There’s a play area just to the south of the barn in Gas Works. No, not the barn itself, the building with all the colorful equipment, but the desolate, sandy area just to the south of it, with virtually no play equipment.
Fortunately, when the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces levy passed, it included $1.4 million in renovation funds for planning, design and construction of the Gas Works Park Play Area. The Parks Department will be kicking off their design process with a public meeting Tuesday March 11 at the Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Ave N), Room 202 , from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
The meeting is an opportunity for the community to hear about the upcoming project and offer input on the play area renovation. Seattle Parks staff will be at the meeting to discuss the project and answer questions. The community is encouraged to participate and all are welcome.
The project schedule is:
- Planning: December 2013 – March 2014
- Design: March 2014 – February 2015
- Construction: September 2015 – January 2016
- Completion: March 2016
For more information about the project visit the project web site, or, better yet, attend the meeting!
(Photo by Eric Willhite)
So they are kicking this off a quick 6 years after the levy was passed? And planning to finish a total of 8 years after it was voted on. Way to go parks dept!
I wonder if the delay may have been related to the toxic cleanup. I don’t know.
Well, the perceived delay from ‘WallyResident’ is only a real delay if the project was slated to come earlier in the levy timeline. And, even if it was slated to come earlier if it’s later because of an identified reason (e.g., toxic cleanup that was unknown at the time) then that’s a defensible reason. I’ve worked on (non-parks) levies before and while we always want all the new stuff at once, the money doesn’t come in one big chunk, so projects get put into the timeline based on when the funding will be available. Just my 2 cents.
I believe Friends of Gasworks Park, and Rich Haag, the park’s principal designer, have been working independently on some ideas for the play area renovation. It will be interesting to see if they get to present any of their stuff at the meeting.
Being new here I have noticed that Seattle is not really a place where you should expect anything to be done on time. Let’s compare this to the 520 bridge, or the tunnel they are unable to dig downtown. It seems the entire city is plagued by ineffective administrators and the populace has become so accommodating that no contingencies are put in place to ensure anything is done on time.
Now, if we closed the farmers markets and did not reopen them until the projects were complete, then we would see the hemp-coated warriors spring to action and demand more from their tax dollars.
I hear that if you only eat crow pie that you grow to love crow pie. So as long as you have weed, overpriced produce (that rots before you make it back home) and a herd mentality, things will always be this way.
So quit your complaining, suck it up and join the hippies in doing nothing to make things better. What would they do if they had nothing to complain about? Could you imagine a world without whining hippies; that is not a place I want to ever live in.
So if you don’t like it, leave. Not that you can, because the roads are all screwed and you are stuck here. But, you can start packing if you want.
Peace man.
Thanks for posting this – it would be great if parents who are planning on attending the meeting bring their kids. It would be great for us to get the kids’ perspective on their play area experience as we start the design process. Thanks!
David Graves
Seattle Parks and Recreation