Lake City Live has a post up about the future of old fire station 39 in Lake City, which the City recently used as a homeless shelter run by Union Gospel Mission.
Check out the Lake City Live post, Families for Lake City, and Douglas Park Cooperative for more details and to get involved!
EDIT: The deadline for sending comments to the City is April 4th.
I like the idea of using the space for the farmers market, youth and senior activities. I followed the links to send an email in support.
Yikes, I was reading the letter from Families for Lake City and red flags went up immediately. The suggestion was to give the old Fire Station to Parks and Rec. And can pretty much assure you Parks can’t go there. They are frantically trying to get someone to operate the community center that is there now without a whole lot of luck. There really needs to be a reality check here. Parks is in dire financial straits. It would be better to find a private party with deep pockets regarding the Fire station.
Having been to many parks dept meetings I can also tell you that if parks were to aquire the fire station the services offered there must be for the general public. It would be the same guidelines as required for the current Lake City Community Center. If boys and girls club and bikeworks wouldn’t work there they most certainly wouldn’t at a park owned fire station.
Financial practicality yes, but I don’t see red flags. The city already owns the property, it’s not like Parks & Rec has to buy it. The programming they’re proposing is all non-profit organizations – no Park FTE’s needed. The city already let non-profits use the building for programming, so the precedent is already there.
Besides, if feasibility was the only parameter for vision, noone would ever ask the city for anything. It’s not like the city is going to listen, but good for them for organizing and trying to be heard.
Sorry to be such a downer. Yes, good for them for trying. There is an Opportunity Fund coming up, it requires a lot of work. Whatever happens at any park site it must be sustainable with the ability to pay the bills. The Lions Club was losing money every year despite heroic efforts and finally just burned out. I guess you know that the Fire Dept. would require hundreds of thousands of dollars of rehabilitation work and who would pay for that? The City is looking for partners but they have to bring something to the table more than empty pockets. There was much more opportunity available when the 2008 levy passed to do something like this, that was when the vision was needed.
So what would you propose? And where are you getting your info?
Info is public at Seattle Gov sites, here is a start http://www.seattle.gov/parks/levy/opportunity.htm
The Lake City blog also offeres up links. I guess I am talking about 2 issues. One being the city is looking for a partner to the current community center and in fact were approached already by boys and girls club. Requirements were described at the North District Council meeting as well as online. Two,I completely empathize with folks wanting their NCP enacted. I also get the need for low income housing that the city is proposing.
I’m saying that since Lake City is having problems even supporting the community center they have now I don’t see how more will help.(Revenue has slipped into the red this past year) That said, there are few opportunites to get that valuable core space so of course no one wants to let that kind of chance slip by. To show good faith the community needs to step up and find solutions to what is already out there.
As a 40-year member of the Lake City Community Center Board of Directors, I must attempt to enlighten “Sue” regarding the decades-long, self-supported function of the Center. Her observation that the Parks Department
is “frantically trying to get someone to operate the Community Center” is inaccurate, to say the least.
The LCCC, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, non-profit corporation, and is run by a Board of Directors composed of 17 or more service-oriented community members, who volunteer their time and effort, free of charge, to benefit the citizens of north Seattle.
The Lion’s Club does not own, nor does it direct the management of the LCCC. This is a myth perpetuated by some individuals in the Park Dept. The Lion’s Club WAS instrumental in the creation, back in the 1940’s, of the Lake City Youth Center, and many individual members of the Lion’s Club continue to serve as volunteers at the Community Center, as it is known today.
Please feel free to inquire further at the Center, office hours Mon.- Fri. 8:00 to noon.
Please follow this link and tell me what is inaccurate here http://www.seattle.gov/parks/partnerships/rfp.htm
I know the Lions Club does not own the property, it was given to the city with conditions. One of the continued and current conditions is that Lions Club be given 500 sq feet of space by whomever manages the space next. I don’t understand what point you are trying to make? The center is losing money and the city is looking for new management.
Claire thanks for the correct information about the LCCCenter