SPR Boardroom: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the October 9th Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.
SPR Boardroom: meeting. I'm Ryan Vaughn. I'm one of the co-chairs of the board. I'm going to ask folks to, introduce themselves, briefly. Can the commissioners who are online please introduce themselves?
Elise Chisholm Clare: Hi there! I'm Elise Chisholm-Clair for District 4. Sorry I couldn't be there in person tonight, I'm doing some solo parenting this evening.
John Flinn: Everybody, I'm John Flynn with District 3.
John Flinn: Glad to see everybody.
Kevin Werner: Hi everyone, my name's Kevin Warner, I'm new to the Commission, I'm happy to be here, and I apologize for being off-camera, I'll be on a little later.
SPR Boardroom: Hey, Kevin, which… can you, just introduce which seat you represent? I should have done that as well, I'm at large.
Kevin Werner: Oh, I'm sorry, I'm in District 3, I believe I represent that city, I might be at large, I'm not sure.
SPR Boardroom: Steve, Tricia, Kyle?
Tricia Diamond: Right. Let's see…
Tricia Diamond: Hi, I'm Tricia Diamond. I am, of course, a commissioner, I represent other boards, and I was off-screen because I have 3 dogs here right now on the sofa with me, so nice to see everyone.
Steve Lerer: Hi everyone, Steve Lehrer, at large.
Tricia Diamond: It's… it's who you are.
Daya Zhang: Hi everyone, this is Xia Zhang for District 2. Sorry, I couldn't make it in person because of the flu.
Tricia Diamond: Bunch.
SPR Boardroom: Thank you, Commissioners. Just before we begin tonight's agenda, I want to, oh, sorry, Brian. Thanks, Brian!
SPR Boardroom: I am Brian Bacher, I am Get Engaged for sure.
Tricia Diamond: Thanks.
SPR Boardroom: Hi everyone, good evening, APGS for attending.
SPR Boardroom: Follow marks, scale per expectation?
SPR Boardroom: Ben Bertso, Seattle Park and Recreation.
SPR Boardroom: I do want to leave a minute, to acknowledge, Seattle Park… Seattle Parks and Recreation acknowledges and affirms Indigenous Coast Salish peoples, original caretakers of our water and landscape, who nurtured and shaped today's parkland.
SPR Boardroom: We honor their legacy with gratitude and appreciation, and will shape guard their knowledge and stewardship as enduring treasures, promote community welfare, cultivate inclusive expressions of nature and recreation, and commit to land acknowledgement for each ensuing generation.
SPR Boardroom: I think our first order of business is public comment?
SPR Boardroom: Oh, sorry, oh man, I'm running… So we have two items on the consent agenda, meeting minutes and the meeting agenda.
SPR Boardroom: Is there a motion?
SPR Boardroom: Approve? Set agenda.
John Flinn: I motion to approve both, if that's allowed.
John Flinn: Or do we need to do them separately?
SPR Boardroom: It's a concern agenda, so it's all items on the concern agenda unless someone objects.
John Flinn: Love it. So I move we accept them?
Steve Lerer: I'll second.
SPR Boardroom: All in favor?
John Flinn: Hi. Hi.
Tricia Diamond: Bye.
SPR Boardroom: Any opposed?
SPR Boardroom: All right, most curious as the items are approved. We move to move to comment.
SPR Boardroom: We have one person signed up for public comment, and Nathan?
SPR Boardroom: Great.
SPR Boardroom: Howdy, y'all. My name's Nate. I run an iWater Sauna, which is, like, a public sauna here in Seattle. We bring…
SPR Boardroom: It's trailer sauna, standard beaches at Palm Gardens and Alkhi Beach, and everybody can use the sauna.
SPR Boardroom: old, cushion, hot summer.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, we served over 5,000 people last year, and sold out from…
SPR Boardroom: November through May, or something like that?
SPR Boardroom: coming here, trying to get a meeting with you all right now. The way we're permitted is as, like, a special event, so every separate day that we're out there, we're paying for a different permit, which is a lot of work for us and for your staff.
SPR Boardroom: There is a concession permit that I think would be more appropriate for us to be under, which is, like.
SPR Boardroom: whole year. It'll be a lot easier for us and for your staff.
SPR Boardroom: And yeah, there's a bunch of other songs popping up, I think, because demand is there and people really like it, so I think it is actually a really… would be wise for my part to think about it holistically, so I think…
SPR Boardroom: my partner, Lauren, and maybe talk to your AP about doing some sort of committee. I'd love to be a part of that. Thank you for your time.
SPR Boardroom: And for Jeremy questions, sorry, I should have said that. Any questions.
SPR Boardroom: Okay, thank you. Thank you.
SPR Boardroom: I just want to note that I did see, John, you had a comment about the audio quality cutting in and out a little bit. This is a new audio setup in this room, and so I just want to encourage everybody to speak very, you know, clearly as we do. We're trying to work it out, too.
John Flinn: I was hoping it was an old one, and I could help you
John Flinn: advocate for a new one, but I guess… the new one.
SPR Boardroom: You're still welcome to advocate for everyone, that's fine.
John Flinn: Alright, good luck getting the kinks out. It was just that people tend to drop off at the end, so yeah, if you can just try to keep your voice steady and loud, that would be helpful for us on the Zoom.
SPR Boardroom: Thank you, John, for pointing that out.
SPR Boardroom: If there's no further… what we call it? Mood of the suburb?
SPR Boardroom: Okay. And I'll just, for the commissioners, and thank you, Laura, and what was your first name? Nate. Nate, thank you for showing up today. I got to…
SPR Boardroom: seeing this on as an action last Saturday when I was down at Golden Gardens for a community meeting, and Laura came and we talked afterwards. So, we are going to… our staff is going to be, I think, facilitating
SPR Boardroom: a meeting with you all just to discuss further, and the different types of permits, and then we also mentioned that, yes, like Nate said, other sauna groups have reached out, and so I think,
SPR Boardroom: That's what we're going to be doing. Learn more about this, and…
SPR Boardroom: There's different types of permits that might be, better suited, so… Great, thank you. Yeah, and Laura, I don't know if you already, or if you guys already have a request in, but…
SPR Boardroom: Oh, okay. Sounds great.
SPR Boardroom: Okay, we are going to do our superintendent's report.
SPR Boardroom: Thank you so much, everyone, for joining us for our October meeting. Happy fall. The wonderful, beautiful trees around Seattle are beginning to
SPR Boardroom: take shape and turn colors, and so we want to talk about, Indigenous Peoples Day. We're so excited, that… to let you know that many Seattle Parks and Recreation facilities will be closed on Monday, October 13th.
SPR Boardroom: In observance of Indigenous Peoples Holiday. This will include all recreational programs, community and teen life centers, environmental running centers, indoor swimming pools.
SPR Boardroom: The Green Lake Small Craft Center and Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center, parks, boat ramps, golf courses and ranges, and the Amy Tennis Center.
SPR Boardroom: Except for regular programs will remain open, and all this information is also being pushed out, through our public-facing website and social media reminders, so…
SPR Boardroom: We're happy to join the city, and just as a reminder, our department was the first department to host our own Indigenous
SPR Boardroom: tribal summit, after last year's meeting of a citywide, and we have some really strong people working on, Indigenous affairs for our department.
SPR Boardroom: I want to talk about park activation. So, even though summer is officially over, which is one of our busiest times of year, we still have plenty of outdoor park activation successes to squeeze in before
SPR Boardroom: The rain comes, and I wanted to share two recent events. One is the CID Night Market Outreach. So, on September 22nd, community engagement ambassadors participated in the CID Night Market at King Hay Park to promote SPR programs and to recruit.
SPR Boardroom: for vacant, CEA positions.
SPR Boardroom: The lively, well-attended event featured cultural performances, food, and vendor booths, drawing a diverse crowd.
SPR Boardroom: CEAs engaged with approximately, 165 attendees, sharing information about the ambassador roles and encouraging interest. A highlight of the evening was the light, half-banner activity where participants contributed messages of encouragement for our community.
SPR Boardroom: The event was a success, generating significant interest in the community ambassador program.
SPR Boardroom: And then we also have some pictures from our Kimchi Life Festival, Experience Education Use the 2025 SPR Recreation for All grant. To host the Kimchi Live Festival at Cal Anderson Park last month. The event featured community kimchi making, music, performances, food, and cultural activities.
SPR Boardroom: Celebrating Indigenous Korean traditions and fostering connection. Highlights included performances by international artist Kim Bong Yoon and local Korean artists
SPR Boardroom: Bird Over, Mountain, and other talented contributors. This event exemplified the grant's program's mission to support equitable, community-driven.
SPR Boardroom: recreation. And I also wanted to give a shout out to our park activation team. So every year, Seattle… the City of Seattle, receives nominations for what are called Seattle Municipal Awards, and different employees from different departments across the city,
SPR Boardroom: are often recognized and honored for their contribution, and this year, our park activation team is winning, an SMA award, for the wonderful work that they do for park activation. We're really proud of them.
SPR Boardroom: Moving on to our recreation Division, I'm pleased to say that we helped celebrate, or will be celebrating, Meadowbrook Pool's 50th anniversary on October 17th with a day of community-focused festivities.
SPR Boardroom: The event will include a community potluck at noon and free recreational swim in the afternoon, drawing attendees of all ages. Guests will enjoy a nostalgic photo display showcasing the post history and shared memories of this beloved community hub.
SPR Boardroom: The celebration will highlight Meadowbrook Mole's half-century of service and its ongoing role in fostering connection and recreation for aquatics.
SPR Boardroom: Also, we're starting a golf course pilot at Jackson Park. Earlier this week, Seattle Parks and Recreation and Premier Golf, in partnership with Mineral Springs Disc Golf Club and the Northwest Disc Golf Association, launched a disc golf pilot program at Jackson Park Golf Course.
SPR Boardroom: courses on Jackson Park's 9-hole executive courses, and will run through April 2026. The screen fee
SPR Boardroom: the green fees from this program will help generate revenue for the Jackson Park, complex. And so, you can see a picture of it there, and this is an example of, you know, community sometimes advocating, to us about
SPR Boardroom: new and innovative or different ways or takes on different play, or things that are popular, and as well as our staff, and we're excited for the pilot project to see if it takes off and is enjoyed by many. So, good things to come.
SPR Boardroom: And then our Fall 2025, Free Teen Swims program is up. No registration is needed, you just show up at the pool, and teens will need
SPR Boardroom: A completed parent signature form for health and safety. All skill levels are welcome. The programs will be run at Rainier Beach, Southwest, Evers, Evans, and Meadowbrook pools. More information on the locations, times, and dates can be found on our website.
SPR Boardroom: All right, some upcoming events, to celebrate. So, it's… Almost time for Halloween!
SPR Boardroom: And it's that time of year for costumes, treats, and community celebration. At Seattle Parks and Recreation, we believe everyone should have access to festive fun. That's why we put together a huge variety of free and low-cost Halloween events at community centers and parks across the city.
SPR Boardroom: There's more information on these events at arcways Ark.com.
SPR Boardroom: Our archives, our parkways, or to check in with your local community center for the most up-to-date information.
SPR Boardroom: Green Seattle Day! Please mark your calendars for Saturday, October 25th. On this day, volunteers from all corners of Seattle will come together to plant the next generation of trees in our urban forest.
SPR Boardroom: This initiative is more than just planning, it's about strengthening our community and ensuring our parks thrive for years to come. More information on the event can be found at the Green Seattle Day 2025, Green Seattle Partnership site.
SPR Boardroom: Full programs at a park near you. Join a Seattle Park Naturalist and Train Seattle Urban Nature Guide, Sun Guide, this fall to learn about Seattle parks and all they have to offer.
