Parks and Recreation Legacy Citizens Advisory Committee; Seattle Audubon Society; NMF: PaN committee wrap up

Home » Parks and Recreation Legacy Citizens Advisory Committee; Seattle Audubon Society; NMF: PaN committee wrap up
Councilmember Bagshaw
May 21, 2013January 6, 2023By Sally Bagshaw

On May 16th the Parks and Neighborhood committee (PaN) voted to allow the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) to form a partnership with the Seattle Audubon Society, create the Parks and Recreation Legacy Citizen’s Advisory Committee, and appoint Michael Shiosaki to the Arboretum and Botanical Garden Committee.

See the meeting agenda here, or watch the video of the meeting here.

Councilmember Godden and I voted to move the following to Full Council for May 20th:

  • C.F. 312996, which appoints Michael Shiosaki as a member to the Arboretum and Botanical Garden Committee.
  • RES. 31454, which is a resolution to create the Parks and Recreation Legacy Citizens Advisory Committee to ensure citizen participation in the development of a potential ballot measure to benefit Seattle parks.
  • C.B. 117777, which authorizes the Superintendent of Parks and Recreation to enter into an agreement with the Seattle Audubon Society to operate and manage the Administrative Building in Carkeek Park.

 DPR is conducting a series of meetings soliciting feedback on the Parks Legacy Plan. The meetings allow community members to connect with each other and discuss how they want parks funds to be used in the future. A part of these discussions is whether DPR should pursue a ballot measure to secure funding in the future. See meeting schedule here.

The Parks and Recreation Legacy Citizen’s Advisory Committee, also known as the CAC, is another key piece in DPR’s plan to engage the public in the Legacy Plan. The Parks and Recreation Legacy CAC will represent the citizens of Seattle in the development of a potential measure. CAC members will help determine the scope of the ballot measure, advising DPR on whether it focuses on operations, maintenance, development, or acquisition.

The members of the Parks and Recreation Legacy CAC are Barbara Wright, Charlie Zaragoza, Thatcher Bailey, Steve Daschle, Juli Farris, Bill Farmer, Thomas Goldstein, Jessie Israel, Diana Kincaid, Michael Maddux, Brice Maryman, Yalonda Gill Masundire, Mustapha Match, David Namura, and Erika Neurenberg.

The Full Council adopted the resolution to create the Parks and Recreation Legacy CAC yesterday, and I hope to see the CAC hard at work throughout the summer and fall.

PaN also heard from DPR on whether to permit the Seattle Audubon Society to operate and manage the Administrative Building in Carkeek Park. DPR presented a persuasive argument that the Audubon Society is uniquely positioned to educate both children and adults about wildlife in the city and that Carkeek Park is well suited to act as the classroom for these lessons.

carkeek_elc

Carkeek Park has the flora, fauna, facilities, and passionate supporters that the Seattle Audubon Society needs and the Audubon Society has the expertise to offer public benefit to the wide variety of citizens that visit Seattle parks. It sounded like a great match to me and the legislation passed Full Council.

PAN also has the great fortune to hear an update on the Neighborhood Matching Fund (NMF) program, operated by the Department of Neighborhoods (DON). NMF offers three levels of matching gifts to qualifying citizen inspired and generated projects. Please see here for the full schedule of when Seattleites can apply for these funds.

It was an impressive day and I look forward to our next PaN Committee, which is scheduled for June 6th at 9:30 am.