Residents, um, you've operated 3 to 5 days, uh, for parts on the ugliest and windiest and priciest days, we've still got in.
Many community members to come out and enjoy the parks on, um, what seems like.
Less traditionally beautiful days, but they're still awesome. Um, we're trying to plan for our next year in operations. We found really grateful we've been able to do what we've done this past year.
Um, we're hoping or seeking some type of team engagement, or a way, um, to consider conditional use, or some… some way we can reserve permits farther in advance. Um, right now, we have.
Constant waiting lists, and a bunch of people that are really disappointed that they can't sign up in advance. Um, we want to serve more community members, and we're just trying to find the right way to unlock.
Unlock that, um, request from the community while also following all up for the.
Conditions and regulations the park needs to consider. Um, I think we've hopefully….
Everyone feels like we've been additive to the community over the past year. We just want to do more of that.
And we're hoping to find a way to do that. Thank you.
Next up, Tom Kelly. Okay, um, you have Grace, you should unmute yourself.
Some. You'll still need to… go ahead.
Yeah, here I am. Um…. I'm Tom Kelly, thanks for hearing me today.
Uh, I'm a long-time person doing forest steward work at Magnuson Park, 28 years.
I was on the… spent about a decade on the original.
Project management team for the Angus and wetlands. Today, I'm commenting on the wetland project.
Uh, first off, I want to let you know that. Uh, you may not all have institutional history at the Park Board, and.
I think you've been a little bit misled by some of the statements of the planners, where they said that the, uh.
Park Board approved the. Magnuson Project in the past.
I've worked at the, um, meeting videos, and uh…. Minutes of those meetings in 2022 and 24.
And there was no vote on that, so basically, you're not, uh.
Shouldn't be fuel-bound by…. Past actions on that. So, I want to make that clear. Doesn't mean I wanted to let you know.
Keep in mind that if they bring forward options. Uh, they're gonna be presented as just a couple of choices, you know, the alternatives, but there's really a lot more alternatives in the world.
Uh, Henry, uh, my biggest concern is. Noise impacts on where both types of park users.
You know from Park Service, that's what most people want out of parks, go there and decompress, get rid of the stress, and.
The pickup bowl always will really impact on people in the wetlands, and also.
Reduce the environmental education aspect. And also, ability to appreciate nature.
So, I value that in. Also, the size of the project, you know, you could have several smaller projects around smaller.
Now, also regarding the noise, uh, mitigation. Um, I've heard the product staff say, oh.
Forward it with the doctor. Well, you could have a smaller project really do it right, so it's a win-win.
Good for everybody. So, hope you'll keep those things in mind as you're considering this.
And, um, a lot will consider… depend on the values, especially on the noise. Hopefully, they'll do a good job.
Where people can agree on how much noise there is, and what the impact is, and then it might come down to value judgments on what's acceptable.
But, uh, that remains to be seen, but I just hope you'll keep an open mind, and uh….
Okay, Pop. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Uh, Jan Bray? Hey, Jan, you have permission to unmute yourself?
Jan Bragg, volunteer for Birds Connect Seattle, past member and past co-chair of the Mangston Park Advisory Committee.
I wanted to point out some confusing statements made by the pickleball planners at your June board meeting.
Parking is an issue at Magnuson. The parking lot for the baseball and softball fields.
The fields which were just resurfaced at taxpayer expense is E5.
Where will people going to those games park if E5 is dedicated to 25 pickleball courts?
Then there's a third ball field in the master plan. Mortez and Andy talked about moving that baseball field to Sandpoint Way, which was confusing because they meant Sports Field Drive.
In any case, where would people park for that baseball field? In W6, the Junior League playground line, which is already filled by soccer and rugby players.
No. In addition, Kevin Bergsdrew told us in September that the old tennis courts couldn't be used for pickleball because pickleball players don't want to walk to courts.
But Andy and June told you. The pickleball players could possibly park in the boat launch area to quote-unquote activate that area.
Which hosts unwanted activity. And then they could walk to E5.
No. Additionally, we've been told that pickleball can't go where the old tennis courts are, because that area was designated as a natural area in the master plan.
And because the master plan can't be changed. But the planners are recommending a change to the master plan by moving the proposed baseball field out of E5.
Confusing? The master plan had parking for 3 ball fields in E5.
Now the plan seems to be no parking for any of the three ball fields, or for the wetlands, or for overflow parking.
Thank you for getting the planners to consider more options before allowing them to go forward.
Thank you. Thank you, Dan. Uh, Carol…. Carol.
Do you have permission to unmute yourself, Carol? Yes?
Can you hear me, Ben? Good. Good evening. My name is Carol Fury, and I live across the street from Magnuson Park. I spend a considerable amount of time there and want to speak to the Seattle Parks and Recreation Plan.
To build as many as 25 pickleball courts on parking lot E5.
There are many reasons that this plan has a number of flaws. In addition to the impact on the wetlands and its occupants.
I want to focus on two other reasons parks should. Consider new sites for the pickleball project.
First, I encourage the Parks Department to search for alternative sites.
Plural, not for 25 quarts, but for 8. There are several potential sites that would fit the bill.
And would distribute pickleball traffic in the park to various places rather than creating the congestion.
That would ensue by dedicating Park Lot E5 to Pickleball exclusively.
I visited the four neglected tennis courts at the north end of the park.
Uh, potential for 8 pickleball courts. It's only. 0.15 miles from a very large parking lot, a very short walk.
There is also space for expansion should the Parks Department discover that there is a demand for more than 8.
At one place. I'm concerned about this issue of demand for 25 courts.
I visited the Bitter Lake Pickleball operation last Saturday and found only 4 of the 12 courts occupied at 1P.
On a beautiful, sunny day, temperature in the high 70s. When I went online to look at reservation availability in the North End, I found numerous pickleball courts available.
At all times of the day. I don't know why the courts weren't being used, but it did suggest one thing.
Perhaps we've reached the number of courts necessary to meet the demands of North End pickleballers.
I plan to visit more outdoor courts in the North End and will return with my findings.
If we build them, they will come. May not be the case with pickleball in Seattle.
Hey, Carol, your time's up. Thank you. Thank you.
Uh, Carrie Christensen.
Uh, Demi Blaine Park. Laws apply to everyone, or do they?
This same group was in the park tonight when I left work.
Uh, she told officers she thought it was okay to do this at Debbie Blaine Park, since it's a new park.
She would have stopped if people had asked. No one asked.
I was told by SPE that no arrests are to be made at this park for indecent exposure. Prosecutors will decide what.
Well, even with snow works have been found will tell SPB showed up.
Suddenly, she wants the name and bash. An incident number. I was told that she was most likely going to file a complaint against SPD.
The irony of that, and I have this on video, it's the officer telling me no indecent exposure arrest at this party.
Why do I continue to come to these meetings to show you what's happening in a city park that you manage?
Quote, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
End quote, Albert Einstein. Maybe I'm the one who's insane, expecting something to change, and not the city of Seattle.
And you guys can keep these. Spe has, um, has…. Thank you, please.
All right, that concludes our Pro and Commerce. Thank you.
Okay, thank you, um, all of you who called in and today in the room.
We appreciate your comments. Um, you have our contact information of the Parks Department, where we can always.
Provides you more information on any of these topics. Um, reminder that our email or information is parksinfo at seattle.gov.
Um, we are continuing to work on the environmental education positions and hope that they will be realized, uh, through the levy, and still seeking clarity.
On the applicability of the Youth and Family Services, which we believe there may be some room.
Uh, for adult programming or use in that, but we're still working on that. We remain hopeful.
Um, thank you for Bywater Sauna for coming up. I'm sorry your partner couldn't be here, but, um, since you've last spoken to us, we have talked with our concession staff about looking at.
Um, potentially, uh, including different uses in our standard request for proposals.
Um, and want to continue to work, uh, with you and any other interested, uh, sauna groups, but we recognize that you are providing a really valuable service, and it seems to be well utilized at both locations.
Um, our concession staff will continue to work with you, but we really appreciate these comments, and thank you for the service that you're providing.
These unique, uh, experiences for Seattle Parks. Um, thank you also for continuing to speak about pickleball at Magnuson. Pickleball continues to be a, um.
