public meetings Archives

Superintendent Listening Tour

July 21, 2015 by Katie McVicker

Dear Community Member,
My name is Jesús Aguirre, and I am delighted to introduce myself as the Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation.

My family and I relocated to Seattle from Washington DC, and we are thrilled to make the Emerald City our new home.

In Washington DC, I had the opportunity to serve the city through my work in education, both in the local school district as well as serving as the State Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia. I also managed DC’s department of parks and recreation for almost four years. I am excited to bring my experiences and perspective to help Seattle Parks and Recreation continue its excellent work and positive trajectory.

I have been focused on getting to know Seattle Parks and Recreation, our parks and facilities, and the city’s neighborhoods and people. One of my main priorities is to get to know you better – our stakeholders, customers and residents.

I’m hosting a Listening Tour this summer and fall, and I’d like to hear directly from you. I’m interested in hearing about your experiences – positive and negative, your desires for your park and recreation system and your ideas to make us even better. I’ve been working closely with Parks staff to set up several opportunities for me to connect with you directly. [Read more…]

Community input invited on plans for Fitness Zone® Areas in Seattle neighborhood parks

May 19, 2015 by Katie McVicker

The community is invited to provide input on Fitness Zones® coming to one of four Seattle neighborhoods. Public meetings have been scheduled for local residents living close to local parks chosen as the sites for new Fitness Zone installations. The meetings will give people information about free outdoor gyms, and gather feedback that can be incorporated into the installation plans by the project design firm Johnson + Southerland. Please consider walking or taking alternative forms of transportation to the meetings as all community centers have limited parking.

Each Fitness Zone, due to be installed in the next eighteen months, will be equipped with top-quality, durable exercise equipment appropriate for teens and adults of all levels of fitness. Independent research has proved that Fitness Zone areas encourage exercise and increase the overall activity level of park users. Once completed, more than 19,000 people—nearly half from low-income households—will live within a 10-minute walk of one of the four new Fitness Zones. [Read more…]

Park Board to hold regular meeting April 11

April 5, 2013 by potterd

The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11, in the Kenneth R. Bounds Park Board Room at 100 Dexter Ave. N, in Denny Park at the corner of Dexter and Denny. The meeting agenda includes:

Tom Tierney, new Commissioner. The Board will welcome Tom Tierney, new Commissioner, to his first meeting of the Board of Park Commissioners. Tom is the former Executive Director of the Seattle Housing Authority and was appointed to the Board by City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw.

Friends of Gas Works Park: National Register. Representatives of the Friends of Gas Works Park will make a presentation to the Board on the nomination of the park for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. The park was placed on the register on January 2, 2013.

Request to designate MacLean Park as a designated Viewpoint. The Board will hold a discussion of this request.

Parks Legacy Plan vision and mission discussion and recommendation. The Board will discuss and make a recommendation to the Parks and Recreation Superintendent on the vision and mission for the Parks Legacy Plan.

Parks has embarked on a planning process to develop a strategic direction for the future by addressing these questions:
• Are our resources deployed in the most effective manner?
• What is the public view of our park system?
• What are the basic services Parks provides?

A first draft of the plan is available for public review. Parks and Recreation will hold six public meetings during the month of May. Both the first draft of the Plan and details about the public meetings are available at http://www.seattle.gov/parks/legacy/. Parks encourages and welcomes comments from the public at the public meetings and at parkslegacy@seattle.gov

The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners is a nine-member citizen board created by the City Charter. Four members are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council; four members are appointed by the City Council; and one member is a young adult appointed by the YMCA Get Engaged Program (http://www.leadershiptomorrowseattle.org/YMCA.asp). Current members are Antoinette Angulo, Jourdan Keith, Chair Diana Kincaid, Brice Maryman, Caitlin McKee, Yazmin Mehdi, Tom Tierney, and Barbara Wright.

The Board meets once a month, normally on the second Thursday with added meetings as the Board deems necessary, to advise the Parks and Recreation Superintendent, the Mayor, and the City Council on parks and recreation matters. For more information, please call Sandy Brooks at 206-684-5066 or email her at sandy.brooks@seattle.gov.

This press release is available on Seattle Parks and Recreation’s blog, Parkways.

Parkways Seattle Parks and Recreation