to thank you all
because this is a back-to-back meeting,
we just finished our full city council meeting
and now we're here at the Metropolitan Park Board meeting
so I just want to thank you all for that.
We're now going to proceed to the election
of board president for 2025.
Are there any nominations?
Council member Moore. -Thank you Chair.
I would like to nominate Council Member Hollingsworth
for board president for the Metropolitan Park District area.
-Is there a second?
Oh, thank you for that nomination,
oh we're not moving it, so thank you for that nomination.
Are there any other nominations
that would like to take on this task?
Hearing none.
Can we take the role, I accept your nomination and can we take,
do we need to take the role for that?
We do, we need to take the role.
So, clerk will you please call the role
for the motion made by council member Moore
electing me as council president, count sorry,
as board president for the parks district.
-Board member Hollingsworth. -Yes.
-Board member Kettle. -Aye.
-Board member Moore. -Aye.
-Board member Rinck. -Yes.
-Board member Saka. -Aye.
-Board member Solomon. -Aye.
-Six in favor and none opposed.
-Awesome. Thank you all colleagues,
let the record reflect I meant no disrespect
towards our council president, current one, thank you.
Next, it is,
usually we'll now proceed to the election
of the board vice president for 2025.
Are there any nomination,
are there any nominations past practice has been
that the vice chair of the parks committee,
would also serve as the vice president
of the Metropolitan Parks District?
So I'm actually going to go ahead and nominate board member,
council president Nelson.
Board member Nelson is not present today
and has been made aware of this nomination
and would accept if she is elected.
Are there any other nominations?
Hearing no further nominations,
nominations are now closed and we will proceed to a vote.
Will the clerk please call the role on electing
board member Nelson as board vice president for 2025?
-Board member Kettle. -Aye.
-Board member Moore. -Aye.
-Board member Rinck. -Yes.
-Board member Saka. -Aye.
-Board member Solomon. -Aye.
-And Chair Hollingsworth. -Yes.
-That is six in favor, none opposed.
-The ayes have it and Council President Nelson
is our board vice president for 2025.
If there's no objections for the minutes of November 21,
2025 Seattle Park District meeting will be.
-Correction, it's November 21, 2024.
-Oh, thank you. Thank you I was just corrected.
If there are no objections to the,
because November 21, 2025 has not happened yet.
So the minutes of November 21,
2024 Seattle Parks District meeting will be approved.
Hearing no objection the November 21,
2024 Seattle Park District meeting minutes are approved.
Will the clerk please affix my signature
to the minutes on my behalf. Colleagues, at this time
we're going to open up our hybrid public comment period.
Public comment is limited to the items on today's
agenda and items within the purview of the board.
Clerk how many speakers do we have signed up?
-We have one in person.
We will start with the speakers,
obviously in council chambers first,
each speaker will have two minutes.
Clerk, I now hand it over to you to read the instructions
and call on the registered speakers.
-The registered speaker will be called
and you'll be provided one minute.
You will hear 10 seconds when your time is,
a 10 second warning
that'll allow you time to wrap up your comments.
If you don't wrap up your comments before that time
we will end your public comment
to allow us to call the next speaker, thank you.
And the first speaker is Alex Zimmerman.
-Mr. Zimmerman before you speak, I kindly ask that,
I don't want to sit through a Nazi salute today.
Respectfully, two minutes.
You will not be interrupted.
Not sitting through that, thank you.
-Two minutes. -You get two minutes, yes sir.
-Yeah.
Sieg Heil!
Nazi fascist.
-Pause, for the record. That is a anti-Semitic slogan.
And it's also hate speech.
You can continue your public comments.
But I'm saying that for the record, thank you.
-Can I speak?
Thank you very much.
Yeah, my name Alex Zimmerman, I live this for 40 years.
A president of stand up America, I support Trump from beginning.
I have 5,000 time I speak in council chamber,
I have 6,000 day of trespass.
And you prosecute me five times.
Situation what is I have right now is,
exactly what is I want speak.
Look, room empty.
Is a good sign, maybe Seattle understand this,
is what is we have in Seattle supposed to be stop.
Because what my expression what is I make many year ago,
stop Seattle fascist with idiotic face.
Everything what is you doing for last 25 year is a nightmare.
I live here 40 year, Seattle nice beautiful city.
25 year we start falling, falling and falling and falling.
And right now we in bottom right now.
This city for only for rich people right now.
How is this possible? I give you classic example.
What is we doing now? You, Nazi pig doing now.
