Thornton Creek Alliance General Meeting - Thursday

GREENWAYS & URBAN FORESTS

Natural Area Restoration, Volunteers, Crime & Personal Safety

Public Welcome!

Bring your ideas to an open discussion! Participate in brainstorming sessions with neighbors and community leaders.  Hear from others working to create better neighborhoods by integrating community interests.

January 26^th Thursday 7pm – 9pm

Meadowbrook Community Center,  10517 35th Ave. NE, Seattle 98125

ATTENDING:

Sally Bagshaw           Seattle City Council Chair of Parks Committee 

Terrie Johnston          SPD Community Liaison

Joanna Nelson de Flores          Green Seattle Partnership Project Manager

Chris Saleeba            Seattle Greenways

Emily Lofstedt            Seattle Parks and Recreation        

ALSO PARTICIPATING:

Blockwatch + Educators + Park Stewards + Parks Department + Tree Ambassador Program + Community Activists: Maple Leaf, Pinehurst, Shoreline,..

AND

Anyone who wants to explore how we nurture our natural areas while enhancing our personal safety in and around them.

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The spring meeting is March 22.  Call Judy Olson at 206-523-4384 with comments or post a message at facebook.com/Thornton.Creek.Alliance or write: TCA, PO BOX 25690, Seattle, WA 98165.  All meetings are free and open to the public.

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Agenda for Jan 26, 2012, General Meeting

Meadowbrook Community Center

10517 35th Ave. NE, Seattle 98125

7 to 9 p.m.

7:00 1. Announcements

7:04 2. Agenda Review

7:05 3. Program: Greenways & Urban Forests - Natural Area Restoration, Volunteers, Crime and Personal Safety  

City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw

Seattle Parks’ Emily Lofstedt

Seattle Greenways Rep Chris Saleeba

SPD Community Liaison Terrie Johnston

Green Seattle Partnership’s Joanna Nelson de Flores

--Judy Olson, Program Vice President

8:40 4. Business meeting

Review minutes - Tom Cunningham

Membership report - Ruth Williams

Web Page update - Dan Mahler/Doug Bostrom

Facebook update - Brad Johnson

Treasurer's report - Gary Olson

Other issues as time allows

8:55 5. A  9:55 5.  Adjourn

9:00 6. Room is empty! 

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Keep in touch with Thornton Creek Alliance! You can reach us at:

Frank Backus, Pres. - frankbackus1@gmail.com

Dan Mahler, 1st VP - kkmahler@earthlink.net

Ruth Williams,  Membership VP - ruthalice@comcast.net  

Judy Olson, Program VP -  judyngaryol@msn.com

Gary Olson, Treas.  – judyngaryol@msn.com

Tom Cunningham, Sec. - cunningham39@hotmail.com

Also find Thornton Creek Alliance on Facebook!

The Cromwell Park Grand Opening!

Cromwell Park is new "jewel in the crown" of Shoreline Parks!

Hundreds of neighbors, staff and celebrants gathered at Grand Opening
photo credit-Janet Way

And a good time was had by all........

Permanent plaque will be mounted and displayed

KC Councilmember Bob Ferguson congratulates Dick Deal and City of Shoreline
on completing this long term goal of refurbishing a former KC Park

Cromwell Park is a delight and a wonderful addition to central Shoreline.  Monday, August 30th was the Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening. Hundreds of visitors and celebrants participated. The weather was perfect for the evening celebration. A "blues" band, "Miles from Chicago" entertained the guests and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening thoroughly.

The Cromwell Park Project was undertaken after voters approved the 2006 Parks Bond.  Shoreline City Council approved the project after and extensive public process in 2007. It is a  combined projected for Parks and Public Works with funding from both budgets and grant funding as well. The intention was to improve the park which had previously been home to Cromwell Elementary School and then King County Courthouse, which also created the Park. For many years it was a "bifurcated" site, with the Courthouse (including an ugly detention pond with a chain link fence), a very dry and neglected ballfield, and a disconnected wetland and wooded section. The wetland and bog site had long ago been filled to create the site for the school. It is located between Meridian Ave N and Corliss Ave at 179th N. Parking is available all around.

