Queen Anne &Magnolia news
Good governance underlines everything.
As I look at the current public safety issues across Seattle–the attacks on high school students, the recent violence committed on our public buses before that, and the tragic daily overdoses - fatal and nonfatal - I know that we deserve better, as a city and as constituents.
against the City’s adoption of the State public drug use and possession bill into our city’s municipal code, the result is a permissive environment that actively undermines our public safety, that has effectively created a 20-foot public safety hole we must now climb out of.
As a lifelong Seattleite, and Center School graduate, I love Queen Anne. My wife and I are proud to be raising our daughter here and I will continue to be a strong advocate for a safe, prosperous, and fun Queen Anne.
Queen Anne &Magnolia news Queen Anne &Magnolia news
The current City Council and the District 7 incumbent have failed to meet the standard of good governance in public safety policy. Whether it was our incumbent’s public pledge to defund the police, his sponsorship of the 2020 resolution to “phase reduction to police funding,” or his June 6th vote
I have been advocating for a return to good governance since I started running my campaign. Good governance means meeting with, and importantly, listening to all concerned parties and stakeholders along with understanding the problem as it’s experienced in our communities. As
KETTLE Page 2Æ
GALLERY OPENS
In my first term, I secured $19 million for a complete remodel of the Queen Anne Community Center. Originally planned to be a mere $4.5 million patch-up, this over $23 million renovation will be the most comprehensive update since the center was built in 1950. Planning work is ongoing, and I will make sure the community is extensively consulted before final decisions are made. I consider securing the capital
This Saturday, the A/NT gallery at Seattle Center opens its November Art Show. Their mission is to provide artists of all levels an opportunity to show and sell their work. Queen Anne artist and gallery show intern Casey Ailes is proud to have her work “Deconstructed Penguin” in the show (shown, being hung by curator Ron Jones). There will be an opening reception at the gallery 303 Harrison St., on Nov. 4 from 5-8 p.m. and the show will run until Nov. 24. More information at https://www.antgallery.org
plan to completely renovate the Queen Anne Community Center to be one of my biggest achievements during my first term in office. For generations, this investment has eluded the elected representatives of our community. It is a great relief to finally secure this necessary upgrade to benefit future generations of Queen Anne for decades to come. Groundbreaking is anticipated in 2025. In a second term, I want to build on this progress by expanding Queen Anne's recreational amenities. We need turf fields at Big Howe, full staffing and expanded hours for the Queen Anne Pool, and a new Upper Queen
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New off-leash areas planning raises concerns
By Jenn Scott Seattle Animal Watch
As Seattle’s days get shorter and the air turns crisper, many dogs and their owners eagerly await the announcement of new off-leash areas to visit. Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) is currently evaluating the survey results collected from the summer’s public meetings and outreach about the possible sites, which include two locations in Magnolia and Queen Anne. Results are anticipated in Fall/Winter 2023. However, the process has raised concerns. Citizen groups have worked for years with SPR to provide adequate space within the city for the exercise and wellbeing of their animals and themselves. They question how much impact the new sites will actually have.
OVERVIEW
Seattle has experienced “exponential” growth in the number of dogs in the city over the past decade. The exact number is not known but estimates are anywhere between 187,000 and upwards of 400,000. In 2014, in acknowledgement of the continued growth of Seattle’s dog
Meet Bob Kettle candidate for Seattle City Council District 7
Meet Andrew Lewis incumbent for Seattle City Council District 7
Bob Kettle
Andrew Lewis
Queen Anne & Magnolia Worship Services
Sunday Worship at 10am Live Streamed on our Facebook page and YouTube. Simply look for Magnolia Lutheran Church.
Twelfth Church of Christ, Scientist
In Person and Online Church Services
All are welcome & warmly invited to join these healing services
For best audio results, please join by clicking on the link from your computer or smartphone and choose “Call Over Internet”
All Zoom Services Meeting ID: 418 806 2637 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4188062637
Sunday Services 11:00am – 12noon Pacific
Wednesday Testimonies 7:30pm – 8:30pm Pacific
Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lessons
Our weekly Bible Lesson Sermon may be found here: https://quarterly.christianscience.com/
Additional Healing Resources: ChristianScience.com CSWashington.com SeattleMetroReadingRoom.org
For additional assistance, please contact us at seattle12cs@gmail.com or 206.283.2300 ChristianScienceTwelfthSeattle.com
Queen Anne Dental Group
Dr. Frank J. Calvo & Family
Cosmetic, Implant, & General Dentistry
400 Boston St. 206-284-7812 www.QADG.net
Chiropractic AND Massage Therapy SERVING THE FAMILIES OF QUEEN ANN E SINCE 1991
Darrell Gibson, D.C. • Sarah Gibson, D.C. Graeme Gibson, D.C.