Mayor Harrell, for four year never have one Q&A.
Four year never have one Q&A. Seven floor close.
But this can be more effective, it don't call you a Nazi pig.
How is this possible?
Yeah, four year he can, don't have one Q&A.
His floor seven floor closed for four years.
-Stop!
You're not speaking to anything on the agenda.
If you can speak to anything for Seattle Parks District,
I'm not going to argue.
I'm not going to argue with you Seattle Parks District.
-This is exactly what is I know what is I doing.
I show you how you operate, what is going on.
This exactly problem what is we have.
So I find something what is very hot.
this exactly.
Viva Trump, viva new American revolution, stand up Seattle!
Nobody here, it's a good sign.
Wake up Seattle! Thank you very much.
-Public comment is now closed.
This is just a reminder when you come to public comment
if it's one speaker, if it's 50 speakers,
have to talk about something on the item
on the agenda in the purview of this committee,
Seattle Parks, thank you.
I will read item one into the agenda.
Seattle Parks District update financial
and operational performance.
We have presenters Superintendent Diaz,
Justin Heler, I'm sorry if I butchered your name, my bad.
Amy Williams and Tracy Ratcliffe from Central Staff
for briefing and discussion.
So, please come to the table, come join us, thank you.
We'll shift our energy to some positivity.
All right, awesome, welcome, thank you Superintendent Diaz,
please state your name for the record and you all can go on
and jump in with your presentation, thank you.
-Thank you so much President Hollingsworth and members
of the Park District Board.
I'm AP Diaz, the superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation
and I'm joined today by my colleagues Justin,
who you mentioned and our deputy superintendent Michele Finnegan,
who is here for Amy Williams.
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss
the proposed 2025 Metropolitan Park District budget
for Seattle Parks and Recreation.
This presentation aligns with the thorough presentation
we provided on the entirety of our proposed 2025 budget
this past September 30th.
But it's focused today on the park district funding source.
As we walk through the key changes to the MPD today,
I hope you will see the efforts made to address the city's
general fund shortfall
and overall pressures of escalating cost.
I am, okay. Substitution.
Disregard everything I said.
We are presenting, oh, I apologize for that.
Here I go again. Was anyone confused?
Was anyone like, what are we talking about?
Tracy down there was like he's not speaking
to what's on the agenda.
I'm sorry, we are here to present the 2024 financial
and performance overview.
I will start again.
And I'd like to thank you for bearing with me.
I had the wrong presentation in front of me.
So we're going to jump to slide number one.
So that I can walk you through the two main agenda items today.
The first item will be our 2024 year in review.
And then item two will be a proposed
park district resolution 74.
The first item is to provide our annual financial
and performance overview.
This time for 2024.
As I mentioned this regular meeting coincides
with the release of our 2024 annual report.
So much of what we'll share with you today
are highlights from that report,
which we'll all give you a copy at the end of the meeting.
The second item is a review of the park district resolution,
authorizing a carry forward of appropriation
from the 2024 operating budget for SPR and the Seattle Center.
And my colleagues from Seattle Center
are here today in the audience.
So let's begin please with an overview of 2024.
Here we go. Okay.
I'm not the only one having technical problems today.
-No worries, you're all, you're all good.
-Okay.
As part of our year-end review,
we'll remind you of some of the organizational affirmations,
then provide a little background on the annual report,
which is one of our primary accountability efforts,
for you all sitting in your capacity as park board members.
We'll then provide an overview of our year-end financials
and wrap up with a few highlights and success
stories from 2024.
So as a reminder our city Seattle Parks and Recreation
department is focused around three main pillars.
Creating healthy people,
supporting a thriving environment
and creating opportunities for vibrant community.
Since yesterday was the United Nations Public Service Day,
I thought there's no better way to begin
than to highlight some of the tremendous
public service professionals
that steward our park and recreation system.
To do so we are highlighting three individuals
who support the organizational outcomes of a healthy people,
thriving environment and vibrant community.
Like to point your attention to Jensen Yuen,
who began as a volunteer with SPR swim lesson program in 2010.
He was later hired as a lifeguard,
promoted to a senior guard
and is currently working out of class
as an assistant coordinator,
all at the Meadowbrook pool where he first learned to swim.
As Jensen said,
for me it's all about giving back to my community,
swimming is a vital life skill to learn
and there's no better feeling than seeing kids progress
through the years.
Next is Emily Hanson, she's part of our urban forestry team,
currently managing the program to plant trees and
develop parks with more than 500 planted in 2023 and 2024 alone.
