• Greetings and introductions
• Adopt Minutes of Last Month’s Meeting
• Round Robin: Current Uptown issues
• Lower Kinnear Park planning and bike/pedestrian connection from Roy Street-end to Elliott Ave. – Debi Frausto, Friends of Lower Kinnear Park
• Seattle Transportation Master Plan (Jennifer Wieland, SDOT)
• Seattle Parks (Department of Parks and Recreation) Strategic Plan – Don Harper, Parks and Open Space Levy Oversight Committee
• Affordable Housing: Funding issues; How affordable housing can fit into Uptown – Rick Hooper
• Committee Reports

1. Parks
2. Planning & Transportation
3. Events

• New Business: bring your own topics and comments.

The next Uptown Alliance meeting will take place on Thursday, September 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Lower Queen Anne Metropolitan Market. There will be no meeting in August. The Alliance’s Planning and Transportation Committee will be meeting on Wednesday, August 3 at 6 p.m. at Metropolitan Market. Metro transit staff will be in attendance to present the draft details on the bike share program, which will include the Uptown area. For more information on this program, contact Rick Hooper at Nsilberg@silberg.net or John Coney (283-2049) at djohnconey@aol.com.

The main issue of the discussion was the $20 car-tab fee for each of the next two years that is being considered. Without it, Metro says it would need to cut service 17 percent by eliminating some routes and reducing trips.

State lawmakers gave county officials the authority this year to charge an extra $20 for car tabs — which would provide $50 million over two years — to help Metro. When combined with reserve funds, it’s enough to largely maintain existing service, Metro says.

The next step for King County’s nine-member council is to either put it to a vote in the next election or a “supermajority” of six members could enact the new fee without going to the voters.

Unfortunately, only four County Council members attended the transportation committee hearing (Bob Ferguson, Larry Gossett, Joe McDermott and Larry Phillips) while five did not. The four who did attend, however, have already come out in favor of the fee.

There will be one more public hearing on July 21 in Burien at the City Council Chambers, followed by a vote from the King County Councilmembers, scheduled for July 25.

“If Metro does not receive additional revenue for the 2012-2013 budget, it must begin cutting service as soon as February 2012. Without more funds, a total of 600,000 hours of transit service would need to be eliminated over the next two years. This is about 17 percent of Metro’s entire system, but it would affect up to 80 percent of bus riders. That means as many as four out of five people will have to walk further, wait longer, make an extra transfer, stand in the aisle, or stand on the curb and see fully loaded buses pass them by. And it will force tens of thousands of people back into cars, worsening congestion for everyone,” Metro wrote in a document entitled “What will happen if the congestion reduction charge is not approved?” Download this document here (.pdf) to view all routes on the chopping block for elimination, reduction and revision.

According to Metro’s proposal these cuts would hit Queen Anne riders even harder than the previous reduction scenario Metro released back in May. Under Metro’s current scenario route 2 north of downtown would be eliminated entirely, as would routes 4, 15EX, 18, 26, 28, 45, 81 and 82. On top of that, a number of other routes in the neighborhood would be reduced and/or revised, including routes 1, 2EX, 3, 8, 13, 15, 16, 17 (regular and EX), 18EX, 24, 26EX, 28EX, 30, 31 and 33. In the above map the routes in red indicate those which would be eliminated, the routes in yellow represent routes that would see service reductions, and the green represents routes where service would be revised for efficiency. You can take a look at the full preliminary Metro cuts and route changes example map for Northwest Seattle/North King County here (.pdf).

The state Legislature already has approved the temporary $20 surcharge, but Transportation for Washington says the bill still needs the support of two more King County Council members to pass.

Metro is urging riders to get involved and weigh in on both the proposed congestion reduction charge, as well as the potential service cuts and changes proposed should the surcharge be rejected. The county has set up three public meetings on the issue, including one at 6 p.m. tonight at the Kirkland City Council Chambers, located at 123 Fifth Ave. The other two meetings will be held at 6 p.m. next Tuesday, July 12, at the King County Courthouse, Council Chambers, located 516 Third Ave. in Seattle, and at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 21, at the Burien City Council Chambers, located at 400 SW 152nd St.

If you can’t make it to one of the public hearings, you can submit your comments directly to the King County Council online. Transportation for Washington also has a form letter you can fill out in support of the congestion reduction charge.

Click here for a complete list of all routes (.pdf) and whether the proposal calls for them to be eliminated, reduced or remain unchanged. Click here for a map (.pdf) of all affected routes in Northwest Seattle.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is working on developing new ways to operate community centers, and the department now wants to hear from the public on several options suggested by a citizen advisory team.

There are two upcoming community meetings where the public is invited to hear about the latest options and weigh in. The first will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15 at the Bitter Lake Community Center, located at 13035 Linden Ave. N. The second will take place the following day, Thursday, June 16, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Jefferson Community Center, located at 3801 Beacon Ave S.

The draft options for changing community center operations will be available June 8 at all community centers and on the Seattle Parks and Recreation web page: http://seattle.gov/parks/centers/operations.htm.

Those who are unable to attend the meeting are invited to complete an online survey that will be posted on the web (same site as above) beginning June 8.

For more information, please contact Susan Golub at susan.golub@seattle.gov.

The work will take place between May and July and will take place on both sides of the canal simultaneously. Portions of the Burke-Gilman Trail and Ship Canal Trail will be closed intermittently.

Two public meetings are planned to discuss the project. The topics will be the same at both meetings. The first is on Tuesday, March 29, from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at Seattle Pacific University’s Bertona Hall, 103 W. Bertona St., Room 2. Parking is free in the lot west of the Bertona building. The second meeting is on Tuesday, March 29 from 1 to 2 p.m. at Theo Chocolate, 3400 Phinney Ave. N.

