Mayor announces plans to increase
city investment in South Park neighborhood
Investments range from youth programs to transportation
SEATTLE -Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels today announced plans to help strengthen
the South Park community by investing more than $1.75 million in neighborhood-backed
programs focused on youth, transportation, and the environment.
The mayor will include the additional investment in his proposed 2007-2008
budget, which he will deliver later this month. The proposal marks the first
step in a wider South Park Action Agenda, currently being developed by community
members to improve economic development, quality of life, and youth opportunities
in the neighborhood.
“South Park is one of the city’s most vibrant and diverse neighborhoods,
but it has faced challenges in recent years,” Nickels said. “This
proposal will support the work of people in the neighborhood who have bridged
language and cultural differences to tackle critical issues such as crime prevention,
transportation and the environment.”
Nickels’ proposed budget, which the mayor will present to the City Council
on Sept. 25, calls for:
- $500,000 for the 14th Avenue South Street Improvement to leverage
a $1.2 million grant to design and construct transportation and drainage
improvements in South Park’s retail district
- $616,726 over two years to continue providing successful, culturally appropriate
programs to address a broad range of needs for at-risk Latino youth and families
in the community
- $50,000 to design an open space and community park at 12th and Trenton.
- $442,244 over two years to extend operating hours at the South Park Community
Center, add a Late Night teen program, add a new staff position, and increase
funds for a youth job readiness program.
- $145,665 over two years to improve a Community Center computer lab and
support the Spanish-language information center.
All of these proposals meet needs identified in the South Park Action Agenda,
which is in the final stages of development. The South Park community will
deliver its South Park Action Agenda to the mayor in October.
Based on the similar and successful Southeast Seattle Action Agenda, the South
Park agenda is a community-driven effort, with city staffing, to identify current
and emerging issues that can benefit from city involvement. The action agenda
will identify community priorities and deliverables, both for the immediate
and long term future.
The city and partners at King County and Washington State have recently taken
a number of other steps to help the South Park community.
- Seattle Public Libraries opened a new, bilingual library earlier this
month.
- Last year, Seattle Police and the King County Sheriff’s Office signed
a mutual aid agreement to coordinate their services to reduce crime in an unincorporated
area in South Park.
- The state adjusted the boundaries for the White Center DSHS office to
include South Park, which is closer than the Rainier office and offers Spanish
language services.
- The mayor’s 2006 budget included $294,000 in
additional funding, which provided increased literacy services; gang intervention
and prevention services; support for a boxing program for at-risk youth; and
other programs for teens and parents. The mayor’s 2007-2008 budget includes
continued funding for these programs for the next two years.
Get the mayor’s inside view on initiatives to promote transportation,
public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities by signing up for
The Nickels Newsletter at www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsletter_signup.htm.
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Office of the Mayor
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