The Queen Anne Community Center gym may become part of a larger budget battle apparently brewing between Mayor McGinn and the Seattle City Council. The fight to stop the gym from closing took a twist Wednesday night when City Councilman Tim Burgess attended a meeting of the Queen Anne Community Council.
“This is not a City Council idea (to close the gym). It came from Mayor McGinn,” Burgess told the audience. “You have lots of support not to do this on the Council.”
Gym at Queen Anne Community Center
Frustrated residents and volunteers at the community center voiced their concerns about Mayor McGinn’s proposed plan to close the gym next year and turn it into a production studio for a children’s television program. That would mean the loss of several activities including youth basketball, toddler gym, Family Fridays, and senior aerobics. One volunteer said the producers of the television show toured the gym this week and had no idea just how bad the community center’s condition is, including old wiring.
“I said fellas if you think you’re going to put some big t.v. lights in here, you’ve got a surprise coming,” saidvolunteer Pat Barger. “This is not a done deal and I hope it is never a done deal.”
The community council plans to send a letter to the City Council urging them to keep the gym open and suggesting that Seattle Center be used as a location for the television studios instead. One community council member summed up the mayor’s plan to close the gym this way.
“It’s anti- Queen Anne. It’s anti-family.”
The Queen Anne Community Council discusses the mayor’s plan to close the gym.
Councilman Burgess also hinted that the City Council may be prepared to make changes to the mayor’s proposed budget.
“You just need to remember, where are the centers that they’re cutting? They tend to be, except for Alki, they’re in the north end of the city. You can see a pattern here of public policy decisions that the mayor has been making that, I’m not going to question his motives, but they are dividing our city. The way I look at this on the community centers, he’s daring us to restore this money to these community centers” said Burgess.
We have a message in to the mayor’s office to see if he has any comment.
Burgess urged Queen Anne residents to email the City Council, attend the last two public hearings on the budget, and to voice their opinions during regular City Council meetings over the next few weeks.