Seattle City Council Parks, Public Utilities and Technology Committee 2/12/25

Good afternoon.

We're ready to begin.

Good afternoon, everyone.

The February 12th, 2025 meeting of the Parks, Public Utilities, and Technology Committee will come to order.

It is 2.03 PM.

I'm Joy Hollingsworth.

I'm the chair of the committee.

The clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Here.

Present.

Councilmember Strauss?

Present.

Council President Nelson?

Present.

Chair Hollingsworth?

Here.

Chair, there are five council members present.

Awesome.

Five here.

Really happy.

This is our first meeting of the Parks, Utilities, and Technology Committee.

Last year we had a lot of technical stuff that we had to pass, and I really appreciate the work that this body helped do.

This year we have a bunch of great agenda items that are coming down the pipeline, especially with our Seattle center and to hear more about the continuing improvement of our Seattle parks and our services that we're providing to the community and also how we're just getting better at just the infrastructure pieces with our Seattle parks department and then also technology.

We never wanna forget about technology.

We were able to introduce a new director, Director Lloyd, and he has been We have our monthly meetings all the time and just to hear about the improvements that we are doing with our technology in our city, particularly my focus has been front facing, how we're interacting with our constituents, with our people in Seattle, and making sure that people are being able to access a lot of the information they need.

We're a world-class city, and we should expect world-class services in our city of Seattle.

So really happy that you all have joined us today, and we are next gonna jump into public, oh, excuse me.

The public comment.

Sorry, I lost my place.

That's how you know I haven't ran a meeting in a long time when I lose my place.

We will now consider the agenda.

If there's no objections, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objections, the agenda will be adopted.

With that, we're gonna now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should be related to items on today's agenda and be within the purview of the committee.

The best clerk in the world.

How many speakers do we have signed up?

She's not here, but no.

We have seven speakers in person and one remote.

Awesome.

Everyone will get two minutes today.

We have seven speakers signed up.

You are one of the best clerks in the world, and that's fine.

Will you please read the instructions for the public comment, and we'll get started.

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

I will call on speakers by name in the order in which they are registered, both on the council website or from the signup sheet available here in chambers.

We will start with in-person speakers first.

If you have not registered to speak but would like to, you can sign up before the end of public comment period.

You can go to council's website or by signing up on the sign-in sheet in chambers.

The online link is listed on today's agenda.

When speaking, please begin by stating your name and the item you are addressing.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.

If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time, the speaker microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next person.

The public comment period is now open, and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.

The first speaker for the in-person comment is Alex Zimmerman, followed by Shobit Agaral.

Thank you.

Hello, my best friend.

My name is Alex Zimmerman, a president of Stand Up America, support Trump for 10 years in all my election.

in IMAGA member.

Make America Great Again member, yeah.

Yeah.

So I want to speak right now about agenda.

How many time I have?

Two minutes?

Yeah, give us one second, Mr. Zimmerman.

We got to get your timer up there.

Thank you very much.

I very appreciate you.

Yeah, so I see an agenda to, you appoint too many people.

My experience with commission for last 20 years, you know what it means, and I come to every commission, because for me interesting what is kind people inside.

My opinion straight and ordinary, a common sense opinion, they all freaking idiot, all of it.

All have same standard, all support Democrat, I never hear one different opinion.

Not Democrat.

Democrat, Nazi, Gestapo, fascist mob.

So, my proposition is very simple right now.

We are talking about this for 10 years.

or bring people, what is not your choice, what is people will be choice.

Open better room in City Hall, you know what is mean, one day per week, and everybody can come and speak for three minutes without your control.

There's only one way, what is we can bring people, like Alec Zimmerman, for example, who have different opinion.

This is exactly what we need right now.

We cannot believe in the 700,000 cockroaches under your command.

Do you know what this means?

What is acting like a slave?

It's absurd.

I repeat again, and you right now have three black people, and black people more than everybody, maybe more than Jew, have right to speak for three minutes without your control because they're totally out from Seattle.

It is a big problem what we have right now.

So I speak to you, my council, my council, yeah.

So doing something, open better room in city halls and normal people with common sense can come and talk.

Viva Trump, viva new American revolution.

Thank you very much.

I'll bet you're next.

Good afternoon, council members.

It is good to see you guys again.

My name is Shobit Agarwal.

I'm here as a Seattle resident, as an actor, and as a treasurer and board member for Theatre Puget Sound.

I'm here to support the new TPS contract with the City of Seattle and Seattle Center under your consideration.

TPS has managed Space for Arts program at the Seattle Center for 27 years, managing 25,000 square feet of affordable rental space, including three theaters.

Nearly 200 organizations and thousands of individuals actively use the space every year.

However, the pandemic and its aftermath have been very tough on the local artists, the local theaters, and TPS.

TPS almost went under in 2024 and survived due to the support of the generous local community, as well as this expected contract negotiation.

This new contract negotiated between the city of Seattle and TPS reflects the current economic realities.

It acknowledges the higher operational costs for running the Space for Arts program.

If approved and implemented, I expect that the contract will help generate more revenue for both TPS and the City of Seattle in the long run.

It would enable the local art scene to remain alive and thrive.

On the other hand, if not approved, it would substantially hinder the ability of TPS to survive as an ongoing entity.

Council members, I request and urge you to approve this contract.

I thank you for your time, and thank you for your yes vote in advance.

Thank you.

Next, we have Teresa Thurman, Bill Farmer, followed by Jared Sluman.

Hello, my name is Teresa Thuman, and I am the founder and the co-artistic director of Sound Theater Company.

We are proud to be looking towards our 20th year as a producing organization in 2026. We're also proud to be a current TPS, Theater Puget Sound resident company, and I am additionally proud to currently serve on the TPS board of directors.

I've been a supporter of TPS since I first moved here in 2001 as an independent artist, benefited as an actor, director, a teacher, producer, and now as an advocate for deaf and disabled artists.

TPS has supported our community in so many ways, members of whom are increasingly targeted and often managing generational and other kinds of trauma.

TPS stands alone in their early efforts to create accessible spaces and continue to build and adapt spaces so they are inclusive for all Seattleites.

This contract will provide profound capacity, both financially and with programmatic vision, to continue to be the center, the center, of the theater community in Seattle.

This contract is a holdover from previous assumptions about the financial capacity of local arts organizations.

It has been amazing over the past several years to see the shift to supporting midsize and emerging theater companies and their work.

This contract supports the thousands of local theater artists and audiences that find these events meaningful and transformative.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Bill Farmer, Jared Sluman, followed by Rye Armstrong.

Next.

Hello, council members.

Bill Farmer, you may know me from play field advocacy, but I'm here for a different reason today.

The budget that the mayor proposed and council approved included a $1 million cut to the environmental learning program or the environmental education program.

within the Seattle Parks Department.

That included half of their budget and the elimination of all the qualified staff.

We thought we had 2025 to fix it, because the budget cut doesn't occur till 2026. However, Parks has given a muskish offer that they take other positions within SPR to probably out of class if they want to be guaranteed of having a job.

If they don't take that, no guarantee of a job at the end of the year.

So right now, the environmental program has lost half its staff.

So if you're planning on doing something about it, you better hurry up.

It probably won't take effect for a few months.

HR has to do its thing.

