For the second year, Egan's and Susan Harper teamed up to put on an enchanted night of entertainment to benefit Groundswell NW on November 10, 2012. A nearly packed house enjoyed an hour and a half of great local acts and delicious food and drink to support our third decade of creating parks and habitat in NW Seattle.

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Last summer's warm weather brought an increase in drinking, camping and other illegal activity at Salmon Bay Natural Area. To help address these issues, we held a workparty Aug. 27 to weed, clean up, and thin some of the shrubs to open up sight lines to the plaza. Then we focused on positive solutions a meeting of stakeholders, including neighbors, community members and agencies with some role in managing the site on Aug. 30. Thanks to The Canal for hosting the meeting, and to representatives of Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Department of Transpotation and Seattle Police Department for attending. Later in the fall, Seattle Conservation Corps transplanted several shrubs to further open up sight lines and block unauthorized access paths. Things were much quieter at the site in the late summer, and we are committed to keeping it safe and attractive for all. 

The draft Seattle Parks and Recreation 2011 Development Plan is now available on-line for your review at this website: http://seattle.gov/parks/Publications/DevelopmentPlan.htm.

Seattle Parks and Recreation 2011 Development Plan updates the 2006 Development Plan. This plan is specific to acquisition and development efforts that will be pursued over the next five to six years, primarily for outdoor recreation and open space. The Plan includes goals and policies, analyzes demands and needs, and identifies capital improvement projects that help implement that Development Plan. 

Thanks to all who attended our March 2 annual meeting, and especially to Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, Chair of the Parks and Seattle Center Committee, for coming to discuss the state of parks in the current tough budget situation (see Sally's blog and this KOMO story). Catherine Darley was elected President, following two years of service by Andrea Faste, and Lydia Marshall and Dawn Hemminger were elected to continue their roles as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

Three Local Heroes awards recognized volunteers who go well beyond the call of duty, which is truly what makes an organization like Groundswell work (more in this article by 2010 Local Hero Michael Harthorne). We recognize two volunteers for their hands-on efforts, one through Groundswell work parties and one on her own initiative, and another for his leadership on a number of fronts in the community.

Carol Duescher lives in Magnolia and on her own initiative does a daily sweep of parks and public access sites, typically starting in the wee hours at Discovery Park and working her way along Commodore Way, over the Ballard Bridge and around to Salmon Bay Natural Area, picking up trash and sorting out recyclables. Thank you, Carol, for your remarkable efforts to help keep the shores of Salmon Bay clean!

Mark Blitzer has been a steady volunteer at the Salmon Bay Natural Area, where he came to one of our early work parties and just kept coming back. Organizing volunteer work parties can be a lonely task, so it is very heartening to find a volunteer who can nearly always be counted on to show up and do whatever is needed. Mark is that kind of volunteer, and he also pitches in at other work parties, whether for other Groundswell projects or other environmental organizations.

Robert Drucker has emerged as a community leader, serving as a trustee for the Sunset Hill Community Association, representing it at the Ballard District Council, then representing Ballard at the City Neighborhood Council. He served on the Neighborhood Matching Fund Citywide Review Team, helping award grants for community project throughout the city. He was recently elected to his 2nd term as Sunset Hill Community Association President, where he has overseen the creation of a successful raingarden at their clubhouse. More recently, he spearheaded the Sunstation Park design project, co-sponsored by Groundswell, which resulted in an innovative concept for transforming a surplussed City Light substation into a solar generation park and community gathering space.