Tag Archives: parks

‘Inclusivity, equity, and accessibility’ — Seattle Parks working with Central District partners to plan $2.3M Judkins Park renovation

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Judkins Park (Image: Seattle Parks)

The Seattle Parks department and community partners including the Africatown Community Land Trust are gathering community feedback on a planned $2.3 million overhaul of the Central District’s Judkins Park.

Seattle Parks says it is working with Africatown Community Land Trust, No More Under, A Personal Point of View LLC, and Inclusion Matters, to renovate Judkins Park “to advance inclusivity, equity, and accessibility.”

“By leveraging public-private partnerships, the project aims to maximize benefits to the community,” the Seattle Parks announcement of the project reads. “The Judkins Park neighborhood’s history of redlining, displacement, and gentrification underscores the need for intentional efforts toward inclusivity and addressing disparities in access.”

A meeting will be held Thursday night to kick off community engagement around the project but you can also add your thoughts online via this survey with questions about features and programming you would like to see added to the six-acre park and playfield including ideas for shaping new spray park, inclusive playground, a nature sensory area, and an area for hillside play features. Continue reading →

Montlake Community Center reopens after 15-month construction project removes ’60 documented barriers to accessibility’

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(Image: Seattle Parks)

A 15-month construction project has finally wrapped up as the city’s parks department has tackled “60 documented barriers to accessibility” around the Montlake Community Center.

The facility has finally reopened after the $1.7 million construction project that started in November 2023. Continue reading →

Garfield Super Block meeting will discuss planned parkour park, a first in Seattle

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(Image: Parkour Visions)

Sunday evening will bring “a conversation on intergenerational play” in a community meeting about a parkour park planned to be part of the Garfield Super Block project.

The December 8th, 6 PM session at the Central District’s nearby Metier Brewing will include a panel discussion including parkour practitioners, coaches, and community representatives about the “history of the practice and its importance in Seattle.”

The parkour park element would be the first in the city. Continue reading →

Hope for Cal Anderson Shelterhouse as renewed community center for Capitol Hill’s popular park with plans for meals, clothing swaps, and more

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(Image: Seattle Parks Foundation)

The Cal Anderson Park Shelterhouse (Image: The Olmsted Network)

With reporting by Hannah Saunders

After years of emptiness and unuse, the community space at the center of Cal Anderson Park is ready to be part of efforts to bring more activity — and positive energy — to this core of Capitol Hill.

The Cal Anderson Shelterhouse is available again for neighborhood meetings and events and the Cal Anderson Park Alliance wants you to know the 900-square-foot asset is there and waiting for you — and easy to use. The reopening is part of what is hoped to be a ripple of increased activity around the park and use of nearby community spaces.

“It’s important that the community starts to see real possibilities to own and utilize public spaces. Oftentimes I feel those spaces feel inaccessible and oftentimes are,” Aaron Carr, CAPA’s new activation manager said. “We start to see real opportunities for community to truly own space—that’s what I hope to see, that people truly feel like that’s our Shelterhouse and that it’s viewed as a community resource.” Continue reading →

There’s an art exhibition opening this weekend below the I-5 freeway between Eastlake and Capitol Hill

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Artist Matthew Offenbacher has chosen an unusual gallery for a painting exhibition in his neighborhood spanning Capitol Hill and Eastlake set to open this weekend.

“It really was calling to me. It’s very much like a lot of spaces the city has been sweeping encampments from,” Offenbacher says of the liminal space of the I-5 Colonnade, the sloping, 7.5 acre park beneath the echoing freeway.

Offenbacher’s Charms exhibition includes seven paintings mounted on columns that support the elevated freeway between Capitol Hill and Eastlake.

“I made these paintings using aluminum foil, holographic film and glitter, and am thinking of them as protection charms for the city,” Offenbacher writes about the showing.

A visual artists who has been creating and organizing in Seattle for more than a decade, Offenbacher said the new show is a return to creating inspired by the 2020 protests, the Seattle police and prison abolitionist groups Defend the Defund, and the Seattle Solidarity Budget.