So council has been given no time to pursue other funds that I know a couple of you have expressed interest in doing that.

No time.

The staff was given until the end of January to decide.

So that deadline's already passed.

The Environmental Education Program, very successful.

I think I've sent you the flyer.

I'll do that again.

Thousands, tens of thousands of citizens right here in our local parks get out on nature hikes and other educational programs.

All the mental health and physical benefits are there.

We don't need new programs.

We don't need to build a new camp somewhere else.

You have it here.

It's successful.

There's no plan for this partnership to take it over.

So please take action now.

Thank you.

Next, Jared Sluman, followed by Rye Armstrong.

Hi.

I'd like to ask for help over in the Wallingford Green Lake area at the park, the Green Lake Park.

It seems no one has raked up the leaves, and there's huge piles of leaves and pine needles all around the lake and the dog park.

So that's a big job and after the forest, after the wildfires in Southern California, we've learned that we shouldn't have that type of fuel laying on the ground.

So I just proposed this project and I think it would be good, thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Raya Armstrong.

I use they, them pronouns.

I am here on behalf of Theater Puget Sound as co-chair of the board to say thank you.

Over a year ago today, we came to you at Public Comment and now have worked in collaboration and have gotten to this amazing point where TPS can have a future for many, many years to come.

I want to thank Ellen Norton.

I want to thank Director Foster.

The collaboration has been incredible.

Anthony Derrick from Joy's team has been amazing.

Council Member Kettle came and looked at the theater space, surrounded by hundreds of people in community, and saw the joy that can come from the arts.

In 1991, I always like this little fact, Paul Giamatti was performing at Annex Theater on 11th and Pike.

in 1991, in the 90s, the arts were the place to do new things, to innovate.

And we have an opportunity today to bring that back.

And I think that is a public safety issue because the stories we tell ourselves about our city are important.

So I'm here to say thank you, send some flowers, send some gratitude, and I hope to have your support on the council bill before you today.

Thank you.

Our last in-person speaker, Barbara Colander.

Oh, a smaller one?

OK.

Yes.

OK.

I'll use this one.

Sorry.

Hello.

My name is Barbara Callender, and I'm also here to speak about Theater Puget Sound.

I'm a longtime Seattle actor.

I have, for a number of years, been part of the leadership team for the local equity community.

I'm a former arts commissioner.

I was a founding board member of Theater Puget Sound, and I'm now back on the board.

And so I will try not to repeat things that my colleagues have said.

But I am here to urge the Council to approve the new licensing agreement between Theatre Puget Sound and the Seattle Center.

This agreement is at the core of the work that Theatre Puget Sound has been doing in support of the Seattle arts community for very many years.

The Space for Arts program partnership between Seattle Center and TPS was first put into place soon after TPS was formed in 1997. And I know because, as I said, I was a founding board member.

Since then, it's been a huge asset to the arts community.

The last agreement between the center and TPS dates to 2014. A lot's happened in our world since then.

The new agreement is much more in line with the economic needs of today, and I urge you to approve it.

Thank you very much.

We will now move to the remote public comment.

Once I call a remote speaker's name, I will unmute the appropriate microphone and an automatic prompt, you have been unmuted, will be the speaker's cue that it is their turn to speak.

The speaker must then press star six to begin speaking.

David Haynes, please press star six.

Yes, it's David Haynes again, upset about the loud, toxic industrial trains that pass through the waterfront choking off the fresh air with uncovered overloaded coal cars.

And I'm upset about the fact that the tourist depots in the waterfront that don't really embrace the residents and the locals still don't have four- to six-story buildings that have cafes on the top so you can enjoy it without listening to the road rage passing by.

or the train honking its horn or toxifying the fresh air.

And the thing that I'm really concerned about is you're inviting all these innocent people to check out the pedestrian path that goes over the toxic train that brings you to the tourist depot.

But yet there's a Latino cartel that controls the waterfront drug pushing pimp and kidnapping operations.

And they make their way all the way up to first and second avenue and they sometimes hover in that alleyway.

But then when they hit 3rd and Bell and other parts of 3rd Ave, there's a rivalry between the black and brown drug pushers.

And you all are just sending more innocent people unbeknownst without the proper crime-fighting abilities to shut down the evil predators with technological advancements such as like drones that would follow back to evil criminals that keep resupplying while innocence is dying.

But I really call it in today because I think that in order to be a sustainable technology utility oversight, you have to have some legislation and some priority investments in non-toxic alternative energies that are independent from the grid.

Like when you don't have any high wires from the utility that have been knocked down, you don't have any gas because you don't want to toxify your living space, and you have to come up with independent from the grid that goes beyond just your general solar energy.

windmill from like the monopolized side of it.

And it would help offset the negative impacts of having utilities that have a consumption malfunction within the lights.

Thank you, and if there are no additional speakers who signed up online or in person, we'll now proceed to our items of business.

I want to first, before we go to our items of business real quick, I wanna thank Theater Puget Sound for joining us today and giving your comments.

It was really just an honor to work with you all and the Seattle Center Director Foster and my other colleagues, Councilmember Kettle and stuff to help in whatever way possible.

So we're just really grateful for you all coming today.

Our favorite farmer, thank you, Bill Farmer, not my dad.

My dad used to be my favorite farmer, now you are, and you know my dad, so you are my favorite farmer.

Also to the young man who came to tell us about the park conditions.

up north.

So thank you.

That's one hell of a way to come and request services on public comment.

So just appreciate you doing that and bringing it to our attention.

And we're going to make sure that we take care of that and elevate that.

So thank you.

Also to I can't forget Shobit Argawal and also Rye Armstrong.

We all ran against each other for district three and I think we still like each other.

So that's always a good thing to go there.

So anyways, just wanted to give you all a shout out.

Thank you all for coming.

Will the clerk please read agenda item number one through 12 into the record?

Agenda items one through 12, appointments 3053 to 3064, appointments and reappointments of Eric Howard, Pamela Quadros, Michelle Rusk, Leslie Velos, Katie Giro, Emily Uber George, Sean Jackson, Gary Johnson, Edward M. Lee, Jim Rowe, Craig Schaefer, Donnie Stevenson, as members for the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee for a term to December 31st, 2025. For briefing, discussion, and possible vote, presenting will be Director Marshall Foster and Tiffany Malackey from the Seattle Center Department.

Awesome, and real quick, colleagues, you'll notice that there are 12 appointment packets, but we learned about a 13th appointee.

There was a little bit of a clerical error.

So we're gonna be able, with the packet, so we're gonna be able to get the confirmation vote will occur on Tuesday, February 25th at full council.

And so just wanted to highlight that if you all had any questions regarding the clerical error.

So thank you.

Director Foster?

Please introduce yourself and jump right in.

Good afternoon, Chair Hollingsworth and committee members.

It's great to be with you all again.

Marshall Foster, Seattle Center Director, and here with me.

Tiffany Malacke, I am the Wirefront Park Operations Manager from Seattle Center.

So if you're all right, we'll just jump right in.

Council members, thank you again.

Today's presentation involves our Central Waterfront Oversight Committee.

Tiffany will give you a brief overview of the committee and the reappointment of some members.

I will just say this, This group plays a really essential role in making our waterfront successful.

We've spent years as a city working on the construction and the design and all those great things.