Very much not have support. We get a lot of demand, um, and we don't have a lot of locations for that, and so.
Um, I'm confident that our planners are continuing to work on the environmental issues. We'll also be addressing the parking issues. Those are all valid points, um, and those are part of our plan.
Um, and we're happy to share more in-depth details with you about that. Um, but again, we're still… nothing is final in terms of the exact number.
Um, and we're still trying to figure, um, out that process as well.
And then lastly, just want to continue to thank you for providing information to us about Danny Blaine Park, and we continue.
To work with our law enforcement partners, which is SPD, and realize that there's frustration around this experience, and I'm sorry that you're having unhappy experiences at this park, but appreciate your efficacy.
Um, and we will continue to duly, um, note this information. So, um, those are some of my… our responses, and, um.
Happy to answer any questions from the Commissioners, if you have any, before we get into our business tonight.
Ap. Thanks for that, I appreciate it. I had reached out to Christopher, who I think was on the agenda originally, so you may not be briefed on this, but I had asked, um, earlier in the June batch of correspondence.
We got, um, some input from one of the volleyball association folks, Will Suarez.
He was just noting that they have, you know. Uh, fees for the courts have significantly increased.
But they continue to find subpar. Conditions at the volleyball courts. Um, and that… that did seem to me to be something that should be explored further, because if we are charging for use of those courts, it does imply to me.
That they're in, you know, solid, usable condition. Um, so if you have some info on that, I'd appreciate it.
Um, the other one was just about the Lake Washington Boulevard.
Delayed implementation, but I did see in Ben's recent email, the press release of the improvements coming.
So I think that one is, you know, well addressed, but I think the volleyball one either, you know, needs some exploration, or if you have some ideas on it.
Tonight, thank you so much.
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, John. I actually have an update on the Lake Washington Boulevard as part of the report to give a little bit more information there.
And then, yes, we absolutely heard the, um, comments about the beach volleyball at Golden Gardens.
It's a little bit of a complicated issue. First of all, all your points are extremely accurate, and we don't….
Want to have increased fees at locations, and then not have users receiving the best experience possible. Golden Gardens is a challenge right now, especially in the summer.
Um, with a lot of high use, it's on our summer safety plans, on the mayor's summer safety plan, um, to try to get more dedicated resources there, but….
Oftentimes, more often than not, we are finding, um, and our maintenance staff is encountering the same problems that.
The gentleman you just referred to reported, and that's, you know, a lot of weekend, late-night partying, um, and, um, sometimes, unfortunately, has situations that appear.
Um, and sometimes the volleyball players get there early, although our maintenance staff tries to get there as early as possible, but.
We are committed to cleaning up and removing the public's left-behind trash and bottles as quickly as possible.
Um, and so, it's just a little bit of a challenging hotspot right now, but….
Um, definitely hear those concerns, and um…. Have brought them up to our attention to our maintenance staff, who are aware of them as well.
And then I'll report more on Lake Washington Boulevard in the comments.
Okay, shall we move forward? There was much room today, so I have to go.
Okay, Commissioners, I'm going to be walking you through our, uh, midsummer update before we get into some special presentations today from some guests. So, this is our July 10th.
2025 Superintendent's Report. So, um, excited to talk about a couple of things that have been going on. You can see some pictures here. Um, we had our FIFA Club World Cup 2025 watch parties at King Hei and Bitter Lake Park.
Um, these are special…. Soccer matches that are going on in the host cities in advance of next year's official.
Fifa World Cup, but…. Um, these were a highly anticipated matches, um, between the Seattle Sounders, um.
Paris Saint-Germain was here and played at Lumen Field. Um, and so we decided to organize some watch parties from communities, which you can see here.
Um, which were really fun and gave people an opportunity, uh, to attend and watch these parties, uh, if they were unable to be at Lumen Field. And it's also an opportunity for our staff to begin to plan out.
What might be some park activations next year when the official World Cup is here.
Um, we had approximately 300 attendees. Um, at these parties, um, in various locations. We served ice cream, we had food trucks, um, and it was really a lot of fun.
Um, if any of you attended or participated a couple of weekends ago, I think it was last, maybe two weekends ago, was, um, the annual Seattle Pride Parade.
In downtown Seattle. Um, our city department carry on our proud tradition of, uh, hosting a float.
Um, and along with other city employees, you can see our park float.
Um, in the picture there, we have our Park Pride sign.
Um, which is, uh, emblematic of our. Park systems, you all know the rainbow Sign, so it's a perfect addition for the park float. Um, and it was just a wonderful time and a great opportunity to go out and support community.
Um, throughout the streets of downtown on a really beautiful, sunny day, and I believe next year, the Pride Parade will actually potentially move to the waterfront.
And have a new location, but we will…. Be continuing our tradition, and welcome any commissioners, um, if you would like to come next year to.
Come out with us. It's a lot of fun. Um, also wanted to talk about the, uh, Summer 2025 meals and Playground activities at Park. In fact, our.
Social media staff just published today. Um, some information online on our socials that, uh, that we are teaming up this summer with the United Way of King County.
Offer free drop-in programs featuring meals and playground activities. They will run daily from June 30th to August 22nd, rain or shine. This program will be available at 7 park locations across Seattle.
Free lunch and snack will be offered to youth ages 0 to 18.
There will be free playground activities open for kids and teens that include arts, crafts, board games, and organized recreational games. Again, these are all free.
This program, in partnership with Seattle Human Services and the United Way.
Helps guarantee every child in our Shining City has access to a free, healthy meal. And, uh, so really important during summertime, because kids are in school, and sometimes, uh.
In the Hungary. Unfortunately, without programs like this, so we're really proud to support a summer activation.
Okay, moving on to our Parks and recreational services branch. So here's where we get to see Recreation at play.
Um, we had a Seattle Mentorist Appreciation. Event where 150-plus attended the Seattle Mentors Culmination event for our Empowerment Exchange cohort held at Garfield Teen Life Center.
Uh, kudos to Latrina Dickerson at Garfield Teen Life Center, who was a major force.
In making this event a success, going beyond… above and beyond the call of duty.
Uh, we also had our youth leadership committee, uh, prepare a lunches for the neighborhood tiny home community at Maple Leaf.
The Youth Leadership Committee planned a service project to provide sacked lunches to a local tiny home location.
The youth were able to create a menu, grocery shop, put together lunches, and delivered them to the tiny home locations up the street.
Unlike past experiences with dropping off lunches to tiny homes, this location.
Is a confidential site, and we're… we're not allowed access inside. Um, but nonetheless, it was really a very meaningful experience, uh, for kids to do this service project in partnership with our parks. So, excited to report on that.
Moving on to our Parks and Recreational Services, uh, Parks and Environment, um, facilities.
Um, you can see some pictures of some of the hard work that our crews continue to do. On July 1st, the Seattle Parks Enhancement Crew Team.
Completed a thorough cleaning of the pavilion at Occidental Square. Their efforts are part of broader initiatives to prepare and beautify the park for the busy summer season.
The team's work ensures that the square remains a welcoming and vibrant space for residents and visitors to enjoy events, leisurely activities.
And enjoy this unique feature. So, it's a really beautiful sort of pavilion coverings, but they do get.
You know, dirty, and, um, from weather, and so this is… it's a big effort to clean these, and we were proud to do it.
At Laurelhurst Community Center, which is the middle picture, you can see our crew hard at work trading crumbled concrete for fresh, smooth asphalt and helping.
Paved the way to safer public spaces for everyone. It's more than just effect to the surface. These upgrades are a solid step toward enhancing our parks' paths and gathering spaces across the city.
This work lays the groundwork. I'm fully intended for a better, more accessible community experience.
And then you can see at Stanstayers Memorial Park on the right is our SPR recreational equipment crew working hard to update and install new signage at the Stan Sitters.
To Memorial Park. Their efforts make a real difference, helping to ease congestion, improve turnover, and support sustainable transportation options.
It's always great to see our amazing staff working hard to make practical improvements to the user experience in park. So I just want to thank our groups who do all of this hard work.
In our parks and Capital Development team, um. Really excited to show you these pictures. If you haven't seen them yet. It's the I-5 Colonnade.
