March 4

QACC meets for last time at the community center

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The Queen Anne Community Council held its last board meeting at the community center Wednesday night. The council will no longer be able to meet there due to the reduced hours of operation from Parks and Recreation Department budget cuts, but it was announced that future meetings will be held inside Queen Anne Manor located at 100 Crockett St.

Fittingly, the council discussed Jim Cunningham’s membership in the Community Center Advisory Team, spearheaded by Seattle Councilmember Sally Bagshaw to find possible solutions to the financial woes of the city’s community centers. Cunningham discovered in a budgeting statement received at the last CCAT meeting that the QA Community Center looses $700,000 a year. The public has been asked to submit ideas for saving money or generating revenue for the centers. Ideas can be submitted via a link found here.

Conversely, the Parks Committee report by Don Harper announced that the Parks and Green Spaces Levy had an excess of $10 million due to the lack of inflation. The excess funds will go into the opportunity fund and can be spent on projects chosen by community groups.

The disorganization and difficulty receiving public comments at last month’s meeting was also addressed. Ideas were offered on how to do a better job in the event of a large public turnout for a contentious issue, such as: signing up to speak, giving more time to hear public comments, signs to indicate time left to speak, using a timer, giving committee reports by e-mail if time is running short.

Additional council matters:

  • Two council vacancies were filled in a vote.
  • Board Member Scot Baker met with the owner of the Queen Anne Avenue North 7-Eleven regarding the sale of high-octane alcohol. Council Chair Ellen Monrad said the issue is not yet resolved, but it was a good first meeting in an on-going discussion.
  • In the Transportation Committee report, Glenn Avery said that SDOT will give a public presentation of the West Mercer Place portion of the project March 15 at the Seattle Center Rainier Room from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. (link). Also, SDOT is expected to attend the next council meeting.
  • According to studies, the Kinnear Park forest is dying, said Harper. The plan is to cut down most of the trees and replace them with a different species. Climate change was cited as the reason.

Correction 3/7: An earlier version of this story misspelled Jim Cunningham’s last name.


Tags

Community Center Advisory Team, Kinnear Park, Mercer West Project, Opportunity Fund, Parks and Green Spaces Levy Oversight Committee, Parks and Recreation Department, Queen Anne Community Center, Queen Anne Community Council, Queen Anne Manor, Seattle Department of Transportation, West Mercer Place


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