This post was sent in by Greg Flood, chair of the Friends of Wallingford Playground:
Greetings!
Some more recent arrivals to the neighborhood may not realize that Wallingford Playfield was designed by community volunteers and funded through several matching fund grants from the Department of Neighborhoods. Over 300 families participated from 1998 through 2013, led by the steering committee of Friends of Wallingford Playfield (FoWP). Community residents contributed over $250,000 in funds and labor to help create what you see there today.
The process culminated in the assembly of the play structure by Wallingford families over the course of two (quite long) weekends. Thousands of hours in labor were invested in placing boulders, installing plants, spreading mulch and installing wood chips at the play area. FoWP also hosted many workparties for more than ten years following completion of the project to help Parks maintain the garden beds, install new plants, and to help keep the park tidy.
We still have a modest amount of money remaining to be spent from our very successful fundraising for the project. The Wallingford Community Council is asking us to please spend the remaining funds that we have on deposit with them under their fiscal guidance. FoWP is seeking your assistance to help identify possible “wish-list” items for Wallingford Playfield. Please consider submitting your ideas to “ggf dot greg at gmail dot com”.
We are also seeking volunteers from the community that may be interested in once again helping out at the park. Many years ago, we began the process of developing a Master Plan for the park when the previous playstructure needed replacing for safety reasons. We were just a group of parents with young kids back then, who got together to try to raise money and make something great happen.
For many of us, our kids are grown now and we may no longer be quite as connected to the needs of younger families using the park. It is time for some new energetic folks to help carry on the tradition of surveying community interests and to help Parks ensure that Wallingford Playfield best serves the needs of our neighborhood, while respecting the “bones” of the original park. Please consider submitting your name to the same email address above if you might be interested in helping out. Please also note if you are interested in participating on a steering committee to coordinate the group.
The role of the “Friends of…” groups in serving as liaison between Parks and the surrounding communities is extremely helpful to Parks. It has been great working with the maintenance staff and volunteer coordinators at Parks. The assistance afforded by the many volunteers working in our city parks is valued and it is truly amazing what can be accomplished to make each park special to its respective community. Wallingford Playfield serves as the living room of the Wallingford community. It is important to maintain community access to our open spaces as our city grows and density increases.
I look forward to seeing your ideas for the park.
Thank you for considering helping Make a Great Place Even Better!
Cheers!
Greg Flood, chair
Friends of Wallingford Playfield
Wallingford needs an off-leash area.
Woodland Park might often be considered to be part of Phinney Ridge, especially the Zoo, but its off-leash area is basically in Wallingford. Off-leash area situation simply won’t change too much from what it is, similar to ball courts: usage too specific and limited that you can’t really justify having them everywhere. Wallingford is lucky enough to have be next to one already. Carkeek Park might be the only relatively easy candidate on the north side of Seattle to add another.
I’m not really advocating for this – for me the best answer might be for people to be more realistic about what kind of pet belongs in the city – but what is that semi-enclosed area on the north side of Gasworks for?
Man’s Best Friend belongs wherever there are people. Especially children; growing up with a dog builds character. Gasworks is toxic, I would not bring a dog there.
The amount of exercise needed varies by dogs, and it’s obvious a better idea to have dogs that need less exercise or smaller spaces in cities. Dogs that only need casual walks would be fine without going to off-leash areas often. People are raising dogs fine in cities way denser than Seattle without access to off leash areas. If you love horses it’d be better living away from the city as opposed to looking for Seattle to set up horse trails. Kind of the same idea for dogs that need constant access of large spaces.
We’re not talking about large amounts of space here, and it’s not just about exercise. Dogs like to socialize with each other and play together, and it’s fun and relaxing to watch them do it.
New York City has off-leash areas, even in Manhattan — don’t see why it’s such a problem for Seattle. Except that some residents appear to be devoid of humanity.
There are dogs…and there are other dogs. Same with kids. I grew up with dogs, no leashes. But it was not in the city. It was in the country in the Midwest. In a city, unfortunately, dogs need to be leashed for the safety and comfort of others. Some dogs jump on people including small people. Greg Flood spearheaded our effort to make Wallingford Playfield so wonderful. We all worked on it, including putting the play equipment together. It might not have happened if not for Greg.
Hello? We’re talking about a small fenced-in area for dogs and their humans.
Maybe the small area in the southeast corner of Wallingford Playfield could be for dogs and their humans.
I have a dog and have mixed feelings about dog parks. I appreciate that they offer value. What about Discovery Park? Not very accessible to most, but to many it would be a fine option. There’s lots of open, un(der)-utilized space around the shoulders of Queen Ann hill. Dog parks and dog owners increase safety.
Don’t understand the notion that there can only be one or two places in the city for dog owners. Every park should have at least a small dog area, which as you point out increases safety for all. Matter of fact, one of the benefits of being a dog owner is that I know all my neighbors, and they all know me. This is not so often the case nowadays, especially in a city like this one where people tend to be unnaturally aloof.
So interesting to learn about the community effort that was put into the park. It is such a wonderful part of our neighborhood!
Yes! All of us with young kids now owe a huge debt to those of you who made the playfield what it is today. Thanks to all of you (and thanks Greg for sending out this call for new volunteers).
Thanks to all of the community volunteers that have been involved with the playfield over the years. One idea we had was to repaint the tennis court wall with a hit line. And I’m always a fan of adding more trees whenever possible. Adding some blueberry bushes or something for the local wildlife would be nice, too.
@snelson writes, “..it might not have happened if not for Greg.” Well, I can tell you, it would NOT have happened without Greg! I worked closely with Greg and others on this project for many years and without Greg’s skillful leadership, endless energy, super human patience, incredible collaborative skills, and deep commitment to always doing the right thing the right way, our wonderful park would not be the gem of the neighborhood that it is! We all owe Greg a huge thanks and whenever I walk through the park I happily (mostly) remember the numerous hours we spent (meeting, drawing, planning, fundraising, emailing, organizing, working in the dirt, and more) and am proud of what we did. My kids are now in their 20s…they were pre-K when this started. We knew they would outgrow our efforts in the park and that was OK because we knew there would be others in the community who loved the park as we did who would take over.
I am sure that those of you who do use the park have some great ideas of how it could be improved with the funds we all raised. Please email Greg with your ideas so our mission to “Make a Great Place Even Better,” continues. This is a wonderful opportunity to get involved in a small way to make a big difference!