The Queen Anne Community Center and Pool will stay open as normal for the rest of this year, but the East Queen Anne wading pool is being cut back to only 3 days a week.  That news came down this morning as the mayor announced his mid-year budget cuts.  The only areas that took a big hit in the Parks budget were wading pools and park maintenance.  The East Queen Anne wading pool will be open Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays from noon to 7pm (June 27 – August 22).

The mayor also decided against any cuts to the fire department budget in the wake of the deadly weekend fire in Fremont.  You can see the complete list of cuts here.

We’ll soon know the fate of the Queen Anne Community Center and Pool. The mayor’s mid-year budget cuts will be announced on Monday (6/14), including any cuts to the city’s Parks and Recreation department.

Queen Anne residents turned out in force back in May to fight to keep the center open. The cuts being announced for the rest of this year could involve closing centers or programs, scaling back hours, or doing nothing at all. Even if the Queen Anne center survives this mid-year round of cuts, there is still concern about even more cuts for 2011.

The mid-year cuts will be unveiled during the City Council’s budget committee meeting on Monday at 10:30am. We’ll bring you all the details, or you can watch live on the Seattle Channel (21 on Comcast) or online.

Over 1,500 volunteers will be cleaning up 28 sites around town from noon to 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, May 22 as part of Seattle Works Day.

And after spending the afternoon fixing up parks, p-patches, community centers and other neighborhood spots citywide, volunteers are invited to a Seattle Works Day after party at Seattle Center!

Registration is $30 per person and includes and event t-shirt and access to the after party. All proceeds go toward Seattle Works and its year-round mission “to connect local organizations with enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers.”

Feel like getting your hands dirty with some volunteer work this weekend? Get more information at the Seattle Works website.

Concern continues to grow about the future of the Queen Anne Community Center and Pool.  Today, Queen Anne View learned the city’s Parks Department submitted its “budget papers” for 2011, which identify issues and potential service cuts. We’re told some facilities are on that list, but a spokesperson for the Parks Department could not provide any specifics until the mayor’s office makes its recommendations.

As for the rest of 2010, the mayor is set to announce mid-year budget cuts around June 1. Community centers, pools, and wading pools across the city are facing closure as the Parks Department tries to trim its budget.

Just a reminder, there is a Parks and Green Spaces Oversight Committee meeting tonight, Monday, November 9 and the city is asking community members to contribute their feedback and help develop the Opportunity Fund Project Criteria (.pdf), a set of standards for applying and being awarded grants from the $15 million the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund allotted to community-initiated projects last year.

The funds can be used for anything from buying new park land, to developing a new trail, garden or park or improving upon already existing public spaces. The oversight committee hopes to develop the final criteria by January so that they will be able to accept applications in the spring and begin the implementation of these projects in January 2011. Tonight’s meeting on the draft proposal will begin at 7 p.m. at the Parks Administration Building (located at 100 Dexter Avenue N). More information here.

City parks rely on the dedicated volunteers contribute their time and effort to keep the public parks clean, and available for everyone to enjoy. So why not nominate active members in your community parks for the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department’s 6th Annual Denny Awards?

The Denny Awards acknowledge and honor the crucial role volunteers play in neighborhood parks, community centers, and recreation programs throughout the city. Volunteers help Parks and Recreation staff and management in the work of the department and give valuable advice on important decisions about our Parks and Recreation facilities and operations. Volunteers pull ivy and plant native trees in our parks, coach kids’ sports, work as docents at selected parks and the Seattle Aquarium, and serve on various advisory councils and boards

The awards are named for Seattle pioneers the Denny family, who were dedicated to preserving park land and open space for the public. David and Louisa Denny donated land for the first Seattle park, Denny Park, in 1884 (it was originally donated to the city in 1864 as a cemetery, being rededicated as a public park almost 20 years later).

Minimum qualifications for Denny Award nominees are:

• Demonstrated exceptional stewardship to parks and/or recreation;
• Provided stellar leadership related to enhancing and preserving parks and/or recreation programs;
• Demonstrated a significant personal commitment of time and effort to assist the Seattle Parks and Recreation department; and
• Gained respect of community peers for efforts to help Seattle Parks and Recreation.

The award nomination form deadline was originally this Thursday, October 1, but has been extended to next Wednesday, October 7. Winners will be honored at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, November 17.

Today is  global PARK(ing) Day, sponsored locally by Feet First, an event where parking spaces around town are transformed into into temporary public parks. Check out this map of all the temporary parks popping up  around Seattle (.pdf map here).  There aren’t any new parks in Queen Anne, but there are two Downtown, on Westlake, and one over in Ballard.

More on what (PARK)ing Day is, where it began and how you can get involved, here.

Want to bring PARK(ing) day to Queen Anne? The last day to register with organizer Feet First is tomorrow, Friday, August 28.

For more information on global PARK(ing) Day, and how to participate, click here.

