Strategic Development Plan Workshop for Magnuson Park

Please join us, and make your voice heard in setting priorities for the future of Warren G. Magnuson Park and the Historic District

Sat, February 11th, 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
The Brig at Magnuson Park, Garden Room
6344 NE 74th St

Strategic Development Plan Materials:

» Strategic Development Plan Workshop
» Sand Point Status Report Aug 2011
» Blue Ribbon Committee Report - Draft
» Planning Framework - Summary
» Consensus Items
» Accomplishments
» Wish List

Kathy Whitman, Aquatics Manager for the Seattle Parks Department, kindly summarized the impact of the Mayor’s proposed budget on swimmers:

"Our community centers took major cuts, but pools and beaches are not currently in line for any reductions for 2012.  The public comment phase has started and final decisions are made in November, but we are optimistic that we continue with our current funding.  Pools have been working hard to reduce expenses with investment in utility conservation. We raised fees for 2011 and still show an increase in attendance above 2010 levels, which is great.

Our next focus is on getting donations for swimming scholarships to make sure that we can serve low income families. "

For more information on donating for swimming scholarships, contact the Associated Recreation Council.

Particularly cool are Kathy’s words about Mounger Pool, the public outdoor pool in Magnolia.

"Our revenue projections for Mounger for this year show that we will be close to 100% recovery for both operations and maintenance."

Neat-o.  A public facility that almost completely covers its costs.  A great model for another, future outdoor pool in Seattle, eh? 

Last-but-not-least, here’s the City’s own summary of the impact of Mayor’s proposed budget:

“…the 2012 Proposed Budget maintains investments in public safety resources for downtown parks, maintains funding for all City-funded swimming pools, maintains lifeguards on all of the City’s public beaches, maintains 2011 funding levels for wading pools, and keeps all community centers open (the Rainier Beach Community Center and pool will reopen in 2013 following a closure for reconstruction).”

Kathy Whitman, Aquatics Manager for the Seattle Parks Department, passes on her thanks to community members whose fund-raising efforts kept wading pools open this year.  For example:

"…the Madrona neighborhood stepped up to provide funding for Saturday operation in 2011; without that support this wading pool would have been closed. 

Average daily attendance was near 200.  The cost for one day is $550 which has about 1/3 for staff and supplies… and 2/3 for water and drainage. 

Thanks to this community for stepping up to meet the challenge. "

According to MyGreenLake.com, scholarship money for swim lessons has already been used up for 2011.  Seattle Parks already reduces its lesson fees for low-income families, but even these reduced fees can be impractical for families.  $19,000 of scholarship money has already been used this year to further lower fees and make swim lessons an option for low-income families.

Parks is putting out a call for donations to keep scholarship funds available. Kathy Whitman, Aquatics Manager for the Seattle Parks Department, provides information on how to donate: SwimScholarships.doc.

Image from MyGreenLake.com

Seattle Parks and Recreation, which has had to make substantial cutbacks in the operations of its 25 wading pools because of budget reductions, is seeking partners interested in helping increase access to the pools during the eight-week 2011 summer season.

… Parks would pair wading pools as a way to ensure that balanced and equal recreational opportunities across our city. Under this partnership, Parks would keep the wading pool open one additional day each week in the neighborhood from which the funds came, and Parks would select a second site that the contribution would fund as well.

Resources:

• Overview from Parks (.docx)
• Details from Parks, including costs (.docx)
• Contact us if you’d like to connect with community fund raisers - we’ll put you in touch.

If you take the survey, Survey Monkey gives you an automatic tally of the results to-date. Interesting to see strong support for new funding strategies.

The survey is available until March 20, 2011.

However… if you’re looking for a more long-term relationship with a pool, you’ll quickly realize that the Swimmer’s Guide leaves out about half of the pools in Seattle. These additional pools may require a long-term membership or (sigh) 10 years of patience on a waitlist. Seattle’s public pools look likely to survive budget cuts this year, but swim times, locations and capacity are limited.

To help you locate pools of all varieties in Seattle, I put together a map using a free copy of Tableau Public. Caveats:

• If the map fails to render in Firefox, try Internet Explorer.
• The mapping tool had trouble with labels, but if you roll over any location, you’ll see the name of the pool.  The zoom (arrow pointer) also helps.
• The tool insisted on including a "Null" category of pools in the key - please ignore.

