We couldn’t make it to Sunday’s Party in Greenwood Park, but Cassandra Allen and Mike Stringer sent us this report. Thanks Cassandra and Mike!

And thanks to Greenwood photographer Jay Boynton for the photos!

Residents from all over Greenwood came to the 2nd annual party in Greenwood Park. The band Pickled Okra played lively blue grass tunes and a barbecue featured donated food from eight local restaurants and grocery stores. The event celebrated the expansion of Greenwood Park to include two new lots along Fremont Avenue. Mayor Michael McGinn told the crowd, “When I go around the City and see the parks and projects going on in the neighborhoods, they are driven by committed volunteers. Volunteers are what make neighborhoods great. It is all of your time and talents that will make this park and Greenwood one of the best in the City.”

The party in the park was organized by Vision Greenwood Park, a neighborhood group that has formed to lead the community effort to expand the park. Cassandra Allen and Joanna D’Asaro co-organized the event. They were supported by a crew of twelve volunteers who procured donations, cooked burgers and hot dogs and staffed the event all afternoon.

The park expansion project includes a community garden, barbecue grills, and a multi-sport courtyard for basketball, soccer, street hockey, and skating. “We are happy to announce that Vision Greenwood Park has received a $60,000 grant from the Neighborhood Matching Fund,” said steering committee chair Michael Stringer. “As part of the matching contribution for this grant, we are raising money today, and will organize volunteer work parties to help build a community garden.” The first work party is scheduled for Saturday, September 25, from 10 AM to 2 PM. The first task will be to remove old fencing that currently blocks views across the park will open space for future garden plots.

The Party in the Park was a fundraiser as well as a celebration and raised nearly $2,000 in cash donations to support expansion of the park. Part of the fundraiser was a silent auction that featured donated gifts and services from nearly 30 local businesses plus the opportunity to have coffee with Mayor McGinn.

Donors to the event included:
- Phinney Neighborhood Association (donating the 3% transaction fee on all credit card payments!)
- Better Meats
- Mr. Gyros
- Gorditos
- Game Time popcorn
- Snoose Junction
- Lenny’s Market
- Molly Moon
- Pickled Okra
- Sip and Ship
- Top Ten Toys
- Gary’s Auto
- Fatty’s Pizza
- Boynton Photography
- Chocolati
- Wheatless in Seattle
- Whole Life Yoga
- Monkey Grind Espresso
- Pola Belle nail salon
- Rhea Healing Essential
- Terra Bella organic florist
- Carmelita’s Restaurant
- Gary’s Games
- Green Bean Coffee
- The Lash and Wax Boutique
- Seattle Mariners
- Spa Mama Seattle
- Georgia’s Greek Restaurant & Deli
- Romio’s of Greenwood
- Ken’s Market
- Greenwood Market
- Fred Meyer
- Safeway

The 6th Avenue NW Pocket Park at 6th Ave. NW and NW 76th St. was filled with kids and parents this morning for a puppet show, “The Tasty Tale of Brave Sir Bump,” by Zambini Brothers of Vashon.

Sir Bump prevailed over the dragon (who turned out to cranky because he was just hungry) by feeding him his picnic lunch.

The 6th Avenue NW Pocket Park (simply called “Our Park” by the locals) at the corner of 6th and NW 76th Street is hosting a puppet show at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Zambini Brothers of Vashon Island will perform “The Tasty Tale of Sir Bump.” The event is free.

The Green Lake wading pool survived the city’s mid-year budget cuts and will be open seven days a week this summer starting June 26.   However, the nearby Sandel Playground wading pool will be closed during park construction.  The mayor released his list of cuts today and decided to fully fund all community centers and swimming pools across the city. The only areas that took a big hit in the Parks budget were wading pools and park maintenance.

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.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is closing the popular salmon slide at Carkeek Park’s playground for repairs from June 21-29. The rest of the playground will remain open.

The slide is useable but the inside is pitted and bumpy, and the outside is faded in many places. Tom Jay, the sculptor who installed the functional art piece almost 12 years ago, will be in the park to repair the inside of the slide to uniform smoothness, and the outside to its original Chum salmon colors. Cold or stormy weather may cause delays. Workers will install a fence to protect the restoration work while it is in progress.

This work is made possible thanks to a generous private donor and the assistance of the Carkeek Park Advisory Council, and the Associated Recreation Council.

The community is invited to attend an open house to learn more about the expansion plans for Greenwood Park, which is between Fremont and Evanston avenues and North 87th and 89th streets.

The volunteer group Vision Greenwood Park is hosting the open house from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday at the North Seattle Boys & Girls Club, 8635 Fremont Ave N. It will be facilitated by Site Workshop, a Seattle-based landscape architecture firm.

This meeting builds on the work conducted last year to create a conceptual plan for expanding Greenwood Park. The community is capitalizing on the opportunity to expand the Park into two adjacent properties recently acquired by Seattle Parks and Recreation. The new features will appeal to different age groups, especially seniors and teens who are drawn to this area by the Greenwood Senior Center and North Seattle Boys and Girls Club. The project will also improve lines of sight and foster increased positive activity at the Park to improve safety.