Budget

• $1 million Park Bond Levy
• $650,000 Surface Water Utility Fund
• $50,000 King County
  Youth Sports Facility Grant
• $60,000 King County Waterworks Grant
• Additional Repair and Replacement Funds
• Additional Trail Corridor Funds
• 1% for the Arts

Since this is one of the most upstream headwaters of Thornton Creek where flooding is a common problem, the site was selected for a park makeover which would include restored wetlands with infiltration ponds.

Parks Director Dick Deal and designer Peggy Gaynor congratulate each other

Parks Project Director, Maureen Collaizi  congratulates Susan Black and Peg Gaynor
who headed up the design team. Peggy Gaynor has extensive experience with watershed
restorations, including the Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel and
Ravenna and Madrona Creek
Daylighting projects

Parks Director Dick Deal stated that over 400 trees were planted in the project and over 2.5 acre feet of wetland detention was provided by the project. Ronald Bog will benefit from this detention capacity when in large storm events. 

The project provided a vast improvement in "wetland function, with infiltration ponds which are all planted with thousands of native wetland plants, such as hard stem bullrush, red osier dogwood, native ash, cedar and even lupine, which will bloom even more next summer.

lupine planted around pond

Infiltration ponds are planted with an array of native wetland plants such as ask, red osier dogwood,
bullrush and lupine (view looking S towards church next door)

The Park also features an amphitheater, gazebo, ball field, basketball court, playground, picnic areas

and walking trails, which provide passive and active recreation opportunities for many residents of all ages.

playground and sports fields are clustered together
for families' convenience

City Staff awarded Manager Bob Olander a commemorative photo collage of all of the 2006 Parks Bond Projects completed to date. The Parks bond for about 19 million has been a huge success with many
projects around town now completed

Young soccer teams watch the presentation anxious to get playin'!

The event was attended by many elected officials, present and past and parks board members 

and city staff.

Souvenir Ribbon pieces from the ribbon cutting displayed
by l to r - Rep Maralyn Chase, former Mayor Cindy Ryu,
Norma Mayfield, Parks Bdmbr Boni Biery, former Clmbr Janet Way

Officials unveil commemorative plaque for Cromwell Park at ceremony

Appeal from Cedarbrook Park Coalition

Cedarbrook Park has captured the imagination of citizens in two cities.

The Shoreline School District was set to surplus the large open space on the border of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park. But citizen activists took action and put together an impressive effort. Now they need every one's help to push the stone up the hill. Take Action today by

 clicking below!

Dear Cedarbrook Supporter:

Simply click on this link: http://savecedarbrook.org/formproc/form.php

to view and then submit a strong message of support for Cedarbrook Park to your 
City Council Members and the Shoreline School Board.

Our permission from the Shoreline School Board to pursue funding for a park at the former 
Cedarbrook School location runs out in August, 2010. We have asked the school board for 
a three-year extension and the city councils of Lake Forest Park and Shoreline have passed 
resolutions in support of our request.

.                                            

Despite this show of support, the Shoreline School Board has yet to respond!  

Help us send a message to the City Councils of Lake Forest Park and Shoreline asking 
them to follow through on their pledge of support, and to the Shoreline School Board 
urging a positive response to our request for more time.

IT’S EASY TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!

Simply click on the link above to send your message directly to our City 
Council Members and to the Shoreline School Board. Two clicks and 
you’re finished.

Make your voice heard.

Thank you for your support.

The Coalition for the Preservation of Cedarbrook

George Piano, Chairman

Bob Farris, Vice President

Andrew Bradner, Treasurer

Simone Farris, Secretary

Board Members: Betsy Piano, Anita Bradner, Scott Messic,

Tami Johnson, Rich Osborne, Jeff Sackett, Luanne Brown

Friends of Aldercrest Presentation at Shoreline Parks Board

Friends of Aldercrest will be giving a short presentation to the Shoreline City Parks Board and Director of Parks & Rec, Dick Deal.