This committee is the evolution of many of our previous waterfront committees with a central focus on the quality of our maintenance, public safety and public programming.

And so they help to oversee all those activities and having a great group of appointed committee members is key to their success.

And I will hand it over to Tiffany.

All right.

Thank you, Marshall.

Thank you, Chair Hollingsworth and council members for considering these appointments and reappointments today.

I really quickly just kind of want to walk you through some of our legislative history for park operations that involve the committee.

A lot of this started way back in the day.

So 2009, the first Central Waterfront Partnerships Committee was established.

They really looked at large-scale community engagement and to really envision what the waterfront could look like.

2012, we had a a waterfront concept design that was actually endorsed as well by the Waterfront Committee.

That was established in 2011. And 2017, there was a commitment for Friends of Waterfront Park to be our long-term 501 partner on park operations.

2019 is when we actually had all of the framework for our O&M for the waterfront established.

This created the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee with 19 members.

It authorized a two-year pilot agreement for Pier 62 with friends, and it established what our framework was gonna look like for our long-term agreement that we were gonna have for park operations, which we're currently in.

With this, it also sunsetted the previous two committees.

We've had several other pieces of legislation since 2019 in relation to park operations, including the designation of the waterfront as a park boulevard and transferring park operations to Seattle Center.

So Seattle Center became the lead operating department in 2023 and is working with our nonprofit partner, Friends of Waterfront Park with a dedicated city maintenance team.

Friends provides free public programming and events year round.

And we have a joint responsibility for public safety and outreach.

And as Director Foster Marshall, I mentioned that this oversight committee is really, really engaged in the work that both Friends and the city are doing in terms of programming, public safety, and maintenance.

They do annual reporting as well and are actively engaged in the ongoing performance standard that we have for the park.

Just a shout out to our operations team.

You'll see them out there in the park in bright blue.

This team stood up in 2023 along with our emergency service team that has a daily presence down on the waterfront.

And this is part of our amazing oversight committee.

We were able to get them down there and do a tour of the waterfront.

We are continuing to meet on a quarterly basis.

You will see there are quite a lot of appointments that we have here, and I'll explain why in just a minute.

But we do have 20 members that are on the committee.

Six of them are at large.

Eight of them are late tenant owners, five nonprofit, and one is the Port of Seattle.

This committee developed a performance standard in 2021. This 2019 legislation really scoped for us to go and say, how are we going to take care of this park at a high level in our programming, our maintenance, and our activation?

And so this committee really focuses on those three buckets And they go through every single year.

They look at our data, our metrics.

They built this standard to really say, how are we performing at this high level of providing this amazing park experience?

And they do provide annual reports to mayor and council and their recommendations if there are any for future years.

Their committee work started in 2020 and then COVID hit.

So it impacted their ability to do any work in 2020. And so we came back in 2023 and we asked to reset their terms from, They had alternating terms, they had two-year terms, and they had three-year terms.

We asked to kind of just flush that out and start over with four-year terms.

We also added the port, Friends of Warfront Park and Seattle Center, as we had the transition of operations from Seattle Parks to Seattle Center.

So these are now on four-year terms.

We would have been here last year but we were working on filling all of our vacancies.

So we're here now to do all of our reappointments.

So the folks you see on the screen, Donnie, Stevenson, Katie, Garrow, Jerry Johnson, Jim Rowe, Craig Schaefer, Emily Hoover-George, Ed Lee, and Sean Jackson have all served on the committee since 2019, and they would like to continue to serve on the committee.

We have three new appointments, Pamela Quadros, Leslie Volas, and Ryan Smith that are filling vacancies.

And then Eric Howard and Michelle Rusk have served on the committee since 2019, but they switched from a council appointed position to mayor appointed position or vice versa.

So they are a new appointment.

And we did not bring them all here with us today, but we wanted to really recognize their hard work that they have been doing.

They are very, very active committee.

They stay really engaged.

They meet quarterly.

They're doing the hard work.

They worked on the park rules and the park boulevard designation.

And now they're really working on the performance standard and making sure this park is kept beautiful for the city.

I'm just gonna add one thing to that.

That was great, Tiffany.

One unique thing about this committee, Tiffany mentioned the local improvement district.

So the waterfront park is funded in part by $160 million local improvement district, largest in the history of the state of Washington, very significant private investment in a public work like this.

As part of the agreement there, the city made a contractual commitment to our downtown property owner community to have them represented.

in this oversight committee.

And so you may have noticed on that list of names, Tiffany had very specific LID related positions, residential property owner, commercial property owner, retail, all covered.

That was all laid out in that agreement that we approved as a city back in 2019. Some of you remember that when it was going on in the city.

It was quite a conversation, but just wanted to call that out because that's a kind of unique thing about this committee.

Yeah, and that's all we had.

If we have any questions we can answer, we're happy to do so.

Well, thank you so much for the overview.

Super, super helpful, and we're always grateful for the committee and their work.

And I do see we have some questions here, so I would love for us to recognize first, Councilmember Strauss.

Bob, Councilmember Kettle, district representative, can go first.

I'll keep going.

As former staff for Councilmember Kettle's district, it's a pleasure to see both of you.

Tiffany, I remember working closely with you and same with you, Marshall, Director Foster.

And the list that you have here is a clear representation of the balance that was created in 2019. As you said, these are all reappointments except for the two that are switching spots technically.

and talking about Donny Stevenson and the need to get the back and building up and ready.

I know that there's some additional delay issues there.

Katie Garrow with having the labor background, Jerry Johnson understanding all of the bits and pieces.

I could go through each of these individuals.

I'll save us all that communal time.

And just to say, this is a really good balance.

These are the key stakeholders to keep this work moving forward.

because there was a time, and I believe it was 2007, that somebody told Sally Bagshaw that she couldn't be successful with this.

And look at the waterfront now.

Back to you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Hollingsworth, Director Foster.

Really appreciate you being here.

Actually, the entire Seattle Center community.

But on this specifically, in terms of the central waterfront, I will say, based on my experience, that it is a robust group, and I hear from them.

I know a big chunk of them.

Funny enough, most of them are the mayoral appointees, but I do know some council appointees as well.

And I just wanted to give a special shout-out to Mr. Johnson, Jerry Johnson, because he has advocated on behalf of the Central Waterfront Committee with me And really has taken his responsibilities quite seriously, and I really appreciate that work that he's done along with his colleagues on the committee.

So my question is, can you please pass a thank you to Mr. Johnson and the others on the committee?

We'll happily do that.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Couldn't be more true.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

I don't see any other questions or comments, but always appreciate your work.

Director Foster and Tiffany, thank you so much for the presentation.

And clerk, would you please call the roll for the confirmation of appointments 3053 through 3064.

Councilmember Kettle?

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera?

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Chair Hollingsworth?

Yes.

There are five in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation of the appointees be confirmed and will be sent to Tuesday, February 18th, 2025 city council meeting with the 13th appointee going to the February 26th city council meeting.

There was a clerical error, just a reminder.

So thank you.

We're gonna move on to the next agenda item.

Clerk, will you please read agenda item 13 into the record?

Council Bill 120939, an ordinance relating to the Seattle Center Department authorizing execution of a license agreement with Theater Puget Sound to manage and operate space in the Seattle Center Armory.

For briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Presenting today, our Director Marshall Foster and Ellen Norton from the Seattle Center.

We also have Crystal Yingling, Executive Director of Theater Puget Sound.

Yay, we're so excited.

Thank you all.

We're looking forward to the presentation today.

Thank you for being here, and then you know the rodeo.

Just go ahead, introduce yourself, and we can jump right in.

Thank you.

Marshall Foster, Seattle Center Director.

I'm Ellen Norton.

I'm the Manager of the Armory at Seattle Center.

Crystal Yingling, the Executive Director of Theater Puget Sound, or TPS.

All right, well, thank you again.

And as you heard in some of the public comment, we are very excited to be here today.

This is a very creative and very timely adjustment to our long-term partnership with Theater Puget Sound to help set them on a course for success as they look forward and kind of rising out of some real challenges we had in 2023. But just personally, I couldn't be more happy with where we've landed with what's in front of you.

And I really, want to thank these two incredible leaders, Ellen and Crystal, who put their heads together to figure out how to make this happen.

So, Ellen, I'm going to hand it to you.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, council members, for seeing us today.

Before I start, I have no idea how to move to the next slide.

Do that.

Okay, thank you.

Just to summarize, what we're reviewing today is an agreement between Seattle and the Theater Puget Sound so that TPS can continue to manage this program called Space for Arts that the Seattle Center has had in the Seattle Center Armory for many years.

Seattle Center and TPS began this.

The very first agreement that I can find in our records is from 1998. The first license agreement, I believe, started in 2000. In all of those years, we've had a revenue share arrangement with TPS where we've shared revenue earned in that program, 50-50 split, and this new agreement has a different revenue share arrangement that makes the agreement much more manageable and much more feasible for it to go into the future.

I just wanted to mention that TPS was formed around the same time that the Space for Arts program was formed.

There was space in the armory that was vacant because a tenant moved out.

And the director of the Seattle Center at the time wanted to make that space available for the theater community and the arts community to have low cost creative space in the armory.

It was the center house at the time.

And TPS was tapped to be that nonprofit partner to help us do that.

I think we discovered pretty quickly we weren't gonna be able to do it by ourselves.

So TPS formed, the Space for Arts program formed, and those two things are really connected to each other and integral to each other.

And we're hoping that we can move forward with that into the next 10 years.

Quickly, just so you're aware of what we're talking about, the spaces that are available.

First, there's a theater complex on the first floor of the armory that contains in it the main auditorium of the center theater, plus the smaller black box space and a conference center, conference room.

We'll talk a little bit more about the black box and the center theater later.

We also have the studios on the fourth floor.

There's a mini studio and then there are studios A through I.

The spaces on the fourth floor are mainly rehearsal space, but there's also a performance space, theater four.

These are the spaces that Seattle Center and TPS sort of oversee together.

TPS manages the spaces.

And all of the things inside the spaces that are dedicated to the spaces being available to the community that uses them, Seattle Center manages the infrastructure, the building, we send our carpenters if the door jam breaks, we paint the walls, we make sure the lights are working, that kind of thing.

But Theater Puget Sound has all the other management oversight of the spaces.

So to give a little background of how we got to where we are, we were in the process of renegotiating the agreement that was negotiated in 2014. It was gonna expire in 2019. The director of TPS at that time had started the conversation with us about how the revenue sharing model back then was, It was a not sustainable model and we had spent some time discussing what a new model might look like.

We had gotten an extension to that agreement for a year and we were negotiating a new agreement with a new revenue share model that was different than the one we ended up with here.

But then 2020 happened and COVID happened and everything stopped.

That director had to resign.

The TPS didn't have the funds to pay her.

TPS basically went into hibernation at that time because nobody was rehearsing in small spaces, as you can imagine.

Fast forward to TPS reopening, getting back up to business and hiring.

Dr. Yingling as their director, we started to have a conversation about what the future would look like.

And that was when TPS came to us and to the city to say, this model is not gonna work.

We need a different model or we're not gonna be able to survive and alerted us at that time that the Space for Arts program was in jeopardy.

So here we are today.

Now we have a new agreement.

We spent some time figuring out how we're gonna survive together.

The new agreement and the new revenue share agreement, plus the new online booking system that Theater Puget Sound has created and brought on board that Seattle Center has assisted with, supported financially.

A new fee schedule, expanded resident company program, hopefully some, not hopefully, improvements to the center theater complex that are imminent are gonna create a situation where more revenue can be earned, TPS can be more successful, and we can continue this program.

So just some highlights.

The main changes to the agreement, as I said, we've had an agreement with TPS for many years.

The main changes are the new revenue share arrangement.

We have agreed that TPS can deduct the operational costs that they incur that are directly associated with the management of Space for Arts before we have a revenue that we split 50-50.

So that will cover their costs of managing the program.

TPS now has a little more flexibility to raise rental rates.

Rental rates were raised in 23, 24.

Oh, just recently.

Yeah, just recently.

For the first time in nine years, rates had not been raised.

So we've got an agreement in the new agreement that they have a more flexible process for raising rates.

We still have to approve any rates that are raised or changed and some new dynamic pricing, a points program.

All of these things are set up to increase rentals, but there's a little more flexibility for TPS to do that.

And also, there's additional space opening up in the Center Theater Complex.

When we created this PowerPoint presentation, we weren't naming names because it wasn't public, but now we know that Seattle Shakespeare Company is leaving Seattle Center and moving downtown, and those spaces in the Center Theater Complex that Seattle Shakespeare Company currently Reside in will become part of the space for arts program part of what TPS can rent To its users and that will increase use in the space vitality in the space and we're excited for that to happen a couple of financial things to point out the new arrangement We have always sort of projected that Seattle Center would get about $100,000 a year in revenue from the Space for Arts program.

So over a five year term, it would be about $500,000.

We anticipate that revenue from this program in 25 and in 26 will dip below $100,000, but eventually, because of the projections that TPS has for the future, we'll surpass that $500,000 and we'll get, by the end of the five-year term, we'll probably have about $660,000 in revenue.

Also, an exciting addition to the future is TPS went out and, well, Dr. Yingling went out and got a $230,000 grant from 4Culture to make improvements to the center theater complex.

This will make the two spaces in the center theater more usable, we can use both of the spaces at the same time rather than one or the other.

Seattle Center had committed to supporting that effort and were wondering where we were gonna get the money from and now we don't have to wonder anymore because TPS went out and got it.

And that grant application required that TPS have a 10-year agreement in control of the space.

So that's why this agreement has a five-year term with an option for a five-year extension.

So that's where we are today.

I talked really fast.

We're feeling like we're in a situation where TPS has been set up for a successful future and we can continue to do the work that we've always wanted to do in those spaces and now have been doing.

I'm gonna hand it over to Crystal if you'd like to add anything.

First of all, I would love to thank Director Marshall Foster for your partnership in this and Armory Manager Ellen Norton.

I've been at TPS for about two years now and came on board about the same time as Marshall did.

And it's just been a fantastic opportunity working with you to develop something that is better for the city of Seattle, better for TPS, and could enable the long-term sustainability of the Space for Arts program.

So this picture on the screen you see is the center theater lobby with hundreds of people in it for our Gregory Awards, which is another one of our programs we run for this area.