The major elements of the plan (.pdf) include:

• Community Garden—designed to be universally accessible, the garden will create
  a space where teens from the North Seattle Boys and Girls Club can work next to
  members of the Greenwood Senior Center, and neighbors can grow local, organic
  produce for themselves and the Greenwood Food Bank.
• Basketball Courtyard—located across the street from the Boys and Girls Club,
  an informal basketball court will provide much needed recreation activities for
  teens in the Park.
• Star-Gazing Themed Gathering Plaza—creating a space for community events, live
  music, and barbecues.
• Skate-friendly Design—the hardscapes of the basketball court and plaza will be
  designed to create multi-functional spaces including elements suitable for skateboarding.

North Seattle residents, including representatives from the Greenwood Food Bank, turned out in force during last night’s city budget hearing at North Seattle Community College.  They voiced their concerns about budget cuts that could impact parks programs, community centers, pools, and human services programs.

A loud crowd full of different organizations packed the cafeteria to plead their cases to Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle City Council. City officials are calling for a 3 percent cut across the Parks system, but insist there is no list detailing which parks, community centers, or pools might actually be impacted.  Human services appear to be safe from cuts, but folks at the Greenwood Food Bank made sure their voices were heard just in case.  They told the Council that they’ve seen a 20 percent increase in demand this year.

The mayor and City Council were clearly moved by some of the stories they heard last night. 

“We don’t have a specific proposal from Parks, but this discussion is very helpful to let us know what is important to you,” Mayor McGinn told the crowd.

The Parks department will come up with its suggested budget changes over the next several weeks before presenting them to the mayor. Three more public hearings are set for September and October.

Some revisions were made to the renovation plan at Greenwood’s Sandel Park play area at North 90th Street and 1st Avenue Northwest, based on the community’s safety concerns.

The final design fills in about two feet of the area of the existing upper playground and creates a larger playground more centrally located in the park. The design shared at the March 2010 Open House did not include the removal and grade elevation at the existing play area. This detail was the primary safety element in the NMF design. This final design addresses the visibility concerns that motivated the community to start the project. The new play area will have space to incorporate a wider variety of play equipment and will build upon the natural landscape of the existing park. The implementation of the project is funded through the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy.

The city says construction documents should be completed by the end of May, and the project is expected to go out to bid in late June. Construction should start in August. The renovations are funded by the Parks and Green Spaces Levy.

Join a group of Sandel Park neighbors to stencil storm drains in honor of Earth Day this Saturday. The Carkeek Watershed Community Action Project wants to stencil every storm drain that leads to Piper’s Creek.

Fact: There are over 100 storm drains on the streets of Greenwood, Broadview, Blue Ridge and Crown Hill.

Fact: Each of these storm drains leads to Piper’s Creek and Piper’s Creek drains to Puget Sound.

Fact: Runoff from roads contributes millions of gallons of oil to Puget Sound every year.

Fact: Studies show that marking storm drains with the message “Dump No Waste, Drains to Stream” doubles community awareness.

Join a group of neighbors at 9 a.m. at Sanel Park, at 9053 1st Ave. N.W., to stencil all the surrounding drains. Bring your own coffee mug; they’ll provide coffee.

This would be a great project for kids, too. With a short lesson on where the rain goes and how pollution on the street gets washed into the salmon’s home, kids could feel a great sense of accomplishment knowing they are helping by painting! So join us in the morning before the day gets too busy. Meet some neighbors, get a morning walk and make a difference.

The Vision Greenwood Park Steering committee is asking for people to volunteer hours for the park’s improvements that will happen soon.

We need your help to make the expansion and enhancement a reality by pledging volunteer hours; these volunteer hours are an important component of our grant requirements. Please complete this 3 minute survey to indicate your willingness to volunteer. We especially welcome your input between now and Sunday, April 11th at 5pm.

Seattle Parks and Recreation’s new Code of Conduct takes effect on April 1.

It includes provisions from Washington state law, from Seattle City ordinance, from already-adopted administrative rules, and some new provisions. Violation of these rules can result in exclusion from a park or a group of parks. New prohibited behaviors include:

• Possession of glass containers at athletic fields, beaches, or children’s playgrounds;
• Smoking, chewing, or other tobacco use within 25 feet of other park patrons and or at play areas, beaches, playgrounds, and picnic areas;
• Conduct that poses a risk of harm to any person or property; and
• Possession of explosives, acid, or any other article or material capable of causing serious harm to others.

By prohibiting smoking in some parks, Seattle Parks join many other cities in Washington state and around the country that are making smoking unacceptable in public places. It is consistent with Seattle Parks and Recreation’s mission to provide healthy, safe places for people to congregate, and it sends a message to Seattle’s youth that the norm is for public places to be smoke-free.

The new rules mean park patrons can no longer smoke anything near play areas, even this hooka, which an annoyed park-goer witnessed in Greenwood Park a few months ago. The girls were smoking near the children’s play area. While it was legal at the time, the man who took the photo felt it was inappropriate.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is taking another furlough day this Friday to help fill the budget gap. That means all community centers, swimming pools, and environmental learning centers will be closed. (Child care and late-night programs will still operate at the community centers.)

On Monday, March 15, Park Department administrative offices (communications, correspondence, Park Board support, web management, public outreach, human resources, finance and administration) will be closed.

Golf courses will operate as usual, as will the Seattle Aquarium.