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KETTLE from Page 1Æ
a founding member (and current neighborhood Block Watch captain) of the Queen Anne Block-Watch Network, I know that community buy-in and support is key. We must look at a wide range of approaches too. For example, community amenities, like community centers and public libraries, can provide diversion programs that keep kids busy and out of trouble. Or as seen in the recent Seattle Times editorial, having things for people to do, or “social infrastructure,” is a great additional tool to have in breaking the cycle of addiction. To be clear with
respect to addiction, it’s not the only tool–we need to work with the State and King County to ensure funding and capacity for behavioral health and addiction recovery services–but it is still a tool that we should use.
We’re facing real challenges in public safety and public health, but these challenges aren’t insurmountable.
All we need is principled leadership more committed to delivering on-the-ground results than to political platitudes and understanding that in order to succeed in public safety we must also succeed in public health. By working together to vote in a reset of the City Council, then a reset of the
Anne off leash dog run. As someone with a strong record of securing needed investments for the Queen Anne community I am by far the best positioned candidate to deliver on these essential improvements. Another critical priority during my first term has been public safety and health. My office has led on critical initiatives, including expanding park rangers and behavioral mental health alternative 911 response. On our ranger program, I worked with Mayor Harrell to expand the number of rangers from two to twenty-eight
relationship between the City Council and the SPD, and investing in communitylevel solutions, we can meet this challenge and rise to the occasion.
Why am I running? Yes, I’m running because of my concerns over the City Council’s failure to address public safety, public health, and homelessness but also because our city has become less affordable, less green, and less connected to our neighborhoods. In contrast, I will bring leadership with a North Star that understands it needs to bring accountability and transparency and also good governance. So, I now humbly ask for your vote. Thank you.
to make sure our parks are clean, safe, and open. Rangers issue citations for violations of park rules. They are a great new asset for true community safety.
On mental health response, I partnered with Mayor Harrell to create our new Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department. CARE will dispatch trained mental health clinicians to de-escalate and provide treatment to community members experiencing crisis. This will free up police to respond to calls only they can handle. A wholly beneficial new service. However, these services are
LEWIS from Page 1Æ currently only available Downtown. Term one was defined by securing these services, term two will be defined by expanding them, including to Queen Anne and Magnolia. As the candidate who brought people together to secure these new services I am best equipped to advocate for their expansion. I stand by my record of bringing people together to deliver for Queen Anne and Magnolia. For decades, city hall ignored pleas to renovate our crumbling community centers. I delivered. When we needed a new mental health 911 response I stepped up. In a time of great polarization and divisiveness I have my eye on the bottom line. I will continue to deliver real substantive change for the people of District 7.
Bayview's Journey: Embracing LGBT seniors over the years
October was LGBTQ History Month, and it gave those of us who work at Bayview a chance to reflect on the changes we’ve seen at this senior living community over the years.
When I first started working at Bayview back in 2001, one would have thought we had no LGBT residents living among us, be it in independent living, assisted living, or skilled nursing (we had no dedicated Memory Care unit back then). Those of us that worked here slowly learned over time that in fact we had several LGBT residents, but none of them would have shared that with the general community. Some residents would share with me in whispered tones, after they felt they could trust that it wouldn’t get back to anyone. Crazy to think about that now! But back then, many of our residents were coming of age in the 1920s and 1930s and this was not exactly socially acceptable. Sure, we had female couples who shared apartments, but they were only ever referred to as friends. Never as partners, and certainly never as spouses.
Fast forward to today, and we have a growing community of LGBT residents, some are married to same sex partners, some are single, but most proudly identify as LGBT. In fact, at last count approximately 10% of our residents identify as LGBT.
For any older adult, finding a supportive community is important, especially as family members move away,
Nancy Weinbeck
partners and loved ones pass, and social worlds get smaller. This can hit our LGBT elders even harder if they have no children or family or a support community to provide that human connection. It is critical for senior living communities like Bayview to provide that safe and supportive environment for our LGBT elders as they age. Bayview has taken that one step further and became platinum Sagecare certified. Sagecare provides LGBTQ+ aging cultural competency training. It’s through our training that we learned to drop the “Q” as many folks from older generations have different connotations of “queer” than today’s LGBTQ youth and adults.