But the Space for Arts program is particularly exciting.

It is our biggest program.

And I want to thank this council committee for being in consideration of this agreement and also for your support of the program and coming to see the spaces and this longstanding agreement.

This committee has been a part of this agreement for 27 years, and we're excited to see it continue for 25 years.

to continue to be available to artists.

We've had more than 800 organizations have used these spaces and 200 organizations actively use these spaces, along with thousands of individuals.

We estimate about $40 million annually come back to the local economy through the use of these spaces.

And it's a really exciting opportunity for it to be able to continue in a way that meets the economic realities of 2025 and beyond.

The other agreement was unfortunately no longer sustainable as it's a very different world than it was in 2014. But this new agreement creates greater opportunity for the program, for TPS, and I believe for Seattle Center as well, moving forward into the future.

I'd love to hand it back over to Director Foster if you have additional things.

That was all very well said.

And council members, we'll turn it back to you for any questions.

Awesome.

Well, thank you, Director Foster and Crystal and Ellen.

We really appreciate the presentation.

We know that, and also highlighting the good work that TPS does.

I will always say that the economic engine to the city of Seattle, the new one, is gonna be through the arts.

I just wholeheartedly believe that.

Arts, culture, community, connection, that's what Seattle is.

And I know that a lot of times, arts is really underfunded, and under resourced and it's just really happy to hear that you all are still plugging along and providing this space and creating very great programming for our community as well because it's much needed so thank you and then I will pause to see if my colleagues have any questions on which I do see two folks Councilmember Kettle but I would love to go to Council President Nelson I know she hasn't spoke so Council President Nelson followed by Council and then I'll throw it over to my left for the dunk with Council Member Strauss.

Hi, thank you very much for this presentation.

And I have to say I am a fan and a supporter of Theater Puget Sound.

So I hope that this question is not taken in the wrong way, but I'm just trying to get some clarity on what you said.

You indicated that maybe revenues back to the city or a little bit under what was projected.

However, because of the four culture grant, then the impact to the city is not going to be, there is no impact to the city in the short term or in the next biennium.

Is that correct?

I think that's correct.

Looking at the five-year horizon with this, it actually puts the department in a better position.

with that revenue, we do initially, as TPS is going through this rebuilding phase, because we're allowing them to cover those operating costs first, we will see a dip.

We've assessed and we're fully able to kind of sustain that.

I do want to also just mention, if it weren't for TPS, we would need another way to operate these spaces.

And so TPS provides a really vital service to the larger community, and obviously Seattle Center is very invested in that arts community, but also to the department to have them as a nonprofit partner operating this part of the armory is hugely valuable to us.

Right, it would be an empty sunk cost otherwise.

Yes, or we'd be spending more on our cost to run it.

And to say nothing of the benefit to the community as a whole.

Yes, thank you.

Just felt like I had to make sure I understood.

Thanks.

That's a very fair question.

Yeah.

Councilmember Kettle and then Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Chair Hollingsworth.

Director Foster, I thank you and everyone for your leadership on this.

And starting more big picture, I really appreciate the, you know, the proactiveness, you know, being on our toes for not just for TPS, but you're like the fourth or fifth, I don't know how many meetings I've had you with other tenants and other, you know, the importance of financing, the importance of, you know, all these different things that really make a difference in terms of the dollar and cents, you know, operation of whatever operation is, because as we all know, nonprofit doesn't mean They still have their payroll to make and all those hard things that you were facing, and Mr. Armstrong and others, in terms of making things work.

And so I really appreciate this kind of comprehensive approach that Seattle Center has.

So thank you.

And for TPS, yes, I've seen the spaces.

I've seen spoken to before.

Thank you.

Good to see you again.

And understand the relationship and that kind of help to others, for the community.

So it's not just in of itself, it's for the community.

And that's a key important piece.

Because as you noted, if they weren't there, somebody else would have to be this kind of collaborator and to make these things happen in terms of the putting on the best that we can in terms of the quality of the production.

So thank you for that.

And I just wanted to say as well, it's like, you know, you mentioned, Ms. Norton, you mentioned the pandemic and the like, and that took a hit.

And one of the things I've been saying in my going around district and so forth is that We really need to rebuild community.

Community really took a hit in the pandemic.

So whether it's me going to a, you know, a scout ceremony where I'm getting three Eagle Scouts, you know, being, you know, named or, you know, to some other group, maybe a church group or just having a little league parade and with a stop and having the Seahawks drum team, you know, playing, you know, these little things are what build community.

And Seattle Center builds community for the city.

And this is where TPS comes in and is so important in terms of the arts and culture community and as we know for all the other reasons why arts and culture are important.

But instead of talking about the business side of it, I think it's important to talk the community side of it, and I really appreciate that.

And so I really appreciate what the Armory's doing, because I went recently to the Seattle Children's Theater.

I can't remember the name of the production, but it was the foundation, it was the inspiration for Frozen, and I just can't let the experience go.

And afterwards, my daughter and I, Thank you for picking up on that pun.

Thank you.

My daughter and I, yes, it's passing around now.

My daughter and I went over to the armory and it was great.

You know, the train, you know, seeing the train, it was beautiful.

And then my wife joined us.

And so the three of us were there enjoying the moment at the armory.

which is so nice, again, with that model village and the train system and everything.

It was fantastic.

And I checked out the meat pie place.

It's my English roots.

I can't help it.

And it goes to that community piece.

And I miss it because prior to the pandemic, when I was still a stay-at-home dad, I would take my daughter down there all the time.

We would.

and we had a neighbor kid, so we'd go down there, because beneath is the playground area or outside, and we would always stop in into the armory, and there was always bustling going on.

So I just wanted to thank that armory function, too, as being a place for community to come together for Seattle.

So that was a very long comment, but I wanted to highlight that, because I think it's important to reflect, not just, because it's easy to say, hey, arts and culture is needed to kickstart the downtown and all this.

Trust me, I've had a lot of conversations and I recognize TPS and what it's doing for the arts community and that's really important.

But that plus like the Armory and then more broadly Seattle Center, and by the way, what you're doing on the waterfront is really about reconnecting community after the impact of the pandemic.

So that's a long way for me to say thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you for getting my little connection with Frozen.

He watches it by himself.

No, I'm just fine.

Councilmember Strauss.

Thanks.

I won't take too much time because our other colleagues covered my points.

Just to say, during the pandemic, I was really worried I'd never go to another show at the Center Theater.

Thank you.

We didn't know what was going to happen.

And so I'm just really glad this is, Council Member Kettle likes to talk about, with me, with budget reform, I would call this revenue reform, because if we are not properly investing in this space and setting everyone up for success, we're going to be losing money in the long run.

And so that's what I really appreciate about this change.

Thank you very much.

Awesome.

Thank you, council member Strauss.

And if we don't have any more comments, council member Rivera, you good?

Okay.

You know me chair, I can always say something.

Thank you all for being here.

Thank you for your comments and thank you for the presentations.

I'm a big fan of the arts and I love the Seattle center.

I attend a lot of shows there and over the years, my family and I have really enjoyed all the various arts events and programming at the Seattle Center.

So I really appreciate you bringing this forward.

Thank you, Council President, for your questions.

I had those questions as well.