SPR Boardroom: We are offering classes about a variety of topics for all ages, where you can learn about neighborhood trees, discover owls, beavers, and bats that hang out in our parks, or explore the fungi in our forest.
SPR Boardroom: You can find dates and locations for these events on our website. They're lots of fun. I recently did a night towel.
SPR Boardroom: to a parked old-growth Forest, and even though I'm afraid of owls, but it was fine.
SPR Boardroom: We are planning for several play area renovations, moving on, and would love to hear from community. So, here's just a snapshot. The East Queen Anne play area renovation, our SPR team is inviting, the public to come out and give input on an upcoming play area.
SPR Boardroom: If you would like to join us on Saturday, October 18th, from 11 to 1 p.m. at the park, or take an online survey located at the parkways.seattle.gov website to share input on the current play area. This is something that our team does really well, in reaching out to community and also showing input.
SPR Boardroom: Say, here's the project, what would you like to see?
SPR Boardroom: Fraulah Playground Renovation, please join our team on Saturday, October 25th, from 11 to 1 at the park. Additionally, we encourage interested parties to take a survey at the Fraulah Playground Play Area Renovation Engage Seattle Parks website to share your input on the current play area.
SPR Boardroom: And then at Roanoke Park Play Area Restoration, there will be a planning meeting at the park for the project.
SPR Boardroom: On Saturday, October 25th.
SPR Boardroom: From 2.30 to 5.30, the project will replace the existing clay equipment with new equipment that meets current ADA accessibility standards.
SPR Boardroom: And… All three renovations will include new play equipment, including age 2 through 5 and age 5 through 5.
SPR Boardroom: 12 equipment, new safety surfacing, new site furnishings, repairing of existing drainage infrastructure, mulch and lawn restoration around the play areas, and pavement repair for accessibility. So, good things coming for playground.
SPR Boardroom: Here's a picture of our lovely, beautiful Kubota garden.
SPR Boardroom: Down in South Seattle, and we just recently, in partnership with the Kubota Garden Foundation, sent out a release inviting community members to participate in shaping the future of the garden by sharing feedback on the design of a proposed new visitor center.
SPR Boardroom: Kubota is welcoming people on Saturday, October 18th, from 11 to 1, just inside the Kubota Garden Entry Gate, and feedback on the plan can also be sent online through a survey at engageseattleparks.com.
SPR Boardroom: Boda Garden Visitor Center, and so this is really exciting for a beloved site.
SPR Boardroom: In our city.
SPR Boardroom: Wanted to share with you next our SPR crews, hard at work. At the Madison Beach Bath House, the SPR HVAC shop, in collaboration with Sustainable Operations, is turning up the efficiency and dialing down the emissions at Madison Beach Bath House.
SPR Boardroom: Together, they're replacing outdated equipment with a new all-electric HVAC system that will deliver reliable heating and cooling for the daycare programs, while supporting Seattle Parks and Recreation's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.
SPR Boardroom: This upgrade isn't just about comfort, it's about creating a cleaner, safer space for kids, staff, and community. A big thanks to our crew for combining technical know-how with environmental stewardship to enhance public facilities in a meaningful way.
SPR Boardroom: Over at Foster Island,
SPR Boardroom: A float repair is underway. When a float at Foster Island started to sink, the SPR carpenting crew stepped in to make things right. They repaired the rotting support beams and added extra flotations underneath, eliminating a trip hazard and restoring safe access along the scenic Arboretum route.
SPR Boardroom: Thanks to their thoughtful work, the space is safer and more enjoyable for everyone.
SPR Boardroom: And it's a unique thing to build, and to have the skill to do it.
SPR Boardroom: And with that, that is our report for October, so thank you very much.
SPR Boardroom: Any questions or comments about the superintendent's report?
SPR Boardroom: The figure for the health.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah.
SPR Boardroom: I, I, I just want to say I appreciate the maintenance spotlights and the work that crew does, especially that, unique, like, oh yeah, that's a difficult project. Yeah, exactly. We have some unique facilities and talented staff that know how to actually care about.
SPR Boardroom: Okay, we are running… we're gonna have to cancel this.
SPR Boardroom: Next item up is, park operating hours.
SPR Boardroom: Ready? Yeah, good. So, thank you. Ready.
SPR Boardroom: Hi everybody, I'm Brian Judd, and I'm a Strategic Advisor on the Policy and Finance team. Good evening!
SPR Boardroom: We're just going to take you through our PowerPoint here, and talk to you about some operating hours changes. You may remember some of you who were here with us, Daisy and I presented on some hours changes back in March, and we're here, a little bit of continuation of those, and some new things to bring you.
SPR Boardroom: I don't probably want to.
SPR Boardroom: And as Ben's bringing it up, I want to thank, the members of the subcommittee, the BPRC subcommittee, that meet with, Justin Hellier. I did run through this presentation with them because initial feedback. Ryan was there, thank you. And John, thank you, yeah.
SPR Boardroom: Thanks to those that were there, you know, to get us some feedback and to get us prepared for tonight.
SPR Boardroom: Give me one second.
SPR Boardroom: I'm moving to the place.
SPR Boardroom: Just give me just a moment, and we'll get back.
John Flinn: I'll, I have a question for AP while you're getting set up.
John Flinn: If you guys can hear me still?
John Flinn: Yeah, so I was… a bunch of us were able to be there for Christopher's last meeting, which was great. I was glad he had a good crowd. I couldn't… I wasn't aware, have you named a replacement for him, or who will be filling in for UAP when you're not able to attend our board meetings?
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, thank you, John, and today's actually…
SPR Boardroom: Christopher Williams Day in the city of Santa.
John Flinn: Aw, nice!
SPR Boardroom: It was, the embedded Council. And yes, we, we've selected, and, and he would have been here tonight, but he's a little under the weather. His name is Alex Vaughn, and he will be our new Chief of Staff and Assistant Superintendent.
John Flinn: Perfect, thank you so much.
SPR Boardroom: Absolutely.
SPR Boardroom: No, I haven't. It's just taking a second to load through the network.
SPR Boardroom: I'm glad.
SPR Boardroom: I already saw a comment from Tricia that hopefully you'll address in the presentation.
SPR Boardroom: She was asking about, can you please be clear about the specific community concerns?
SPR Boardroom: That, led to the changes in boat ramps.
SPR Boardroom: Hours for proposed changes.
Tricia Diamond: Yes, my questions were based on the reading, but I'm sure you will address those. I just wanted to put them out there before, so I don't forget to ask, but I'll be tracking on those. Thanks.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, you're welcome, no problem.
SPR Boardroom: All right, here we go. Alright, thanks.
SPR Boardroom: I love technology, right? You're not.
SPR Boardroom: I don't know this. Yeah.
SPR Boardroom: Okay. We're rolling. Beta.
SPR Boardroom: Thanks, Ben. Yes?
SPR Boardroom: All right, so today's briefing objective, I'm going to actually re-review with the group a superintendent authority around modifying park hours. Some of you will remember that from March, but want to make sure we refresh that.
SPR Boardroom: Daisy and I will walk through a slate of proposed changes, and we'll have a Q&A, and, what we're seeking, or what the superintendent is seeking, is a recommendation.
SPR Boardroom: From this body, about this proposal.
SPR Boardroom: Please.
SPR Boardroom: All right, so here are elements from the Seattle Municipal Code that just really walk through the superintendent authority on rulemaking, the notice and public hearing process that we have.
SPR Boardroom: And, something called Emergency Action that will also be, a part of the presentation today. So just some overarching citywide authorities here that the superintendent has.
SPR Boardroom: Slide.
SPR Boardroom: And this is a similar slide that we presented back in March, where we really wanted to show, essentially, the buckets of park hours options that are available to us as we manage our park hours, and the ones that are highlighted in yellow are the three that we're going to be touching on in today's presentation.
SPR Boardroom: Sorry.
SPR Boardroom: And the presentation will actually be, kind of split up into four parts, and Daisy's going to be walking through the first two, actually the first three, and then I'm going to be walking through
SPR Boardroom: Some new slates of technical changes regarding our operating hours. So this is a bit of a roadmap of the different proposals we're going to be walking you through.
SPR Boardroom: And with that, I'm going to hand this next part over to Daisy. Thanks, Brian. So, just a refresher, when we were back here in March, presented, the original plan, and this slide is just reminding the team why we were modifying the park hours
SPR Boardroom: three ways, three different purposes, and intent. One was to support and manage programs. One example of that is our existing beach buyer program that we offer during the summertime.
SPR Boardroom: Second was response to community feedback. The summer prior, we were running pilot hours already at Alky Building Gardens. Feedback from that is the hours were, working. But also responding back to the continuous concerns we were hearing, which kind of fits to the question that Tricia had.
SPR Boardroom: was really surrounded around the illegal behaviors that were happening on our boat ramps and parking lots once hours were closed, which included amplified music, drinking.
SPR Boardroom: Just, drifting, there was cars drifting in our parking lots, and that also, in turn, at some of our locations, turned into abandoned lists to some of our gates and our chains and that sort.
SPR Boardroom: And then the third was aligning, resources, really maximizing current partnerships, like working closely with the Seattle Police Department. We moved into having a contract with them,
SPR Boardroom: Maximizing our park rangers and their hours and their, presence in our space, and then, diversifying our private security contractors that help us secure updates, walking in and walking.
SPR Boardroom: Along with restrooms.
SPR Boardroom: Yes.
SPR Boardroom: So this is, a display of our current pilot hours based on some locations, that we deemed part of what we learned from last summer.
SPR Boardroom: Atlantic City, 14th Avenue, Stanstairs, Sunnyside. Current pilot hours right now are 4 a.m. to 10.30. Fire hours, as you can see, vary from either 24 hours or from that 4 a.m. to 11.30.
SPR Boardroom: Currently, the pilot is running until February of this upcoming year, but hoping to find a way to solidify this. Other spaces also, Homemade Park, which we also talked about. Currently, pilot hours are still 7 December.
SPR Boardroom: So, I wanted to share some lessons learned. We've done a handful of debriefing now that summer's over. Just a refresher, Summer of Safety really started from Memorial Day, May, and Labor Day.
SPR Boardroom: We've had some time to collect data, and thank you to Brian and his leadership. There was an array of data sets that we were working off. A lot are related to
SPR Boardroom: some QR codes and surveys that we put up at the parks, so we've got some stuff from community. We also just have, like, internal data points in regards to staffing hours on what we spent on overtime in response to work orders and things of that sort. So the first category up here is really just some data that we wanted to share back from the
SPR Boardroom: From what we heard from the community, because of the surveying.
SPR Boardroom: we didn't actually hear anything negative about the hours change, which was great. I think everyone was just learning, and some of them just, probably anticipated the hours would be kind of where they are right now, like Yumonda, Alki, and Golden Gardens.
SPR Boardroom: I think the biggest lesson learned from it is we can always be better with the enforcement piece of it. So, as you know, we had hours that were ending at 10 30, but finding ways to really mitigate that, vandalism that we were still kind of dealing with. There was a handful of hot spots, like Magnuson and Golden Gardens.
SPR Boardroom: That was still having some issues with the boat ramps. We were battling a lot of, vandalisms in the sense of, like, our chains being cut and things of that sort, so we kept responding back by insuring blocks.
SPR Boardroom: Was exploring ways to put bollards into the ground, all the different steps to try to secure the space.
SPR Boardroom: And then, again, just the presence of the park rangers just helped overall. Roughly there was about 5,000 contacts with various park visitors at our sites with the recent hours change. It did help with, like, legal speech flyers, fires, alcohol use, and just,
SPR Boardroom: noise pollution in general. So these are just some just high-level lesson plans that we've heard from the community, but also internally from our staff.
SPR Boardroom: Next slide.
