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Welcome to Groundswell NW |
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For more than a decade, Groundswell NW has accomplished major goals for community parks and habitat. Yes, Groundswell NW is about PROJECTS, lots of individual projects (neighborhood parks, tot lots, playfields, pocket parks, p-patches, streetscapes, traffic circles, greenbelts, salmon habitat and a lot more) that improve our quality of life. Projects don't just happen. These improvements to the places where we live, work and play come from PEOPLE in the community. People step forward with ideas and get together with neighbors and coworkers. They ask for help and resources from government and business. People work together to get projects done. Good things happen when people PARTICIPATE in their communities. Whether you are just starting or have been involved in community activities a long time, there is a place for you in Groundswell NW. |
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Sundaes in the Park - 8/17 |
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Special thanks to Northwest District Park Resources Crew and
Seattle Parks and Recreation for help with this event
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Support the Parks and Green Spaces Levy |
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Written by Dave Boyd
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I recently completed two months of intense work on a proposal to renew a parks levy on this fall's ballot. As just one member of a 28 person committee, I worked to make this a measure to continue to build on our green legacy. There were many compromises, as there should be, and the measure may not be everything I would have wanted, but it is a strong package that continues to fund many critical projects throughout the City. You can read more about this at the City Council website: http://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/parks_levy.htm.
The Council will hold one more public hearing on the levy package on Wednesday, July 16, 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers. If you have comments or ideas for the proposed levy that you would like to share with the Council as it reviews the Advisory Committee’s recommendations, please attend the hearing or send them to
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.
In Ballard and environs, the proposal includes $1.2 million to develop the Crown Hill Park, replacing and adding to funds from the ProParks measure that will be redirected to permanently preserve the land as public open space, $800,000 to develop the new park on the 7000 block of 9th Ave NW in Whittier Heights, $600,000 for Kiwanis Ravine and $500,000 to upgrade the Golden Gardens playground. The proposal also includes $30 million for open space acquisition in fast-growing and underserved areas like the Ballard Urban Village and , and $15 million in Opportunity Funds that could support many of the worthy projects that didn't make the final cut, continuing and building on the ProParks tradition that helped Ballard Corners and many other community-based projects citywide.
Groundswell NW encourages all to look at the many good things in the proposed levy package and urge City Council to continue funding our “green infrastructure” by putting this measure on the ballot this fall. See the support letter from the Green Legacy Coalition.
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Read more...
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Ballard Corners Moving Closer to Construction |
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The bids are in and work continues toward realizing this new park on 17th Ave NW between NW 62nd and 63rd Streets. See the details at the Ballard Corners website. |
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Walkable Crown Hill Plans Evolving |
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Written by Bert Hopkins, project coordinator
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Once again, we had a fantastic second design charrette on July 12th and had even more folks show up to participate. Thanks for getting the word out and energizing our neighborhood base. We all did great work prioritizing areas of the neighborhood requiring attention and focus and honed in on some specific strategies in small groups. We are excited to share out the results of the charrette in the attached documents which include the narrative of the priorities exercise, the results of the priorities tally, and the toolkit survey tabulation. You can also download a copy of the larger document of our "long block" alternatives.
Our Walkable Crown Hill coordinating committee is working with Makers Architects, which is supporting our planning process, to develop a draft of a plan based on the input from the two charrettes. We will be working with SDOT in particular in the coming weeks to clarify technical aspects of the plan and hope to have a draft ready to review with the community by late August. You can keep up with progress in the interim by checking out our website at walkablecrownhill.org.
Groundswell NW is pleased to be the fiscal sponsor for Walkable Crown Hill. |
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New Park on 9th Ave NW |
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Please join us in thanking Mayor Greg Nickels for participating in our Annual Meeting on March 11 (see photos) and bringing the exciting news of a preliminary agreement to purchase a 39,000 square foot property on the 7000 block of 9th Ave NW. Groundswell and Seattle Parks have had our eyes on this property, previously owned by the Seventh Elect Church in Israel, for nearly 18 years.
On May 4, there was a well-attended celebration of this new park purchase. See photos of the celebration here. You can keep up with the latest news about the new park on our web page here.
Covered largely with well kept gardens, this site fills a large gap in our open space network and promises to become an extremely valuable community asset for southeast Whittier Heights and all of Ballard. We thank the owners for their desire to preserve this property for a park, and Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher and his staff, particularly Donald Harris and Lise Ward, for acting quickly to reach this preliminary agreement. Over 50 interested neighbors attended a March 27 public meeting to discuss the pending purchase, which now has approval from the City Council. For more information, visit www.seattle.gov/parks/proparks/projects/BallardPark.htm, or contact Donald Harris, Seattle Parks and Recreation, 206-684-8018 or
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. We look forward to working with Seattle Parks and Recreation and neighbors of the site to plan and build Ballard's latest park. |
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