PARK(ing) Day is an annual, global event, activists, artists and everyday citizens collaborate to transform city-wide parking spots into temporary public parks – “PARK(ing)” spaces, if you will. The fourth annual PARK(ing) Day is Friday, September 18th from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Originally started by San Francisco art and design collective Rebar, the project illustrates how cities use their urban public space in a creative and memorable way (apparently 70 percent of San Francisco’s downtown outdoor city-scape belongs to vehicles, while little is allocated for public areas).

Seattle’s PARK(ing) Day is being organized by Feet First, a Seattle-based advocacy organization dedicated to promoting walkable communities. In 2008 Seattle hosted 32 (PARK)ing spaces. This year organizers hope to get over 50! And they’re looking for community members to bring this event to neighborhoods all over the city, including our very own Queen Anne.

Anyone can make one of these public parks. All it takes is a few forms, a $10 entrance fee, some imagination, a bit of ingenuity, and a day to set-up and enjoy your creation. Past themes vary from zen gardens…

…to exercise arenas…

…to off-the-wall modern art!

Interested in designing your own parking spot? You’re in luck! Feet First has extended it’s application deadline until this Friday, August 28th. For more information see the event page here. Feet First has provided an easy to use “how to” guide for making your own (PARK)ing space.

Click here to download the (PARK)ing space guidelines, here for a standard park layout plan and here for the Feet First Street Use Application.

If you don’t make it by the Friday deadline, never fear, you can still have your PARK(ing) spot (it’s just going to cost you a bit more). See the Seattle Department of Transportation website for more details.

Depending on the spot you pick, you may need meter hood permit and a notification of temporary no parking zone form.

Contact Feet First representative, Kirk, at Kirk@feetfirst.info for more information. (He’s the go-to guy on permits, questions, etc.)

Yesterday volunteers from around the city joined together to restore the NE Queen Anne Greenbelt, an area of forested trails that connect two parks on the hillside just above Aurora Avenue North – Trolley Hill Park and MacLean Park.

After Trolley Hill Park, which features a community P-Patch, picnic area and play space, was created in 2002, Seattle Parks & Recreation worked on obtaining a .27 acre part of the greenbelt between Trolley Hill and MacLean that was at the time privately owned. Acquiring the piece of land in 2007, the city set on restoring the area between the two parks.

Yesterday EarthCorps, a non-profit organization dedicated to building community on a global scale through local environmental service, joined the Green Seattle Partnership, Friends of Queen Anne Parks and Seattle Parks & Recreation to restore the Greenbelt.

Over 60 volunteers from around King County and companies like Senture, Boeing and Summer Search donated four hours of their Saturday afternoon to clearing out invasive plants like Himalayan Blackberries and English Ivy, which had taken over the hillside making it impossible for native conifer trees to thrive.

The group spent the first day of this two-tiered project removing the invasive plants, going over areas that had already been cleared, and mulching the newly cleaned soil. In December volunteers will return to the site to plant young conifers and make sure invasive growth has not returned to the area. You can find more information on that event, including volunteer sign up here.

According to EarthCorps coordinator Elizabeth White,

What’s important is having community members that understand how important urban forests are and what they can do to take care of them.

White said the Queen Anne community has been very receptive to the project, “but there is still so much more to do.”

If everyone in Seattled volunteered four hours a year – just came out on a Saturday afternoon – it’s amazing what we could accomplish.

Her vision for the Queen Anne Greenbelt? Having the community organize a potluck, even just twice a year, where neighbors could come out and enjoy good food and even better company, while having fun and keeping the park clean. All it would take is a few hours one afternoon, two times a year.

Seattle Parks and Recreation will host public meetings for community members to meet with Parks Superintendent Timothy Gallagher. The purpose of the meetings is to give the community an opportunity to talk with Seattle Parks and Recreation about how the agency is meeting the needs of neighbors.

Everyone is invited to the meeting, including those who are regular users of parks and those who participate in Parks sponsored programs and activities, as well as those who have never visited a community center or taken a class with Parks.

The closest meeting to Queen Anne will be held today, June 9th at the Northgate Community Center, 10510 5th Ave. NE. Seattle, WA at 7:00 pm.  

The other meetings are as follows:

Monday, June 15, 6:30 p.m.
Van Asselt Community Center, 2820 S. Myrtle St.

Tuesday, June 16, 6:30 p.m.
Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Ave S.

Tuesday, June 24, 7 p.m.
South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Ave. S

In 2006, the Seattle City Council, upon recommendation by Ken Bounds, Superintendent of Parks approved $70,000 for the creation of dog off-leash areas in Kinnear Park in Queen Anne and Magnolia Manor Park.

According to the Queen Anne News,  Dog Off-Leash Advocates or DOLA, wants to find a different location.  They are hosting a meeting to gather public comment at 7 p.m. on  Tuesday, Oct. 21 in Room 1 of the Queen Anne Community Center, 1901 First Ave. W.