It's good to know that there is a a symbiotic relationship, if you will, where the Seattle Center is not going to be losing money, and then we are supporting the arts.

And I appreciate that this is a contract that goes through an agreement that goes through the 2029, because then we always have the opportunity to reassess, see how it's going, see how the program's going, see if there's opportunity to add or change or et cetera.

And we can see where we are financially as well.

So I appreciate all that thoughtfulness and the term limit put on it to give us the opportunity to do that.

So again, really appreciated and looking forward to productions there.

Thank you.

Well, thank you.

Council Member Rivera, Director Foster, Crystal, and Ellen, really appreciate the presentation and answering the questions.

And it looks like it's a win-win.

So we're super, super excited, especially when for the city and the community.

I'm gonna now move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 120939. Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill.

Are there any comments after that?

It's not really in my script, but I should have just stopped at, are there any other comments?

Question mark.

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on committee recommendation that council pass Council Bill 120939.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Chair Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Chair, five members in favor.

Motion carries the committee recommendation that the bill pass will be sent to the February 18th city council meeting.

If there's no further questions, we're gonna move on.

You can all clap and yay.

We can, yeah, you know, there's only a couple of folks here.

If there are no further questions, we're gonna move on to the last agenda item.

Clerk, will you please read agenda item number 14 into the record?

Agenda item 14, Seattle Parks and Recreation and State Recreation and Conservation Office 2025 grant applications for briefing and discussion.

Presenting today is Michelle Finnegan and Moshe Hecht from Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Awesome, thank you so much.

I know you all are getting your, we'll get you all set up with your presentation today.

Really happy to hear from Parks regarding Sorry.

From Parks regarding some of the State Recreation and Conservation Office, the grant applications.

There's no votes today on this, colleagues.

It's just us to get a review and to hear from you all what you all are writing and cooking up in the back.

I heard Michelle can cook, right?

That's what we do.

That's what Parks does.

Put a little salt, pepper in it, a little garlic.

Yeah.

And then out comes a park.

Olive oil.

Say who you are, and I'll kick us off.

Sure.

I'm Moshe Hecht, and I'm the grant manager for Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Thank you for having us here today.

I'm Michelle Finnegan, Deputy Superintendent of Policy and Finance, and pitching in for Christopher Williams, who's a little under the weather today.

But we're here to present you our annual legislation to receive permission to apply for state grants through the Recreation Conservation Office.

We'll use RCO today to talk about them.

And you'll recall this committee approved similar legislation last year allowing us to apply for a separate round of RCO grants.

And Moshe's gonna give you a little update on that before we talk about this year's slate.

This legislation is required by RCO as a condition to be eligible to apply for grant funding.

We would be back to accept grant funding later.

But the projects that we selected are really kind of opportunistic in terms of which categories are open in any particular year and what projects we have at the right phase of development.

So Moshe, again, will walk you through that.

But these grants and others like that are critical for us to continue to make progress in our capital improvement.

without it repairing and replacing assets would be much more challenging.

And there's really four main reasons why we seek grants to address escalating costs, to add scope to an existing project, to fund a new project, or to leverage outside resources just to be more effectively utilizing our city resources.

And those reasons are all in effect in this later project.

So I'll turn it over to Moshe to walk you through.

Well, thank you all for inviting us here today.

So I'll give you a quick overview of RCO, as Michelle said, an overview of the grants that we applied for last round, and then also what we're going to be applying for this year, hope to be applying for this year.

So RCO was established in 1964, and their role is to administer state and federal funds for parks.

across the state.

They use a competitive process.

They currently have 25 different categories that people or agencies can apply for.

And it ranges from habitat conservation, forestry, and outdoor recreation.

All applicants are required to submit an adopted resolution authorizing the agency to apply.

And each award typically ranges from between about $350,000 to $2 million.

And they typically require a one-to-one match.

This year, the National Park Service has increased the maximum of the Orlov funds, which our CO administers, to a $15 million max.

So if you recall, these are the projects that we applied for last year.

Dr. Jose Rizal, the grant request was regrettably unsuccessful.

The project was a little bit too early in the process and did not have enough community outreach at the time.

We believe that it's better situated now, and as you'll see, we're going to try to reapply this round.

First Tee is one of our program partners.

They are a youth golf organization that operates classes and camps up at Bill Wright Golf Complex.

Because their application was not originally included in our 2024 resolution, RCO is allowing us to include it in this year's resolution.

Fred Hutchinson hit another home run.

He was a hometown hero and baseball legend who, among other things, managed the Seattle Rainiers and lived near the park.

He is the namesake of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

This funding will help us include numerous bid additives like the loop path around the playfield, security lighting, and a covered picnic area.

Lake City Floodplain Park was our most successful project.

It scored the highest of all our applications.

I believe this is because of the partnership that we developed with Midsound Fisheries to really do the outreach and planning and the real care that they all put into this project in partnership with us.

This funding will cover the cost of all of the recreation elements of that project.

Smith Cove Playfield was not recommended for funding.

I think this is primarily because the neighborhood set that project at a disadvantage.

I know.

I'm very sorry, Kettle, Council Member Kettle.

RCO has scoring criteria based on the physical location of a park, and you automatically receive points or no points depending on where the park is sited.

I think that was our biggest barrier.

All right.

Wall-Hedley Playfield on the end.

Yeah.

Do you want me to wait until the end, or do you want me to address that right now?

Go ahead.

You can, Council Member, sorry, Council Member Strauss, you're recognized.

I think we should continue with the conversation.

I'm going to respectfully be very upset about Smith Cove Park.

We cut the ribbon for it when Mayor McGinn was the mayor.

Project's still moving forward.

This was just one grant that we didn't get.

Okay.

I guess what you are sensing from me is it's not even my district.

And it is a place that is, while it is at the base of Magnolia, it's on liquefaction zone that is easily accessible.

from downtown Queen Anne, Magnolia, Ballard, many other neighborhoods where we have play field shortages that I know that you are aware of because I work with your schedulers to try to resolve these issues.

The fact that the park had the ribbon cutting under Mayor McGinn and it is still not broken ground.

There's no room to...

There's no room to be anything but serious about this park.

I guess that's my feedback and my reaction in the moment.

We're moving forward to bid.

So this is not stopping the project from moving forward.

And Council Member Kettle, I think had a question.

Yes, I do.

Well, you kind of answered it, but I'll ask that again, just for the record.

But I would say just to back up my colleague, from District 6 is that that point doesn't make any sense because it's such a fulcrum between Magnolia, Queen Anne, as you noted too, Ballard.

I've been there with my daughter for soccer.

And because we have such shortages, it's a place that can handle it and it has that accessibility.

the logic doesn't really fit with me.

And so that's a comment.

And so you can take that back to whoever likes to hear it.

So the question, Ms. Finnegan, if you can answer is, given this piece, can you give a summary of where we are with the Smith Cove project?

We are still unscheduled to bid this year.

So I think in Q2 is what I heard earlier today.

So we are still moving forward.

This grant will not stop that.

Yeah, with the two play fields, one piece, the natural barrier at the southern end, the whole piece that we've been briefed on before, correct?

Okay.

All right, thank you.

I think some of these, just like in the WWRP category, for example, which is one of the most popular categories across the state, I think in this last round, they received nearly 70 applications.

Maybe one in three of those receive an award.

