Alki Community Council (ACC) members may be confused by the flurry of negative letters to the editor of the West Seattle Herald with allegations directed at their executive board. We are concerned the letter writers don't understand the council or the many things the ACC has accomplished over the years that make Alki such a wonderful community.

The ACC reflects and articulates concerns of its membership, contrary to statements of some letter writers. Average attendance (members and non-members included) at council meetings over the last eighteen months has been 54, ranging from a high of 111 at the public safety forum in June 2005, to a low of 30. The council's interest is to represent the views of its more than 300 members. It is occasionally, but rarely, necessary for the council to respond or comment on an issue in a timely matter when prior consultation with the members is not possible. In those cases, the response represents the common tenor of council meetings, with member ratification or notification later. It is possible, and we hope, that some council views may also reflect those of the greater neighborhood.

Alki is a neighborhood as well as a beach. In the last fifteen years, the council has advocated for projects to benefit the entire community, such as open space purchases in the Duwamish greenbelt and Me-Kwa-Mooks Park and the construction of the Alki Beach Trail, and worked closely with Metro on mitigating impacts to Alki during the construction of a (sewer) tunnel and decommissioning of the Alki sewage treatment plant.

The most important function of the council is to provide an open forum for the neighborhood where all voices may be heard. Community Council meetings are a place where residents can meet their elected representatives and department officials to ask questions and be informed about current issues that affect them. For example, the council hosted five of our nine City Council members in July 2005. Other recent visitors include officials from the mayor's office, Washington State Department of Transportation, Seattle Monorail Project, the Seattle Department of Planning and Development, Seattle Emergency Planning, and the State Liquor Control Board. Officers from the Seattle Police Southwest Precinct are frequent contributors.

The Alki News Beacon, in both print and online form, provides another venue for residents to stay in touch with what is happening in Alki. Residents can also contribute their thoughts to the Beacon in writing, or share concerns in the yahoo group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alkibeachcommunity/.

As mentioned above, Alki is more than just a beach. Since March 2005, some items the council has focused on include: the Mayor's Neighborhood Business District Strategy and proposed changes to our commercial area; parking in Alki; updates on the Alaskan Way Viaduct; proposed changes to the flight path at King County International Airport; the proposed move of Southwest Airlines to Boeing Field; noise from Boeing Field; public safety; capital improvements to sidewalks and parks; wildlife habitat preservation; emergency planning and earthquake preparedness.

As a result of conversations with council board members, Seattle Police designed more flexibility in police staffing in the neighborhood during the summer months of 2006. Also related to public safety, the council worked with a community member on the installation of speed bumps on 59th Avenue which will protect the safety of our children. We are proud to say that one of our board members personally contributed $1,500 of the $6,000 needed for the success of this effort.

The council's attention to the commercial area first came about in May 2005 in response to the publication of the mayor's proposed Neighborhood Business District Strategy, which included elements relating to view protection, size-of-use calculations, permitted uses, and changes in open-space requirements, among others. During analysis of Alki's business district, council members became aware of regulations in the Seattle Municipal Code pertaining to commercial establishments in NC-1 zones. Following a vote of the membership in November 2005, the council wrote to the Department of Planning and Development requesting clarity about conditional uses and the noise ordinance in our NC-1 business district. The letter was delayed until April 2006 as board members sought to educate themselves about the Seattle Municipal Code.

Contrary to the accusations made by letter writers to the Herald, the council has not engaged in a campaign against any individual business or person, nor does the executive board wish any business to shut down or close on Alki. The council has not taken a position on the mayor's nightclub task force. The council has not taken any positions regarding the business practices of any individual business.

In the past eighteen months, the council has taken the following positions:

To oppose proposed flight-path changes at Boeing Field;

To endorse and donate $600 to the Alki Community Center summer film program for teens;

To recommend off-site parking with shuttles, broader music selection, and speakers facing the water at the Alki Music Fest;

To write to the Department of Planning and Development requesting clarification regarding noise ordinance in NC-1 zone, clarification regarding conditional uses and bar/liquor variances for restaurant/bar activities, and clarification regarding permitted business hours in NC-1 zone;

To endorse the Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail;

To join the Southwest Seattle Historical Society and West Seattle Chamber of Commerce;

To support maintaining the current view protections in NC-1 zone, to support maintaining current size-of-use limits and also, to recommend against adding lodging and the sales of office equipment as permitted uses in a NC-1 zone;

To oppose allowing certain grocery stores in certain NC-1districts to expand to 23,000 square feet from the currently allowed 10,000 square feet;

To support efforts to reduce speeding around Alki Elementary School;

To oppose directional signage on I-5 and SR-99 to Alki Beach;

To oppose portable fire pits on the beach;

To apply for capital improvement funds extending an ADA-approved sidewalk at the western end of the promenade at Alki Avenue to Point Place; and a number of administrative motions.

We are honored to work with the many committed and passionate volunteers on the Alki Community Council, as well as the many visitors to our meetings. All our meetings are open and our books are always open. We invite and encourage broad participation by everyone in council activities. Our views and positions are open.

There is one trait shared by most members of the board. Our participation at Alki is a reflection of our involvement, in our personal lives, in other more pressing volunteer efforts, such as serving the homeless to assisting survivors of domestic violence. For the last six years, one of our board members has ordered the delivery of bouquets of flowers to the desks of all Alki School teachers on the first day of class. There is no need for conflict or bitterness in community involvement. We live in a beautiful environment, and we are all neighbors.

We should rather focus our attention on matters that have strong significance in the community, such as the proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Plan that are currently before City Council; the proposed changes to multifamily zoning; the deliberations about adult cabarets; the Alaskan Way Viaduct and seawall replacement project draft environmental impact statement, and the urban sustainability forum on September 20.

We encourage readers of the Herald to join in with their many neighbors in attending ACC meetings the third Thursday of each month. This is your neighborhood, and it's your community council.

Volunteer elected board members

of the Alki Community Council