This week in the Parks and Neighborhoods committee (Thursday April 18, 9:30am) we sent two pieces of legislation on to Full Council for Monday’s vote.
See the meeting agenda here, or watch the video of the meeting here.
The two bills we looked at were:
- C.B. 117758 (PDF Version), which increases appropriations for Bell Street Park, and
- C.B. 117761 (PDF Version), which lifts a budget proviso imposed on the Department of Parks and Recreation’s Recreation Facilities and Programs Budget Control Level in 2013 for structured teen programming.
Bell Street Park, currently under construction! Photo: Sally J. Clark
I’m excited about the prospects of structured teen programming. Not only did our committee vote to lift the proviso on $180,000 for the program, on April 17, the Public Safety, Civil Rights and Technology Committee voted to provide an additional $210,000 of funding for this same program.
As proposed by DPR, the available funding would be sufficient to serve 150 teens in 2013 and 110 teens in 2014. The additional $210,000 funding will bring these totals to 200 teens in both 2013 and 2014.
I’m grateful to DPR for beings so open to developing a clear and transparent approach to tracking the program’s performance, which made this easy to support.
Also in committee we were briefed on the upcoming King County Parks Levy, DPR’s plans for Westlake Park’s planters, parking at Magnuson Park, and the latest news from Department of Neighborhoods.
From the later I particularly want to note that the People’s Academy for Community Engagement (PACE) is accepting applications for the sessions starting in September 2013 now through May 8.
The sessions take place at Seattle University, and focus on how community leaders can work with Neighborhood District Councils and government structure and processes. During the 9-month program, 26 participants learn hands-on strategies for community organizing, community building, neighborhood planning, leadership, and outreach.
To learn more or apply, see the PACE website.