Emily previously worked as an urban forestry manager
for New York City's park system. As Emily put it,
access to nature is so important to one's sanity
when living in an urban city.
I chose to work for Seattle Parks and Recreation
because of its exceptional parks and vast green spaces.
Emily is seen here using some of our equipment
we use to plant large trees.
And I'd also like to acknowledge Laura Wilburn,
who started with SPR in 1999
as a temporary recreation leader with a teen
late night activation programs. And now plans
and implements programming
through our outdoor activation unit.
Several generations of young people
will remember her fondly
for her teen tracks ambitious outdoor adventures
throughout Washington's wildlands.
As Laura said, youth programming has always been my passion.
For me it's the spark that youth get when they get it.
The excitement of learning and growing, the aha moments.
The hard work of these folks
and more than 1,000 other staff
have helped us to be ranked the sixth best park system
in the country in 2024, by the Trust for Public Land.
As I mentioned we're excited to release
and present our 2024 annual report highlights today.
We've brought copies,
which you will receive at the end of the presentation.
This is one of our core reporting and accountability
functions, not only for you as park district members,
but as for the public.
Which we have undertaken since 2016
to provide transparency and oversight
related to the resources provided
by the generous Seattle Park District.
As park district dollars are additive
to a base budget made up of many other funds,
including the general fund,
earned revenue, real estate tax and many more.
We now report comprehensively across all funds
and all lines of businesses, not just park district dollars.
As with last year, our first year of comprehensive reporting,
we've created both a narrative annual report
that tells some success stories from the year.
And a detailed appendix that provides specific financial
and performance metrics by lines of business.
2024 was the second year of what we call cycle 2,
the six-year financial plan adopted
by the park district governing board,
that makes major investments in many of our lines of businesses.
In 2024 we continue to make significant strides
in fulfilling our cycle 2 commitments
despite some challenges.
I think our Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners,
pictured here with staff at their December retreat,
at the Ocean Pavilion,
summed it up best following their review of SPR's financial
and operational performance in 2024.
Their assessment of the year
captured in a letter in the annual report
and in the green box on this slide here.
Says some items are fully ramped up and worth celebrating,
including an expanded park ranger program,
restrooms and play areas, and renovations,
and expanded operating hours at teen life centers.
In some cases the citywide partial hiring freeze
and the other elements of financial uncertainty
impacted the department's ability to fully meet
its commitments,
especially as it relates to restrooms,
maintenance and graffiti response.
As mentioned we'll go through some more specifics
in a few slides,
but also have detailed appendices outlining
our performance in each of our operating and capital
lines of business.
Before we take a deeper dive into the annual report,
I'd like to recap the 2024 adopted budget and spending.
You'll see here that SPR's 2024 adopted budget,
across all funds, including the park district,
was about 321 million.
With about 70% supporting the operating budget
and 30% supporting the capital budget.
On the operating side you can see,
the general fund makes up about half
of the total budget followed by the park district,
which supports about 30% of the total budget.
Which is a little over 67 million.
The remaining 41 million is made up of mostly park fund monies.
Which captures earned revenues from fee-based programs
like aquatics, facility rentals, athletic field permits and golf,
which accounts for about $19 million of earned revenues.
On the capital side,
the park district is the largest funding source in 2024,
making up over half of the total capital appropriated
at almost $51 million.
REET, the real estate excise tax
is also highlighted in the table.
Which as you know varies year-to-year
depending on the availability of funds.
The other capital funds category includes a variety
of smaller funding sources like King County levy funding,
leveraged with other funding for play areas and public restrooms.
And CDBG funds,
which come from the federal government
supporting the Seattle Conservation Corps.
But the majority of the appropriation in the bucket
is for the central waterfront project,
which was $22.3 million. Before we move to the next slide
we just want to highlight two technical items related
to the park district,
because we're sitting with you
today as the park district governing board.
One, is that operating amount in the table
represents the budget
the park district board adopted in November.
And doesn't reflect a council budget action adopted
by the city council
after the park district board's budgeted adoption,
which is about a $250,000 variance.
The second is just to point out that this slide
and our annual report reflects our total budget.
Therefore the park district information reflected here
does not include about $5 million
that goes directly to the Seattle Center's budget
to support their maintenance and programming of the waterfront.
This slide is a different view of the 2024 budget organized
by our operating capital lines of business
and includes the revised budget along with the actuals.
Since we just covered the adopted budget
we'll focused on the revised budget column
along with actuals. On the operating side,
the revised budget includes legislated
supplemental budget changes,
like grants and other technical budget changes.