Yamp, pump, trap opening. Um, we partnered with Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance recently to complete the I-5 Colonnade pump track.
This pump track is community-driven project led by the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. The goal was to modernize.
The Tukwala Skills Zone section of the existing mountain bike park with a new paved adaptable pump track.
This revitalized space will provide a welcoming experience for users of all ages and abilities.
As literally is underneath the freeway, um, when you say, you know, go for… they used to say that when I was down, I don't know, I guess we don't say that to kids anymore, don't fight on the freeway.
Just remember that. Um, but now we can say he'll play under the freeway, um, which sounds counterintuitive, but it is safe, and really a fun.
Use, if you would just remember, like, a lot of these areas are just, like, brown dirt fields under the freeways, and we enhance them with lighting, and this really great experience for a pump track, which means.
Okay, so the smaller bicycles can go out and have this really fun experience. So, um….
Unless we're on time to open that, so you can see some pictures.
I want to give you some park project updates. So, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, in collaboration with, um, the Phase 1 Garden.
Junior civil rights memorial Park. This garden will support BIPOC urban farming organization, Clean Great Use Programming, and bring community together to amplify racial and social justice initiatives.
This helps momentum for the MLK Memorial Cardin Development Project planned for the Southeast hillside of the park.
As part of this project, SPR and community members built the garden.
Planters in preparation for the planting parties degree. That occurred on June 21st.
As you can see in the pictures above, the community came to help with the planting.
On Saturday, July 12th, from 11th to 2, SPR is hosting a celebration of the planters and asking for community input on a vision for the placement of a permanent memorial groom.
So this is really an exciting transformational project, um, that supports urban gardening will also, um.
Developing this larger MLK Memorial Garden. Project, um, at one of our best parks, um, in Seattle. And then, want to highlight the South Spray Park, um, construction is underway on the brand new South Park Spray Park.
Teams reviewed the new pump room structure, planned equipment installation, and are working on enhanced spray features.
This work is part of bringing much new, anticipated spray part to the South Park neighborhood, providing more opportunities.
For outdoor play and community gathering, particularly in the summer. It's great to watch those projects come to.
Together as our broader South Park Community Center and Site Development Project.
Is planning to be open soon, and we'll be very excited for that in West Seattle.
Okay, just want to highlight some upcoming events. Summer events is the busy time of the year at our community centers. Summer is here, and we're enjoying, uh.
Activating centers with exciting events for everyone to enjoy. From outdoor movies and music festivals to community barbecues and sports tournaments, we're excited to provide opportunities for folks to enjoy.
Our parks and build community, so please visit parkways.seattle.gov to find the dates and times and information on upcoming events.
And always exciting, exciting things to do, so very fun. Summer is the.
One of the most fun times for parks in Seattle. So, I wanted to give some follow-ups. Thank you, John, for, um, starting some of this conversation. Um, in your June board meeting, uh, you asked us to report on a couple of issues. So, in regards to Lake Washington Boulevard improvements.
Um, in partnership with DOT and the community, we're moving forward with a Phase 2.
Of the Lake Washington Boulevard renovation projects, and you have a handout, too, which lists all of the construction that is set to begin.
In early August 2025, um, and this rate. Ranges from….
Pathway repairs, new benches, new walkway connections, um, along 43rd Avenue.
New walkway connections to South Adams Street, curb extensions on 51st Avenue, new marked crossings at South Dawson.
Um, and we're continuing to work with SDOT, who is also continuing to take safety measures on speed hunts that were installed during Phase 1, and report back to us on the efficacy of those installations. But we're doing a lot of work on Lake Washington Boulevard.
Um, and also, as you know, during the summer, we have it closed, um, on the weekends, um.
Half of it for certain of the world walk, and…. Run series that we do every summer, which allows us to go on, like, watching all of our, um, near the lake, which is really.
Exciting. Um, you asked for an update on the Madrona Park Beach Clay Area renovation project. Um, it was reprioritized during COVID, and we hope to have the project completed by the third quarter.
Of 2026, so it's on our master list, um, even though that seems far, it is getting closer now, and we're looking forward to.
Redeveloping that area, um, the play area, um, which you can see right near the water, which will be really lovely and wonderful.
And then, uh, the sand courts are maintained… are being maintained as our regular beach maintenance, and I talked about that a little bit earlier. Um, so I won't go into that too much.
And that is our update for the midsummer. So, thank you.
Thanks, AP. I wanted to open it up. We have a few minutes, um, before our next presentation, if folks had questions or comments.
I do have a question, um, thanks for the update. I love to see the paved track.
Yeah. That's been created. I've seen this in a lot of other communities outside of Seattle, and they really are. It's a very different experience to be on a paid versus the dirt on track.
My kids can attest to that. Um, is that the first one in Seattle?
That's paved? I believe it is. There's no one here to correct me, um, looking at my staff, because I had the same reaction you did when I first came here and heard about this project being planned. I'd seen it in other communities.
Um, so I believe it is the first, um, and so….
Hopefully we'll glean some knowledge from that to look at other opportunities, maybe in neighborhoods. I think that'd be great. That would be really cool, so yeah.
I'm gonna go check it out. Okay.
And I can ask now that I'm looking at shipping, but we'll wait till your report. You can report if there is one at Seattle Center, but maybe there is one, I don't think, but… Oh, excuse me, presentation.
No, I know she is, but she's from Seattle Center, so… Do we have a pump track there, do you know, Tiffany?
There is not one at Seattle Center.
Okay, okay. Definitely that little skate park over on Harrison. Yeah, there are skate parks around, but traps for biking, I don't think I've seen another paved one anywhere in Seattle, so….
Ap, I had a question. I know it's still early, um, but in terms of the, like, summer meals or summer events, some of those events you highlighted.
Are there changes in participation? Is it too early to tell?
Um, I think it's a little bit too early to tell, um, and I, um….
We've been sensitive to that issue, too. I think you're alluding to people maybe being afraid to come get the meals, but.
They haven't seen that yet, um, and we have talked about that with our Office of Immigration Affairs, who's trying to just make sure that we continue the programs.
As robustly as possible, but, um, I don't have any data to date yet if that has been.
Affected at all. Nope, getting an Amber Alert. Um, so yeah.
But we will track that Whitney and our…. My point was our partners and, um….
Office of Immigration Affairs. Are tracking that issue in our parks, as well as other public things that are going on.
Public service events to see the overall effect, um, and to also get out.
Word, they do, in partnership with our Department of Neighborhoods. Um, try to get out words that….
It's safe, um, to come out and still participate. Hopefully as much as possible, so yeah.
Great, thanks so much! Um, it looks like next on our agenda is our partner spotlight, Downtown Seattle Association.
Um, so… let's welcome Owen. Thank you so much.
Well, as our one times forward, I just want to give a shout out to him and GSA. Um….
Downtown Seattle Association, for those of you who know or don't know, is one of our strongest partners in Seattle Parks and Recreation, because they help us.
Really improve and equip our public spaces downtown. Um, they're amazing partners, they've been with us.
And we've been with them for several years now, and some of the great activations that we see.
Um, on our downtown parks, or directly because of their hard work and thoughtfulness and care and innovation.
Um, in fact, so much so that I think about a year ago, or maybe….
A year and a half ago, two years, we expanded our partnership with them to include more sites, um, which is a good sign.
Um, so anyway, all of the positive things, a lot of the positive things that we're seeing downtown is directly.
Related to DSA, and we have wonderful relations with them, and that's why we wanted to bring them here to.
Give you an urban park update. Yeah, wow, what an intro. Thanks so much. That's, like, I could just sit down now.
Um, well, thanks so much for having me. My name is Owen Harang. I'm originally from Seattle, and I love parks, so I'm really honored to be speaking to you all.
Um, just really quickly about me. Originally from Seattle, I… my first job out of college, uh, was in working with, uh, the Parks Department in New York City, where I went out to school.
Then I, uh, started working at this small park in Midtown Manhattan called Bryant Park, which is kind of for the parks people. It's, like, kind of the model for private-public partnership, so it was a great.
Place to kind of, uh, you know, learn… learn the tips and tricks, and start to be professional, and so I worked there for about 5 years.