SPR Boardroom: So, this slide talks about establishing permanent hours at our pilot locations. So, again, one of the lessons learned that we learned from last summer was we have boat ramps that were closing at various hours.
SPR Boardroom: What we wanted to do this year was make it consistent that all boat ramps had the same hours of closing and opening, which was the 4 to 10.30 p.m.
SPR Boardroom: And as you can see, it's currently in this time frame to run until February, but hoping to slowify that.
SPR Boardroom: Sorry.
SPR Boardroom: So Homemay and Lake City Mini Plaza are two parks that are unique in its own way. Again, talked about Homemay and…
SPR Boardroom: We recently put some gates installed, we did some, hour change, but we really are focusing on how to create more of a community activation plan for this space.
SPR Boardroom: We're hoping to extend the pilot in this space. I think all the way up to date for just this year, we've done 8 community events, and all of them have been really successful. We're doing that in partnership with other city departments, and hope to offer two more before the end of the year. Actually, I think the next one is Halloween, so it'll be exciting to see how that works out.
SPR Boardroom: Lake City Mini, currently, right now, we are hoping to host a community engagement meeting to get some sense from the community about how they want to activate that space. Currently, there is, hours change, but also, fencing, so we could explore a different way about how to bring that back to the community.
SPR Boardroom: Next slide.
SPR Boardroom: And then, boat ramps. So, as mentioned before, summer safety was from May into September. After Labor Day.
SPR Boardroom: The boat ramps went back to 24-hour access.
SPR Boardroom: What we learned very quickly was, once we opened that up, the Amplified Music came back. That was primarily the concern we were hearing from the community. Amplified Music.
SPR Boardroom: Particularly around 85 boat ramp, and so… and I want to say, it says up here, I think it's September, early September, we did a temporary emergency rule, and we shifted the hours so they matched the actual park itself.
SPR Boardroom: So, for example, Bowling Gardens, the hours there was from 4 to 11.30, but the boat ramp was open 24 hours. And so, with this emergency rule, we aligned the boat ramps to match with the park so that the gates were getting locked again, but being locked at 11.30 when the rest of the area was locked itself.
SPR Boardroom: Excuse me.
SPR Boardroom: Okie Daisy. So we're now entering into, kind of an arena called technical changes here. What we have done so far is we have actually inventoried 125 different sites, and we've looked at what the operating hours should be by policy.
SPR Boardroom: what the rainbow sign says, and what the website says. And so, there's actually two different proposals here for these technical changes. This first set here is actually a set of decisions that were made in 1996.
SPR Boardroom: without a clerk file. For those that don't know, when a superintendent makes a decision or rule change like this, we have to formalize it with a clerk file to make it official.
SPR Boardroom: And I actually found in, actually, some BPRC meeting notes from 2009 that these were, in fact, 1996 decisions. This changed to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m, and that's actually on the sign and on the website, so all of the public-facing information will not change.
SPR Boardroom: The only thing that will change in this proposal is us filing a clerk file contract, just formalizing that those operating hours are in between 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. So, some nice file cleanup with that proposal.
SPR Boardroom: Next slide. I just wanted to confirm all four of these, that the all public-facing information says the 6 to 10? Yes.
SPR Boardroom: Yes.
SPR Boardroom: Well…
SPR Boardroom: Hope to go to the next slide, Apple. Should I see if I can tap? Sure. On a PDF, so maybe. No, I don't see the arrows.
SPR Boardroom: There you go. Yeah, right there.
SPR Boardroom: And so, this other recommendation here, this is another set of inconsistencies that we found from that survey of 125 sites.
SPR Boardroom: Where the sign and the left side, the public-facing information, say 6 a.m. to 10 p.m, but we don't have a formal clerk file changing that, and so because the public-facing information says this, we trust that there was a decision made
SPR Boardroom: A while ago, and we don't have a record of it, and so this is part of that technical changes that we wanted to, recommending to the superintendent to consider.
SPR Boardroom: In addition to these, there is actually… this is a bit of a preview. We are in the process of collecting rainbow sign photos for the rest of our parks.
SPR Boardroom: to do a similar comparison between policy, website, and Rainbow sign, and so you will have another, slate of these technical changes coming to you… coming soon.
SPR Boardroom: From me, so it's been a fun project to work on.
SPR Boardroom: Nice cleanup efforts.
SPR Boardroom: slide.
SPR Boardroom: And so, just some next steps for, the group here. Today, we're obviously having a public hearing, about it, and a possible vote, depending on what you choose to do. If not today, a vote at the November meeting.
SPR Boardroom: And then following your, your recommended vote, the superintendent will issue his final decision.
SPR Boardroom: And we'll take care of the administrative work after that.
SPR Boardroom: Q&A.
SPR Boardroom: the presentation. Just, just, on the order of business, since this is formally a, public hearing.
SPR Boardroom: Do we do… do we have to take public comment?
SPR Boardroom: We do, right? Is that the end of our Q&A discussion, or in the presentation? It is presumably after all the information has been shared, so… Okay.
SPR Boardroom: Let's go to Q&A.
SPR Boardroom: I want to get the commissioners a chance to clarify any questions, and then we did have some public… there won't be some public comment, correct?
SPR Boardroom: person signed up? Let me just double check. There is nobody currently signed up to comment for the public hearing. Okay. So, but there were some comments in the chat. I just want to remind all the commissioners that the chat log does not… We do not see it in the room. Yeah.
SPR Boardroom: So, I want to make sure that I get everybody here. So, from Tricia, I want to read this out loud, for everybody. What specific community concerns, like the emergency rule for the two boat ramps, what data was received, what metrics will be used to determine if the pilot hours at the boat ramps.
SPR Boardroom: To make them permanent.
SPR Boardroom: What are the illegal and nuisance behaviors being addressed? What longer-term solutions will be developed beyond changing outcomes?
SPR Boardroom: And the question above is about the Lake City Mayor Park.
SPR Boardroom: That's a lot of questions.
SPR Boardroom: I'll put that, kind of…
SPR Boardroom: Oh, yeah.
SPR Boardroom: like, specific community concerns… Yeah, you can go ahead and speak, Tricia.
Tricia Diamond: Hi, yes, I just wanted to type the questions in, because there have been other times when, well, there aren't as many people attending by Zoom, and then…
Tricia Diamond: Our questions don't necessarily…
Tricia Diamond: get asked, but, it sounds like you addressed the first question in your presentation, so thank you for that. But I'm still interested in what metrics will be used to know if this is successful, or should be modified, or extended.
Tricia Diamond: As well as you did address the nuisance behaviors, too, so…
Tricia Diamond: And my other question, I typed in the wrong year, regarding the 1996 formalization, what safeguards do we now have in place to make sure
Tricia Diamond: That… that 30-year gap won't happen again.
SPR Boardroom: To the question around the data metrics, I would say off that immediately, some key indicators is gonna be from the community,
SPR Boardroom: hearing just if… whether or not the hours are working. We've got some pretty dedicated community members in both areas that have, well.
SPR Boardroom: keep us in the beat in regards to whether or not, the hours are working. I would say that. One is, staff hours. A lot of this is also depending on whether or not the gates that we have up in the boulders are not getting vandalized.
SPR Boardroom: So if we find that the gates are getting locked, and that's another data entry point, is the private contractor.
SPR Boardroom: Ensuring that they're locking it on time.
SPR Boardroom: To ensure that we're not dealing with anybody illegally going into that space.
SPR Boardroom: Go ahead and greased.
SPR Boardroom: Can you scroll down? I'm sorry I can't see the other questions? Yes, yeah.
Tricia Diamond: No, I thought I was lowering it. Thank you.
SPR Boardroom: Okay, sorry!
SPR Boardroom: And then, I think the next question is for…
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, 30 years ago. Yeah, that's a really good question. So, again, another thing to look forward to is here in the future,
SPR Boardroom: We'll be bringing you an updated policy for park operating hours exceptions, and as a part of that policy, you will likely see a
SPR Boardroom: spreadsheet that we are going to maintain with all of our clerk filings and the superintendent decisions on permanent operating hours changes, and also a procedure on kind of making sure that we are
SPR Boardroom: dotting our I's and crossing our T's and making sure we're getting everything filed. So, good question, and you should see kind of a formal, permanent answer here in, upcoming
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, just to follow up on that, though, when do you expect to be able to be able to present the comprehensive list of
SPR Boardroom: We've completely on it, and we are very confident that we are not going to be doing this again, and we have the documentation and policy in place to ensure that.
SPR Boardroom: It's gonna be soon, probably early next year, depending on the priorities for the DPRC in general.
SPR Boardroom: That's what… that's what my personal…
SPR Boardroom: But part of the… you did survey… you did mention that you survey all of our…
SPR Boardroom: parts, right? We're in the process of getting the rest. We started with 125, we're getting them all done now, so that we can have another slate and kind of finish this technical cleaning.
SPR Boardroom: Other questions for the commissioners?
SPR Boardroom: For these various recommendations, are they all separate proposals, or…
SPR Boardroom: Are we to pick one of the five?
SPR Boardroom: Separate. The comprehensive set of proposals taking a recommendation. Okay. We just categorized them out a little bit because of the intentionality behind the design.
SPR Boardroom: Sure, can't we…
SPR Boardroom: I'm debating this too, because we… we could vote on all of them as a slate together. We could break them apart as well. So that's one thing I am interested in the Commissioner's feedback on, is…
SPR Boardroom: Are there parts of this that we're more comfortable, with, or do we have more questions as we go through, so that's one thing I'm looking for from commissioners.
SPR Boardroom: If there are areas where you do have concerns, or…
SPR Boardroom: If we're not able to get the resolution, I'd like to make sure to understand that.
SPR Boardroom: So, Elise, I think you had your hand up?
Elise Chisholm Clare: Yeah, I just wanted to, check in. I know that, Daisy, we connected back in June about some discrepancies with the Ravenna Park signage, where the website says 6 to 10, and the physical rainbow sign says
Elise Chisholm Clare: something different. Then you have Cowan Park, which is adjacent and has different hours. Wanted all that to be consistent and be the 6 to 10.
Elise Chisholm Clare: Is there a reason that wasn't included in this bundle?
SPR Boardroom: From my pers… from the work that we were doing with the first 125,
SPR Boardroom: what we were doing first was looking at discrepancies between policy and website, which then led to us looking at the rainbow signs. So, the Ravenna and Cowan Park are on the next list for the next set of reviews, so just know that.
Elise Chisholm Clare: Great, thank you.
SPR Boardroom: You're welcome.
SPR Boardroom: Hi, Philip, thanks for joining.
Phillip Meng: Sorry, joined a bit late, folks. Good evening.
SPR Boardroom: Are there any other questions online? I have a few, but I'm holding a little bit later.
Tricia Diamond: I have one more. Was Frawlah… was Frawula Park included in this as well? Because I know there's, on occasion, an unhoused gentleman that pitches his tent there, and sometimes the…
Tricia Diamond: My neighbors will comment to him that, you know, you're not supposed to be here during these time periods, but if that… if there's misalignment with the time period that it should be closed.
Tricia Diamond: or it's not operational, does that weaken their case when they either report it to… I guess sometimes they'll report to fix it, or I know a couple of others have threatened to call, the authorities to have it removed. So,
Tricia Diamond: Yeah, just particularly for that part. I live across the street from that one, so…
SPR Boardroom: Oh, okay. So, is it crawler…
SPR Boardroom: However you pronounce it. Yeah, it was not on the first 125, it is on the next one, and you're touching on a really good point. One of the reasons why we want to do the technical change is so we have consistent signage so that we can do enforcement when
SPR Boardroom: So it isn't… it's going to be a part of the review of that second batch. Whether it needs realignment or not, remains to be seen. We'll have to do that review.
SPR Boardroom: But in either case, it's closed overnight.