The purpose of this presentation is to ask the Parks board to support the addition of Aldercrest Annex to Shoreline's PROS plan. Currently, Shoreline's PROS plan identifies the north-east corner of Shoreline, namely Ballinger Neighborhood, lacks adequate park facilities to serve the community. Friends of Aldercrest want the Parks Board to acknowledge this gap and support a resolution encouraging the city and school district to start working towards a solution. Nearby Lake Forest Park will also benefit and should be encouraged to participate in a solution .

Aldercrest Annex has served the surrounding communities as a park for nearly 50 years - almost as long as the school has existed. Right now, it is the only place kids in the area can go to play baseball, soccer, fly planes, or just run across an open field. Population density in the area is increasing and demand for parks and open spaces will likewise increase.

Aldercrest Annex is still being held by the NEC municipal jail project and hopefully, with the completion of the environmental impact statement later in 2010 , it will be dropped from the list of possible jail sites. When that happens, the city and school district need to be on board with a plan for the city to acquire Aldercrest Annex property as a park.

We need a good showing support from the community at the February 25th Parks board meeting. All interested parties are invited to attend. Parks board meeting starts at 7:00pm in Council Chambers at Shoreline City Hall.

www.friendsofaldercrest.org

Photo Credit - Nancy Morerya

Why More Parks?

Vibrant cities have a good balance of private homes, retail and commercial, and public spaces. When city planning is done well, private interests and public spaces create a sustainable combination that further fuels the success. Cities that focus only on development of private interests, for instance, and ignore development in public spaces are not successful or sustainable.

No one will argue that the population in Western Washington is increasing. As cities like Shoreline and Lake Forest Park densify and development squeezes more dwellings in less space, the demand for open space and parks do not lessen; instead the demand increases. No longer having traditional back yards, people look to public lands to meet their needs for gardening and recreation. Most if not all multi-family structures lack the open space to meet the needs of their inhabitants.

In the Ballinger Neighborhood of Shoreline and nearby Lake Forest Park, densification is inevitable like most neighborhoods. Eventually single family parcels will be re-developed with higher density dwellings - often with little or no green space. Today, the residents in nearby condos, apartments, and houses use Aldercrest Annex for outdoor activities. Where will these families go without Aldercrest Annex - particularly when housing density increases?

Although Bruggers Bog Park is across the street from Aldercrest Annex, it is not appropriate for soccer, baseball, tennis, and other organized or individual sports. In fact, Shoreline Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan (PROS) has identified the Ballinger Neighborhood as deficient in community parks. The Lake Forest Park homes next to Aldercrest Annex have no public parks or open spaces to serve the community. Without Aldercrest Annex, the nearest park to play ball or tennis is about 2 miles away with Ballinger Way as an impediment slicing half of our neighborhood from the rest of the city.

Has Shoreline and Lake Forest Park been keeping up with the public space demand? A calculation of acres of parks per 1000 people is a simple way to compare city’s park interests against other neighboring cities. This calculation does not measure the quality or accessibility of the city’s parks but it does provide a basic comparative method. The chart below is a comparison of Shoreline’s park acres against 19 other cities in the Puget Sound. The chart shows that Shoreline and Lake Forest Park are at the bottom!

Aldercrest Annex is our community park and without it, Shoreline and Lake Forest Park will fall even further behind becoming a near-desert, devoid of the recreational space so needed by our communities.

The Cedarbrook Coalition

This article reprinted from Friday's Shoreline Area News.

It is authored by George Piano, Chair of the Cedarbrook Coalition.

The Cedarbrook Park is an example of several open space sites in Shoreline that have a great deal of support in the community for acquisition as new public parks. Currently, the funding climate for such acquisitions is more difficult, but the need is just as great as ever. There is actually a deficiency of Open Space and Parks in this part of Shoreline, and the City actually has less open space than many nearby cities, even though we do have some fine parks.