And then during COVID, I came back to Seattle to do a… get a degree at University of Washington in urban planning, and I got an opportunity there to work at the waterfront, where I was for about 4 years, and Tiffany was actually my boss there, so it's… I'm honored that I get to be her warm-up act.
Waterfront update. Um, and then recently, in April, I got the opportunity to transition over to the downtown Seattle Association.
Um, to help manage their, uh, downtown parks. Exactly, as safety said. So, yeah, Choice Global to be here, and excited to share some of the stuff that we do. So, next slide.
So, just a brief overview of, um. Who we are at DSA, so the Downtown Seattle Association, it's a little complicated, there's no point in getting deep into the weeds, but is a, uh, association of businesses that anyone can opt into. There are businesses that are not in Seattle who are part of the downtown Seattle Association.
And they do events and things like that. Underneath the DSA is the Metropolitan Improvement District, so that's the MID.
And unlike the DSA, they have very strict boundaries, essentially, of where we operate. So that's essentially from Pioneer Square, um, to Belltown, from the waterfront.
To the I-5. Um, so we cover 300, roughly, square blocks, um, and what we do, our mission, is to create a healthy, vibrant downtown for all. That's our mission statement. And so, what that looks like in the field is, um, really our ambassadors.
I'm going around and taking care of our downtown. So you have seen these people, whether you knew it or not, but we have 165 ambassadors right now.
Um, and they're broken up roughly into 3 teams. So, the clean team, um, is about 100 ambassadors, and they're the folks you see right around on their bicycles, cleaning up alleyways, messes, graffiti, things like that.
They take, um, care of so much trash that thing that you would not worry about.
Um, I see the reports every day, it's pretty well. Um, then we have our community safety and hospitality team, and so these are the folks who are doing.
Wakes up in the morning for people sleeping outside, they're connecting folks to services.
Um, they're also just being ambassadors for folks visiting the city, so right now, there is a conference that Microsoft is doing at the Convention Center, and we have a lot of our ambassadors deployed there, just to make sure people know.
How to get around, where the good lunch spots are, and all that good stuff.
Uh, and then finally, last but not least, is our Public Realms operations team. And so that's the team that, uh, I, uh, lead.
For the DSA, um, and like I said, I've been here since about April, so it's still fairly new, so I'll take all the credit, and if there's any issues, it's absolutely a new guy.
Um, next slide. So, as AP alluded to, how we kind of got here is, in 2015, um, I think folks started looking around to different, um, cities in our country.
And notice that a lot of the downtown urban parks are heavily used parks, typically had kind of a friends-of organization, or some sort of private-public partnership that could advocate for these parks as well.
Um, and so the DSA and, uh, the Sale Parks and Recreation entered a one-year pilot agreement to, um.
To try this out. Um, and it looked like putting furniture in parks, putting events in, and activations, and all of that.
Um, that was successful, a Sale Parks Foundation also played a pretty pivotal role in getting this off the ground.
Um, then we entered a 5-year agreement that ran in through COVID, so then there was contract extensions, and as AP said, in 2023, um, we entered a 6-year agreement, so we are about halfway through.
Right now, um, and as part of that, it, uh, was digital parks and public spaces. So previously, it was essentially just Westlake Park and Occidental Park.
And then, um, with this new agreement, we added on Belltown and Pioneer Square Park as well. Um, and so with that came a little bit of increased funding as well, which I could talk a little bit about later.
Um, and we've been, um, cruising through it ever since. Um, this is not here or there, but we also manage several plazas for, um, Seattle Department of Transportation.
Um, so if you see first tip pipe most recently, which is the one right outside the famous, kind of, uh, Fake Place Market snapshot, um, that's some of our work as well.
Next slide. So, um, like I said, none of this would, uh, be possible at all without our partners.
Um, which is the main one, and most important one, the Seattle Parks and Recreation. Um, and so….
Roughly, uh, Seattle Parks and Recreation, um, gives about $250,000 a year to the Downtown Seattle Association to support activations and events and programming in the park.
All of that money goes into the park. We were very proud to say that for every $1 that Parks Department invests in, we collect about more than $600 from private interest and from our other revenues.
So, we really think this is a win-win for everyone about getting resources to our really, really heavily downtown parks.
Um, we also have some core funders outside of the Seattle Parks, um.
Uh, and Recreation Department, um, so we have, uh, we previously worked with, uh, Friends of the Waterfront.
Um, and we went to the Pioneer Square Alliance, and we worked with Seattle Parks Foundation, not anymore, but they did help us kind of get a, uh.
Get our program going. Um, and then we work with a ton of community groups, so every kind of park.
Area has their own community group, which is great. So, in Pioneer Square, for example, we have the Alliance.
Um, we also have Friends of Occidental Square, and so we really see ourselves as kind of the….
The folks who can gather all of the interests and host meetings and get their ideas, and so that the programming and what's happening in these parks are really representative of the neighborhoods, not just, like.
Coming out of our brains. Um, and then, last, but also not least, is our right pairs and stakeholders. So, many.
In fact, every property within the metropolitan Improvement District paid into our fund, which then goes to support parks as well. So they are also very….
Um, okay. Next slide. Okay, so here are some of the things that you'll see in the park, and the things that we work on a lot. It is our busy season now, the summer approaching, um, so we're right in the.
Middle of it all. Um, this really kind of stems from….
It's now fairly common knowledge that a safe park is an active park, and so our North Star is really how to get people.
To our downtown parks, especially after COVID, downtown has been a little bit of a.
Um, and so we, uh, at Bryant Park, they used to say, I don't know if this, like, maths app, they say, if you can keep people there twice as long, you only need to bring half as many people.
Should never run the numbers on. But that's kind of the idea, which is that we want people to come to our parks, we want people to stay in our parks and enjoy them.
Not just kind of passing through. So, we think about activations and programming in a pyramid, essentially, which is, there's three layers. The first layer is.
Just the daily activations, the beautification, so that's, like, chairs and furniture, uh, games that are outside, it's the things that our ambassadors, um, can provide. So when you come to the park, you know that there will always be something going on.
Um, kind of the level above that is what we call series programming or activations.
So that's, like, a dancing until dusk, which is happening tonight in Westlake Park, which is something we, uh, partnered really closely with Sale Parks and Recreation on, um, is this beautiful dance event that would have a stage for it, like, hundreds of people come, and it's this really great thing.
Um, and then the special events, um, which is kind of the top of the pyramid, they only happen once or twice a year, but that's our, um, kind of like our downtown summer sounds, or our holiday, or our tree light, something that brings a ton of people.
Um, for a short amount of time. Um, but that people look forward to, and it really just enlivens the place.
Um, so we spend a lot of time thinking about, kind of, this pyramid and how best to strike the balance between wanting to always be something going on in the park versus these big kind of special events.
Uh, next slide. So here are some, just kind of photos. These are all, um….
Fairly old photos, um, of things. I think part of this might be kind of pre-COVID, but like I said, we really like to.
Chat with folks in the neighborhood to, um, have the park be a reflection of that.
Um, and so, for example, at Oxdale Square, we, um, partnered with the CID, BID, a lot of letters there, um, to have a Chinese New Year event. We also had other cultural events.
I'm happening in our plazas. This is a fitness event that's happening in Occidental.
Just to be totally transparent, I know this is an old photo, because we can't quite do something like this yet.
Post-covid, we just don't have enough momentum of people coming to Occidental Park to have people want to come out and do a fitness class there. So we're starting smaller and trying to build up to that again. We would love Occidental to, like, work like this again. It's our….
Our total goal. Um, and then we always talk about finding mayors of the space, too, and so how can you find people in the community out… the great example is, like, the chess players, who will sit in the park and play chess all day, or ping pong and ping me.
Um, who become kind of like, yeah, the mayors of the space, who, when something's going wrong, they know about, you'll hear from them before you hear from anyone else.
Um, and who could be really great stakeholders in the parks. We really work to find those folks as well who will come to the park regularly and help us take care of them.
Uh, next slide. This is just a photo of some of our holiday events, so we don't….
The activity in park is not just when there's good weather, it's also when there's bad weather, when it's cold, that's obviously a big challenge in Seattle, um, when it's rainy, because people don't really want to be outside.
