On August 5th Seattle voters will be asked to vote on a proposal to create a Metropolitan Parks District (MPD) to fund our parks. Parks Department has been deferring maintenance for years due to millions in insufficient funds. The current parks levy is expiring, and something needs to be done to fund parks and fill the gap. The options are short-term levy (say, 7 years), long-term levy, or this new MPD. City officials support creating a MPD and the ballot will only ask whether we want one, too.
Tacoma, Pullman and North Bend have Metropolitan Parks Districts. You can read the State’s official description of the MPD here.
There have been many meetings about Seattle parks funding in the last few months. Yesterday there was a meeting in our neighborhood that brought a proponent and an opponent together to make their cases. I think it’s safe to say that everyone loves our parks and the only disagreement is on how to fund them.
Read the ‘for’ case here.
Read the ‘against’ case here.
Please learn about the MPD concept and vote on August 5th.
Great post Nancy. I am very sad a levy was not an option on the ballot. I will be voting no