Seattle neighborhood advocates are to meet with the interim parks director
After the resignation of disliked Ken Bounds, citizens seek an opening with B.J. Brooks.
By Paul Andrews
March 28, 2007.
"New localism" in Seattle translates to neighborhood vibrancy, and parks issues often test the integrity of a neighborhood. Parks and Open Space Advocates, an activist group whose Yahoo! online forum is a great way to tap into grassroots Seattle, will meet with B.J. Brooks, acting superintendent of Parks and Recreation, and Steve Moddemeyer, strategic advisor of the Department of Planning and Development, at 7:30 a.m. Friday, March 30, in the offices of People for Puget Sound, 911 Western Ave., Suite 580.
Brooks was named to the interim position by Mayor Greg Nickels when embattled director Ken Bounds retired recently to, in his words, "decompress." City Hall watchers consider Brooks to have an inside track on being named permanent director.
Call this session an attempt to build some badly burned bridges. Parks advocates for Wallingford, Green Lake, Phinney Ridge, Loyal Heights, Sand Point, and other neighborhoods butted horns with Bounds time and again over what Loyal Heights activist Jim Anderson labeled "fake process." In several cases, internal city memos showed that parks decisions were made before public hearings were even announced, leading community leaders to question how interested parks officials really were in public input.
With overwhelming passage of a city charter amendment last November giving the City Council confirmation power over the mayor's appointment of parks chief, the public's handwriting on the wall became clear: We want accountability and the right to be heard.
In a message posted on the POSA board, leader John Barber notes: "The purpose of our meeting with B.J. Brooks is essentially on a get-acquainted basis and to have an opportunity to discuss some issues that we believe are representative of what the Superintendent will need to resolve."
Among them:
- Landscaping Lake Washington Boulevard South.
- Environmentally-friendly maintenance practices.
- The planned mammoth parking garage at the Woodland Park Zoo.
- A Wallingford Park land-transfer proposal.
- Public process when new uses are proposed.
- The Parks Department role in mega-projects like the proposed Highway 520 interchange at Montlake.