Um, but these are kind of what we think about as amenities where, um, you know, if you have a big event, people will come and leave, but these things will be there all the time. So you come to Oxemo Park, or you come to Westlake.
Um, there will be something to kind of surprise and delight, so we spend a lot of time and resources, um, kind of thinking about winter and the off-seasons to try to keep the park active.
Next slide. We have a great data team. It's, um, spectacular, as I've gotten to know this organization, I've been so impressed, who keep track of.
A lot of different indicators in the park. And so here's just a sample of them. I take a little screenshot of. So, for all of the parks that we manage with SPR, we keep track of our monthly park visits.
Uh, we keep track of our hours of our programming, uh, we keep track of the foot traffic, and how many, um, hours that our team works, and that's just kind of the top layer of it.
But this is really helpful both to assess how we're doing, and then we share it with SBR, too, during our check-ins, to just try to make sure that, um, you know, things are going in the right direction.
Um, yeah, so this is kind of small, but these are all available on our website, so they're all very publicly available, so just go check them out if you want to get more into the data, or email me.
I can get that for you. Um, next slide.
Um, okay, so what has the impact been over, gosh, 10 years now? Um, we think that we have really helped, uh, improve the perception of these downtown parks, especially post-COVID.
These are places that you can come spend time, they're safe, they're active, you can go eat lunch in Occidental Park, you can go.
Get a beer during the happy hours at Westlake Park. Um, we want our downtown parks to be really part of the urban fabric of, you know, people's daily lives.
Went during… when you live in Seattle. Um, and so, uh, we also, as we said, uh.
There's every one public dollar that's spent in these parks is matched by 6.67 of private funding.
Um, and so we also think this program is a really great way to leverage some of the dollars that we have in our downtown.
Um, and an entire city to really direct these towards the parks.
And I think this is the last slide coming up here.
Um, okay, so lessons learned. So yeah, over 10 years, what have we learned? So, what works well is, like I said, those layers of activation, where there's always something going on, um, the park always feels active and vibrant. You never go to just an empty space, so having different layers of activation and.
Now, if you miss one thing, there'll be something coming out that's really important. Um, having a wide variety of activities that can appeal to a lot of different people, um, has been, uh, a good learning from us, and then having them repeating. So, okay, I just, like, learned how to play bocce today, and I know that next week you'll be at a bocce tournament again. I know the week after that, there'll be.
And so that really helps to start getting people back to the park.
Um, community input, hearing from folks, um, communicating out to folks in the neighborhood and beyond about what's happening.
Um, we are still trying to get better at that, um, but it's something that we try really hard at.
Um, and then following the data, like we showed some of the data that's really, really important, and then also flexibility, where we are not afraid to fail and to have an event, um, where no one comes, and we can just say, dang, that did not work, and we'll try something else.
Um, we had a stand-up comedy event in Pioneer Square Park a couple weeks ago, uh, which I was very nervous about, because if those things do not seem to go to each other, and it shouldn't have worked, and it totally worked, because all these people from the.
Uh, underground tour came and sat down. We had, like, a crowd of 30 people, and it was so surreal to see in Trainer Square. And so, you never know what's gonna work, so we just kind of throw things at the wall, and then, uh, keep following the leads when something sticks.
Um, next thing, uh, the challenges. I did not choose this photo, but, um, I think what they were going for was… I think there used to be pie-eating contests as part of activations, and so, um.
I can't, once again, for my time. Um, I think the lesson learned there is that there are some things that don't work in public spaces, too, and you want things that are welcoming and bring positive activations, and.
Some things are just kind of weird, and we don't have to do those.
Um, and then if you do… if you are doing activities or playing with that neighborhood buy-in, it's just….
Not going to work as well. You really need that local support. Um, and that's kind of the same thing with the misaligned depart personality. You gotta have them be reflective of the park itself.
Um, and then these things take time, too, to build up. Um, some of these, like, yoga programs and things that we work to.
In New York that has over a thousand people took 10 years to get, so it's okay if you're 1, you're two, if your numbers are really low.
Um, yeah, so I think that's the last slide, but yeah, the overall kind of goal, or….
I don't know, I'd love to take away that we spend a lot of time thinking about how to make.
Uh, our Don High Park's wonderful. We're always, like, looking for new ideas, so if anyone has any or wants to get in contact with me, I think my contact info is available.
Um, and yeah, we love downtown. Parks in our downtown Summer Series, which is this, kicks off, uh, tomorrow. So if you are around Westlake Park and want to go see Rovina, who I'm told by the Youngs are… is very cool, um, then stop by, and I hope you'll have your time.
Thanks very much. I can also answer questions, or whatever you guys want.
Good question, thank you for the presentation. Um, it's great to see all of that work.
Very impressive. Um…. I was curious how you get the word out about your….
Do you do it mainly through your own channels, or do you have, you know, partnerships to amplify? I don't recall seeing.
Marketing communications around some of these activities in the past, so… That's a great question. Um, and it's, like, constantly evolving, too, and so, um.
Like, 5 years ago, the best way to get people there was, like, Facebook and Facebook events. Those are not….
Work in anymore, and so we do a lot of… we do it many different ways, so there's still digital through, like, Instagram and targeted ads and those things like that. We have science in the park.
But what we've really found is finding, like, community…. Not bulleted boards, but like….
Community message boards and finding stakeholders who then can share it out to all of their listservices and things like that.
Uh, no, but yeah, finding the, kind of, the key people who could spread the word has been really helpful.
But it's a challenge, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Yep.
Any questions? Comments?
Hello, Dewan. Hi, Owen. Disclosure…. Owen and I work together with Volunteer Park Trust, which we're both involved in.
Hey, John.
Um, but taking off that hat. Do you have maybe more freedom to implement ideas and programs.
Or do you still need the partnership with SPR. To kind of make things happen and get approved.
And if so, do you have the support you need? Um, from SPR, or is there more that, you know, we could look to do to help support the Downtown Association?
I appreciate that question. Um, in general, we think our partnership with SPR is very positive.
Um, we have, uh, been given a pretty free reign to.
Um, try and experiment with different, um, events and activations and things like that.
Um, so when we have an idea, we typically don't, uh, go to the Parks Department for approval, but we will chat about it during our recaps, things like that, um, quarterly.
Um, so I think where the partnership really comes is having SPR support some of those events. Like, we rent stages from SPR all the time, um, and then they do all of the maintenance and cleaning in the park as well.
Um, and so, some of, you know, an event can, um.
Leave a park a little well used, and so then SPRO will come and clean up. And so, if there's any kind of, like, improvement or anything I could suggest, it would just be a closer partnership between, kind of, like, the event production and things like that, and the maintenance folks, who then.
Come and help support those events. For example, we have the Downtown Summer Sounds concert in Westlake this weekend, and the, um….
Nordstrom's event, and we've asked SPR to, like, help power wash the parks to try to get it in good condition. Um, so just, like, things like that, I think, are, um, yeah.
Really helpful, and we could always probably work better together, but in general, we're pretty happy with where we're at.
That's great, thanks. And I should have also said, like, the amplification of public dollars is impressive.
And clearly, a good investment, so I'm glad to hear that.
Yeah, thanks.
We really appreciate it, and…. Please give our thanks to all the other DSA folks. Oh, yeah.
Right. Okay. Whitney, I'm gonna invite up our next guest, who's online. Um, I think she is online. There's Tiffany. Um, Tiffany, uh, is another great.
Partner with SBR, um, do the work on the waterfront, and our partnership with Seattle Center.
Um, just as a quick reminder, but, uh, Tiffany might talk about this too, um, in our, uh.
The waterfront Park, um, operations, um, is a partnership with Seattle Center.
Um, where they have, um, are our partner in helping to activate.
Maintain the eyes and ears on the ground for, um, our wonderful, beautiful new waterfront.
Um, which is a mixture of a lot of different landowners from SDOT to the ferries, to.
Public rights-of-way, parkland, piers, and all of it. So this wonderful.
A partnership was established, um, so that we could great, give, and, um, a really amazing experience to visitors and residents in Seattle, and so….
