From the Mayor's Office

SEATTLE – Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle City Council announced today that the Rainier Beach and the Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake neighborhoods will begin an update of their neighborhood plans in 2010.

The neighborhood plan update process is a unique opportunity for community members to address local priorities.

Councilmembers Mike O’Brien and Sally J. Clark along with Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith will work with neighbors to address recent growth, infrastructure, housing affordability, and other neighborhood concerns. The Department of Neighborhoods and the Department of Planning and Development will facilitate the updates.

“The Neighborhood Plan Update process is an exciting opportunity for these two communities,” said O’Brien. “Recent and future transportation investments in both communities will be an important factor to consider in these updates. I look forward to working with these neighborhoods to fully utilize the new investments as a catalyst for improving housing, open space, jobs, and cultural amenities that make neighborhoods great places to live. “

In Rainier Beach, there will be a review of potential growth around the light rail station, with a focus on improving the commercial core and enhancing involvement of traditionally underrepresented communities. The Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake Neighborhood Plan Update will consider ways to take advantage of the anticipated bus rapid transit service arriving in 2013. The challenges resulting from recent growth in the Bitter Lake urban village will also be addressed.

“I’m excited for the Rainier Beach and Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake neighborhoods to re-open their neighborhood plans for tuning up,” said Clark. “Both are terrific communities with affordable housing, incredible parks and new challenges when it comes to smartly taking advantage of transit.”

“I’m looking forward to working with Councilmember O’Brien, Councilmember Clark and these great communities to see how best we can build our city together,” said Smith.

These two neighborhood plans were chosen to be updated based on a review of the criteria established in Ordinance 122799, the information collected through status reports and associated community outreach, and a review of the recommendations from the Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee.

Rainier Beach Coalition Town Hall

On Thursday the 28th over two hundred people attended the annual Town Hall meeting put on by a partnership between the Rainier Beach Coalition and the South Lake High School. The crowd was diverse with a wide range of ages, ethnic backgrounds and social status. There were numerous High School students in attendance and the overall feeling of the meeting was relaxed, hopeful and positive.






The program started with a meal combining food from a variety of back grounds. The food was put out first in the words of the main organizer, Gregory Davis, "If we feed you first you better be cooperative later," to laughter in the audience. The participants were also given a series of sticker dots in order to vote on the main themes that the coalition and the community would focus on for this year. The themes were built around the main thrust of last year's community actions. The themes were: Economic Development, Education, Public Safety, Environment, and Youth and Young Families.

The Town Hall was split into a presentation portion that included both a performance by the Rainier Beach Seattle Youth Orchestra, and a power point presentation about the Rainier Beach art around the community. The orchestra was made up of seven children and a tap dancer from the High School who ad libbed to the performance of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."

The second part of the meeting were break out sessions with the community members going to their chosen theme to express their dreams and desires about actions the community could take in order to address challenges in their communities. The members were told to dream big and to make suggestions and share ideas that weren't pragmatic, but idealistic. The break out sessions would then be used by the coalition to make connections and partnerships with viable means of making those desires come to fruition.

Community groups need to take a lesson from the very successful Town Hall meeting. The openness of discussion, the choice of following the interests of the attendees and the combination of entertainment , recognition of community members, and of course a free meal, gave the entire meeting a feeling of a friendly gathering instead of a Town Hall.

The organization was fluid and the agenda was changeable and responded to the needs and whims of the community members. Getting the community to give up an evening of their week to discuss the future of their town and attracting the attention of a deputy mayor and a city council person is an impressive feat and should be emulated. Sometimes giving up control is the best way to retain it.