Per the note at the bottom of the slide,
it does include the one-time appropriation supporting payment
of retroactive AWI to employees last year.
You can see that actual spending came in about $8 million
under budget,
which is mostly related to the citywide hiring freeze
that started in January 2024
to address citywide funding issues across all funds.
About $1.6 million of that was general fund,
which lapsed at the end of this year.
And 700,000 was planned for vehicle purchases.
More to come on this when we discuss resolution 74.
The remaining under spend in the funds
that SPR manages includes the park fund and park district.
Excuse me, including the park fund and park district.
Will be part of the upcoming 2026 budget discussions
with the mayor and council. On our capital side,
SPRCIP is large and complex with more than 450 active projects.
Not unlike other capital departments,
a budget for a project may be adopted in the year
that the project is initiated.
But due to the efforts involved
often takes several years to complete.
The revised budget is a combination
of the adopted budget,
capital funding that automatically carries over
from year to year per citywide policies,
and other technical budget changes approved
via supplemental budget legislation.
Related to carry forward, during each budget process,
SPR provides a project level information
on carry forward for our two key capital funding sources.
The MPD and REET.
So that information related to the carry forward
reflected in this slide was provided last year
and similar information will be provided again
for 2024 capital appropriation,
carrying forward 2025 with the budget this fall.
On supplemental legislation
the most significant changes resulted from the 20 million
in reimbursable grants secured during 2024
as SPR request appropriations at the time
the grant contract is executed.
We also have additional information on some
of the projects in various stages related
to key performance metrics for cycle 2 in an upcoming slide.
But before we do that,
we'll get a little bit more details of each line of business
with a focus on the asset management and capital
development lines of business,
that accounted for most of the revised budget and spending.
As you probably already know the asset management and life cycle
program life of business includes hundreds of projects
within our ongoing capital projects.
Aimed at preserving and extending the life and safety
of our existing assets, such as play areas,
public restrooms, roofs, payment, hardscapes,
irrigation systems, ball fields, et cetera.
This line of business
also includes our major annual maintenance support of the zoo
and the aquarium.
Most of the projects in this line of business are planned
and in various stages of development.
So any shifting of funding
would have significant implications
on these planned projects,
prioritized annually through our asset management plan.
And add potential impacts on the MPD cycle
2 performance measures.
Switching to the capital development and improvement
lines of business.
This one includes significant investments underway
in 2024 on our major assets,
like the waterfront and aquarium expansion.
The Woodland Park night exhibition renovation,
Freeway Park mitigation and South Park development.
It also includes funding supporting
the upcoming renovations of several
of the community center projects and development
of the cycle one land bank sites among others.
With this financial context in mind
we will move on to some of the highlights and accomplishments
in our annual report.
The full report includes deep dives
on all the topics you see here. Which you can see are many.
Today we selected a few to tell you more about with highlights
from the operating side of the budget in orange.
And highlights from our capital accomplishments in green.
Along the way we'll share the relevant commitments
we made as part of planning cycle 2,
along with relevant performance measures and
program accomplishments.
I also want to emphasize we're giving you just
a small taste of the year today.
You can see all our KPIs and progress
against our goals in the annual report appendix.
These next few slides highlight our work around youth and teen
development, which I know is very important to this council
and the park district board.
SPR's three teen life centers are Meadowbrook
in North Seattle,
Garfield in the central area
and the Southwest Teen Life Center in West Seattle.
Providing safe inclusive spaces where teens can connect,
learn and grow with leadership provided by nurturing adults.
Across sites they feature drop-in gym time,
game rooms and recording studios.
And staff to provide homework for help,
cooking classes and art workshops.
Cycle 2 enhanced SPR's investments in teen programming
and in 2024 Teen Life Centers expanded operating hours
to provide more access to teens.
Adding Mondays or Saturdays, depending on the site.
And in total served over 31,000 youth attendees.
I'm excited to share a quote from Amir,
who has been an amazing part
of the Garfield Teen Life Center in the Central District.
That's him in the picture leading a job skills workshop
in the photo on the right. As he said,
the Garfield Teen Life Center feels like a second home,
where I can develop professionally
while making a positive impact in my community.
So props to Amir.
The late night program provides safe spaces,
structured activities and meals to teens at eight facilities,
including teen life centers from 7:00 pm,
midnight on most Fridays and,
from 7:00 pm to midnight on most Fridays and Saturdays.
