Exciting News about Aldercrest Jail Site and Proposal for Park

This announcement is the outcome of and represents a great deal of work by grassroots organizers in the Ballinger Neighborhood and Lake Forest Park.

Nancy Morerya is chair of Friends of Aldercrest which is continuing its advocacy for a permanent park on the Aldercrest site, because of the genuine need for more Parks and Open Space in this neighborhood and the entire Shoreline Area. The site contains enormous potential for recreation, wildlife habitat and passive uses. It is located in the Lyon Creek Watershed, which needs a lot of mitigation to reduce downstream flooding.

After the May 13 news conference and Aldercrest Annex is officially released from
the Jail Project, the work towards getting a city park developed at Aldercrest Annex
becomes most crucial.  Involvement from all of us is very important!  So please
stay with us because we are not yet done.

I understand the news conference on May 13 will take place at the County Executive
Conference/Media room in the Chinook Building downtown Seattle at 9am to 10am.
The Mayor of Shoreline will be there participating.

Nancy Moreyra
Home in Shoreline, WA

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CONGRATULATIONS! No official announcement has been made, but NoShorelineJail
has learned that on May 13 there will be a news conference hosted by County
Executive Dow Constantine to announce that the planning for a new north-end
jail has been terminated! It appears that following a reevaluation of jail
capacity needs and tremendous public opposition, the Northeast Cities and
County Executive have agreed to a solution that eliminates the need for more
jail space in the near future. Thank you everyone for all the hard work that
you put into saving our neighborhood! More details about the news conference
to follow.

BUT WE ARE NOT DONE! Now we have to turn our energy to convincing the
Shoreline School District and the Cities of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park
to work together toward a common goal: Saving Aldercrest Annex as a park for
our children and our children's children. Please take action!

1) Get involved with Friends of Aldercrest (http://friendsofaldercrest.org/)
and be a part of shaping the vision for the site. SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE
ALDERCREST

(http://friendsofaldercrest.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/petitiontopreserv
ealdercrest_jan2010.pdf) and get your neighbors to do the same.

2) Go to a school board meeting or send the board and superintendent a
letter urging them to do the right thing. Keep Public Lands in Public Hands!
Save Aldercrest as our Community Park!

3) Go to a Shoreline or Lake Forest Park city council meeting and urge your
elected representatives to make it a top priority to secure this PUBLIC LAND
as park space.

4) Come to a joint meeting of Friends of Aldercrest and the Ballinger
Neighborhood Association where city staff will talk with us about several
big picture issues for our neighborhood. May 25, 7:00 PM at the Aldercrest
Learning Center, small gymnasium, at 2800 NE 200th Street.