Last week had interesting events in Wallingford (besides the Winchell’s – Rancho Bravo affair): Thursday’s Community Center Meeting and Friday’s visit from mayoral candidate Mike McGinn.
We were able to attend neither.
We’re hoping some of our more civicly responsible neighbors did, however, and that we might prevail on them to post notes, thoughts, or impressions in the comments section of this post, for the benefit of ourselves and our readers.
Thanks in advance.
I caught Mike McGinn at the Ballard open house … he did, in fact, bike, there (“Mike Bikes!”), and we chatted about bikey things as folks walked in. Low key, affable, knowledgeable about school and transportation issues I care about, and realistic about the upcoming tunnel debacle. At this point, he could really stop talking about it (if people would let him, which they won’t), and the financing will implode regardless of who’s elected. But I liked what he had to say on other issues as well. Did you know he campaigned for sidewalks in Greenwood, and got a bunch built? Anyway, he had me at “I like your cargo bike”, but the rest was peachy as well.
I went to the Community Center Meeting. Being a newby to the neighborhood and not really familiar with the Community Center planning process, I can’t say too much about how it stacks up to other such processes (though several people pointed out that this is not the first time the community has gone through such a process).
The meeting started with a few presentations about other Community Centers in Seattle and their functions/roles within the communities they serve. Then some survey data from the survey that has been going around were shared and discussion shifted to priorities for the activities a potential Wallingford Community Center should offer. Community members in attendance were also asked to brainstorm where the center should be located (without regard to locations that are actually feasible).
You’d have to contact the organizers of the event to find out what was actually determined, but I think they did get some valuable feedback. As a participant, I really wish we’d had more time to discuss the issues at our tables and that the facilitation of discussion had been a bit more intentional, as our table didn’t really get to discuss much and the experience was more like taking a survey in public.
But despite the limitations of the meeting, for the most part folks agreed across the board that a Community Center would be a vital resource for Wallingford (especially now that the Senior Center is closing).
And, for what it’s worth, one of the more popular location recommendations was the festering pit at 40th and Stone Way N.