SPR Boardroom: Yes.
SPR Boardroom: So no attendants are allowed in every bar.
Tricia Diamond: I know that one can't be locked or closed. Well, you'll see on Friday… I mean, Saturday, when you're there for the.
SPR Boardroom: Oh, the children's play area.
Tricia Diamond: But, occasionally, yeah, he pitches a tent and remains, and I know it's caused a bit of consternation with neighbors, so thank you.
SPR Boardroom: Couple questions. I'll start briefly just for the programs. Thank you for bringing the data point that you received, you know, community complaints about the shortening of hours.
SPR Boardroom: I, and I expect the other commissioners, don't know what possible vote, legitimate, I need to launch my boat overnight.
SPR Boardroom: the reasons are. I'm just concerned that there are, you know, do we know
SPR Boardroom: Who or why is running it even up close to the sort of hours that we have today?
SPR Boardroom: I'm just concerned, are we preventing any legitimate use for people wanting to put… who need to put their watercraft in the…
SPR Boardroom: water… app.
SPR Boardroom: those times. I can't… I personally obviously can't think of any, but, like.
SPR Boardroom: I'm just curious if there are sort of known uses where, hey, yeah, there are people there launching, retrieving.
SPR Boardroom: Late night, and, you know, we're confident that this doesn't run into any risk there.
SPR Boardroom: You know, I'm assuming the 24 hours was with intention originally.
SPR Boardroom: I can say that at any time, even with the hours temporarily in this emergency state closing at 11.30 and closing at 4am, it hasn't been an issue. Even if SPD is reporting to something schools are closed.
SPR Boardroom: They are still seeing people parking on the side, and there's… they're able to access it regardless.
SPR Boardroom: for the intent of the use of the boat ramp. Yeah, for people logging and returning boats, to use the boat ramp as a boat ramp to gain access. And then there are, like, unique spaces, like, for example, at Donner Meini, when we know
SPR Boardroom: Well, the fishermen turn, but when the salmons are released, we will make an exception for that day, and we'll change the hours so that… See, opening season. That's what… that's… I'm not much of a fisherman, but the two… that's the one example I had in mind, was, opening season… I forget what time it opens, but there are people out there.
SPR Boardroom: And then, how does tribal access work?
SPR Boardroom: It isn't an issue, and I do know that the tribal uses predominantly used at Ferguson. We've communicated with them about hours change. I do believe they actually have access to
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, actually, all of… any of our parks that touch on the water or piers and things, the…
SPR Boardroom: they always remain accessible. Yeah, to the… by treaty, like, to the tribe, so, these are for the general public, but there's always access to the water, or…
SPR Boardroom: I will. And then, on recommendation number 3,
SPR Boardroom: Elise and I have both mentioned this before, the inconsistencies in the hours, right, and trying to drive for more
SPR Boardroom: consistent hours. What is the logic with Donner Vini and Eddie Vine closing at 11.30 versus the other rooms closing at 10.30?
SPR Boardroom: So, Don Armini and, Eddie Vine are associated to
SPR Boardroom: So… Oh, so, yeah, dynamite's within the… okay. With the Alky, and then…
SPR Boardroom: Okay, and we want to keep the hours in those parks. We're already… we already have somebody coming to walk. Yeah, sure.
SPR Boardroom: And, of course, like, after we lifted it, after Labor Day, they quickly figured out, like, the park is closed, and I'll just throw the bullcrap. Yeah.
SPR Boardroom: And then the last piece, I was already hinting at this, so I'll just say it clearly,
SPR Boardroom: I'm a little… this may be me. I'm a little…
SPR Boardroom: I appreciate the effort to clean… do the cleanup. Thank you for bringing this. We're delighted to try and address it.
SPR Boardroom: I am a little worried that there's going to be a lot more use cases to be found, and I'm not particularly excited about burning up a lot of agenda time.
SPR Boardroom: repeatedly adjusting, park hours, right? Obviously, there are things that come up when there's actually a really critical need,
SPR Boardroom: But, if we do move forward with it like this, I would encourage us to make one more presentation and not have this be a reoccurring
SPR Boardroom: thing, right? I think Krisha asked a very good question about confidence that we've act.
SPR Boardroom: Thank you for doing the work, right? Things get missed, and when they get cleaned up, we'd love to ensure that it doesn't reoccur and there is a good process.
SPR Boardroom: And blank, so…
SPR Boardroom: This feels like we're part of the way through there. We've got a lot, probably potentially much more coming. I would like this to linger. Was that true? It would wait. Yes, I got that sense from our subcommittee meeting. That's our plan, to bring one more step of changes. Okay.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, I think I'm just disappointed that that's not coming sooner. I think it's probably what's… Behind us.
SPR Boardroom: We'll do our best to get those, and they should be tech… you know, they should be technical. Yeah, yeah. I think it's longer today, I think, as we're talking about the pilot project, and there's some other safety things.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, these are… yeah, these are actually quite different, right? We've got some,
SPR Boardroom: Changes we made, and then reverted, and learned quickly that that's a problem and need to address.
SPR Boardroom: Appreciate that. And then we've got a different type of issue here as well.
SPR Boardroom: Lisa, is your hand up again, or is it?
Elise Chisholm Clare: It is. Just quickly, I wanted to circle back. So, with the next list that's gonna be reviewed,
Elise Chisholm Clare: just following the same process, checking in again with Seattle PD to get their input, taking into account
Elise Chisholm Clare: Vandalism and all those other factors, is that correct?
SPR Boardroom: With the next slide, it's more about the technical, looking at what our policy says, what the rainbow sign says, and what the website says, to make sure that we are consistent in following our policy.
SPR Boardroom: So it's more about cleaning up our systems and making sure our public information is Excuse me.
Elise Chisholm Clare: is it worth, I wonder, getting additional data to understand, should further adjustments be made? Are you having those conversations?
SPR Boardroom: Well, I will say, yes, we're having comprehensive
SPR Boardroom: discussions with our police partners as part… as an outlier to the Summer of Safety Plan. The reason why we focused on specific parks during the summer
SPR Boardroom: and in the summer of safety is because those are the known hot spots. They generate the most calls for service, and they're the most active places during the summer. But, you know, our conversations are ongoing, and when we're
SPR Boardroom: aware of areas, we try to resolve issues first, so if there were a demonstrated need, we don't anticipate that coming right now for another specific location, but we would have to evaluate it when it came up. But these are the ones where
SPR Boardroom: Through collective city effort, we realized that it was a good idea to potentially change the hours here, so…
Elise Chisholm Clare: Thanks.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, I think park hours… there's a viral risk of a parkourish
SPR Boardroom: quite a while, we're chasing after hours. I know…
SPR Boardroom: we're not excited about doing that. So I look forward to
SPR Boardroom: So if somebody… if there are any conclusions and, sort of, overall, broader thoughts on how to best manage
SPR Boardroom: hours going forward.
SPR Boardroom: I think the exception by exception.
SPR Boardroom: This is a long process, this is a slow process.
SPR Boardroom: To work through. So if there's a proposal that the staff wants to bring to the board for recommendation around ways to do this in a more efficient
SPR Boardroom: responsive way. We're open to that as well.
SPR Boardroom: Thank you.
SPR Boardroom: I think we do want you to officially open and close.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, that's what I was wondering.
SPR Boardroom: Say, there's no further public comment.
SPR Boardroom: We'll include security.
SPR Boardroom: I will ask the commissioners, whether they would like to move forward for the vote at this time or not, so…
SPR Boardroom: I'm glad to entertain a motion, or glad to defer, and allow people to study and come back in November.
Steve Lerer: It doesn't seem like there was a lot of
Steve Lerer: concern, I would motion to approve the package.
John Flinn: Yeah, I second that.
SPR Boardroom: All right, we have a motion and a second. Move to a vote.
SPR Boardroom: On the sleep of all five, recommended…
SPR Boardroom: changes, all in favor of adopting a recommendation of the superintendent in support of
SPR Boardroom: These changes, but please raise your hand or say hi.
Kevin Werner: Alright. Painting of…
SPR Boardroom: Any opposed?
SPR Boardroom: Are there any abstentions?
Tricia Diamond: I'll abstain.
SPR Boardroom: Thank you.
SPR Boardroom: I believe I… a majority of the motion carries and, is passed. Recommend the superintendent to adopt the act.
SPR Boardroom: Thank you.
SPR Boardroom: And… oh, wow, we're right on schedule. This is great.
SPR Boardroom: I thought this might run a little bit longer. Good. So, next time on the agenda, welcoming men from the Seattle Corinne, very excited about this. I don't know if there's any introduction? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So…
SPR Boardroom: In our continuous effort to bring you, as the commissioners, spotlights on our partners, our partners are…
SPR Boardroom: What make our system shine, and we have some amazing partners, and then we also have some crown jewels in our park system, and our aquarium is definitely a crown jewel
SPR Boardroom: And so proud, of it. And Meg is also a great partner, and Peggy Sloan is the new,
SPR Boardroom: aquarium,
SPR Boardroom: president and CEO, and she's also, had… we've met with her, and just love the entire team and everything they do. And so, Seattle Aquarium is really just an amazing public, wonderful park asset, and we're just delighted to let you hear and see the great things that they are doing.
SPR Boardroom: Yes, they're wonderful. Well, good evening, and thank you for that amazing introduction. We really value the work that you all do, because it allows us to do what we do, so we thank you so much for that.
SPR Boardroom: So, I'm going to talk to you a little bit about what we've got going on.
SPR Boardroom: this war.
SPR Boardroom: Huh, it does, great!
SPR Boardroom: Before I talk about all the work that we do in this incredible asset, I want to just reframe
SPR Boardroom: us and re-graduate what the aquarium sets out to do. And really, it's around our mission to inspire conservation of our marine environment.
SPR Boardroom: It guides everything we do.
SPR Boardroom: And a little reference for those of you who might not be familiar with the history of the aquarium.
SPR Boardroom: But we are the largest ocean conservation organization in the Pacific Northwest, and we've been operating the Seattle Aquarium as the Seattle Aquarium Society since 2011. And before that, the Seattle Parks and Recreation were excellent stewards of this facility since 1977.
SPR Boardroom: So, for decades, the Seattle Aquarium comprised two buildings, Piers 59 and Pier 60 on the waterfront.
SPR Boardroom: But as of August 2024,
SPR Boardroom: We opened our Ocean Pavilion, which is the latest expansion, which is nestled, we also believe is a crown jewel on the Seattle waterfront.
SPR Boardroom: With our bigger campus, we are going to welcome over 1.2 million people to the aquarium this year.
SPR Boardroom: This is about a 50% increase from the number of visitors we've had in the past.
SPR Boardroom: We're also part of the city's overlook block, so as you can see, the Seattle Aquarium, the building that's kind of at the forefront.
SPR Boardroom: have the opportunity to go from the waterfront, up the Sailor Steps, onto our amazing roof, where we think we have the best view of Puget Sound.
SPR Boardroom: all the way into the market, and the Overlook Walk is that connection.
SPR Boardroom: So when the Overlook Walk opened in October and the waterfront opened just about a month ago.
SPR Boardroom: It's really allowed incredible, unparalleled access to the waterfront.
SPR Boardroom: So we're super excited to be a part of those three projects.
SPR Boardroom: So we're making really good use of this bigger campus, and I'm not sure if all of you have been at the Ocean Pavilion yet. If not, I urge you to come visit us.
SPR Boardroom: Whatever you learn in school, this is my favorite thought, and this is what the Ocean Pavilion is designed around.
SPR Boardroom: I'm sure you were taught that there's four oceans, or seven seas, but it turns out that's totally wrong. So you were misled. There is one ocean. All of our water is interconnected. And so the goal of the ocean pavilion is to connect
SPR Boardroom: Puget Sound, and people who inhabit and take care of these waters, the waters of the Coral Triangle, just literally on the other side of the Earth.