Um, Tiffany and her team at Seattle Center have been really wonderful partners, and she's going to report out on some of the waterfront park operations, and.
How they make the magic, uh, work at the waterfront. So, turn that over to you, Tiffany.
Thank you, AP. Um, I'm happy to be here, and thank you for having me tonight. I….
Um, first want to give kudos to Owen, because, uh, the work he's doing at the TSA is incredible, and….
I miss him very much. Um…. So, I'm Tiffany Malacke, I'm the Waterfront Park Operations Manager. Um, I have been with the City of Seattle for 18 years. I actually started with Parks and Recreation and spent 8 years over there running community centers.
Um, and doing a little bit of stuff on the park side before I actually came over to the Office of the Waterfront.
Prior to Seattle Center. Um, but I've been with the Waterfront program for the last 10 years, which always kind of….
It's crazy for me to say out loud, because a decade of working on the waterfront, living and breathing it, and we're kind of at the end where we're….
We're coming on completion of the project. Um, it's not the end for me. I get to still live and breathe it every day, but….
Um, it's… it's a little crazy to say that it's been that long.
So I'm just here to share a little bit about our park operations with y'all.
Next slide.
Behavior for me, give me a second.
Alright, hang on a second.
Really hopeful. Make it through a meeting without this.
All right, go ahead.
Awesome. Okay. So, quick orientation to Waterfront Park Boulevard, which was created back in 2021, um, and includes Pier 58 and Pier 62.
Um, everything you see in here in pink is the Park Boulevard.
Um, we go… we span all the way from railway plazas by the, uh, stadiums, all the way down to Pier 62.
Past the aquarium. Um, I did want to note, I saw in the chat that.
Today, it was announced that our Pier 58 grand opening is going to happen on Friday, July 25th, with a community event from 4 to 8, so….
Um, that's the last. Big public piece of the park to open.
To the public. Um, we're really excited, and we hope you all can join us at that celebration.
Next slide.
Okay, since 2023, we've been… Seattle Center's been doing operations at Waterfront Park.
Um, key to our operations is, one, our public-private partnership with.
Friends of Waterfront Park. Um, that we have a dedicated and specialized.
Team that is just solely thinking about waterfront every single day.
Uh, we have free public programming and events year-round, and we, um, have public safety and outreach services. It's really important for me to note we have an oversight committee.
It's called the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee. That ensures accountability to a certain performance standard that we're required to meet every year.
With, um, reporting done to Mayor and Council annually. Next slide.
Alright, this is a photo of, um…. Just for context, because it's really cool, because this opened up in March.
Um, just this last March is our new restroom down on the waterfront. This is our….
Park Ambassador team with Friends of Waterfront Park here. They're… they provide concierge services in the restroom.
During our open hours, I'm happy to…. Talk about any of the restroom operations as….
As, uh, as wanted or needed. Um, but key to our success is this public-private partnership with Friends of Waterfront Park.
And as a city, both Seattle Parks and Recreation and Seattle Center, we've signed a six-year agreement through.
2028. With friends to provide.
Programming and activation for the park. Uh, this agreement aligns with the Seattle Park District funding cycle, as well as Seattle Parks and Recreation and Seattle Center's agreement, as AP mentioned.
Um, our partnership in providing. Park Services and the daily operations on behalf of the Parks Department in the park.
Um, it integrates the performance standard, which is this really, really strict and robust, um.
High standard that was developed to over 2-year timeframe with the Central.
Waterfront Oversight Committee, City Council had, uh, asked us back in 2019.
To come up with a standard of make… of how… how do we take care of our park with….
Programming activation, maintenance, and public safety. We did a huge national deep dive.
Um, to see if this existed anywhere else, which it didn't. There's… there's parks that do really excellent job with.
Having park inspections and. It was really hard to find something that encompassed all three of those elements, the public safety, the programming activation.
And the park maintenance. So we… we spent 2 years developing this performance standard.
And we… we live and breathe it with friends, um…. On a day-to-day basis of making sure we're upholding that standard.
Um, and then our management agreement that we have with friends was also.
Very similar to how you all did your, um. Your agreement with DSA, it was reviewed by our Central Waterfront Oversight Committee after a pilot year out on Pier 62.
And they really integrated lessons learned from that pilot year, and then our performance standard into it.
Next slide. So I do want to acknowledge and say thank you, um, because SPR is absolutely critical.
Um, to our success on the waterfront, um, as AP mentioned, we are.
Partners for you all, and doing this on behalf of… of SPR.
Um, so our funding comes from. The Seattle Park District NPD funds.
And we have right now, just what you see on the screen is our funding plan through 2028.
Um, I will mention that we do have an additional million dollars that comes annually from Friends of Wirefront Park to help us pay for our public safety model.
Um, but every… all the… every single dollar that you guys give over to us from the MPD is so critical for our success, and we….
Uh, really wanted to make sure that we acknowledge and appreciate.
That contribution that you all have given us.
Next slide. Okay, our operations team. Started in 2023, um, so that's when our agreement was executed with.
Parks and Recreation, and there was this really funky year in 23, where half the year was Seattle Parks out.
In the waterfront, mainly Pier 62, and then we started to open up additional spaces in July.
Habitat Beach came online, and, um, Seattle Center took over in July.
We really started with a small team, and, um, before July, it was just Owen and myself.
For a couple years. Um, and then it has grown to… there's 16 dedicated staff now.
Um, that 3 of us are administrative, and the rest, um.
Our crew chief, our installation maintenance workers, our crew lead, and our laborers.
Uh, we really have spanned over the last year and a half as spaces have opened, to continue adding staff. We're at our max now.
Um, because the park is fully opening, and uh…. We… we're… we're there. Um….
So this team is incredible. They are out in the park daily, very approachable, very identifiable.
So, uh, they're out there talking to park patrons, engaging with the public.
Um, and just doing a really amazing job at keeping the park looking.
Seller.
Alright, um, in 2024, so just a couple, like, fun facts of 2024 for us with our operations team.
Was our central waterfront Oversight Committee conducted 14 park inspections in 2024.
So this was Pier 62, Habitat Beach. The east sidewalks, the Union Street Bridge, the roadway plazas, Pier 62.
And they did this… they did this every single quarter. And so we had 14 different inspections that had happened. Out of those 14.
The, um, park inspections passed 12 of the 14 of them, so came in at.
Roughly 85% of them passing. The first two didn't pass, and there was a lot of….
Fun stuff around why they didn't, but mainly stuff out of our control.
Um, as you're dealing with taking a huge project like this from a contractor.
And going into operations, there's just a lot of in-between gray space of who owns what and who's doing what.
Um, we are continuing to do park inspections. We've already completed our quarter one.
And quarter two for 2025, which have all come back. As passing, um, and excellent. We did a… conducted a promenade.
Park inspection for the first time, even though we don't fully have the entire promenade from the contractor yet.
Um, we wanted a baseline to see how it looked before and after this busy season.
Uh, then we had…. 1200 graffiti tags removed in 2024. I was walking with somebody yesterday, and they're like, man, it's a really good thing you guys never get graffiti here.
And I was like, we actually do, we get a lot. Uh, but our team is out there every day with their eyes on it, and within the same day, majority of the time, they're able to address the graffiti and get it off.
Um, the city requires that to be within 48 hours, and we see that we quite often do that within the same day, unless it's.
A really finicky graffiti. Um, and then we spent a couple years developing a work order system that's separate from what Parks and Recreation has.
Um, our crew has a daily routine that they do where they're out grabbing garbage and recycle and addressing graffiti tags and things in the park that need to be cleaned up.
They did an additional 300 work orders in 2024 on top of their daily work.
And that was not with the full park being opened, so that was not including Pier 58.
Overlook Walk didn't come online until October. And the promenade's not fully ours yet, so….
Um, they're out there working really, really hard. Uh, we're really proud of the work that they're doing. We have an incredible team.
It was… we had part of our 2020 review with our partner organizations.
It was how satisfied are you with…. Uh, the maintenance of the park, and it was… we had a really amazing rating from our partners, and….
Um, they… they definitely were, like, you could tell that. There… this park is being maintained and taken care of.
Next slide. Okay, we have an emergency service, uh, unit.