In the LWCF category, I said on that panel, there were about 25 to 30 applications.

Seven projects received awards.

So some of these are very, very competitive.

So we don't really have control over how the evaluation committee scores the projects.

We just try to put our best foot forward and secure that additional money.

I appreciate that point.

Thank you very much for your answers.

And as someone who's taken a youth for athletic reasons down to Smith Cove, I respectfully disagree with their assessment on that.

And thank you for the update.

And we'll be following up on Q2, too.

Thank you.

I will say, on the other hand, that Walt Hundley Playfield did receive or was recommended for funding to help pay for the synthetic field upgrades and safety netting, which needs to go behind the soccer goal so the balls don't go flying down the hill.

And that though these projects were also recommended for funding, all of this funding is still contingent on the state.

So the state legislature does need to vote and approve the funding for each of these projects.

So here you can see, this is just a summary of successful awards across the city.

The blue pens mark projects that have recently received awards.

The gold ones are the locations that I'm bringing to you today.

And I think we have a question, if we could just, with Council Member Rivera real quick as well.

I guess, so I understand this as a state grant and these are the projects that got submitted for funding.

And then what you were presenting is the state's recommendations, not the city's.

Obviously the city presented these for funding.

So the city's supporting these for funding, correct?

Anything that I just, this is what I heard you say earlier.

But my question will be, so how did you select the projects to apply for this list of projects?

You do have something coming up?

Okay.

Yeah, but just to clarify, Moshe just walked you through the resolution you approved last year, the slate of projects.

We're just telling you how they...

turned out and then now we're these gold pins are what we're recommending we apply for this year that's in this year's resolution before you so this will be what we apply for and are rated on through the RCO process if you concur at the next meeting and I guess what I'm asking is can you remind us or at least me maybe just me how you've selected the projects that you were yeah I have a slide on that for you okay

Yeah, so as I mentioned earlier, RCO does require applicants submit the resolution.

That resolution must go to RCO by the 14th.

Actually, I think that timeline might be a little bit extended.

They do require the city to provide a match, and projects must be maintained in perpetuity for which we have sought funding.

So the 2025 RCO grant applications that we're looking at right now, we're looking to apply for about $24 million in grant funding for seven projects.

Five of the projects are in the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program, which is federal funding through the National Park Service.

One of them is the Recreational Trails Program, and one in the Community Outdoor Recreation Facilities Program.

ORLOP is a grant program of the National Park Service.

It focuses on low-income, diverse urban areas with limited parks and park resources.

Applications compete nationwide.

And the funds, it'll fund projects a minimum of $300,000 up to $15 million, as I mentioned earlier.

There's a one-to-one match, and it's for outdoor recreation.

But in mild climates, it will fund indoor swimming pools.

And grants are administered by the state.

So when we look at the project selection, things that we look at are the need and the local priorities, the scope of the project, how much engagement we've done.

Sometimes communities come to us.

Have we really done our work to make sure we understand what community needs and wants in a particular project, how sustainable the projects are, the cost efficiencies?

And there's also an alignment with SCORP, which is the, I have to look at my notes here, but it's the statewide outdoor recreation plan that really defines priorities for the state.

And so the first project that I'm bringing to you today was one that was actually applied for by First T. First T is one of our program partners up at Bill Wright Golf Complex up at Beacon Hill.

So they do a lot of youth programming there.

They work very hard to bring scholarship dollars available so that all youth can participate in golf programming.

This would really affect the nine-hole golf course there.

So the idea is to make a couple of modifications to the golf course.

One of them here is to move the ninth hole there just a little bit forward so that they can open up and have a putting area.

and also to put safety netting up there so that they don't have balls flying into the putting area and into the drive area just for safety purposes.

And the last thing that they're hoping to install is security lighting.

Oh, and this project was also applied for by First Tee in 2024. I negotiated with the state that we would be a co-applicant on the project so that we could accept the funding.

This is why we didn't include it in the original round last year, but we are including it today.

Discovery Park South Beach Trail.

I don't know if any of you have hiked that, but it is a wonderful trail that goes all the way down to the water.

It is one of the most popular trails in the city.

It's one of few trails in the city where folks can actually immerse themselves completely in nature.

The trail, unfortunately, is in really bad shape.

It hasn't been maintained in a long time, or I shouldn't say maintained, but it's just old.

We need to reroute it because of bluff instability and then rebuild the stairs and a number of other things just to make it much more accessible and safe.

So we're going out for $150,000, which is the maximum in the recreational trails program.

Stan Sayers Memorial Boat Launch is the home of Seafair.

This is really where, in my mind, the magic happens, right?

This is where all of the hydroplanes launch from.

But I will also say it's also where many of our recreational boaters launch from or like to launch from, and we have the Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center.

That site has been there.

The ramp and the piers have been there for about 65 years, and they are in disrepair, and we really need to replace the assets there.

The other thing that we have heard is that we need to add boarding floats so that folks that are launching from that site, it's much easier and safer for them to be able to get in and out of their boats and to provide other accessibility improvements at the site.

Lastly, we will be removing a number of creosote contaminated timbers and pulling that contamination out of the water as part of that.

As Michelle mentioned, we are moving forward with Dr. Jose Rizal.

Right now, we're moving forward with the restroom renovation.

As part of the applications that we are putting together for this project, we're hoping to leverage our funding to expand the scope of the playground, which is also being planned, to add additional accessibility improvements, expand the viewpoint, or at least improve the viewpoint there, And as I mentioned earlier, we have done more outreach on this project, so we do hope that this will be more competitive this round.

Judkins Park is in Seattle Central District.

It is the home of EmojaFest and a Butts Washington Middle School.

We're planning and designing a universally inclusive playground and spray park there.

And our goal is to make this universally accessible place space for children of all abilities, ensuring equitable access to outdoor recreation.

The project aligns with Seattle's commitment to inclusive public spaces and ADA accessibility.

And we are seeking 3.25 million in Oralop funding for the project.

We are working in partnership with Inclusion Matters and No More Under on this project.

And our goal is to raise a total of $7 million from multiple funding sources to create a truly dynamic park here.

Green Lake Community Center pool is at the end of its useful life and desperately needs to be reconstructed.

While our funding is limited to outdoor recreation projects, the program does fund indoor swimming pools in areas that have mild climates.

On the surface, this project might not align as closely with the funding criteria as some of our other projects in other neighborhoods.

Nonetheless, the pool has been a very important hub for residents in North Seattle, offering free showers.

There were thousands of residents receive showers there each month, particularly over COVID.

We have lots of scholarships for drop-in swimming and for swim lessons there.

And we have over 1 million visitors that visit Green Lake each year.

Thousands of those visitors stop by the community center for respite.

They come into the center seeking restrooms, a snack to get out of the heat, maybe the cold, get directions, and obviously programming and swimming.

The original plan was to build a much larger regional facility with $100 million price tag.

The project has since been reduced in scope with a $59 million budget.

Currently, we do not believe that is enough to build both the pool and the community center.

Therefore, we are seeking additional funding so that we can really build all of this all at once.

If successful with the grants, we may be able to build the community center and the pool.

including some or all of it just in the initial phase.

We are aware that there might be some program restrictions from the state and the National Park Service that might limit our ability to apply for the full 15 million.