SPR Boardroom: But it's the same water.
SPR Boardroom: We will use both digital technology, as you can see here, to create an immersive experience.
SPR Boardroom: But we also want to connect, people directly to the app.
SPR Boardroom: other stories.
SPR Boardroom: connections and those stories is the key ingredient to our success. So we're fortunate to have an amazing team of visitor engagement staff and over 1,000 local volunteers.
SPR Boardroom: Who helped us tell that story of the one ocean.
SPR Boardroom: So here you see a member of our team, Abby, in our discovery space, which is on the second floor of the Ocean Pavilion, and that's a great opportunity for people to have hands-on connection with what they're experiencing in the larger aquarium. And we're really excited about this space because it's flexible, and we can use it for a variety of reasons.
SPR Boardroom: So while that one-on-one connection's really important, I mean, the real stars of the show are the magnificent animals that are in the ocean.
SPR Boardroom: That we get to display here, and I don't know if anybody's ever seen this animal before, but it's a Beaumont guitarfish. Technically, it's a ring.
SPR Boardroom: But I think it looks like a cross between a shark, a ray, a space alien, and a dinosaur, all in one. And she is massive. Her name's Raina. She weighs over 300 pounds, and she's more than 6 feet long, and she's gonna get to be up to 90.
SPR Boardroom: But she's incredible. And Ryan actually came to us through our conservation efforts. So, as I said, we're the largest conservation organization in the Pacific Northwest.
SPR Boardroom: And I'll talk a little bit in a minute about the local species that we're working to regenerate, but we're also part of a global consortium to help resharp the ocean.
SPR Boardroom: And Raina's mom was actually caught in a legal fishing operation.
SPR Boardroom: And she delivered pups, and those pups needed homes, and so the Seattle Aquarium was delighted.
SPR Boardroom: To be a home for those pups. So we've been raising Raina since she was born.
SPR Boardroom: And we were able to send her siblings to other aquariums.
SPR Boardroom: That's part of larger conservation efforts.
SPR Boardroom: So, Ryan is delightful, and she does delight the millions of people who come through our doors, but she's not alone.
SPR Boardroom: What you see here in the Ocean Pavilion include an Indo-Pacific leopard chart.
SPR Boardroom: This is CUDA, our first one, but now we have 3.
SPR Boardroom: So we hope you'll come and meet Oatmeal and Laszlo. We also have… I already named the other one? We already named. We still want to name the name.
SPR Boardroom: I'm a man.
SPR Boardroom: Help us get an otter. We'll name it after you, I think. Maybe the otter works on so many levels. But we also have a leopard, tail ray, a black reef-tipped reef shark, and then an eagle ray. And if you've been to the aquarium, you'll know that these animals are total show-ups.
SPR Boardroom: And they want to get up close to you.
SPR Boardroom: As much as you want to get up close to them.
SPR Boardroom: The aquarium, though, is not just a place for us to connect you to the marine environment, but really is a place of cultural connection.
SPR Boardroom: We have worked really hard to make this a place for everyone, and that human connection to the ocean is really what inspires that empathy and inspires conservation.
SPR Boardroom: So we have been working really hard to open our doors to as many communities as Seattle serves.
SPR Boardroom: And partner with nonprofit organizations throughout the region to do.
SPR Boardroom: programming. We also have a really robust connections program, where we welcome in nonprofits.
SPR Boardroom: Across… basically across King Pierce and Snoh County to come join us and co-create Learning, with us.
SPR Boardroom: Right now, we are in…
SPR Boardroom: Hispanic Heritage Month. We have… we're calling it Palma Salvocario, and during this month-long celebration, you can come and you can see and hear presentations in Spanish. And that has gone over really well, and that's something we hope to continue as part of our regular offerings.
SPR Boardroom: We also welcome a lot of school kids each year to come to the, the larger aquarium. What we have learned about the location of the aquarium is it can be really challenging
SPR Boardroom: Yep, fair.
SPR Boardroom: And so one of the things that the aquarium has done, which we're really proud of, is we have offered scholarships.
SPR Boardroom: to Title I schools, and we also include compensation for the buses. And that has made all the difference in the world. And so that's another area that we want to grow over the next few years.
SPR Boardroom: So we hope to catch them when they're young, and inspire them to keep working with us, and we have a very robust youth ocean advocacy program where kids in the middle school to high school range can come learn and build skills.
SPR Boardroom: around marine science and marine science conservation. Our Youth Ocean Advocacy Program supported 185 youth ocean advocates.
SPR Boardroom: They do everything from interpreting on our core to creating new policies, and in fact, our Youth Ocean Advocacy Program is the reason why Washington State has a marine forest
SPR Boardroom: And that is our bullpen.
SPR Boardroom: They got that into law, so we're quite proud of them.
SPR Boardroom: Also, in the vein of being inclusive and inspiring people, one of the really cool designs about the Ocean Pavilion is that if you were to come and stand at our front course and look up, you would have a 17-foot wide view to the bottom of the reef habitat.
SPR Boardroom: So at any given moment, you could be standing there.
SPR Boardroom: And you see animals passing by, and quite often you'll also see divers waving back to you, which is really fun.
SPR Boardroom: But it's one of the ways that we're trying to make sure that the aquarium's available to everyone. So not just from the Oculus view, but when you walk up the Sailor Steps, you have an inside view into the aquarium as well.
SPR Boardroom: Another way that we really wanted to honor the community that we're serving here in Seattle is actually through the art. And the aquarium did something that I think is really cool. So, as they were fundraising and seeking public dollars to help build the Ocean Pavilion, a certain amount of that money has to go to the arts.
SPR Boardroom: And the Seattle Aquarium really wanted to honor place, wanted to honor the original stewards of the waters.
SPR Boardroom: That we enjoy and rely on for, like.
SPR Boardroom: And so they hired Indigenous consultants to lead
SPR Boardroom: that work, and actually, when the Indigenous consultants said they would take on the role, they said that they wanted complete oversight, complete control of the process.
SPR Boardroom: And the aquarium, to its credit, I was not there at the time, said yes.
SPR Boardroom: And the result is way better than anything you could have imagined.
SPR Boardroom: Part of what you're seeing here is there's a, in the entryway, which is a public space so anybody can come and see this, there's a really incredible bronze piece by, a Lumi artist named Dan Kreig.
SPR Boardroom: And it's the story of Grandmother Rock. And you can see Grandmother Rock and her little crabs that she's protecting during a storm. And you can also hear an audio story of Dan Friday's grandfather telling this money story.
SPR Boardroom: So it's a really cool opportunity to engage and be immersed without even having to walk through the doors.
SPR Boardroom: If you also go to the Ocean Pavilion, you can kind of see around the oculus. There's actually an artwork that's underneath the facade of the building, and it's meant to replicate a spindle world.
SPR Boardroom: Which is a tool that's used by weavers, and when Dan Friday saw that, it made him think of his grandmother, and so you will just see this very beautiful.
SPR Boardroom: Sculpture hanging right over your head, and then when you walk in the front doors, you'll also see this incredible stream of glass salmon.
SPR Boardroom: Also created by Dan Prey.
SPR Boardroom: So if you haven't been to see it, I encourage you to have.
SPR Boardroom: So I mentioned that the roof is open to the public. It is literally the best view.
SPR Boardroom: the waterfront.
SPR Boardroom: Up there, we also continue the beautiful Indigenous artwork that sandblasted into the actual floor of the Ocean Pavilion, and you'll see that the native plantings that extend over the overlooked Lock
SPR Boardroom: the native species, are prevalent here as well. What I really love, and I know you probably know this, but I just love to say it, is the thoughtfulness that went into the plantings between the overlook walk and the aquarium roof.
SPR Boardroom: It's really cool, because it goes from the mountains to the sound, and so when you get to our roof, what you're seeing is a lot of native species that are
SPR Boardroom: found along the strategic sound.
SPR Boardroom: So this was our first summer with the roof open, the first summer with the overlooked Walk, and while not totally open, as far as the red opening went.
SPR Boardroom: our first summer with the waterfront park being open. So we were able to bring the aquarium again outside to the people we serve, and we had presentations on our roof, we had presentations on pairs 58 and 62.
SPR Boardroom: So that ended up being a huge hit.
SPR Boardroom: It was so popular, in fact, that we were able to take this show on the road and go to the pocket beaches that are over near the ferry terminal, and then also over near the sculpture Park.
SPR Boardroom: I think we engaged over 10,000 people.
SPR Boardroom: Individually, in conversation through this process.
SPR Boardroom: And so this is just a really cool picture near Merle Edwards Park, in that pocket beach, where we were discovering all the little creatures that, at first glance, you wouldn't notice, until a beach naturalist tells you what you're seeing, and you realize there's this whole magical world happening right under your feet.
SPR Boardroom: So while we are deeply committed to the conservation of the marine environment, and we use the aquarium as a way to communicate that message, we're also using this as an opportunity to engage in some regenerative conservation projects.
SPR Boardroom: So some of those in our local waters include monitoring sea otters and rockfish. We are out planting pinto abalone, which is a large shellfish in Puget Sound, which is one of those keystone species that help indicate the health of our local waters. But we also have partners
SPR Boardroom: across the ocean, in the Coral Triangle, we're doing a lot of work around breeding Indo-Pacific sharks, which Laszlo, O'Neal, and Cuta are one of them, as well as the Beaumont shark.
SPR Boardroom: You may also not know this, but we have a…
SPR Boardroom: facility in a different part of Seattle. That's critical to our expansion work and our ability to do
SPR Boardroom: conservation work, it's called the Animal Health Center. And it was really important, because before we opened our building, we needed someplace to… to…
SPR Boardroom: Home all these animals that we were about to put on display.
SPR Boardroom: Now that that work is done, we are transitioning this facility into a behind-the-scenes place for animals who might need a little extra time off exhibit, and also for a place for us to do our great conservation work.
SPR Boardroom: This is actually… it might be the coolest part of the party.
SPR Boardroom: So what's ahead for us in the next couple months that we're thinking about, and where we would love partnership with you, is we are thinking about feedback. And what does that mean along the waterfront? What does that mean for us, and how can we be prepared
SPR Boardroom: To make sure that we're able to provide a really amazing experience for the people we serve, leverage the opportunity, and minimize any of the challenges. We have our mind on that.
SPR Boardroom: about that very carefully. We're working closely with our partners on the waterfront.
SPR Boardroom: But it is something that's really on our mind. It's both an opportunity and a challenge.
SPR Boardroom: And we're also thinking about our 50th anniversary. So here's a picture of Mayor Ullman in 1977, and we're thinking ahead to 2027, which seems really far away, but really it's about 18 months until our 50th anniversary.
SPR Boardroom: And thinking about the last 50 years and everything we've been able to accomplish with our partnership with Parks, we are super excited about the next 50 years. So we're spending a lot of time thinking about what's next.
SPR Boardroom: I love the retro graphic. Yes, and actually, we'll send you a copy of it, it's so cool, and I'm sorry, I clicked on it.
SPR Boardroom: But the outfits are great.
SPR Boardroom: saw the starfish back. Yeah, and yeah, so the people, the costumes, and we have more pictures, which I will share with you.
SPR Boardroom: But it's super cool because the city said, this is worthy of our investment, this is worthy of our time, our waters are important, and so the city made a really big investment 50 years ago and continues to make a great investment in us today.
SPR Boardroom: So, our work is not done expanding.
SPR Boardroom: So if you have been to the apartment lately… No, it's okay. I don't mean it. You will know that Pierce 59 is 6 years for Pierce. Pier 60 has not been renovated, ever.