Which is, uh, an extension from Seattle Center's campus. This is very similar to Park Rangers.
There are a couple differences between ESU and park rangers. Mainly.
Um, they carry, uh, mace. And Narcan. And… and that they are able to enforce park rules with trespassing and exclusions still.
Um, but it's the ESU team, we have a four-tiered public safety model for the waterfront.
Um, which is incredible, and it is doing… it's a fantastic model.
Uh, it has… the four tiers are being… the first one is Reach, it's a contract.
That Friends of Waterfront Park has. For social services, so if anyone is experiencing.
Homelessness, they're in crises, they're in need. Our first response is to try to connect folks to reach and get them the help that they need.
Our second approach is park ambassadors. That's friend staff. They are dressed in hot pink every day out in the park.
They're there, um, to answer questions, they set up the games and activations.
Um, out in the park, but they are able to let someone know if they're violating a park rule.
And maybe they didn't know that a park rule exists, or that this is a park because it used to be right-of-way, and people are still orienting themselves with that this is a park.
Um, our third tier is the ESU unit, who… they're able to actually enforce park rules.
Um, they're out there, they're 24-7 team in 2024, we had 15 staff.
And that spanned over 3 shifts every single day. Um, in 2025, our… we'll have 21 staff.
Coming up, actually, next month, which will be our capacity for our ESU staffing.
Um, they are out there, really, their presence in the park, this is incredible, and it's so hard….
The… the impact that they have. It's immeasurable, because it's one of those things that you can't actually….
Show in data and numbers, the amount of instances that don't happen because of the presence that they have out in the park.
Um, and then our fourth tier is SPD and the fire department, which is for any life-threatening or criminal activity.
And, um, I have a fun little stat on that one, but we had, um….
Out of 20… almost 2,500 incidents last year, only 55 of them were actually elevated to the Seattle Police Department.
So we're working really, really hard on that… keeping everything within those first three tiers.
As best as we can. Um, I will also mention that there were park rules that were developed in 2022.
That were very specific to Waterfront Park. Uh, they did encompass a lot of park rules that Seattle Parks and Recreation has. It also took some rules that Seattle Center has.
And kind of mash them together, and then we did a couple rules that were very, very specific.
To the promenade, like, no bicycles and scooters on the promenade, there's no diving and tying up on Pier 62.
Um, so just some of those things that were very water-specific and promenade-specific, um, were new rules.
Next slide. Okay, that ESU team had close to 25….
100 public interactions that were recorded last year. Um, out of those, 7% of them were violations of park rules.
The rest of them were things like, where is Pike Place Market? Where's the bathroom? Who are you all? What is this place?
Um, so we saw a lot of positive engagement with folks out in the park.
That was not necessarily dealing with. Negative behaviors or, um, violations of park rules.
Out of those 20…. 500, the top 5 issues that they dealt with was drug use, smoking.
And I will mention the drug use as mainly by the Compass Center.
Um, and then alcohol, open containers. Camping attempts, which were, um… I will… I love this statistic as well, is that we had 241 attempted.
Uh, camping attempts, and…. We had zero camps actually established in the park.
And then, um, welfare checks is more about. Them going out and checking in on people who might be unconscious or experiencing, um, drug overdose or needs out in the park.
Um, and so the welfare checks is that fifth one. Okay.
That was a really high-level, quick overview of the park, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you all might have.
Don't see any questions, um, and again, just really want to thank.
Kill.
Um, Tiffany, this… so much… yeah. There's so many nuances and layers that have gone on in just everything that was mentioned. Every establishment of every rule and agreement, and.
The thought and the care and, I mean, years and decades of planning, as we know.
Um, to get to this experience, and we're almost there, we're almost at this fully realized, amazing.
Um, park for Seattle, and it's a great model, and, um.
It's just, you know, going well, and…. We'll continue to go well. Every opportunity is also a learning experience. All of the things that are going on at the waterfront operations, um, you know, adjusting to the use, you open up this new space, you have to see exactly.
How it's going to be used, and so, um, but the great thing about our partnerships is that it's adaptable.
Um, and we all work so closely together that we will just continue to improve. So, really excited about it, and thank you.
Tiffany, to you, your teams, and for this great partnership, so….
Thank you, AP. Thank you, thank you, I appreciate it.
Okay.
Okay, absolutely. Whitney and said, oh, can't we move on to the last item here?
Yeah, that's great. Thank you so much, or Jeffrey and Jacob there?
Uh, Jacob is here, and we don't have, uh. We have, uh, don't have Jeffrey, um, but we have….
Yes, a report I was trying to think of from our property manager, from our property management acquisition team. So, I'm gonna invite.
The podium up as we're gonna power through our last item, and hopefully, uh.
Get everyone back out into the sun. Warm summer months.
Hi, my name is Lisa, I'm Property Management Interagency Advisor for Seattle Parks. I've been with the Parks Department for 24 years, and many years have been spent doing acquisitions. Um….
I'm gonna go over the more recent term acquisitions. I mean, acquisitions started in 1884 for Seattle, First Park, we're sitting in at Bay Park, so I made it by Mr. Denny.
Um, I'll just…. Jump right over to 1990.
Uh, she did change the…. The next slide. Um, so our modern park acquisition programs.
Have been ongoing since 1990. Uh, we've acquired over 800 acres, uh, building relationships along the ways… along the way with funders and landowners and the community at large.
Uh, we have…. For historic… prehistoric, four historic acquisition programs since 1990.
Uh, they were all voted in by…. The citizens of Seattle. Uh, we've always gotten a lot of support for city parks, which is great. I heard.
A recent statistic that Seattle population. Is up to about 800….
Thousand people, uh, back in 1990, I think it was closer to half a million.
So there's been huge growth in population in the city, and we're trying to.
Serve incoming people in denser housing being developed in the city.
Uh, so in 1990, the… the voters passed what's called the Open Space and Trails Bottom Program.
Uh, we were, uh, blessed with $100 million in funding. We're able to preserve 600 acres. It was a huge, huge acquisition effort.
Um, and the focus was on green belts, natural areas, and trails in a few neighborhood parks.
Um, at the…. The neighborhood… the neighborhood park plans were sort of in their infancy that were.
The neighborhood parklands that were created by the communities who are in their infancy at that time.
And so, when the Pro Parks levy came along in 2000.
Uh, we focused on neighborhood parks and growing urban villages and neighborhoods, as well as continuation of green space acquisitions to preserve.
Canopy, natural areas, riparian habitats. Um, so Pro Park slowly went 2000 to 2008. We were blessed again. Voters voted in parks and green spaces levy.
2008 to 2014. And then the big vote in 2014 was for the Park District, which was created, which created a….
A more stable source of funding. And we'll have parks to have ongoing planning, knowing that this stream of income was coming in.
Next slide, please. Uh, our acquisition program, as I said, consists of two types of acquisitions, neighborhood parks and green space preservation.
Neighborhood parks, um…. Are planned for in the context of walking areas. So within urban villages.
Um, we like to see a park, a 10,000 square foot park, within 5-minute walking distance of someone's home.
Again, urban villages are heavily developed with multi-family housing. People don't have yards.
You know, I can see people being able to go out and enjoy some….
Fresh air. Um, in… outside of the urban villages, it's a 10-minute walking area.
Um, and our key tool is what's called the gap map.
And so, each park in Seattle has a circle around it.
And so, within the urban villages, it's a 5-minute walking distance, and you put a 5-minute walking distance around all the parks.
And you can very easily see the gap areas, and those are the areas that we target for native parks.
Um. Typically, they're 10,000 square feet in size.
So the focus is on need, in that walking area, trying to ensure that people can find a park within 5 minutes.
Um, we also partner with. Developers, uh, Seattle Transportation Rights of Way.
To basically save money and buy a creative park sites. That people might not have otherwise looked at as parks.
Um, so we're looking primarily these days for urban village locations, flat terrain, scent orientation.
And renewable development and relocation costs associated with acquisition. Next slide, please. Um, this one is near and dear to my heart. It gives you an example of.
The long period of time it takes to get from an idea to actually opening the park.
Uh, it's some public meetings, previous, uh, acquisition manager used to.
See the people coming to these meetings with children and strollers and saying, well.