We have a couple of public meetings that are scheduled for April, and we hope to be at 60% design by September of this year and to start construction later, hopefully later in 2026. The Northwest Native Canoe Center is sited at South Lake Union, just across from Mohai.

It will serve as a vital cultural hub celebrating the rich maritime traditions of Coast Salish and other Indigenous communities.

The project aligns with the city's commitment to honoring Native heritage, fostering cultural education, and supporting Indigenous-led initiatives.

United Indians of All Tribes has been a key partner on this project, leading the visioning and helping to fundraise substantial funds for the project.

We are working with FAS to look at the bids that have come in.

I do understand that we have extended the bid timelines there on that project.

And we've included this project because we want to have the option to go out for additional funding if needed.

And here is a summary of the projects that we hope to apply for funding for.

And a timeline.

So my goal on these projects, particularly the federally funded projects, is to get those under contract as soon as possible, hopefully sooner than the summer of 2026. Any questions?

Thank you.

So far, before I jump into my questions, I know, excuse me, my colleagues probably have some, but thank you for the detailed information and walking us through that and so forth.

But I will defer to Council Member, I don't know who was first, but Council Member Rivera and then Council Member Kettle.

All right.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for the remainder of the presentation.

And you did, Moshe, get to my question.

First Tee, is that that non-for-profit that does golf lessons for low-income and BIPOC kids?

Is that the same program?

It's a youth program primarily.

It operates out of the Bill Wright complex at Jefferson Park.

And so, yes, it does kind of like a club sport.

But I think it prioritizes the low-income kids.

Yeah, thank you.

It does, and council approved funding, thank you for the participatory budget to go to First T and their programming that they do for kids, which is really, really great.

They do really, really great work.

And a lot of BIPOC kids use that.

Yes, absolutely.

It's really great.

Council member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Hollingsworth.

And thank you for this presentation and for the new list.

So your mission, after hearing the non-recommended for Smith Cove, is to get a recommended for the Northwest Native Canoe Center.

As Mr. Thorpe out in the audience knows, my team has been working very digitally with us with the various elements of parks and with the South Lake Union community and with, as you noted, United Indians of all tribes.

and others in the Native community to make this happen.

It's very important, and it's very important for, you know, again, that connection to our past.

And so your mission is to get it recommended on this one.

So no pressure.

After the failure of Smith Cove, you know, that is the mission.

So...

And I do thank all the various entities within parks that have been working this, because I know there's a lot of different pieces, like with South Lake Union, because there's some of the underlying utility.

There's a lot of different moving pieces to this as it relates to the overall park and the community.

it's really important to the South Lake Union community, you know, with this and Denny Park and then Cascade, you know, these three parks is something that we want to build up.

And this is a fantastic way related to South Lake Union Park.

So thank you for having this.

And so that's your mission if you choose to accept it.

Yeah, oh yeah.

Awesome.

And a couple questions I had.

Well, the first one was a comment.

I'm happy to hear you're shortening the short nine, the ninth hole at Bill Wright Complex.

I always hit over the fence.

So to have it short, I can use a pitching wedge instead of my nine.

But one of the things I wanted to ask you all is how do you, how did you all integrate some of the projects that you chose to write grants for with the comprehensive plan, understanding that some of the density and proposed places where we're going to be increasing people is going to increase traffic, foot traffic at parks and so forth.

Was there any OPCD or with Seattle parks, any type of collaboration there?

So much on the grant selection.

I do look at the Metropolitan Park District Plan very carefully and go through each of those projects.

Every now and then there is a project that does come to us from the community that becomes a priority.

The community comes to you all for additional funding.

They come to our superintendent's office for funding.

In those cases where those do elevate and they're not part of the the actual plan.

You know, I work very closely with them to try to help secure that funding.

But it really is looking at our asset inventory, looking at the timing of the projects.

Timing is really key because if you apply too soon, you're just not really ready to put in that successful application.

If you apply too late, it takes a long time for that whole grant process to work through.

And you could actually push a project back a year and a half, maybe two years, you end up getting cost escalations.

So it's a very opportunistic process, if I can be candid, really looking at what we have going on, figuring out what could be competitive, talking to our city planners and our project managers to figure out where they're at, what kind of outreach they've done, looking at community demographics, because that's a big deal for a lot of our funders.

And I would just add to that a little bit upstream is that the parks and open space plan that you all adopted our update last year does align with the comprehensive plan.

And so I would say Mo's job is more the matchmaker once the projects are identified and funded that he's trying to leverage those efforts, but upstream we certainly do.

align through the open space plan and the park element and the comp plan.

Nice.

I know next week we're getting a presentation from different city departments regarding the infrastructure piece to the city and how that aligns with the comprehensive plan and growth and how city departments are preparing for that.

And I was curious if it had any coordination and it does.

So y'all are on it.

Those are all my questions.

I don't know if that's a old hand, council member Rivera.

I see Council Member Strauss, you're recognized.

Thank you.

I have a bunch of additional questions that I will save for after the vote because the projects have merit.

Again, I think that the Canoe House is another one that has been long stalled and wrapped up in RCO drama.

from receiving past grants and the Green Lake pool that's, you know, colleagues that you may or may not be aware, the plan right now is to phase the redevelopment of the Green Lake Community Center, which I think is a very bad idea.

This grant would allow us to unphase that project so that we have the economy of scale of building the entire plan at once rather than having to redeploy construction multiple times.

We're about $14 million short, and so this would cover that.

And so I'm supportive here, but I've got more questions, and I'll save those for another day, though.

Thank you, Chair.

Awesome.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Chair, I did have an additional question.

No worries.

Thank you.

You know, I should have said earlier, so support the projects here, support First T, so support the improvements at that park.

We'll also say that I was just with Superintendent Diaz and Jacob Thorpe from your team, who I see in the audience at are Pathways Park, which is actually in the district that I represent.

Colleagues, that is an amazing park.

If you haven't had an opportunity to attend, please do so.

And I'm happy to see that there is an effort to do an inclusive playground at Jenkins Park.

These inclusive playgrounds provide access which all our parks should be moving toward, but it is costly.

And so I'm really happy to see that Judkins is being recommended, or at least by you all, for this grant.

And hopefully you will prevail at the state level so that we can also complete that park because this is really an amazing park.

So I'm happy to see that on there along with the other projects.

So thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Is there any more questions from colleagues?

No?

Well, really happy to see the projects, really happy to see the growth in the city.

I know that our parks get used a lot and a lot of people, you know, as they should.

I will always continue to advocate for turfing of the fields in different places.

Just, I mean, obviously, just because of the...

the rain that we get and wanting to have like year-round access and youth for kids and everything.

So just really appreciate that.

But I know some people might not like to hear me say turfing, but only certain places, and they use cork, okay?

That's environmentally friendly.

Anyways, all right, thank you all.

And definitely thank my favorite council liaison, Jacob Thorpe, because I have some requests for parks for you.

So you're my favorite today.

I'm just playing.

With that, thank you, everyone.

We have no other items on the agenda for today, and if there's no further business, this meeting will adjourn.

This concludes February 12th, meeting of Parks, Public Utilities, Technology Committee.

Our next committee meeting is going to be scheduled February 26th at 2 p.m.

Hearing no further business, left and right, it's 3.31 p.m.

This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.