SPR Boardroom: Except for maybe some small pieces. So, part of the master plan that had been previously approved is to now move towards futures 59 and 60.
SPR Boardroom: So we'll really be thinking about what it is that we want from the Seattle Aquarium, what is it that the community needs from us, and then we'll be working to refine the master plan, and then we'll be starting to think about how do we bring those changes to life in person.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, so that… that is where we are and what we're doing. The future is great for us. We're excited for the next 50 years. We start strategic planning to think about how we move the needle in getting ourselves closer to the, campus that we imagine, and we welcome you to come down and see what it's about.
SPR Boardroom: Do you have any questions for me?
SPR Boardroom: Okay, this is… Beautiful. Mr. Agro Phillips.
Phillip Meng: Oh, sorry, was that a… was that a question for me?
SPR Boardroom: No, I just… I'm endorsing your comment. It was absolutely.
Phillip Meng: Oh, yes, it's a beautiful presentation, right?
Phillip Meng: And, and, thank you, thank you for all of, all of the pictures. I will say, next time you have a, and next time you have any, animals to name, I think, I think there's a whole board, I think there's a whole board here that… that would love to, that would… would love to take part.
SPR Boardroom: There's always something new at the Seattle Aquarium, so I will try to have… They're really cute cuttlefish.
Phillip Meng: Not sure I can top oatmeal as a name, though. That's a… that's a pretty… that's a pretty inspiring.
John Flinn: Very good.
SPR Boardroom: Commissioners, in all serious, and I know Meg has just offered this, but if you… if you do would love to come down and take a tour and see what we're doing, please reach out to Paula or Ben, and then we'll… we'll connect and make sure that…
SPR Boardroom: You are welcomed and can see that.
SPR Boardroom: We'll bump for you in a few minutes.
SPR Boardroom: Again, thank you, thank you for your support. One comment. John, did you… We're…
John Flinn: Oh, I would… no, I was just gonna note, I think it might have been before your time, Meg, but last year, the existing commissioners did come to the new building for a tour, and then had an annual planning meeting nearby. So, probably half of us have been in the building and gotten a nice walkthrough.
John Flinn: But we do have a lot of new commissioners, so I do encourage the new commissioners to make the effort to get down there. It's really worth the visit.
John Flinn: Thanks for the presentation.
SPR Boardroom: I hope you come back, because when you were there last year, which was before my time, the animals were smaller, we kind of filled in yet, there's so many more animals, and so when you go in there now, it's like, whoa, and it's pretty overwhelming and magnificent, and we were able to host some,
SPR Boardroom: partners from Parks about a week ago, including Christopher Williams. Wasn't on Christopher Williams' day, but we got to watch
SPR Boardroom: They are being fed, and it is unbelievable.
SPR Boardroom: And so, we feed them multiple times a day, 9.30 and 2.30, and we're open, so I hope you'll come see that.
Phillip Meng: Great, thank you. One thing that I… oh, sorry.
SPR Boardroom: Good.
Phillip Meng: One piece that I didn't completely catch, but did I hear correctly that the plan is to keep both Pier 59 and Pier 60 for the foreseeable future?
SPR Boardroom: Oh, yes.
SPR Boardroom: Hope so. Okay.
SPR Boardroom: Pardon as a park property.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, they're… they are parked property. We absolutely do want to keep them, but they… it's time for a refresh.
SPR Boardroom: And so that's sort of the next horizon, is what does that look like?
SPR Boardroom: And we have some, ideas that were part of a master plan that had been approved in 2015, but it is time to take a look at it again and make sure it meets our needs as to where we're going, and so we look forward to bringing you all into that conversation.
SPR Boardroom: Really helping guide us as to what's next.
Phillip Meng: Fantastic.
SPR Boardroom: Alright, thank you. Thank you, thank you.
SPR Boardroom: Definitely the showiest, present partner spot we've had so far. Beautiful graphics.
SPR Boardroom: Just for clarification, when I say park property, I'm thinking of an aquarium and a park, as the same, so it wasn't a…
SPR Boardroom: Saying, no, there, no, we… We very much both want to see a Viper.
SPR Boardroom: And I'm really excited about our next agenda. Actually, I asked. And I know, and I was hoping John's asking about this as well. I mean, I told Michelle's gonna come. Michelle's gonna come and talk about this, so…
SPR Boardroom: Thank you for waiting.
SPR Boardroom: Hope Adam won't you go laugh again.
SPR Boardroom: No, I know I'm gonna follow Meg. Yeah, but very much looking forward, and thank you, Michelle, for providing an overview on the 2026, budget proposal.
SPR Boardroom: not gonna make this whole stupid, we're just gonna not fight the tech this.
SPR Boardroom: Well, good morning. Good morning! We've been here since… since the pancake breakfast at, 8 o'clock, so…
SPR Boardroom: my glasses, so I can read something,
SPR Boardroom: Thanks for having me. I know you guys have been chomping in a bit to get some questions on the budget, answered, and I'm happy to do that tonight.
SPR Boardroom: I'm…
SPR Boardroom: going to present the budget in the same format that we did to the City Council, so it's basically how they want to see each department. It's not necessarily how
SPR Boardroom: We would have put it all together for you, but A for consistency, and B, because we're in the midst of answering all the council questions right now, you get the same
SPR Boardroom: You get the same format, and, if you want to see a better presentation of it, you can watch AP walk through this a couple weeks ago at the council meeting. I'm going to do a slightly abridged,
SPR Boardroom: version and get to the questions. But, before I jump in, I just want to give an overview of how we
SPR Boardroom: tend to…
SPR Boardroom: prepare and consider our budget, and that is that we really want to look at it centered in our mission, and how to retain as much service delivery and, staff capacity to perform those duties as possible, and so
SPR Boardroom: I think we achieved that in this…
SPR Boardroom: proposed budget. As a result, we primarily recommended options for general fund savings through one-time efficiencies that we
SPR Boardroom: identified, and we were happy that the mayor supported that approach, for us.
SPR Boardroom: It does minimize,
SPR Boardroom: both impacts the community, and it also minimizes any impact to our ability to meet our, kind of, MPD Cycle 2 commitments.
SPR Boardroom: So… Sweet.
SPR Boardroom: speak for AB, but I think we think this is a good news story of a budget. We'll also walk through some additional investments that are being made.
SPR Boardroom: They're there, and this goes on here.
SPR Boardroom: Next slide.
SPR Boardroom: So this is a very high-level overview, again, using kind of how the Council likes to look at all the different departments.
SPR Boardroom: budget, and so…
SPR Boardroom: It's really looking at general fund and other funds. Obviously, we have two main other funds, one being the Park District, and the other being our park and recreation fund.
SPR Boardroom: Which is primarily the fund where earned revenues or grants flow through, and then the Park District, as you all know, is a…
SPR Boardroom: that special taxing authority. So, our proposed budget increases about $15 million over, 2020.
SPR Boardroom: 5's adopted budget, primarily related to increased costs from staff costs and certain inflationary
SPR Boardroom: cost, and then we also, I'll walk through in a bit, some additional investments and, like, graffiti and stuff that adds up to that.
SPR Boardroom: amount. And I'll walk through the general fund savings
SPR Boardroom: Or on the next slide, but basically, the reductions you're seeing here between
SPR Boardroom: but between the endorsed and the… and the proposed, one of the…
SPR Boardroom: Biggest changes that we'll walk through is,
SPR Boardroom: We're pushing out, bond financing for our major community center projects to align with our schedule, so we don't need to issue bonds until we're ready to construct, and we don't need those bonds in
SPR Boardroom: 2026. We're gonna need them very early in 2027, so we're a little nervous about that timing, but
SPR Boardroom: We did… we did pull that out here, so you could just see that a major part of the reduction, really.
SPR Boardroom: is this bond finance, Change, and that actually helped us.
SPR Boardroom: meet some of these one-time efficiencies for…
SPR Boardroom: For the general sub-product savings. The other… without,
SPR Boardroom: The other thing I want to point out here, and this is, I think, to John, one of your questions, in advance of this meeting, is
SPR Boardroom: This budget does continue $128 million of general fund savings, and that's, about…
SPR Boardroom: I can give you an exact…
SPR Boardroom: What we call, those of you that haven't been
SPR Boardroom: properly christened into the park district interlocal agreement. We talk about this thing called the general fund floor, and so the, the agreement between the park district and the city is that we'll maintain a certain amount of general fund, and it inflates every year based on
SPR Boardroom: KPI, the general fund floor for 2026 is $126, million.7, so we're a little more than a million.
SPR Boardroom: Over that commitment. In this proposed… budgets, council can…
SPR Boardroom: go below that if they declare an emergency circumstance.
SPR Boardroom: where we are in this. Oh, take a look, it's right there, on the slide. Katie Williams. Oh, I'm thinking.
SPR Boardroom: Next slide.
SPR Boardroom: Okay, so this slide… dives a little bit deeper into this, what I was talking about, the one-time efficiencies.
SPR Boardroom: So… Since…
SPR Boardroom: Chunk 1, I will call it, the $4 million, basically, we're not issuing the bonds for these construction projects.
SPR Boardroom: And, kind of like, if you…
SPR Boardroom: do a mortgage, you're very… even though you get your mortgage, you immediately start paying interest on it.
SPR Boardroom: So we're not paying interest because we're not issuing the bonds next year, and of course, over the slate of those multiple community center projects, it saves about… well, not honestly, it saves about $6.7 million, but we're keeping
SPR Boardroom: 2.7 million of that in… as cash to move to Green Lake to continue
SPR Boardroom: moving that project forward. Otherwise, it would have caused a delay there, and so we're… we're using $4 million of it to offset general fund. Brian's face is squishing up, so I'm assuming there's many other people that I can't stand there. From a budgetary standpoint, you're, avoiding
SPR Boardroom: $6.7 million in debt payments, both, interest and, principal, correct?
SPR Boardroom: Then where you lost me was…
SPR Boardroom: How you can generate a cash benefit of 2.7 out of that avoidance.
SPR Boardroom: So I'm… so what I would have been paying on my mortgage… Yep. I'm taking $2.7 million of it.
SPR Boardroom: And putting it into the Green Lake project to continue doing planning and design. And that's all within the same park district funding channel? Okay. Yep, so it takes it out of the line called debt service, and moves it up towards the project called Green Lake.
SPR Boardroom: So…
SPR Boardroom: And the key point there is, I just want to say, what we're doing here does not delay any projects, and in fact, we did have to do this one technical change to keep Green Lake going on course.
SPR Boardroom: And we're still set to issue on Zoom.
SPR Boardroom: Move into construction phase in 2027 for almost all, not all of the projects, almost all the projects.
SPR Boardroom: And then on top of that.
SPR Boardroom: So that's chunk one. Chunk two, the $3.5 million, is just an accumulated underspend, primarily from 2020.
SPR Boardroom: It's the wrong year, and I'm in budget. Primarily from 2024,
SPR Boardroom: Because we implemented a hiring freeze, and that accumulated some savings within our district.
SPR Boardroom: So, with that, we have…
SPR Boardroom: We reduce our general fund for next year as a one-time reduction.
SPR Boardroom: what we call swap in the park district funds for that, and I'm going to point out that we did that in our grounds maintenance line of business, because a future slide looks a little shocking if you don't know that's going to happen. So, I think when we start talking about grounds maintenance, then it…
SPR Boardroom: The overall funding is the same, we just… Changed it from Cheryl Center.
SPR Boardroom: And I can't see hands, so I just… I'll pause to make sure that if Ryan was the only one in the space… I have chat open right now, so I didn't see any.
John Flinn: I have one… sorry, I didn't raise my hand, I just unmuted, and it looks like Philip has one, too. So, just to clarify, so that, the language that had raised, kind of, concerns for me, or just questions, was in the press, or I guess the email that went out to the public on late September from Parks and Rec.
