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Seattle Neighborhood e-News A periodic electronic newsletter supplementing the bi-monthly
printed Seattle Neighborhood News and providing links to information
on programs, projects, and events related to the Department of Neighborhoods.
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this electronic newsletter, go to www.cityofseattle.net/lists.htm on the Web. No. 2 (August 22, 2001) <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> IT WASN'T IN THE P-I Thanks to those of you who called and e-mailed me with concerns
about inaccurate information in the article on the Neighborhood Matching
Fund that appeared on the front page of yesterday's Seattle P-I (see
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/35955_hood21.shtml). Following is the letter
that I sent in response: Editor, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: I was so excited to open today's Seattle P-I and see the
Neighborhood Matching Fund covered on the front page. After all, Seattle's
program has been the lead story of the Houston Chronicle and been replicated
by 50 cities ranging from Los Angeles, California to Port Elizabeth,
South Africa but it has received little coverage here. After reading the article, though, I was dismayed to find
that your reporter doesn't understand the program, especially its key
role in building a much stronger sense of community. I have more to
say about that but let me begin by correcting some of the basic misinformation
in the article. The Neighborhood Matching Fund supports projects that otherwise
would not be possible. The Fremont Troll, the Carkeek salmon slide,
Peace Park, Bradner Gardens, and the Log House Museum are examples of
the innovative projects generated by the community with support from
the Fund. Projects like these would never come out of the City bureaucracy.
Second, a correction needs to be made to the chart that shows
$12.3 million in neighborhood awards. These awards were made during
the last four years (the time span requested by the reporter), not since
the program's inception as indicated on the chart. Twice that much has
been invested in neighborhood projects through the Neighborhood Matching
Fund since its beginning in 1988. The chart also gives an inaccurate
picture when it fails to include the community's contribution of $20
million in the past four years. (And, again, if you go back to the Fund's
inception, that figure doubles.) Third, the article concludes with a quote indicating that
the Matching Fund favors North End neighborhoods. One need only check
the chart to see that southeast Seattle receives more funds than any
other community. Perhaps the most glaring mistake: the price tag placed on
full implementation of Seattle's neighborhood plans (the "promised
neighborhood improvements left by the Rice administration") was
$1.3 billion, not $12.3 billion as stated in the article. These plans,
developed by Seattle residents and business persons in the late 90s,
were intended to be implemented over 20 years with funding from a variety
of public and private sources, not just city government. However, action
on more than 1,000 neighborhood plan recommendations is already underway
or completed, some with the help of the Matching Fund as well as voter-approved
funding measures, but also due to the reorganization of City departments
and budget reprioritization. At the same time the $1.3 billion price
tag was determined, it was estimated that City departments would make
$263 million in neighborhood improvements through existing budgets.
As a result of neighborhood planning, these improvements will be more
closely aligned with each neighborhood's wishes. That said, I would also like to say that the money only tells
part of the story. The real story is the community spirit that is created
as each project is conceived of, planned, and implemented by the people
who live in each neighborhood. Not only does the Neighborhood Matching
Fund result in new parks, playgrounds, street trees, public art, oral
histories, and other projects that otherwise would not have been possible,
it strengthens the sense of community by involving in neighborhood activity
thousands of people who haven't been actively involved before. The citizens who have participated in Neighborhood Matching
Fund-supported projects have a real sense of ownership. Since 1988,
volunteers have logged more than 650,000 hours on Neighborhood Matching
Fund projects. Whether it's a P-Patch gardener who thrills at tilling
the soil and creating a garden plot from scratch, the West Seattleite
whose art tile adorns the new benches in the Alaska Junction, the Pritchard
Beach resident who slogs through water every weekend to create natural
wetland habitat because it's something he or she truly believes in,
or the Green Lake resident who shares a story about living, working,
and playing there in decades past, neighborhood pride grows exponentially
as the project is carried out. Neighborhood pride may be the most valuable
contribution of all. Please don't take my word for it. Talk to the tens of thousands
of Seattle citizens who have participated in successful projects in
their communities and hear their pride. That's the real story. Sincerely, Jim Diers <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> SMALL AND SIMPLE PROJECTS FUND AWARDS We have just announced 26 new Neighborhood Matching Fund
awards from the Small and Simple Projects Fund applications received
in July. We are awarding a total of $197,371. The community match is
$229,675. Here are the recipients and their projects: Soundview Playground Improvement Project Salmon Bay Natural Area Phase I Immaculate P-Patch Border Bed Project Renovation of the Washington Park Fieldhouse Pigeon Point 22nd Ave. SW Street End Park Duwamish Oral History Project Pioneer Square Holiday Project Belltown Streetlife Beautification Broadway Economic Analysis Landscaping Project at Asa Mercer Middle School Beacon Bluff P-Patch Rogers Playground Improvements John Stanford International School Disaster Preparedness North District Neighborhoods Design Guidelines Pinehurst Park Project Laurelhurst Transportation Master Plan Promontory Point Habitat Enhancement at Sand Point
Ravenna Woods Vegetation Management Plan Pilling's Pond Preservation, Phase I Planning Green Lake Elementary School Front Landscape Project Discovery Park Trails Project Magnolia Village Plan Beer Sheva Playground Brighton Street End Restoration
Log House Museum Waterproofing and Restoration The next deadline to apply for Small and Simple Projects
Fund awards is Monday, September 17. For more information on this
and other components of the Neighborhood Matching Fund, call (206) 684-0464,
drop in at your favorite Neighborhood Service Center, or go to www.cityofseattle.net/don on the Web. You can also send
e-mail to the Neighborhood Matching Fund staff person for your area:
NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE NEWS Recently, the Seattle Times and Seattle P-I ran theatre reviews
of Mabaire!, a piece performed by Rainier Valley youth in collaboration
with Cuban artists, which was supported by the Neighborhood Matching
Fund. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE … THAT IS THE QUESTION To subscribe or unsubscribe to this electronic newsletter,
go to www.cityofseattle.net/lists.htm on the Web or send e-mail (to subscribe)
to neighborhoodnews-subscribe@list.ci.seattle.wa.us or (to unsubscribe) to neighborhoodnews-remove@list.ci.seattle.wa.us. For more information about this list, please send e-mail
to: City Hall without the traffic jams. <><><><><<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> |