“I took a big step back and reevaluated my role as an artist,” Offenbacher said. “This show is a first attempt at how to bring these things together.” Continue reading →

A new place to play on E Union: Upgraded TT Minor Play Area unveiled

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(Image: Seattle Parks)

Seattle Parks is officially unveiling the $500,000 summer makeover of the TT Minor Play Area.

The E. Union playground next to the Seattle Public Schools campus was overhauled in June by volunteers as part of the Greater & Greener Conference, a gathering of parks officials and designers.

Seattle Parks says around 50 conference attendees joined the department and Play Creation to help construct the new play area, “which is now a vibrant community space for children and families.” The two main structures of the play equipment were donated by Landscape Structures and Play Creation, the city says. Continue reading →

City seeks feedback on projects to address equity gaps in Seattle’s park system

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(Image: Seattle Parks and Recreation)

Summer is survey season for Seattle’s parks. Seattle Parks and Recreation is conducting a process to select new projects in underserved areas of the city as part of a $5.2 million Park CommUNITY Fund effort over the next two years.

STEP 1: Project Selection< Community Selection Community Selection is open to anyone who lives, works, and plays in Seattle or is part of a Tribal government.

  • A community member may cast one ballot per region, and may choose up to 3 projects per region.
  • Projects marked as Citywide can also be selected; however, these projects include locations from other Seattle neighborhoods and not just the ones in this region.
  • If you need assistance or request forms in other languages, contact us at [email protected] or 206-886-6522.

2024 – 2025 Funding Allocations

This cycle has $5.2 million budgeted between 2024 and 2025 to be allocated towards projects. In Seattle, we have nearly 53 neighborhoods, so we have divided funding by the 4 regions (North, Central, West, and South) to help community select projects.

The goals of the program include “expanding inclusive access” and addressing equity gaps “in access to quality parks and park facilities.” Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Cal Anderson Park is also having a Rat Summer

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While the city and community organizations work to put on events like this past weekend’s Capitol Hill Garage Sale Day to help activate the park, Cal Anderson seems to stay pretty activated on its own, thanks very much.

Recently, artistic rodent creations popped up in the park in a kind of rat art scavenger hunt.

Rat summer, indeed. Continue reading →

Long path to creating new city park on donated Capitol Hill Bullitt property includes landmarks negotiations, no funding until 2029

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The property from above in the summer of 2022

Funding to create a new city park out of 1.6 acres of North Capitol Hill land donated after the death of philanthropist Kay Bullitt won’t be available for another five years and the 1955-built house at the center of the property is on its way to becoming a protected landmark but there are hopes for opening the space for use in the interim, Seattle Parks and Recreation said last week.

In a summer update on the 1125 Harvard Ave E project, the parks department says negotiations are underway to establish architectural protections to preserve the Bullitt home.

Meanwhile, the earliest Seattle Park District funding “for the full design and development of the entire site” won’t be in place until 2029.

Currently, the 1955-built A-frame style house at the center of the property is on its way to becoming an official city landmark and would be preserved as part of the new park plan. Settle Parks said last week it is negotiating with the Landmarks Preservation Board “to determine which site or house elements are specifically protected or exempted, also known as ‘Controls and Incentives,'”

“The controls will directly affect how the site and house may be renovated for future uses,” the department update reads. Continue reading →

Cal Anderson’s wading pool will remain dry this summer — Here’s how a new way to stay cool in the park is coming together

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With reporting by Nova Berger/CHS Intern

As the Seattle Parks Department and community and business groups work to make improvements and add new features to bring more activity to Cal Anderson and help address public safety issues around the busy Capitol Hill park, there is a big, wet opportunity right there and waiting this summer.

The Cal Anderson Park Alliance is working on early planning for reactivating — or replacing — the park’s wading pool that has sat dry for years thanks to a confluence of budget issues and needed repairs and construction.

The pool was officially drained and closed in 2020 as part of the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CAPA is now leading efforts to explore the future of the wading pool. They are working with the city to evaluate options for the space that they hope will improve the park while also providing a needed resource when temperatures soar in the neighborhood. Continue reading →