Will We Lose Our Bitter Lake Community Center? Community Center Operations Analysis Underway…

Community members from many neighborhoods in the City congregated last night at the Bitter Lake Community Center for the first of two meetings about Community Center Operations. The room was packed and I’ve already seen a clip on TV this morning. There’s a duplicate meeting tonight at the Jefferson Community Center.

 Christopher Williams, the Acting Superintendent of Seattle’s Department of Parks and Recreation, began the meeting by saying that financial pressure makes it necessary to re-examine how community centers operate. He said hundreds of hours have been spent by people from all sectors of the City and input is still being sought before any changes are made.

 Sally Bagshaw, who Chairs the City Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee, then explained that this event is part of work in progress to respond to a statement of legislative intent (SLI) directing the department to conduct research and analysis that will identify a range of options for changes in how recreational services are provided through community centers. (See www.seattle.gov/parks/centers/operations.htm)

She wants a real community approach to decision making and is working to assure citizen participation from individuals, organizations, and all interested parties.

 The remainder of the meeting consisted of presenting the nine options that have been arrived at by groups and individuals working on the project to date. Carol Everson, Budget Director for Parks & Recreation, talked through each option and a question-and-answer period followed.

Bottom line: If you want to participate, you need to go on line and complete a survey which can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/s/cc_ops_survey. This is where you can rate the options presented at this meeting. Responses are to be tallied and sent to the Mayor and City Council to help inform future decisions regarding community center operations. The survey deadline is July 1. Contact person for the project is Susan Golub, susan.golub@seattle.gov.

Pat McCoy, President

Broadview Community Council