Cal Anderson homeless encampment ‘obstruction clean-up’ came during search for killer

While Seattle Police detectives were spending the overnight hours secretly watching for a suspect feared to be preying on people sleeping outside in the area’s streets and parks, city clearance crews were also being dispatched to clear encampments around Capitol Hill.

In one example, according to a SPD brief on the inclusion of their personnel to provide security for the “obstruction clean-up” operation, Seattle Parks and Recreation and SDOT led a clean-up along Nagle Place on the west edge of Cal Anderson last Friday morning out of concerns around the attacks.

“Recent incidents of stabbings and assaults in the area prompted the request for immediate intervention,” the brief reads. Continue reading

Nagle Place ‘shank’ stabbing sends one to hospital

A woman was rushed to the hospital in critical condition after a stabbing Saturday morning on Nagle Place west of Cal Anderson.

Police and Seattle Fire were called to the street near the park’s fountain around 9:30 AM where the victim was reported down and uncious.

A woman man in critical condition from stab wounds was reported transported to Harborview by Seattle Fire, according to police radio updates. UPDATE: SFD says the victim was a man in his 30s.

The suspect used a “shank” in the attack, according to police radio.

According to radio updates, police were able to learn the identity of the alleged attacker and were searching the area for a man matching his description. Continue reading

Seattle Parks collecting feedback on 2024 Parks and Open Space Plan

The Bullitt property will one day be home to an official city park

The Seattle Parks department is collecting feedback on the next update to its strategies for determining where in the city to develop new park space and make improvements to existing facilities.

You have until March 9th to weigh in on the latest update to the Parks and Open Space Plan.

The parks department says the plan helps determine “where park development, improvements, and asset maintenance projects should occur; and where open space should be prioritized for acquisition.”

Every six years, Seattle Parks must update the plan to maintain the city’s eligibility for state grants. Continue reading

Hollingsworth’s parks and utilities committee gets down to business considering Cedar River trees

An example of a healthy Cedar River forest from Wednesday’s briefing (Image: City of Seattle)

While most of the rest of the newly formed Seattle City Council committees have gotten off to slow starts this year with overviews and introductory presentations from the city departments they represent, the committee chaired by first-term District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth was all business Wednesday afternoon hearing the introduction of legislation that would clear the way for the city to thin the thickly grown forest around its highly protected Cedar River Watershed for “ecological thinning” and a limited timber sale.

The first bit of business pertained to issues far from Capitol Hill and the Central District in the city-owned forestland along the Cedar River in eastern King County.

With support from the Muckleshoot Tribe, the legislation that started with Hollingsworth’s committee Wednesday would authorize Seattle Public Utilities to sell timber as surplus property from the thinning effort as it works to clear 600 out of the watershed’s 90,638 acres over five years. Proceeds would go into the city’s Water Fund. Continue reading

D3’s new rep will lead Seattle City Council’s Parks, Public Utilities & Technology committee — Meanwhile, Sawant’s Renters’ Rights committee is no more

Graffiti in protest of the removal of the Black Lives Memorial Garden from Cal Anderson

 

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District 3’s rookie city council member will chair a catch-all committee including leading legislative efforts around public utilities, technology, and the city’s parks and recreation department.

Meanwhile, the Seattle City Council has disbanded her District 3 predecessor’s Renters’ Rights committee.

Joy Hollingsworth, whose father was a longtime Seattle Parks employee before using his retirement savings to start the family’s cannabis farming business, is beginning her term chairing the Parks, Public Utilities & Technology committee. The committee is slated to meet every second and fourth Wednesday of the month. Continue reading

Bring your food truck — or yoga class or kid camp or ice cream trailer — to Cal Anderson and Volunteer Park this summer

(Image: Seattle Parks)

The Seattle Parks department is looking for vendors who want to do business in Capitol Hill’s largest parks.

Seattle Parks and Recreation has opened the annual process for proposals for both food concessions and non-food concessions in its city park system including Cal Anderson Park and Volunteer Park.

“Seattle Parks is looking for innovative proposals to provide services in our beloved city parks,” the announcement reads. “From food to non-food services, we want to hear from you.” Continue reading

No rush on new park for North Capitol Hill — no money to pay for it until 2029

The property from above in the summer of 2022

Sorry for the late notice — we just found out about it, too

It is extremely late notice but apparently there is time.

Seattle Parks says a meeting it is holding Wednesday night to update the community on design plans for a new city park on 1.6 acres of North Capitol Hill land formerly owned by the Bullitt family will include a call for patience — it won’t have the funding it needs to complete the project until 2029 at the earliest.

Superintendent AP Diaz and the city’s parks and rec department are holding the meeting on the important updates for the planned park in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods with little public notice. It didn’t send details to media about the meeting and didn’t post about it on its social media accounts.

