Parks Strategic Plan: somebody goofed

Last December I went to one of a series of Seattle Parks Department meetings to gather peoples' input for their strategic plan (recall that Parks has a new Superintendent, who will be at our Miller celebration next Saturday).

They have now published a draft of their Strategic Plan, and are holding a series of meetings to get feedback on it. There was one such meeting on Saturday at Miller. You didn't go, perhaps because I didn't tell you about it. And I didn't tell you about it, because Parks didn't tell me about it (and I went to the last meeting and am on umpteen City and neighborhood lists). I only heard about it by chance, via the director of Miller, who told me of a meeting at Rainier with ONE participant.

I briefly stopped by the meeting at Miller: two Parks officials and ONE participant. They seemed surprised by my concerns about lack of notification. The solitary participant had heard about it via a ballfield organization. (Sorry, I didn't stay. I had other things to do.).

If you want to know/comment on what the Parks Department is planning you could:

• read the draft Strategic Plan
• attend one of the other Parks meetings about the plan: Montlake, Arboretum, Garfield etc.
  
• come to the Miller party next Saturday: they may have a booth
• fill in an online survey
• contact parksplan@seattle.gov
• Call Parks and Recreation at (206) 684-4075
  
  

BTW I strongly advocate this statement from the plan summary:

Improving maintenance and the up-keep of land and facilities was also a top priority, with some advocating for ensuring maintenance before any new acquisitions.

Ironically, they also noted:

Most agreed that Parks and Recreation needs to improve its public engagement.