Shana Bestock, Mayor McGinn, Wendy Lindmark, Karen Ko and Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith
Mayor Mike McGinn visited the Green Lake neighborhood today (Saturday, July 16, 2011).
The mayor began his visit with a walking tour of east Green Lake. The tour was led by longtime neighborhood advocate Ref Lindmark of the Green Lake Community Council. Also present were Wendy Lindmark, Shana Bestock, Artistic Director and Education Director at the Seattle Public Theater, Richard Fleming and Gayle Garman of Friends of Green Lake, Officer P.J. Fox from the Seattle Police Department, Julie McAferty of the Greenlake Guesthouse, Neighborhood District Coordinator Karen Ko, Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith, and various other members of the Mayor’s Office.
The tour began with a stop at the old Vitamilk property, commonly referred to as “The Big Hole.” Ref Lindmark reviewed the past and future of the property, which has been a vacant pit for three years. Construction will begin this winter and a new mixed-use development, “Green Lake Village,” should be open by late 2013.
Ref explained that the development will include retail property, including a new PCC, as well as approximately 295 apartments. It will also incorporate several aspects of the Green Lake Neighborhood Plan, including mid-block pedestrian walk-throughs modeled after downtown’s Post Alley. The mayor applauded the project, saying that it will have a “dramatic effect on the [Green Lake] business district.”
The group then walked down the Green Lake Park Shade Plaza to the Green Lake Community Center, which became a “Limited Use” site in January as a result of budget cuts to the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Initially, Mayor McGinn proposed severe cuts to the Green Lake Community Center. His 2011 budget limited drop-in access at the Green Lake Community Center to just 15 hours a week, cut 6.0 FTE staff positions, and called for the conversion of three rooms, including the tot play space, into offices.
After significant public outcry, City Council scaled these cuts back. They added 15 more weekly drop-in hours and a part-time Recreation Leader position to the Green Lake Community Center. They ensured that the preschool at the facility would stay in operation, and they saved one of the multi-purpose rooms (Room 3), and the tot play space.
However, the Teen Room and one multi-purpose room, Room 1, could not be saved. The Teen Room was converted into meeting space and Room 1 became offices for city-wide event permit staff.
McGinn tours Room 1, now used by city-wide staff
In addition to losing public space, the Green Lake Community Center also lost staff in January: the facility’s full-time Coordinator, a full-time Assistant Coordinator, a custodian and a Teen Development Leader. As a result, several public classes were canceled or moved to the Northgate Community Center.
McGinn hears about the impacts of budget cuts from Barb Wade
Barb Wade, Senior Recreation Leader at the Parks Department, explained that the switch to Limited Use status at the Green Lake Community Center has been very problematic. Although the community center is now only open 35 hours a week, Evans Pool, which shares a building entrance with the community center, is open 66 hours a week. As well, other services, such as public showers, also remain open during hours that the community center is closed. As a result, limited staff has to manage a large public demand.
To address the pressures on pool staff during hours that the front doors are open while the community center is technically closed, money raised from Wild Waves ticket sales is now being used to fund additional staff. The money had, in the past, been directed towards a teen swim program.
The mayor took a tour of the rest of building, including the basketball gym, where the Battle at the Lake basketball tournament was underway. McGinn said that he played basketball in the gym for eight years, when he was a part of the Green Lake Recreational League.
The group then walked part way around Green Lake to The Hearthstone, a retirement community on E Green Lake Way N.
McGinn takes walking tour around part of the Green Lake loop
At The Hearthstone, several community members gathered for a “mini town hall” with the mayor, facilitated by Ref Lindmark.
The mayor began the town hall with a review of his priorities, which include innovation, education and transit. He then addressed the recent cuts to the Green Lake Community Center. “The last thing I wanted to do was close any community centers or reduce Parks funding,” he said, “but we were being squeezed and we had to make hard choices. We didn’t close any community centers or pools, although we did have to reduce hours at five centers, including Green Lake.”
Moving forward, McGinn said, there is a proposal to divide the city into service areas. Each area would have a primary community center that was open many hours a week, a secondary community center that was open less hours, and a third level of community center that would be open an even smaller amount of hours. Decisions about each area will be based on usage and social equity.
“It doesn’t look like we will be able to restore the hours that were lost,” McGinn said, citing a slow economy. He then segued into a discussion of revenues and the possibility of new taxes, and then to a review of his values. His focus, he said, was on open, effective government, public safety and health, shared prosperity, and environmental sustainability.
The forum then switched to a question-and-answer format. Many questions related to bicycles. Several community members expressed frustration at what they perceived to be a disregard by aggressive cyclists for the rules of the road. “We have to start building a culture of traveling where everyone follows the rules,” McGinn said. “Education is one piece. We also have to have infrastructure in place for cyclists.” And, he added, “we all need to look out for each other on the road.”
Other comments related to traffic and the perceived lack of attention McGinn is giving to supporting automobile drivers. McGinn pointed out that only 2% of the transportation budget is allocated to bicycle improvements, even though 3% of trips in the city are made on bicycles. As well, he said, by taking drivers off the road, improvements that make cycling easier benefit everyone. And, he pointed out, several improvements are underway for car traffic, including repaving projects that are in the works for both N 85th St and NE Ravenna Blvd.
The four-way stop at 5th Ave NE & Banner Way NE was mentioned. While several in attendance indicated that they felt this intersection needs a stoplight, McGinn pointed out that the data shows that the intersection is safe. “It’s counter-intuitive,” he said, “but sometimes places that feel unsafe are actually safer, because people are more likely to be alert.”
Andrew Miller of the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association brought up the topic of neighborhood rights and questioned recent zoning decisions made by the mayor which were not in step with the Roosevelt Neighborhood Plan. “Why did you decide to take power from the people,” Andrew asked, “and does the Green Lake Neighborhood Plan count for anything?”
Andrew Miller speaks
McGinn said he respected the work the Roosevelt community had done on their plan, but that, as with all neighborhood plans, there is a “trade-off” between what the neighborhood wants and the broader, city-wide agenda. There is a need, McGinn said, for an investment in housing around future light rail stations. So, while he kept most of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Plan intact, the mayor did raise zoned building heights from 65 feet to 85 feet in the area around the future Roosevelt Station. The 20-foot difference was not, McGinn said, very significant, although he conceded it might be significant to neighbors of the future buildings. “We did take towers off the table,” he added, before saying that the issue was now before City Council.
Several very specific complaints were also made by community members in attendance, including remarks about a leaning light pole at Corliss Ave N and N 80th St, confusing street lane stripe placement up and down 5th Ave NE in Maple Leaf, an aggressive raccoon population in Maple Leaf, and a large cement barrier that has recently been placed at the end of a one-way street in Maple Leaf. McGinn promised that appropriate city departments would respond to each of these complaints on an individual basis.
The mayor finished the town hall by saying that Green Lake is a great neighborhood. “The first place I stayed in Seattle was with friends who lived by Vitamilk,” he said. “My kids learned to swim in Evans Pool. We love Green Lake. I really appreciate everybody in this room that makes the community better.”