The size of any dot is roughly equivalent to the size of the pool.  I had accurate size information for the public pools (gallons of water), but had to estimate for most other pools using lanes/length/depth.  The big empty spot on the map is Beacon Hill.

If you have new/corrected data, I’d be happy to revise my spreadsheet and the map.  Just email.

The next thing on my wish-list:  Wouldn’t it be great to have a walkscore for pools?

Updated October 23, 2010 with 6 more pools.

Good news:

• No closures of pools or reductions in pool hours proposed.
• Rainier Beach pool will be replaced with a modern, multi-pool facility. During construction, RB will close for 2 years.
• Life guard hours at beaches will be maintained.

The Mayor’s budget summary forecasts unspecified fee increases (as suggested by many citizen comments), plus the following service cuts:

• Wading Pools: The 2010 mid-year budget reductions to Parks closed seven wading pools and reduced operating hours for 10, while five wading pools remained open seven days a week. The 2011-2012 Proposed Budget assumes the same operating capacity for 2011 as was offered in 2010. Wading pools at Green Lake, Lincoln, Magnuson, Van Asselt, and Volunteer Park will be open seven days a week in the summer months. Wading pools at South Park, East Queen Anne, Cal Anderson, Dahl, Delridge, Wallingford, Hiawatha, Bitter Lake, E.C. Hughes, and Sound View Parks will be open three days a week. Wading pools at Ravenna, Beacon Hill, Powell Barnett, Peppi’s Playground, View Ridge, Gilman, and Sandel Parks will remain closed in 2011.

All in all, pools survived these cuts quite well.  And our predictions for the cuts were pretty good.

Nutshell:

Didn’t we just do this in June?:  Yes, but the June cuts were stop-gap, small-potatoes cuts. The big cuts start now. In city politics, visibility has a short shelf life.

Encouragement:  Insiders say that public voices strongly helped aquatics avoid larger budget cuts in June. You’ve already built a lot of goodwill with city leaders, so take heart. The 2011 budget looks significantly less scary for aquatics thanks to you.

What to do:  Either send personal stories to city leaders or speak at public forums. If pinched for time, just remind the Council/Mayor of your June comments.

Contact options:

• Write to  the Mayor using his online form.
• Write to the City Council using their online form or seattlecitycouncil.ideascale.com.
• Attend one of three public hearings:

Wednesday, September 29
Northgate Community Center Gym
10510 5th Ave NE, 98125
5 p.m. Sign-in, 5:30 p.m. Public Hearing
 
Wednesday, October 13
The Brockey Center at South Seattle Community College
6000 16th Avenue SW, 98106
5 p.m. Sign-in, 5:30 p.m. Public Hearing

Tuesday, October 26
Seattle City Hall, Council Chambers, 2nd floor
600 Fourth Avenue, 98104
5 p.m. Sign-in, 5:30 p.m. Public Hearing

Fee increases - likely.

• Public comments earlier this year showed that you’re willing to pay a bit more to maintain services that you love.
• Swim lessons scholarships will continue to be available, but more fundraising may be needed as fees rise.

Retention of beach lifeguard hours – a good bet.

• Lifeguards at Seattle’s public beaches made a record 103 rescues this summer.  Public safety is hard to cut with numbers like that.
• Cuts have already been made in beach lifeguard hours in recent years.

Rainier Beach Pool replacement funds – likely, but vulnerable to cuts.

• Replacement was previously budgeted, so looks hopeful.  Final construction documents are expected imminently within Parks.
• If Rainier Beach pool closes for replacement for two years, operating dollars for the pool will not be needed.  Rainier Beach is our the most expensive pool to operate because of age.
• Construction plans include a lap pool with a diving board, a leisure pool with shallow areas for lessons, a sauna and a slide.  The slide is expected to be very popular with teenagers.
• The current Rainier Beach pool has more kids in swim lessons than any of our other pools. The new School of Fish program has been highly successful in drawing both parents and kids into lessons together.

Pool closures – unlikely, but on the table.

• Strong aquatics advocacy at mid-year has significantly reduced the likelihood of pool closures.  Good work, team!
• Facility closures are more likely than across-the-board cuts in hours.  Pool facility costs are relatively fixed, so simply cutting hours will not significantly reduce costs. 
• Which pool(s) might close?  There would be tradeoffs in costs, usage and revenue for each pool.  Hard to say which one the Mayor might pick. Helene Madison Pool has the lowest revenue, but it was recently resurfaced (cool!).