John Flinn: And it uses that language that the mayor's proposed budget included a one-time realignment of park district resources, resulting in general fund savings in 26 of $7.5 million to preserve critical city services.
John Flinn: I understand it much better now, but the original language, to me, like, what it sounded like was we were picking up money out of the park district.
John Flinn: and just sort of moving it to the city's general fund, which seemed very suspicious, so that's what raised my flag. But I think I can say now confidently that it's not… you're sort of forgiving
John Flinn: the requirement of the city to contribute more out of the general fund, because you have found these savings that you don't feel are impactful. Is that another way to think about it?
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, so the city… Was facing a general fund shortfall for next year.
SPR Boardroom: And… Us coming up with this one-time Efficiency.
John Flinn: That isn't cutting programs, or…
SPR Boardroom: allows… us to not have to cut other services, so… As an example, if… if…
SPR Boardroom: if we were ready, I'm just saying, if we were ready to issue bonds on all these things.
SPR Boardroom: Right. Like, then we would have had to come up with $4 million of…
SPR Boardroom: other proposals for the mayor to consider.
SPR Boardroom: reducing our general fund. And so, this…
SPR Boardroom: Realignments allowed the city to still have less pull on the general fund next year without,
SPR Boardroom: Without an impact of service, so…
John Flinn: Thanks so much for clarifying that.
John Flinn: Phillip?
SPR Boardroom: Oh, Phil.
Phillip Meng: And to confirm here, what it means is that the only potential cost that you're booking from this move is maybe additional interest expense from pushing back debt service on cycle 2 by 1 year, is that right?
Phillip Meng: Interest and principal. Yeah, interest and… right, on principle. And then help me understand the… what we're doing with the general obligation bonds. The idea there is, like, so the general obligation bond would be used for capital projects. The capital projects don't need funding yet, and so we can push that back by a year, is that right?
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, it makes my head explode sometimes, too, but basically, in our budget, we have two… when you issue bonds, you have two things.
SPR Boardroom: I'll stick with green light just because…
SPR Boardroom: And I'm gonna round, but say we need $70 million of cash to build GreenLink.
SPR Boardroom: Our budget shows the $70 million of Long-term bonds being issued.
SPR Boardroom: In order to pay the people that are building Great Lakes, right?
SPR Boardroom: And then there's another line that shows, and we'll pay it back in debt service over, you know, so it's back to your mortgage. The mortgage company gives you the… this example, the $70 million, and then you're paying it back. So, you both have to… because we did this, I both had to show the
SPR Boardroom: In totality, $150 million.
SPR Boardroom: I bet.
SPR Boardroom: on that bond financing move out, and to your point, Philip, my 20-year bonds now go to… from 2027 to 2047, and so…
SPR Boardroom: 2026, 2040.
Phillip Meng: So the incremental is just some impact on interest rates, but yeah.
SPR Boardroom: And which could be…
SPR Boardroom: Because maybe rates will go down a little bit by then, too, right? And what you retained, is that avoided bond costs?
SPR Boardroom: would that have been capitalized in finance, or was that always going to have to be cash? I think that was the underlying part of my question.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah. Yeah. No, I've saved…
SPR Boardroom: Ice… So… it almost looks like Greenlink would cost about $2.7 more, because you would…
SPR Boardroom: Oh, you see? I still push the whole $70 million out a year, but I need to pull it back.
SPR Boardroom: Okay.
SPR Boardroom: These are the… those 7.30 conversations. Yeah, yeah. And those faces are the right ones. No, to be on our budget team, because a lot of times people on our budget team are like, how are we champions, right? And the one time, when that balance was unspent, was that all due to our increase?
SPR Boardroom: Or, like, almost all due to hiring freeze.
SPR Boardroom: Primarily.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, because the unkind way to write this story, if you look at it from a park money perspective, is the city has budget shortage, city says can't hire.
SPR Boardroom: Right.
SPR Boardroom: And then uses money from not hiring to, help offset
SPR Boardroom: general fund shortage. Which is kind of the point in Iraq. Yeah.
SPR Boardroom: It's just delayed and pulled through later.
SPR Boardroom: There's a little bit of, like, the estimating for our retroactive pay, but… Okay.
SPR Boardroom: Tricia had a question as well.
Tricia Diamond: Yeah, and they're probably more general than
Tricia Diamond: The ones that were just posed, but, just in reading before,
Tricia Diamond: Does the budget address the maintenance backlog that's mentioned in some of the correspondence that we had, like the deteriorating artwork at the playgrounds, and how much of it is allocated for safety concerns at parks like Denny Blaine?
SPR Boardroom: Let's put a pin in that. I'll talk about what emergent things.
Tricia Diamond: Okay.
SPR Boardroom: In a couple of slides. So…
Tricia Diamond: Oh, well then, since there's a PIN, can you also put a pin in? Will any budget constraints impact community programming, like described in the summer report?
SPR Boardroom: Good question. Described in the witch report?
Tricia Diamond: about summer. I guess it's more about the…
Tricia Diamond: I don't want to say delays in, like, the timing in terms of summer programming, going out.
SPR Boardroom: You mean from, like, your presentation from last?
Tricia Diamond: Yes.
SPR Boardroom: Okay.
Tricia Diamond: Yes.
SPR Boardroom: Yes. Let me… can you go back to the summary slide?
SPR Boardroom: So… One of the things…
SPR Boardroom: just to note about the City of Seattle and how we budget is we do what's called an incremental budget, so we really only talk about the changes
SPR Boardroom: But the base budget…
SPR Boardroom: So, anything I'm saying is just about the change. The rent is all the same base budget, so if you think about…
SPR Boardroom: I'll just pick on the Teen Life Centers. Unless I say something in this meeting that says we did something to Team Life Centers, the base budget for the Teen Life Center is the base
SPR Boardroom: staffing model for the teen life centers, that all stays the same.
SPR Boardroom: So…
SPR Boardroom: I would say, Tricia, that generally, for better or for worse, except for what I described today, like, everything kind of stays the same, so if…
SPR Boardroom: people really wanted more swim lessons at a pool, and I don't say we have more revenues to serve, you know…
SPR Boardroom: we're not going to have more swim lessons at schools. It'll be kind of… so what you heard this year, outside of
SPR Boardroom: Oh, you heard from, Aphrodite last month, outside of, like.
SPR Boardroom: I'm sure she said, like, we're gonna do this better next year, or we're gonna, you know, like, that's all within the base budget, so…
SPR Boardroom: Still doing stuff better, but,
SPR Boardroom: This is… generally speaking, this is a more… we were able to retain services.
SPR Boardroom: Type of budget, because…
SPR Boardroom: There was a citywide shortfall of general funds, so we're not… you'll see a few things that we've got that's added in general fund, but…
SPR Boardroom: But not much.
SPR Boardroom: Let me go through that, and then you pass.
SPR Boardroom: Exact same questions.
SPR Boardroom: again.
SPR Boardroom: that, so… Excellent.
SPR Boardroom: Yes, Jay.
SPR Boardroom: Okay, so one of the other ways that the mayor
SPR Boardroom: supported, Parks and Recreation Services in this budget is by, considering our programming
SPR Boardroom: As the city was developing the families and education
SPR Boardroom: flooding, which I don't call that anymore. This is one that's going to Butters. Next month, yeah.
SPR Boardroom: The theft levy, which I never tell myself. Families, education, preschool, and promise levy. So, as that is going to the voters, there's a few things that are being proposed,
SPR Boardroom: that have…
SPR Boardroom: and assumed to be paid for, mostly a general fund, and I'll explain a couple that's not true about. And…
SPR Boardroom: Parks and Rec, and so…
SPR Boardroom: If it's a positive vote, we still have some steps with Department of Education Early Learning about participating in their
SPR Boardroom: more formal plan development that'll go back to Council, but the intent
SPR Boardroom: Is that, our environmental programming
SPR Boardroom: About 50% of it will shift onto the, levy revenues, so…
SPR Boardroom: Some of you that were here in these chairs last year, and I was standing here, I would have told you. The 2026 endorsed budget, unfortunately, we have a 50% reduction to our environmental learning
SPR Boardroom: Program proposed, because there was not sufficient general fund.
SPR Boardroom: The nice way of doing that a year early is that
SPR Boardroom: Decision makers can look at other ways to potentially fund that, and the mayor's office supported,
SPR Boardroom: Originally, there was about a $400,000 investment of youth programs related to
SPR Boardroom: environmental learning out, either in the parks or in the schools that the mayor proposed, and then the council
SPR Boardroom: Made a whole.
SPR Boardroom: So, the Fed levy right now assumes,
SPR Boardroom: And you can kind of see that.
SPR Boardroom: And these columns, so the 2025 adopted, had…
SPR Boardroom: slashed by 50%. Right, that flashed for the second, the endorsed budget, and then it kind of bounced.
SPR Boardroom: because you have to look at both the general fund line and the other line, which in this case would be the FEP levy, would be the other line, but you can see the FTE bounces back.
SPR Boardroom: There.
SPR Boardroom: And so that'll be another revenue source in parks budget.
SPR Boardroom: And is specifically dedicated to People? Capital of this program?
SPR Boardroom: It's, it's operating, so it's, it's, it's, well…
SPR Boardroom: like I said, we'll still have to work with DEAL on their actual… they do a general plan, and then they do a very specific plan that goes back to Council, but…
SPR Boardroom: So, I can say.
SPR Boardroom: What this cut… how about that? I can say what this cut, and what was kind of assumed to be added back, is the people, so it's about 9 positions, and some operating costs, both for programming and for Discovery Park Visitor Center.
SPR Boardroom: So that,
SPR Boardroom: That is the assumption. Is this overly simplistic to say, but we've heard a lot about environmental learning programs, and what the plan is for environmental learning programs, and how… is this…
SPR Boardroom: the plan on how they would be funded. Yeah. Back to the level that they were at before they were… okay.
SPR Boardroom: Good.
SPR Boardroom: I was just trying to be heard. Yeah. Simple form, we've heard a lot about this in previous meetings, so… but it's dependent on the letting pass.
SPR Boardroom: Yes.
SPR Boardroom: The other… things, and the theft levy, is in the…
SPR Boardroom: beginning 2025, the mayor had put some additional investments at Redborn Ranch, aligned with our youth… citywide youth mental health strategy.
SPR Boardroom: And that was proposed to be funded by payroll expense tax.
SPR Boardroom: AET.
SPR Boardroom: Instead of having it be funded by payroll expense tax beginning next year, the proposal is to move it over to the levy, since it aligns with the,
SPR Boardroom: Mission of that levy.
SPR Boardroom: And then,
SPR Boardroom: For years and years and years and years and years, we have run what we call community learning centers at certain schools.
SPR Boardroom: And most of that has been already funded by the theft levy or its predecessors, but we have had some general fund
SPR Boardroom: That also supported it, and in this process, it takes that remaining general fund
SPR Boardroom: Out of parks and puts it on the levee.
SPR Boardroom: So, rather than that… that line of business being multi-funded, it could be all set levy funded.
SPR Boardroom: for those… Changes are also proposed in the mayor's budgets.
SPR Boardroom: And then… next slide… A little bit to Trisha's question, so… In 2025, we had…
SPR Boardroom: to reduce things, right? Like, I didn't want to, we…
SPR Boardroom: general fund issues. One of the things that we reduced, was park maintenance,
SPR Boardroom: And the mayor's office this year said, I really want you to give us an alternative.
SPR Boardroom: To be able to restore, or generally restore.