In 2024 late night reactivated youth leadership teams
engaging young people at each site weekly
or bi-weekly to develop and run programs,
events and service projects.
Another 2024 innovation was an increase
in cross-site collaboration.
Creating opportunities for young people from across the city
to get to know each other,
learn to resolve conflicts and have fun together in a safe
and supportive environment.
This included a late night basketball league,
with a series of home and away games across the city
on a weekly basis.
Officers from the Seattle Police Department
participated in a kids versus cops game
at the Rainier Community Center. And, spoiler, the teens won,
but everyone looks forward to a rematch in 2025.
Maybe a newly elected president might want to play
on one of these teen games coming up.
In December Late Night celebrated,
our parks district president, in December Late Night
celebrated its 35th anniversary in an event
that youth leaders from each site helped to run.
As part of that event
SPR created the Late Night Hall of Fame
at Rainier Community Center
to honor the legacy of the generations
of community members, staff and volunteers
who dedicate their Friday and Saturday
nights to support Seattle's young people.
I don't have to tell you these are amazing programs
keeping kids busy and active and hopefully away from danger.
Our commitment to young people doesn't end
once they leave our parks and teen centers.
We also serve an integral part of serving them
through our community learning centers, which we call CLC's.
These lead after school activities,
school break camps
and comprehensive summer school at five Seattle schools.
CLC's are partners in student success and principals
welcome SPR into their buildings,
because we support the shared mission
of reducing the achievement gap, especially in math and literacy.
We bring unique programming into school buildings,
enrichment like art, dance, cooking,
alongside culturally responsive mentoring
and mental health supports. With a focus on students
furthest from educational justice.
In 2024 we hosted 4,800 hours of programming,
engaging nearly 3,300 students.
These programs are mostly entirely funded
by grants and contracts.
And in 2024 they leveraged $1.5 million in non-SPR funding,
primarily from Seattle public schools,
King County's Best Start for Kids,
the Seattle Department in Education and Early Learning,
Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy.
These grants are generally performance-based
with money flowing only based on programs
demonstrating their value to student success.
And SPR CLC's keep getting results year after year.
Seattle Mentors is an initiative
that was launched by Mayor Harrell as part of the cycle 2,
which promotes impactful mentorship,
social emotional health and career exposure
opportunities by connecting young people with caring adults.
As a new program SPR spent 2023 defining program outcomes,
recruiting partners and training staff.
2024 was a year of moving from pilot phase to an up
and running network of programs
that served more than 200 youth
and engaged more than 30 mentors representing
various career fields and providing exposure and access.
In a post-program survey 98% of mentees responded
and reported that they felt more confident
in pursuing their career interest.
With one noting that being able to see more people of color
in careers that I'm interested in.
And having a mentor that worked in the field,
allowed me to learn more about the career
and what I can do to reach my goal.
Mayor Harrell believes that raising our young people
is an all of society effort.
So Seattle Mentors has joined Mentor Washington,
has joined Mentor Washington in a recruitment drive.
Calling for caring adults of all kind to step up as mentors.
Whether through our Seattle Mentors program or
with a community organization, a church, temple, a mosque.
We invite anyone listening to be part of the vibrant community
we need to mentor the next generation.
Let's talk park rangers.
Moving from youth development we wanted to build
on the park ranger update
we provided at our last November meeting.
Historically a handful of park rangers worked in downtown parks
due to an agreement with the Seattle Police Officers Guild.
But thanks to some productive collaboration
with the police union,
our hardworking
and dedicated rangers are now educating members of the public,
assisting them with events
and supporting accessible
and safer parks throughout all of Seattle
and in every part of our city and neighborhoods.
With the graduation of 13 new rangers in May 2024,
the ranger team also doubled in size in 2024.
You can see the locations visited and the educational
and enforcement activities increase substantially
as a result of those changes. In general,
our protocol for when rangers encounter park users,
breaking park rules,
is to educate and seek voluntary compliance, which often works.
While we do issue written citations,
we do so only after that attempt at voluntary compliance
and verbal warnings has been issued.
2024 was definitely a year of learning.
The first full year of a cohort citywide operational model
and we continue to assess our approach to adapt
and adjust to an ever-changing Seattle.
Now we'll turn to some of our capital accomplishments.
Here you can see a map
of the 89 capital project accomplishments in 2024.
The icons relate to the detailed lines of businesses
that the projects are in.
Park features, acquisition, buildings et cetera.
We've been fine-tuning our capital project delivery systems
for several years now.
And I'm excited to say that between our internal innovations
and a growing budget,
we've continued to increase our capital spending
and project delivery annually.