For more information, visit the project information page.

Sustainable Queen Anne volunteers outside Traders Joe’s on Sunday, March 20.

Tonight’s meeting is going to be an informational discussion focused around net metering and interconnection. The group will be hosting another meeting next week, on Wednesday, March 30 (also at Q Cafe), on the technical nuts and bolts of going solar. And on Tuesday, April 12 Solarize QA will be hosting an introductory “Solar 101″ workshop from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Queen Anne Library. As always, all Solarize QA workshops and meetings are free and open to the public.

The group’s next monthly meeting will take place on Monday, April 4 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 2501 Westview Dr. W (on the corner of Wheeler). Dinner will be provided.

For more information check out the Sustainable Queen Anne and Solarize Queen Anne websites.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is holding two public meetings in coming weeks to gather input on the future of its outdoor facilities.

The first meeting is from 7 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16 at the Jefferson Community Center, located at 3801 Beacon Ave. S. The next meeting is from 7 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23 at Bitter Lake Community Center, located at 13035 Linden Ave. N. From Seattle Parks & Rec:

These meetings are an opportunity for the community to provide Seattle Parks and Recreation input on preserving and developing public outdoor recreation facilities, including parks, trails, and boating facilities. Parks encourages the public to attend and also to answer a quick nine question survey located at the plan update site: http://seattle.gov/parks/Publications/DevelopmentPlan.htm

With community input, Parks will update the 2006 Development Plan by the end of the year; it establishes eligibility for State grants through the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office.

Parks staff will brief the Board of Park Commissioners on the draft 2011 Development Plan on May 26, 2011, and the Board will hold a public hearing on June 9, 2011.

For more information, please call Kathleen Conner, Project Planner, at 206-615-1299 or by email Kathleen.conner@seattle.gov.

Seattle Public Schools is holding a series of community meetings about proposed changes to its Transportation Plan for the 2011-12 school year.

The first meeting is from 7-8:30 p.m. tonight (Thursday) at Aki Kurose Middle School, 3928 S. Graham St.

The second meeting is from 6:30-8 p.m. next Thursday, Feb. 3, at Hamilton International Middle School, 1610 N. 41st. The third meeting is from 6:30-8 p.m. Wed., Feb. 8, at Chief Sealth International High School, 2600 SW Thistle.

The proposed Transportation Plan changes would save the district $4 million by creating new Transportation Zones for bus routes for attendance area elementary and K-8 schools.

The proposed changes would benefit students and families by decreasing the bus ride time for attendance area schools to 25 minutes or less. As routes will be shorter, buses are less likely to encounter the traffic delays that occur on longer routes, so families will find departure and arrival times to be more reliable. The plan also benefits the environment by taking about 80 buses off the roads and reducing the district’s carbon footprint.

Children within the transportation zone and outside of walk zones would be eligible for district-provided transportation. Transportation Zones would include the entire attendance area of a school, extending to areas within a 1.25-mile radius from the school and within the middle school service area. Existing walk zones to schools would still apply.

Bus transportation for middle schools, high schools, option schools, English Language Learners, Special Education and Advanced Learning would have minimal changes.

In addition to the new zones, some schools’ bell times would change, with some high schools and middle schools starting 10 minutes earlier and elementary schools starting five minutes later.

The School Board is scheduled to vote on the proposed plan at its Feb. 16 meeting. Opportunities to comment during public testimony are available at the February 2 and February 16 board meetings. For information about signing up for public testimony, visit the School Board website at http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/publictestimony.pdf.

By Amy Duncan of MyGreenLake.com,

The 2011 City of Seattle budget was hard on the Department of Parks and Recreation. Several community centers were hit with cuts, including the Queen Anne Community Center.

As a result, Parks and Recreation has been asked by the City Council to re-think how community centers operate. This process will include public meetings to discuss with the community ideas for how centers can be run differently. The first public meeting will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011 at Miller Community Center (330 19th Ave E), from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

“Seattle Parks and Recreation operates 26 community centers,” reads a press release from Parks about the community meeting. ”The cost to run the centers far exceeds revenue brought in from center programs. Because of the current difficult budget situation, the department is exploring alternatives that would offer continued services for the public, while reducing costs. New methods of management, staffing, fundraising and partnerships will be explored.”

At the Feb. 2 meeting, Parks staff will ask attendees to share ideas and concerns regarding community center operations. In the spring, an additional public meeting will be held to discuss specific options.

The search committee is posing the following questions to community members:

• What qualities are you looking for in a new Police Chief?
• What is the most important public safety issue in Seattle?
• What does the Seattle Police Department do well?
• What changes would you like to see?

To encourage community input the city has set up three ways for those interested to respond – by attending one of three upcoming public forums, visiting the new website or dialing into a dedicated phone line set up for the search.

The first meeting will he held tomorrow, Wednesday, February 10 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Northgate Community Center, located at 10510 5th Ave NE. The first two hours of the meeting has been allotted for public comment, with the final hour reserved for the search committee “to begin developing competitive selection process and assessment criteria.”

The next two meetings have been set for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 17 (at Franklin High School, located at 3013 Mount Baker S.) and Friday, February 26 (at New Holly Gathering Center, located 7054 32nd Ave. S.) Language interpreters will be available at the third and final meeting in the following languages: Tagalog, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Amharic, Oromiffa, Khmer (Cambodian), Somali, and Tigrinya.

For more information, see the search committee website. Download the meetings flyer here (.pdf). Can’t make it to a meeting? Answer the committee’s four questions online or over the phone by calling 206-684-CITY (206-684-2489).