The 2008 parks levy paid for work on the Lower Woodland Park playfields and for a playground at Gasworks. The playfields were done right away because they saved the parks department on maintenance costs, and the playground at Gasworks has been put off to next year because it adds to maintenance costs (the levy didn’t include money for operations, so that’s how parks sorted projects). The Gasworks playground is currently scheduled to open in March 2016 after construction this fall, but it is running behind schedule. I’ll post plans when they are done.
While you wait, a number of other projects are finished, and a fun thing to do with the kids is to check out new playgrounds and parks. To the East, the Maple Leaf Reservoir Park and Playground represents almost 6 million tax dollars all on its own and has great views and equipment. Matthew’s Beach and Laurelhurst playgrounds also have new equipment and are a good target for a day on the Burke Gilman trail. The arboretum also got 3 million in upgrades which make a walk through there even a tick nicer than it was before.
To the West, the playground at the NW corner of the zoo was just finished last year and Ross Playground was finished in 2012. Kirke Park is also a really cool new playground that’s easy to miss but includes a nice piece of history centered around the foundation of a church with a crazy back story. The Heron Rookery on the far side of the Ballard locks is really worth a visit during nesting season- it feels prehistoric to be in the woods surrounded by herons overhead. And of course there’s Golden Gardens playground, an upgrade that happened a while ago but that is still worth appreciating.
Below is an interactive map, if you can’t view it (in email or smartphone world), click here for full screen view.
The only clear failure is the funding for the Burke-Gilman through Ballard. Here’s a nice post on the history of the project.
For a PDF view that includes all the investments including south of downtown, see here. Note the PDF map is nicely clickable too, which is where I got most of the links shown above. On the PDF view the status color red means “project finished” and green means “project not finished”, which seems totally backwards to me but made sense to someone.
Disappointed and surprised that they didn’t include a badly needed off-leash dog park for north Lake Union, to serve Fremont, lower Wallingford, and the U-District. Dog parks are great gathering spots for the community’s growing group of dog owners and their dogs–a place for people and dogs to play, exercise and socialize. This area is under-served regarding off-leash parks.
I wish I could be more supportive about using public dollars for off-leash areas. I sure felt that way initially, but over time, my sentiments have been changing, given that a significant number of dog owners run their dogs off-leash in our public parks anyway, without regard for laws or the safety of others.
Posting signs doesn’t help, and believe me, asking people to get their dogs on leash isn’t welcomed, either.
Again, when off-leash parks were originally proposed, I thought it was a great idea. But the premise that creating off-leash areas can reduce unlawful behavior doesn’t seem believable to me anymore. Or at minimum, it’s a gamble I feel less and less willing to take using public funds.
So for North Lake Union, I’m hoping to see the private sector (like the major employers in the area) step up to acquire some land and create an off-leash park. That would be cool.
Or, if the City Council would, say, triple the fines for unlawful behavior (not getting licenses, not picking up after one’s dog, running one’s dogs off-leash), I’d happily support directing THAT revenue toward creating more public off-leash areas, paying for enforcement, and–last but not certainly least–supporting the local animal shelters.
If dog owner behavior changes dramatically in the future, I could see returning to being a supportive voice for the creation of more off-leash areas. But for now, the priorities for Parks funds are right on.
Has anyone been to the Kiwanis Heronry Ravine this year? As Eric describes, it was so amazing to see all the nests but during the past few years there were no herons because bald eagles invaded the colony. (No political commentary intended….) I wonder if anyone knows if they’re back this year?
This year for the first time the Seattle Parks and Recreation has a 6-year dedicated Off-Leash Area budget. The Mayor and City Council have designated the 2015 budget for developing a Dog Off-Leash Master Plan, as has been done for bicycles and skate parks in the city. They have specified COLA as a contributing author of the plan, in conjunction with Seattle Parks and Recreation and Seattle Animal Control.
Thanks Eric for bringing Kirke park in Ballard to my attention. I had never heard of the park, nor the religious community that was once on the site. The back story theme of resurrection made it the perfect place to visit on Easter.
Thanks for info on local parks. I would like to gather support for better maintenance for our jewel of a park in Wallingford–Meridian Park. it is woefully neglected, with large areas of dirt/mud where there should be grass or other appropriate surface. Parks removed nearly all picnic tables last fall and has not returned them. No garbage pails except around the restrooms and near Peapatch and major shelter.
Parks staff is not overloaded. I see them parked near the restrooms nearly every day.
Any interest?
I took my daughters to the park at the northwest corner of the zoo yesterday and it was really fun. Excellent park for climbing, especially.
An off-leash park that was stand-alone and not inside a regular park might be a good idea; it could cut down on those yutzes passing through the park with their dog off-leash while heading to the actual off-leash area. Won’t help with those who have the dogs off-leash in parks without an off-leash area.
On another note, I wouldn’t consider the Ballard part of the Burke-Gilman trail a parks issue, more of a transportation issue.
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