CHS has asked officials what’s up with the oversight and for copies of the materials to be presented so we can share the details more widely. UPDATE: Technical difficulties! Sounds like there is an issue with email coming into CHS. We’re taking a look at what’s up. In the meantime, the city says it will post a recording from Wednesday’s meeting later this week.

The land and 69-year-old home on the property left to the city after the death of philanthropist Kay Bullitt stretches out on the northwest slopes of Capitol Hill in the prestigious Harvard-Belmont Landmark District. CHS reported in 2022 on the early planning for the new park project including a survey that planners said showed preferences for developing the new park land “as a quiet, contemplative place” while making space for the Cass Turnbull Garden as part of the site, a project from Seattle nonprofit Plant Amnesty honoring its late founder. Continue reading

Fields damaged during Seattle freeze leave youth and recreational sports schedules a mess — UPDATE

The many colored lines of the Washington Park field (Image: City of Seattle)

Several sports fields across Seattle are closed and in need of repairs after a sustained bout of freezing temperatures has caused damage to the synthetic turf. Seattle Parks says at least nine of the fields at its facilities have been reported damaged and the Seattle Public Schools system has closed all of its turf fields to “assess the severity and scope of the damage on their fields.”

“Unfortunately, this weekend with the extreme freezing weather, a number of SPR (Seattle Parks) and SPS (Seattle Public Schools) synthetic turf fields experienced buckling and damage underneath the turf, resulting in lumps, divots and craters in areas of the field that make them unplayable,” the statement from the city parks department read. Continue reading

‘KEEP DENNY BLAINE NUDE’ — Hundreds fill Seattle Parks meeting to oppose play area backed by private donor — UPDATE: Plan nixed!

Seattle Parks and Recreation says it is considering community feedback and expects to make a decision within weeks on a new kids play area at Denny Blaine after a public meeting on the project drew hundreds of supporters who want to protect the park’s place as an important gathering space for the naturist and queer communities along the shores of Lake Washington.

“We finally found a place where we can be free and open,” one speaker among the hundreds opposing the project said at Wednesday night’s meeting held at the Martin Luther King FAME Community Center. “Kids need a place to play but adults do, too.”

The voices from Wednesday’s meeting are being joined by leaders at Seattle City Hall.

“The consideration of Denny Blaine Park for a playground comes at a time when the queer community nationwide is under attacks on all fronts,” citywide councilmember Teresa Mosqueda said in a statement. “As we have heard in public comment, correspondence from community members, and in recent news coverage, Denny Blaine Park is a Seattle LGBTQIAP+ institution. I am concerned that consideration of funding from an anonymous donation to create a playground on this site plays into harmful stereotypes and creates division within our community where there was none—and could potentially put members of our LGBTQIAP+ community in harm’s way given regulations and norms around nudity in our state, which providing space for a nude beach is designed to help address.”

UPDATE 12/8/23: Seattle Parks has heard the message loud and clear. The play area project at Denny Blaine Park will “not move forward,” a representative tell CHS.

“After hearing from many community members who participated in the community process on the proposed play area project at Denny Blaine Park, Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) has decided not to move forward with the play area project at Denny Blaine,” the statement reads. “While this area of our city still lacks accessible play equipment for kids and families, we understand the feedback that this particular park is not the best location, and we will evaluate other location alternatives.”

The parks department tell CHS it is planning to meet “with leaders in the LGBTQIA+ community to better understand the importance of this beach to the community and the hopes for future uses.”

Many members of the public spoke to the importance of this space and use as a beach, and the cohesion it has brought within the LGBTQIA+ community. Additionally, community spoke of the unintended consequences adding a play area to this beach site would possibly bring. This is why we have a robust community engagement process, ensuring all people – including those who have been historically marginalized – have their voices heard and perspectives considered.

ORIGINAL REPORT: District 3 representative Kshama Sawant says her office has received hundreds of email opposing the project. Continue reading

Work set to begin to repair Cal Anderson’s buckled sidewalks and save park’s Red Sunset Maples

(Image: SDOT)

Amid the the major challenges facing Capitol Hill’s central park, this is a small one. But work could start next week on a plan to save Cal Anderson’s Red Sunset Maples while also making it easier for everybody walking and rolling along the eastern edge of the popular park.

The Seattle Department of Transportation says work is tentatively scheduled to start Monday on a three-block project that will combine a variety of strategies including moving some areas of sidewalk, installing metal sidewalks that can leave more space for roots, and planting more trees along the park in an effort hoped to be wrapped up before the end of the year to replace cracked and buckled sections of sidewalk while preserving the park’s canopy.

“When this project is completed, we’ll have safer, smoother sidewalks for people walking and rolling, especially people with disabilities,” SDOT said in a statement sent to CHS. “At the same time, we’ll have more space for the street trees.” Continue reading