Council News Release

Councilmember Sally J. Clark

CLARK: AUDIT OF NEIGHBORHOOD PLANS NEEDS YOU!
Councilmember encourages Seattleites to complete survey on neighborhood plans and development

Seattle — Councilmember Sally J. Clark wants to know, “How well is the City implementing the neighborhood plans? How relevant are the neighborhood plans at middle age?” To answer these and other questions, Councilmember Clark, chair of the Economic Development and Neighborhoods Committee, announced in April that the Office of City Auditor will review the City’s progress in implementing neighborhood plans. Today, Councilmember Clark announced that the Auditor has posted an on-line survey regarding neighborhood plans. Councilmember Clark said, “I hope many Seattleites can take a few minutes to fill out this survey. We need their input to make the audit meaningful.” You can view and take the survey in English or in Spanish .

The neighborhood planning process started in 1994 with the engagement of citizens across the city who wanted to shape the changes and growth occurring in their neighborhoods. The Council approved 38 neighborhoods’ plans in the late 1990s. The 20-year plans included requests ranging from traffic revisions to new libraries. Councilmember Clark said, “We built these plans to last 20 years, but the pace and scale of change in some of our neighborhoods has been more rapid than we could have imagined. I’m also interested in whether neighborhood residents and businesses still remember the plans and use them.” The audit, due to the Council late this summer, will look at what’s been built (hardscape and programs) thanks to neighborhood plans and also at attitudes about the neighborhood plans.

The Office of City Auditor encourages all Seattleites who have questions, input, or concerns to express regarding the City putting neighborhood plans into action to contact the City staff member who is conducting this audit, Rich Richmire, rich.richmire@seattle.gov, 206-684-0391, or City Auditor, Susan Cohen, susan.cohen@seattle.gov.

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City Council