Take a survey for community centers

Since Wallingford doesn’t have a physical community center per se, many families rely on the centers in nearby Green Lake, Ballard, and Ravenna. I’ve gotta tell ya– I spend half my life over at Green Lake, mostly for taking my kids to swimming lessons or swim team; and when they were younger, they were each enrolled in the preschool at the community center and we used the toddler play space upstairs on a regular basis. The kids and I have come to know Jeff Skinner and “Groundskeeper” Mike (our most favorite employee at the center), as well as our favorite swim coaches including Katie, Trevor, and Meghan. So, naturally, the thought of budget cuts to the community centers, potentially forcing closures, staff reductions, or limited use time is a bit worrisome given that the programs so many people have come to rely on are either going to go away or are being scaled down.

When the city announced a budget shortfall of $100 million dollars, they reduced operations to 5 of the community centers to limited use. So far, that change has only saved the city $1.3 million. Seattle Parks and Recreation has laid out several more options to help reduce the shortfall, and they’ve invited the community to weigh-in on those options with the help of a survey.

The survey closes on Friday, July 1. The link can be found here (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cc_ops_survey). Before you take the survey, I suggest reading up on each of the options, which can be found here. (http://www.seattle.gov/parks/centers/operations.htm)