SPR Boardroom: That part maintenance reduction, but please focus the,
SPR Boardroom: ad this year, on restroom maintenance. As you guys know, we had that restroom audit, and we've been trying to, you know, we all know that
SPR Boardroom: Everybody loves a bathroom when they're in a park, so we want to provide that service well, and so we have proposed,
SPR Boardroom: reinstating… About $515,000 of that reduction,
SPR Boardroom: 4 part-time positions that would work kind of that broad peak season, 8 months of the year, to increase restroom cleanings on a daily basis.
SPR Boardroom: And then a new position to kind of work on this more general
SPR Boardroom: Needs of the restroom audit, the, pest management practices, the staff training, those types of,
SPR Boardroom: more administrative leadership, getting more public information out about when restrooms are open and closed, that sort of thing. So that…
SPR Boardroom: is included in… The proposed budget, and, this… proposal is… Funded by a
SPR Boardroom: the expiration of some debt service related to Magnuson, so we no longer needed the revenues.
SPR Boardroom: to support, That was on… but that was on schedule.
SPR Boardroom: Reduction, okay.
SPR Boardroom: But that's… So instead of taking the savings from that, that… Monique.
SPR Boardroom: We're kept at the same level, Yes. Invested here.
SPR Boardroom: Thanks.
SPR Boardroom: Those of you that were here with us last year, you may recall that the
SPR Boardroom: Bayer has moved, citywide graffiti abatements
SPR Boardroom: to, from SPU to parks. We're the primary statewide evaders at the moment. There is a… still a multi-departmental, coordinated effort to address
SPR Boardroom: Graffiti, and they focus on these 5 areas of…
SPR Boardroom: So there's a little bit more investment in SDOT and Office of Arts and Culture, but a big
SPR Boardroom: A few of the big changes related to the One Seattle Graffiti Plan Act Parks. On the next slide, we walk through ours.
SPR Boardroom: So, for us, we had plans, as part of a phased approach to this to move
SPR Boardroom: Administration of graffiti abatements.
SPR Boardroom: on private property from SPO to Parks, so we have, in this budget, both the physician authority to do that, as well as
SPR Boardroom: Accompanying legislation that gives park superintendent the ability to issue, nuisance.
SPR Boardroom: Notices to private property owners, so if somebody has
SPR Boardroom: I don't know this line of business well, because I haven't taken it on yet, but I will just say, if somebody, if somebody tags your…
SPR Boardroom: offense, it's the private property's owner's job to abate it. Yes. And if you leave it on there too long, then…
SPR Boardroom: like a code enforcement type action would be to say, you need to abate that. And if you don't, we'll do it and charge you, or whatever. So that… that administrative function is moving from SPU.
SPR Boardroom: to SPR next.
SPR Boardroom: year. There was also…
SPR Boardroom: really something we probably should have moved last year, but didn't catch it with some additional resources related to abating graffiti on S.Paystation that is moving from SPU to us.
SPR Boardroom: And then, there are some… Additional, kind of, contracting.
SPR Boardroom: Service funding that's… Added next year to allow.
SPR Boardroom: more graffiti abatement to happen, given the amount of it across the city.
SPR Boardroom: So that's… All in total, this is a $1.3 million ad.
SPR Boardroom: Related to that code enforcement.
SPR Boardroom: roll.
SPR Boardroom: We're almost done, I swear.
SPR Boardroom: as the… as the mayor considered other, kind of, downtown activation, although it's actually broadened now, having some lessons learned from what the city has been doing, and
SPR Boardroom: I'm 3rd in Pine, and in Little Saigon, now in, Pioneer Square. There's… there was…
SPR Boardroom: a consideration citywide about how we can support those efforts on an ongoing basis. The last couple years, it's been kind of a reallocation of resources within departments.
SPR Boardroom: And so we have added, about $500,000 of…
SPR Boardroom: Partially overtime funding for park resources, park maintenance staff to participate in those
SPR Boardroom: activation cleans, as kind of, because they kind of happen
SPR Boardroom: when they can get scheduled, so it's not really an FTE thing. And as part of that, the decision was made to also expand the park ranger program, so we're adding our supervisor and two rangers to support
SPR Boardroom: In addition to the downtown activation efforts, the more expansive service delivery citywide.
SPR Boardroom: We like our park rangers, and there's not enough of that, so… that,
SPR Boardroom: That is an additional add general fund credit to the parks.
SPR Boardroom: Fair enough.
SPR Boardroom: If you were seeing multiple apartments, you would see multiple investments.
SPR Boardroom: Karina?
SPR Boardroom: The next slide… again, to Tricia's question. So,
SPR Boardroom: Above our baseline investments in asset management, major maintenance.
SPR Boardroom: We do have 3 additional investments,
SPR Boardroom: For next year, we have 2 million… no, excuse me.
SPR Boardroom: $2 million of REITs going, again, to support the park restroom program,
SPR Boardroom: About a half a million dollars of it. For those of you that are in the weeds on the Park District, one of our commitments is to
SPR Boardroom: weatherize all of our outdoor restrooms so that by the end of this cycle, any restroom could be open year-round.
SPR Boardroom: That was…
SPR Boardroom: a great…
SPR Boardroom: goal, and as we got into the assessment by site-by-site, we found about 6 sites that will cost a lot more money to do that than we had generically said we could do each restroom for this amount, and so we've added half a million dollars to support that additional investment, those 6.
SPR Boardroom: sites.
SPR Boardroom: He gets excited.
SPR Boardroom: John?
SPR Boardroom: Yes, John.
John Flinn: Sorry about that.
John Flinn: when you were noting the part-time seasonal additions to maintenance for restrooms, I did wonder about that aligning with this program to make
John Flinn: more restrooms weatherized. I mean, clearly, logic would say that restrooms require fewer visits and less maintenance in the winter months than they will in the summer, but it is sort of a… you're going to have a lot of tension there, and so I guess just a heads up.
John Flinn: the more these restrooms are available year-round, you know, I'm not sure that seasonal is the need as much as just increasing the year-round staff to make sure they all get visited, checked, restocked, and cleaned, so…
John Flinn: I hope that's already on your radar, but just, you know, keep that in mind.
SPR Boardroom: Totally, yes. And our original Parks District investment that talked about the weatherization did add some additional full-time
SPR Boardroom: Increase some other seasonals to full-time.
SPR Boardroom: Cool.
John Flinn: Thank you.
SPR Boardroom: And will this additional funding allow the completion of that call?
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, yes. Okay. Yes.
SPR Boardroom: That, plus just…
SPR Boardroom: So that goal is being accomplished both by these kind of… I'm going to use it, but this is the piece that was missing, I believe, with the budget.
SPR Boardroom: So that's a half a million dollars of that 2.2 million. The other one and a half is…
SPR Boardroom: Really, just to have more resources, given the vandalism, just to continue to address.
SPR Boardroom: access to park restrooms and, you know…
SPR Boardroom: I'll leave it there. Is there expected to be any…
SPR Boardroom: Increase in availability, or is this really just mitigation of trying to prevent loss and Availability. Yeah.
SPR Boardroom: So, when we first did the park… I wasn't… No, we should probably stop. So, when we originally did the park district, we put in…
SPR Boardroom: some annual… Assumed annual cost, basically, to… to meet… An insurance deductible?
SPR Boardroom: Assuming we would probably have some vandalism.
SPR Boardroom: And the insurance deductible.
SPR Boardroom: the city to keep our insurance, they had to increase the deductible, and so this is basically mitigating the deductible increase. Increase to increase claim.
SPR Boardroom: It's more stay the same, but not go backwards.
SPR Boardroom: Gasworks.
SPR Boardroom: Park, we have… Some additional,
SPR Boardroom: Resources to address safety issues related to, access to the cracking towers, and do some lighting at that site, and…
SPR Boardroom: Kind of front-loaded that so the team's working on an emergency.
SPR Boardroom: Contract for that, so that… It's in the budget.
SPR Boardroom: And then… Flash Eye Mortgage… I want to talk about Lesh Eye Mortgage… Flash Eye Mortgage,
SPR Boardroom: It's a great project.
SPR Boardroom: It's, we had an engineer's estimate right before bid.
SPR Boardroom: That we do every time before we go to bed, we gotta update our website. We needed another million dollars, so we have a million dollars going into the,
SPR Boardroom: project from some King County levee.
SPR Boardroom: Fund balance, so… Anthony Parks Living?
SPR Boardroom: King County Parks levy, so we get an increment of that. They had some unbalance sometimes
SPR Boardroom: we budget thinking we're gonna get this much, and when I actually get all the levy and divide it up by all the cities, we get a little bit more and kind of accumulate. So we were doing that, and we're… our bid came back over, so…
SPR Boardroom: Still leading, we still have a gap here that we're trying to address, but this is gonna help!
SPR Boardroom: So, we're working on… on that. So the, again, incremental changes, those are the…
SPR Boardroom: Capital changes in this year's budget.
SPR Boardroom: I think that is… it, and I didn't write down Patricia's question, so…
SPR Boardroom: You'll have to tell me how I did.
Tricia Diamond: I typed them in the chat.
Tricia Diamond: In case that…
SPR Boardroom: It just shows me an app.
Tricia Diamond: I can…
SPR Boardroom: It is not, unless there's a particular playground renovation.
SPR Boardroom: Has the deteriorating tile work, it would not address that.
Tricia Diamond: Okay.
SPR Boardroom: So, if you have a particular site, we can… Find the answer, but…
SPR Boardroom: It does not have any more… it does not… There are continuing Planned.
SPR Boardroom: budgets for playground renovations that are not impacted. They're continuing to meet our park district goals and all that, but there's not increased resources.
SPR Boardroom: And then safety… I think we would argue that
SPR Boardroom: graffiti abatement and park ratios, you know, are interested in all investments related to park safety. But that was it, right? There was no money being shifted around to make the additional investment and safety.
SPR Boardroom: Well, and gas perks.
SPR Boardroom: Oh, gosh, we're checking.
SPR Boardroom: And Steve, you're in?
SPR Boardroom: Was this the restroom audit program management?
Steve Lerer: Yeah, it was that extra position. I was wondering if it was part-time or full-time.
SPR Boardroom: That was full-time.
Steve Lerer: Cool. Okay, thank you.
SPR Boardroom: Yeah, I'll say, I think Trish and I'm going to the same place. I would love to see you.
SPR Boardroom: More investment going to our maintenance backlog, our safety concerns, as well.
SPR Boardroom: I understand that this is an update, and we're really just moving things around, and there's a very few number of incremental
SPR Boardroom: Investments and changes, but it is… as a…
SPR Boardroom: As a citizen community hurts a little bit.
SPR Boardroom: Disappointing.
SPR Boardroom: But we can hear comments with our council members. Yep.
SPR Boardroom: counseling hearings, and… As I said, I feel, from our perspective, I think retention of…
SPR Boardroom: service delivery, and… is a win. I understand the point that there are many departments that are being cut, there's a basic telephone shortage, so you're not talking about
SPR Boardroom: Thanks a lot of cuts. Greatly appreciate that.
Phillip Meng: Yeah, just a quick comment to add. Thanks for the… thanks for the preview. Thanks, as always, for… for these presentations.
Phillip Meng: Michelle, probably not a surprise at this point that there's going to be a question or two from me.
Phillip Meng: But, and I wanted to recognize, like, from this presentation, it's clear, like, the Parks Department has done a lot within budget constraints to try to preserve as many essential services as possible. So, again, thanks for walking us through it.
SPR Boardroom: Hello, Wonk.
SPR Boardroom: I think you got a lot. So thank you, Michelle. And, that concludes…
SPR Boardroom: our, business for this evening. We're actually right on time, wow. And look forward to seeing you all on November…
SPR Boardroom: Pardon me.
SPR Boardroom: Further items?
SPR Boardroom: He's adjourned.
SPR Boardroom: Thank you.
John Flinn: Thanks, everybody.
SPR Boardroom: Good!