As nearly 30 years have passed since the establishment of LGBT History Month, we at Bayview join other individuals and organizations to pay tribute to those who fought for equality and acceptance and paved a path forward for us all.
Nancy Weinbeck is the CEO of Bayview in Queen Anne.
population and limitations of existing OffLeash Area (OLA) resources, the City of Seattle’s Adopted Budget included a City Council Statement of Legislative Intent (SI 69-1-B-1) requesting that SPR work with Citizens for Off Leash Areas (COLA) and other stakeholder groups to develop a master plan for the existing 14 OLA and to plan for acquisition and expansion OLA projects. In 2017, SPR published the master plan called, the People, Dogs & Parks Plan. This plan was developed to identify strategies for maintaining and expanding OLAs and improving the experience of people who use these areas.
Citizen groups such as COLA have lobbied for decades to increase the quantity and quality of OLAs for the city’s growing number of dogs. They have also been concerned about geographic equity, noting that lower income citizens who may not have cars experience barriers to accessing the majority of Seattle’s dog park acreage due to park locations.
In recognition of these concerns, Seattle Parks, and Recreation (SPR) conducted an Off-Leash Area Expansion study between 2022-2023. SPR’s website says that though they have “had some success increasing the number of OLAs gradually over the years in partnership with [the] community, the current situation calls for a more concrete and robust response; one which not only helps increase the number of individual OLAs over the coming years, but also improves the overall quality and experience of our existing OLAs.” As a result of the OLA Expansion Study, SPR plans to develop two new off-leash dog parks with the exact locations and dates to be announced this fall or winter. A third site will be identified on the same timeline for future development once funds are secured. Rachel Schulkin, Public Affairs Manager for SPR, says that “SPR is excited about the Off Leash Area plan and that we have funding to be responsive to the growing dog population in the city, and the public’s desire for more LEASH from Page 1Æ
According to a COLA report, three quarters of OLA acreage is consolidated in just 4 OLA. Access to water is highly valued by dogs and their people, yet Seattle has only one park where dogs can legally swim and that is in
the Laurelhurst neighborhood. According to COLA, the only OLA in Southeast Seattle is the Genesee Park, located in a former waste dump, which serves users from Madison Park to Skyway.
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dog parks.
To arrive at these locations, SPR conducted an extensive study of 32 potential sites. They used criteria to narrow the list down to 9 “preferred sites”, with one already determined to be in West Seattle. This summer, city residents had the opportunity to provide input via an online survey which asked about the pros and cons of each site. SPR also held a series of in-person engagement sessions to gather
input from Seattle residents. While supporting the addition of new dog parks in Seattle, the two citizen advocacy groups contracted with SPR to provide stewardship and assist in maintaining the existing OLAs have concerns about SPR’s plans.
CITIZENS FOR OFF LEASH AREAS’ (COLA) CONCERNS
Except for Magnuson Dog Park which has a separate stewardship organization, Seattle Citizens for Off Leash
Areas (COLA) is the nonprofit that manages all other OLAs in the city through volunteer stewards. According to their website, they also “financially supplement the Parks Department’s efforts for sand, gravel, and many other basic necessities,” working with SPR as specified in the Dog Off-Leash Master Plan. They are tireless advocates for increasing the number of Seattle’s dog parks and say that even with the planned new parks, Seattle will “continue to lag behind peer cities like Vancouver, Portland, and San Francisco” and that a dearth of OLA creates parks that are “overcrowded and overused.”
While COLA was consulted for advice about the current dog park expansion project, they say that much of their input was ignored by SPR and that the current plan “has significant shortcomings to solve the lack of off-leash space.” COLA says that the nine candidates for new OLAs are too small, with the largest one only half an acre. Alec Rodenhauser, Board Chair for COLA, says that small OLA tend to be used less often than their larger counterparts. In a prepared statement, Schulkin responded that the department does understand the advantages of larger
OLAs but added that there is competition for use of the limited land available. Given that, they have focused on smaller sites to “advance their goal of creating OLAs that are increasingly within walking distance of residents and allow [SPR] to fill in geographic gaps where neighborhoods lack access to an OLA.