The citizens of two cities, Shoreline and Lake Forest Park which surround this potential parks site, find this is a refuge and recreation site that offers welcome respite and fun during this difficult economic time. The Shoreline School District has been taking the desires of the community and situation seriously.

The supporters of this site and others in town such as Aldercrest and Sunset have shown tremendous intitiative and community spirit. We wish them all good luck and success in their quests.

The Cedarbrook Coalition

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2010

By George Piano, Chairman Cedarbrook Coallition

In the fall of 2008, in response to the Shoreline School District’s expressed intent to surplus and sell the Cedarbrook Elementary School property to the highest bidder, a neighborhood group composed of residents of both Shoreline and Lake Forest Park, The Coalition for the Preservation of Cedarbrook, a registered 501(3)C non profit corporation, was formed. The goal of this group is to work with both communities to find a way to acquire and preserve the Cedarbrook property as an active neighborhood park. After introducing the Coalition to the Shoreline School Board and explaining our goal, the Coalition was given until August of 2010 to create a viable plan to purchase the property from the School District. Support for the Park continues to grow within our community. The Coalition has almost 1000 signatures on a petition of support and many subscribers to our website. The Shorelake Soccer Association has endorsed our efforts and has provided very generous financial support. During the past year we have made several presentations to both the Shoreline and Lake Forest Park City Councils to increase awareness and to develop official support.

It became clear that the process of raising the necessary funding for the purchase of the property in this tough economic climate was going to be a difficult and complex process and would require more time than the School Board had granted. With unanimous support from the Shoreline Parks and Recreation Board and the Lake Forest Park Community Services Commission, and with a great deal of help from Shoreline Parks Director Dick Deal, a Resolution of Support was drafted to present to the City Councils of both communities. The resolutions commit the Cities of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park to work together with the Cedarbrook Coalition to explore sources of funding to purchase and develop the Cedarbrook property as a park. The Resolutions also requests additional time from the Shoreline School District to accomplish this goal. This resolution was adopted unanimously by both City Councils. Now that both cities have officially pledged their support and commitment to working towards the acquisition of the Cedarbrook property, we are anxiously awaiting a positive response from the Shoreline School Board granting us the additional time necessary to make this community dream a reality.

The Cedarbrook Coalition is in the process of planning our spring and summer campaign to continue raising neighborhood support and awareness for the development of the park and is committed to working with the Shoreline School District and the Cities of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park to get this done. We welcome help from any and all folks interested in preserving the gem that is Cedarbrook, for our ourselves and for generations to come. Folks can learn more by visiting our website or contacting George Piano, Chairman. Cedarbrook Info The Cedarbrook property is approximately 10.6 acres. Currently there are several unused school buildings including a small administration building, a large classroom building, and a gym building that includes a large gym, a stage, a commercial kitchen, and several bathrooms. The property includes areas of native forest, open play fields, designated wetlands, and parking areas. Whisper Creek runs along the northern border of the property and is a lovely fish-bearing, year-round creek. Portions of this creek are currently being restored by the Lake Forest Park Stewardship Foundation. Working in conjunction with local citizens, a new foot bridge has been built linking the Cedarbrook property with the bordering Lake Forest Park and Shoreline neighborhoods, and areas along the creek have been cleared of invasive nonnative plants and are being replanted with native vegetation. A watershed that was once known as Cedarbrook Creek was diverted underground and into a culvert that runs across the playfield when the school was built. This creek eventually empties into Whisper Creek. The hope of the Cedarbrook Coalition is that, as part of the park development, we will be able to daylight this creek, restore fish and wildlife habitat, and see this stream once again flow in the sunlight. The property is a perfect opportunity to develop the only active park in this area that can include open play fields, basketball and tennis courts, a toddler playground, and perhaps a community center utilizing the existing gym. There is potential for a skateboard park, pea patches, nature trails, and a rest area for bicyclists puffing up Perkins Way on the new Trail connecting route. The possibilities are endless. Photos by Andrew M. Bradner