To build a park system we can all be proud of.
You heard earlier today
about the many projects in the pipeline.
The graphics on the left show, at a high level,
some of our programs on the core priorities of cycle 2
as of December 31, 2024. On restroom renovation
we've committed to renovating 27 restrooms by the end of 2028.
Four have been completed so far
and those show up on the map under the buildings icon.
They are Gas Works, Green Lake, Interbay and Pathways Park.
We've got an additional four restrooms in construction
and more than 25 more in planning and design.
So we've pretty confident we'll hit the mark by 2027.
And I asked that question of our staff not too long ago
and they do remain confident that we are meeting our goals
and may even be early.
On the play area renovation
we've committed to 33 play area upgrades by the end of 2028.
Twelve have been completed so far
and they show up on the map under the park features icon.
The 12 completed sites are 26th and Lynn, BF Day,
Cal Anderson, Bitter Lake, Dearborn, Dr. Blanche Lavizzo,
Lincoln, Pathways, Sound View Terrace, Spruce Street,
TT Minor and Westcrest.
We've also got five more in construction
and 20 other sites in planning or design.
So we're confident we'll hit that mark of 33 for cycle 2.
On community center major maintenance,
we've committed to stabilization and renovation
of six recreation facilities by the end of 2028.
So far we've completed one project at Magnuson
and we've got three more in construction.
South Park, Hiawatha and Magnolia.
And separately from this goal of six,
Alki is also under construction led by Seattle Public Schools.
For pool major maintenance
we've committed to three to four renovations in cycle 2.
While none are completed or in construction yet,
we've initiated design on a four, on the four,
which are expected to go into construction later in the cycle.
Those will be at Coleman, Madison,
Mounger and Meadowbrook.
Here are some other 2024 project completions
at Green Lake Small Craft Center,
Be'er Sheva Park and Pathways Park.
Parks are powerful community building infrastructures
and great communities support great parks.
It's a symbiotic relationship.
SPR partners with more than 49 community-based friends
of groups, that steward, activate and enliven our parks.
Sometimes these groups even play a major role
in envisioning improvements to parks
and supporting fundraising to bring those visions to life.
In 2024 SPR is proud to report
that these three major improvement projects,
many years in the making, and with lots of community support,
completed construction and opened to the public.
That is the Green Lake Small Craft,
which is a beautiful center if you haven't been there
and it supports our regional park at Green Lake.
The Be'er Sheva and the Pathways Park,
which is a fully and all accessible park
in every single aspect.
And the largest accessible park we have in Seattle.
All of these have been through, demonstrated
and committed coordination with community groups.
The Seattle Parks Foundation, the Department of Neighborhoods,
the Associated Recreation Council and many, many more.
Many capital projects are also in the works.
SPR is embarking on a process of reducing its carbon footprint
by identifying strategic opportunities
to decarbonize facilities. Both as standalone projects
and by adding on to existing projects,
such as Hiawatha and South Park Community Center renovations.
Which are under construction now.
This work generally entails swapping
out old gas powered furnaces for heat pumps,
significantly reducing the building's
overall carbon footprint.
Because SPR has so many facilities
this is a big body of work.
But, we have met key milestones in 2024.
Getting approval from the city's finance administrative services
to use an innovative procurement approach
for certain decarbonization projects.
The general contractor construction manager,
GCCM procurement method involves bringing
on a construction contractor earlier than
in standard design bid build processes.
Which increases quality,
efficiency and cost certainty of the overall program.
This is a major lift for Seattle that other cities are doing.
And I want to thank everybody who helped make that happen.
In 2024,
SPR took steps to package decarbonization of Garfield,
Jefferson Rainier and the Van Asselt Community Centers.
As well as the Genesee Crew Quarters.
together using GCCM.
Following the completion of feasibility studies and hiring
of a design team.
These sites are all projected to be completed by the end of 2028.
In addition,
all major CC renovations will assume electrification
as part of their scope and projects.
Some examples Green Lake, Queen Anne, Lake City.
We're also transitioning our vehicle fleet and equipment
from gas to electric as much as feasible.
This slide references 14 vehicles converted to electric.
These are fleet replacements.
But it is important to remember
that while we're embracing this transition
to more sustainable operations,
it requires electrical infrastructure investment.
For example in 2024 we installed 51 electric vehicle chargers.
Experimented with new technologies tools and products.
And made changes to parking lots and staff practices
to make sure our vehicles and equipment
can stay charged and working.