COLA questions SPR’s decision to exclude beach access for environmental reasons even though monitoring indicates it hasn’t been a significant issue in areas studied. They would have liked the plan to include consideration for expanding the size of the current OLA to reduce overcrowding. They also say that “the plan doesn’t consider any sites on any non-SPR public land, even though there is opportunity on WSDOT and City Light properties, and both those agencies have indicated a willingness to work with SPR.” Schulkin responded that SPR focused on existing SPR properties in this study because they provided the best opportunity for developing new OLAs in Seattle in the short term. She says that while this study focused on SPR properties, OLAs can still be developed through inter-agency partnerships and
cited the Georgetown Flume OLA project as an example. Through this project, Seattle City Light will transfer a 46,000-square foot plot of land to Seattle Department of Transportation (SDPT) and SPR to develop a new OLA and pedestrian thoroughfare in the Georgetown neighborhood. Schulkin says these inter-agency collaborations take more time due to the negotiation involved but that SPR remains open to future opportunities for such partnerships.
MAGNUSON OFF LEASH GROUP’S (M.O.L.G.) CONCERNS
Carice Nolen, steward and president of the Magnuson Off Leash Group, shares COLA’s concerns about excluding waterfront areas from the new plan. Beyond comments on the current plan, she has significant concerns about maintenance of Seattle’s current OLAs. While she is very supportive of new parks, particularly in the South End, to address equity issues, she believes that some of the 3.6 million dollars being spent to fund the new OLAs would be better spent
improving the existing OLAs. Nolen believes that dog parks are important for people as outdoor community centers and that they offer an increasingly rare place for connection. She says that the current $125,000 budget to support maintenance of the 14 existing OLAs is not adequate to ensure that parks are clean and safe for both pets and people, citing hazards ranging from proliferating foxtail plants at several parks to exposed rebar on the ground at Greenlake. The parks also suffer the effects of crime and vandalism. In the current state, Nolen says the non-profit groups looking to improve conditions in the OLAs they steward must “beg for funds and assistance” from the city, leading her to believe that the current construct for maintaining the parks, a non-profit – city partnership codified in a contract, is outdated. She adds that if the stewards don’t bring the problems to SPR’s attention, they remain unchecked and unaddressed. Nolen believes that “SPR is actively making the parks more dangerous by not tracking and monitoring
Photo credit
The map (above) illustrates existing OLAs (green dots). The blue dots indicate locations of three new sites already in the planning phase, as funded by the previous cycle of the Metropolitan Park District (MPD). For more information, go to https://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/plans-andreports/recreation-plans-and-reports/off-leash-area-study
trends, usage and complaints, in part because the politicallybased construct deems something operationally unfeasible.” The Magnuson group says that increased funding is necessary, along with SPR staff dedicated to providing services for a more responsive and professionally managed OLA system.
Schulkin responded that
funding for the creation of new OLAs does not take away funding for maintenance of existing OLAs. She says that SPR is obligated to distribute funding on maintenance or capital improvement projects across the OLA system. She acknowledged that foxtail and other invasive species are a problem across the park system, not just OLA, and
that eradicating these invasive species is an ongoing challenge that SPR continues to work to address through their integrated pest management plan. Schulkin says that SPR “welcomes any opportunities for additional funding from private sponsorships and regularly encourages and supports OLA steward groups in securing those sponsorships.”
CITYWIDE PLANNING NEEDED
As stated on their website, the Magnuson group is advocating development of a Seattle Dog Advisory Commission made up of local dog experts including veterinarians, behaviorists, and trainers as well as risk, climate, and program development advisors to better represent the “dynamic viewpoints of users and what those in the know might recommend…and to better connect operational constancy between SPR, Seattle Animal Shelter, and various dog non-profits.” Nolen also states that opportunities for increased funding for the OLAs identified in the People, Dogs, and Parks Plan, most notably, a permitting process for professional dog walkers,
should be implemented. She feels that the $3.6 million being spent on new parks is a “slap in the muzzle for every dog owner” who wonders why the existing OLA are not better maintained or monitored now.
NEXT STEPS
Both COLA and M.O.L.G. encouraged citizens who use the parks to provide feedback to the SPR, offering talking points for completing openended questions in the SPR survey. The public comment portion of the OLA Expansion Study is now closed. SPR is currently analyzing survey data and will present its findings to the public and post them on their OLA Expansion Study webpage sometime in late fall or winter 2023. SPR’s website says that once sites for the new OLAs are announced, there will be further opportunities for nearby neighbors and frequent park users to provide input to SPR. A version of this article appeared on the Seattle Animal Watch (SAW) website. SAW is an all-volunteer organization that uses evidence-based advocacy to improve local laws and build community support for animal welfare.
