It's almost a heretical question to ask in this town. Most people I know in Seattle (myself included) love the neighborhoods where we live. More often than not, we feel protective of other neighborhoods around town, too.

I don't live anywhere near Ballard Avenue, but I love the feel of that historic district strip and a beer at The Tractor.

Seattle is said to be a city of strong neighborhoods, more so than many other cities around the country that don't have pockets of unique character the way we do, nor as many ardent community activists as we have. Neighborhoods are small eco-systems, though, constantly changing due to pressure from the economy and related growth or decline. Who's watching the big picture? We can all take responsibility for the future through updating the city's 38 neighborhood plans.

Back in the mid-1990s residents of 38 neighborhoods partnered with city government to create plans for how these neighborhoods, designated as urban villages and urban centers in planner-ese, should evolve. The plans (you can see them all at www.seattle.gov./neighborhoods/npi) are visions of what neighbors want to see for little chunks of the city plus a "to do" list for the community and city to follow over time. Not surprisingly, every neighborhood wants amenities that make healthier neighborhoods and better connections between people, like more parks, sidewalks, safer streets and stronger business districts.

The Crown Hill/Ballard Plan made possible the incredible Ballard Municipal Center, as well as progress on finding the Nordic Heritage Museum's a permanent home, and investment in the Burke-Gilman Trail among other improvements.

The premise of city-sponsored neighborhood planning in Seattle has been that a) growth is coming to urban villages and urban centers over time, and b) with growth should come the amenities that make neighborhoods places we love to live our lives.

Now the plans are 10 years old or more and sometimes out of date relative to the changes we've seen in the past decade. Some neighborhoods in Seattle, like Ballard, have already surpassed their housing growth projections. Some lag in growth despite the desires of residents for new investment. Some neighborhoods have benefited greatly from the Libraries for All Bond, Pro Parks and community centers levies.

Across the city neighborhoods and neighbors have benefited from the planning done by thousands of Seattleites 10 years ago. Now it's time for us to step up to the task of checking in on the plans and updating them so they can help shape the next 10 years of change in Seattle's neighborhoods.

Over the past year I've worked with neighborhood groups, academics from the University of Washington, small business people, and city staff to determine how we can do these updates in a way that's true to the original grassroots power of the plans. City Council last week approved going forward with the initial stages of plan update work - a year-long assessment of planning areas and plan progress, and jump-starting plan updates in three neighborhoods along the LINK Light Rail route (Beacon Hill, North Rainier and Othello). I expect the assessment work to begin later this year.

After the assessment concludes at the end of 2009, the next set of three or four updates will be identified for work in 2010, then another three or four for 2011 and so on.

One dark spot in the plan update universe is the city budget. Plan development 10 years ago was fueled with several million dollars of city funds. That kind of money won't be dedicated to plan updates this year or next due to the economy and other commitments for city government's General Fund dollars. I am concerned that neither the Department of Neighborhoods nor the Department of Planning and Development - the two lead departments for plan updates - have sufficient funds to do the assessment and update work well. Short-changing our commitment to the community is not acceptable.

A big part of the reason that neighborhood planning worked well last decade is because the visioning was done from the ground up. That meant that neighbors led and that city government listened. I'm calling for a similar process this time, both while conducting the assessments and during the update work. From the outset there will be a Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee made up of a cross-section of people from all over the city to advise city staff on how to best carry out the year-long assessment and how to truly engage and work shoulder to shoulder with neighborhood advocates.

How community-driven the whole update process will be depends upon all of us. At the public hearing on the legislation Sept/ 8, a West Seattleite experienced in neighborhood planning offered a well-phrased warning. She said that through the updates we can have either true neighborhood plans or we can have city-devised plans for neighborhoods.

The Department of Neighborhoods has already begun its work to reach out to a wide variety of neighborhood, small business and civic groups. My e-mail in box is testimony to the fact that many neighborhood groups are jumping forward to organize and drive the assessment and update process for their part of the city.

Over the course of the next year and beyond there will be many opportunities for citizens to share their perspectives at city-sponsored neighborhood meetings, public hearings at City Council, and through written comments to the Department of Neighborhoods and to councilmembers. This whole endeavor will sprout new neighborhood leaders who emerge to push for their vision of the Crown Hill or Admiral of tomorrow.

Thousands of people from all around the city worked to improve the quality of life for their neighbors when they helped plan the future 10 years ago. My hope now is that you'll consider helping this time around as we bring the visions of the 90s into the 21st century.

Councilmember Sally J. Clark chairs the Seattle City Council's Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee. She may be reached at sally.clark@seattle.gov