With additional funding from cycle 2,
SPR launched the park community fund,
to advance park equity through a community-led process.
The goal is to make capital investments originating
from community that reduce disparities
and expand access to quality parks,
facilities and open spaces.
The fund developed its guiding principles
and its unique approach to engaging the community
in partnership with the board of park and recreation
commissioners, community- based organizations
representing historically underserved communities
and identities, and several city commissions.
In 2024,
the fund officially kicked off
with a project selection process.
Community members submitted more than 240 ideas.
Which SPR staff developed into possible projects.
More than 2,900 people were engaged
at various stages of the process.
From submitting project ideas to weighing in on options.
After final review by the BPRC,
we announced the 15 selected projects in October 2024.
Selected projects include both small
and impactful improvements.
And transformative changes to parks.
These are shown on the next slide.
So you can see some of the tier one projects
under the 15 projects selected.
And the tier 2 project, so very big and small project.
That is a wrap of our 2024 update.
A reminder that you can find a lot more information
in the annual report,
which we're excited to provide you copies of,
again, at the end of the meeting.
And for proposed park district resolution 74 item two,
I think we're going to move over to our presenters,
is that the Seattle Center or Tracy,
who's doing that?
Justin. Justin. -Not me.
-Not you. Is that Seattle Center?
Okay.
-But yeah, please, yeah please, please come up.
And before we do item number two
because I -- I believe I have to read it into the record,
if that's correct.
-If we're ready to go to item number two, yes.
-Well before we do did,
Tracy did you have any comments about the report
the annual report?
-Not at all. -Nope. Awesome.
And then colleagues did you have any questions,
wanted to like pause here for colleagues
just to have some questions at all well,
if you give me a head nod it's -- it's hard
to find your hand often.
But, yeah, no, okay.
You said no, no, did you have any questions?
It's a loaded question for you.
-I just wanted to,
it was interesting going through the briefing.
It's a good opportunity to get the baseline,
so I appreciate that.
And it also reminds me to get an update on the various parks,
particularly within district seven.
Because, as I know, you know, you have the 24,
I'm looking for the slide I was looking for.
You know different pieces are in there.
Like, you know talking about community centers,
but I also know Queen Anne community centers
on the list and then there's you know
the West Queen Anne playfield, Big Howe.
So these different, just need to ensure
that they're all tracking schedule-wise
and to get a briefing and to be baselined on the various pieces.
So I appreciate the briefing and we'll talk to it,
about it with my staff
and then likely follow up to get like a baseline
in terms of where we are.
To ensure everything's tracking.
Like I've gotten updates regarding Portal Park
in terms of the survey.
But, you know,
to get the similar across the various pieces,
because there's a number of, you know, items to discuss, so.
Thank you and thank you board president.
-Thank you board member Kettle, board member,
sorry, board member Solomon.
-Thank you board president Hollingsworth.
I know this is a reflection of 2024 work.
So my actual question may be answered
as we go forward concerning 2025 and beyond,
specifically looking at concerns that have been raised to me
about Jose Rizal
and the repurposing of the parking lot area there
and then closing off that parking lot to prevent some
of the late night uncivil behaviors
that have occurred there.
So, is that coming later on in the presentation
or is that a conversation for a different time?
-We're happy to brief you on that,
probably a different time about that
and some other safety strategies we have going around the city.
But, we,
in fact we were just speaking about that
today earlier with staff.
So I would be happy to do that.
-Yes, I welcome that opportunity,
thank you very much.
-Awesome thank you council member Solomon.
Just recognizing if council member Saka or council member,
sorry, board member Saka or board member Rinck
have any comments about the presentation
before we move on to the resolution?
No, seeing none, awesome.
Thank you all it was a loaded presentation full
of a lot of information.
I really can't wait to read the report.
I think what we do at parks here is like absolutely phenomenal,
we're super lucky to have you
Superintendent Diaz and your staff.
Sorry I didn't say Michele was here.
I was just reading off the thing so I apologize,
so I'm glad you corrected me.
Michele and Justin so.
-So I am here on Amy's behalf. -I got you, thank you.
And the one thing that I love to see
and I know the rest of my colleagues,
is the amount of youth
that are participating in late night stuff.
The teen centers, the late night,
the late night activities, the food piece.
Like, all those things matter to our kids
and so just a big proponent of that.
I know we all really appreciate hearing about the numbers.
It's one thing to hear that the programs are going,
but it's another thing to see 30,000 kids,
or the amount of people
that are impacted every single day from those programs.