Please be patient by the time the park gets built, and just being honest.
Uh, your child may be in high school, but…. We'll get there. Um, so for Churchill Show Park, which is offering your avenue, um.
Charles Temple Street, kind of behind the Safeway off Rainier, if you can visualize it.
Uh, we started planning it back in 2008, and we were shooting for the 10,000 square foot size at the time.
And it just sort of naturally grew. We got more and more willing sellers.
Southeast Effective Development owned a lot of property down there, and they were willing to deal with us over time as we were able to.
Get money to acquire more and more property. The last piece of property brought the total acreage of this park to $1.2 million.
In the meantime, a lot of development went in, so we had already users.
And a lot of community involvement and planning for this park, which resulted in it recently opening a few months ago.
Um, and we were blessed to be able to leverage park district funds for both acquisition and development.
With the King County Conservation Futures Levy. State Recreation Conservation Office grants King County Parks an open space levy, Kaiser Permanente National Park Service.
So this is a really, really, really cool park. I encourage you to go visit it when you can. Next slide, please.
Um, this is, uh, what's called a land bed site. Just purchased this property.
I just kind of…. It just kind of became ripe. We had started looking at purchasing this property back.
Into… in the early 2000s. And it just… it just had to get to the point where everything fell into place to get it.
So, in this particular case, uh, we were helped by interest rates rising.
Uh, which causes developers to jettison properties versus. Paying carrying costs and developing them later. So we worked with the developer.
Uh, this is a rare case where we were able to purchase an entire city block.
Which, with the alley going down the middle, turned out to be 1.3 acres, another huge park in one.
Swipe, as opposed to this 10-year assemblage period. So, um, you'll see a….
A representation of our gap map. So it shows two side-by-side urban villages.
And the 5-minute walking distance, you can see where the gaps are in orange.
And actually, this 1.38-acre site. Was able to serve.
Gap areas into joining the urban villages, so we like to think of it as.
Two for the price of one. Uh, the negotiated price was by $5.5 million.
And, um, ironically, our funding source, King County Conservation Futures. Um, was able to eliminate the mash.
So we not only get two-for-one in terms of serving two urban villages, we got the part for free in the end. So, really exciting.
Um, and so it's gonna go into the cycle for planning and development very shortly.
Next slide, please. Another… our other focus in acquisition was green space planning.
Um, generally, voluntary acquisitions. Uh, we try to identify priorities, establish relationships with property owners over time.
And, uh, encourage them to call us first before they call the real estate agent.
So I get calls all the time. I'm getting ready to retire, I'm ready to downsize.
My kid just finished high school, my kid just finished college, and we guys are still interested.
And it allows us to sort of…. Plan for the….
Uh, interested sellers in selling. To be able to backfill the funding, to be able to add that valuable piece to green space.
Um, we've got a lot of green spaces in town, but there are a lot of private pockets of ownership.
And so, our green space program is still pretty robust in terms of filling in those private pockets of ownership to create a larger management unit.
For restoration purposes or canopy preservation, etc. Um….
These spaces consist of…. Steep slopes or areas with trees.
They also consist of riparian habitat areas. And so we have two partners that we work with.
Green Seattle Partnership is Parks' in-house group that restores canopyan forests.
And we've also recently established a stronger relationship with Seattle Public Utilities because.
In executing drainage projects, national drainage projects, they can also, um.
Help us with stream restorations, which we don't have that level of expertise in the departments of the partnership that we're establishing with SP is very valuable.
Um, so we've got 30 designated green spaces. There's still a lot of acquisition work to do.
Uh, and fortunately, we have. Philanthian authority to do purchases, which saves a step in time.
And, um, allows us to be able to tell a property owner.
Uh, we hope maybe one less step. If he would ride with us along, maybe through a grant cycle.
Um, we get closed rather quickly, and we do pay cash at closing when we get the cash.
Next slide, please. Uh, so, uh, I'll give you two case studies.
The first one is Thornton Creek. Uh, so if you're dragging up Lake City Way, if you're hitting north on Lake City Way, and you hang a left.
A Northeast 100, then you go all the way down to the end of the road.
There's a swab of about 6 parcels that we acquired over.
6 years. And the stream was in a channel.
And SPU is very interested in this stretch of the creek.
Because when the stream is in a channel, the water runs really fast, and it encourages downstream flooding. So we partnered with Seattle Public Utilities.
They contributed to the acquisitions, um, and we also got King County Conservation Futures. We were able to assemble these properties, and then.
Spu followed up later, the houses were removed. And they were able to take all that riprap off.
And caused the stream to meander. Which slowed the wider down.
Which helped drainage, which reduced flooding downstream. And which created a huge area of habitat out here. So this is a really cool project, and we're trying to replicate that elsewhere.
In the city of Seattle. Uh, Longfellow Creek. Comes to mind saying we're working on some assemblages down there.
And I'm getting to my last slide. Um, this is another one that's in process, again, Thornton Creek.
Um, this is Lake City, so if you're going down 125th….
Lake City way to hang a left on 125th. Um, this was a joint acquisition.
Um, with SPR and Seattle Public Utilities. Uh, it's of value to them for drainage purposes.
We're working collaboratively using an assortment of funding mechanisms, and in this case.
Um, there's a…. It's not really neighborhood park, but there will be some neighborhood park-like features.
Incorporated into the design, so it'd be a nice place for people to go and hang out.
And again, the creek will be…. Meandered, and the water slowed down.
That the parcel is large, you'll also accept a lot of natural drillage.
And reduce the impact to the areas outside of it. Uh, so we're really excited. Uh, we purchased this property in 2018.
Um, it's in design, and hopefully will be implemented in the next few years.
And I think that was the last slide. So, it was hard to….
Condensed 24 years of acquisitions in 10 minutes, but I think I did it.
Okay, but that'd be great. You have to answer those.
I'll do one. Thank you so much for that. It's great to see.
The funding slide went from, you know, the $100 million levy.
To, I don't know, I think it was, like, 40 million, then 20 million.
And then… blank. So do you get regular portions of the Seattle Park District Fund?
To make sure that that acquisition budget. Continues to grow, or what's your current funding model?
Well, it's… the story is the $100 million in 1989 over the spent….
Space bond issue is huge. We had a huge staff, and I think we outsourced acquisition agents as well, so it was a huge, huge effort.
Uh, most of my niece were also matched with King County CFT and, um, Recreation Conservation Office funds.
Um, the subsequent two levies. Um, we're also focused heavily on acquisition. Um, those are the base numbers for the levy allotments, and we were able to leverage that money.
Um, and that resulted in the acquisition work. So, when the Park District came along.
The park districts intended to address a lot of deferred maintenance, major maintenance projects.
Build new parks, renovate old, older parks. So it's more development-heavy.
Uh, but we've been blessed in that King County Conservation Futures bonded against the Conservation Futures Levy, which is a special district charge at everybody's property tax bill.
It's a regular stream of income for the county. And so, in many cases, they're able to eliminate the match, and when there is a match, they reduce it from 50….
Percent to 25. We also get donations.
Um, we also get, uh…. We also get property owners who sell for less than it's worth.
Saving us some money there. So there's a variety of…. Of tools that we use to build a good-sized park. There's one part that I….
I didn't put a slide, it was purchased in the last 2 years.
Westwood Highland Park, south end of West Seattle. Serves a great need there, fills a big orange gap.
I believe we've… we…. It was a developer who needed to sell because interest rates had gone up.
Uh, but we were able to partner with Seattle Department of Transportation. They actually have a street triangle next door.
And they're also willing to let us have use of some intervening right-of-way, so together.
We're at 1.3 acres, and we only had to pay for the 14,000 square feet.
So we're trying to be smart, um…. Leverage what we've got in any way we can.
Okay, thank you for your time. Happy to come back anytime.
Thank you so much! All right, next on our agenda is old and new business. If we have any.
All right, well, maybe, maybe it's just the gift of time, then.
Looks like none.
Yeah. Yep, there's still the sun out there. Maybe not for John to hear it.
On the East Coast there. Oh, that's true. Well, we'll give you the gift of sleep.
Thank you. Thanks.
Thank you, Willie. All right.
Thank youBye everyone, have a good