I think is, it puts a bigger picture around like, hey,
this is the impact that we're having,
so thank you all for putting that together.
And then now I'm going to read item number two,
oh you can do it, thank you Amelia.
Will the clerk please read item number two into the agenda.
-Agenda item two resolution 74,
relating to the 2025 Seattle Park District budget
increasing non- capital appropriations
in the 2025 Seattle Park District budget corresponding
to unspent funds from the 2024 Seattle Park District budget.
For briefing discussion and possible vote.
-Awesome.
Amelia doesn't like me reading stuff into the record,
I don't read it as fast.
Please state your names for the record for this agenda item
and you can jump in right into the resolution.
-Tiffani Melake,
I'm the waterfront park operations manager
for Seattle Center.
-Diamatris Winston, deputy director at Seattle Center.
-Awesome and we're ready for the resolution.
That I'm assuming we're it's a possible vote today,
yeah, okay awesome. I'll be quiet now.
After you all. -Great. Okay.
So to close out our presentation
we have resolution 74 before you
today related to the MPD operating appropriation
carry forward from 2024.
For both Seattle Parks and Recreation and Seattle Center.
As we mentioned on the previous slides,
SPR planned to cover anticipated expenses
for one-time vehicle purchases in 2024.
However, the vehicles will be delivered to SPR in 2025,
actually in about two weeks.
And carry forward resources are necessary to cover the cost.
These vehicles were planned as part of the ramp
up of park district cycle 2,
specifically to support enhanced maintenance of public restrooms.
Resolution 74 also includes a request
to carry forward about $1.3 million for Seattle Center
to continue supporting the ramp up
of waterfront maintenance and operations.
As you know Seattle Center is operating
and programming the waterfront on SPR's behalf,
supported by MPD funding.
If you have specific questions on their carry
forward they are here to answer those questions.
And, if not, that is the end of our item two.
-Awesome.
Straightforward and to the point.
Awesome.
I will pause here to see if my colleagues have any questions.
I know that this is in,
I believe it's in council member Kettle's district,
but it butts up to council member Saka's district as well.
You all split the waterfront, am I, is that correct?
You do. Yes. Yes.
-He's got the beach.
-Okay awesome, yes, there's a partnership there, thank you.
That's what I was trying to get to.
There's a partnership there. I will tell you this.
Anytime someone comes to the city
and this is for people that have lived here for a long time,
they go to the waterfront
and they haven't been there in a long time and they're like, Wow!
And they are shocked and amazed.
I ride my bike down on the waterfront all the time.
Head up to Myrtle Edwards and then over on the track
and then loop back through the train and that path back there.
But, it is phenomenal.
And so just gratitude for everything
that's happened at the waterfront.
I think we have a waterfront now
that we are incredibly proud of in Seattle.
And I think the also too, not only what we're proud of,
but how we're maintaining it as well matters.
In the presentation
because that's often the first thing
that people see in our city.
I did not recognize if Tracy Ratcliffe had anything
about the resolution.
Don't mean to put you on the spot.
-I don't,
there's no concerns from staff perspective
on the resolution 74. -Awesome, thank you.
All right, well, do any of my colleagues
have any questions right now? Well I'm going to go ahead
and move that we adopt resolution 74.
Is there a second?
-Second.
-Awesome, it's been moved and second to adopt the resolution.
Are there any further comments? I will not call the role,
I'll ask the clerk will you please call the role.
-Board member Kettle. -Aye.
-Board member Moore. -Aye.
-Board member Rinck. -Yes.
-Board member Saka. -Aye.
-Board member Solomon. -Aye.
-And Board President Hollingsworth.
-Yes. -Six in favor none opposed.
-Motion carries, resolution 74 is adopted.
And will the clerk please affix my signature
to the resolution on my behalf.
This is going to conclude our meeting today.
So thank you all for coming.
I don't know if you have any closing comments at all,
Superintendent Diaz.
-And I just want to on behalf
of the Seattle Center and Seattle Parks and Recreation
thank you so much for your oversight and partnership
on these wonderful programs that we deliver for the public.
And what an amazing gift
that we have with the park district funding.
That's vital to our identity as a city.
And we just appreciate your valuable partnership
and look forward to being back here with good updates for 2025.
Thank you. -Awesome. Thank you all.
And the next scheduled meeting
for the Seattle Park District Board
is scheduled to be held on October 20, 2025.
But I'll see you all before then.
If there is no further business the board will adjourn,
hearing none it is 4:27 pm and this meeting is adjourned.
Thank you.
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