Help! Help! Help!

Mayor Greg Nickels and some city council members propose to take our tiny pocket park in North Admiral and turn it into a muddy pit filled with old logs and boulders.

We now have one of the few open spaces left in our neighborhood a teacup park surrounded by lovely trees.

He (and his wife) and a small contingent of parents of preschoolers and a daycare commercial enterprise have been meeting for months. They did not poll those of us that live on the perimeter of the park. They got themselves an architect, signs and funding. And they have signatures from folks as far away as Burien that back their intended project.

Greg Nickels' sign declares that to change the tiny pocket park is one of his highest priorities (according to the enormous sign he placed at the park). Despite monumental protests from immediate neighbors and a protest list of over 500 signatures that want "no change" to this tiny open space we are told if we don't like it, "move".

Alki has a beautifully appointed children's playground. Hiawatha playground and park is just four blocks away. Add Schmitz parkland to the miles of Alki Beach. Yet this group swears that there is no place for their children to play.

Please note the Seattle Times reported Greg Nickels wants a budget cut of $26,000,000! He wants to reduce the Youth-Violence prevention initiative by $1.3 million. He wants to reduce funds to build housing for the homeless by $500,000. He wants to reduce the program to install safety cameras in some parks. He wants to eliminate a hiring incentive program that pays for uniforms for new recruits in the Seattle Police Department. He wants fire engines and the city vehicles replaced less frequently. He wants to eliminate additional tree-maintenance crews. He is considering eliminating the Family Court.

Yet this small group has found funding to destroy a tiny open space, turn it into a muddy pit full of boulders and logs and no toilet facilities and call it neighborhood beautification!

If Mayor Nickels wants to beautify West Seattle he could slow the sliding hillsides by stripping the ivy from the trees on California Way. The ivy is slowly strangling most of the trees above Harbor and Alki avenues resulting in weak hillsides that threaten the condominiums and apartments below. Mayor Nickels could develop a plan to control and monitor the raceway that is California Avenue north of Admiral Way.

One death has occurred at California and Ferry Street. One injury at California and Hill Street. One death in Park West Care Center resulting from traffic accident on California Avenue Southwest. Those of us that reside on California Avenue have seen many accidents, injuries and deaths of small pets and wildlife. A busy arterial free of traffic controls, California Avenue is a raceway for drivers and some city buses. Those of us that live adjacent and across from our tiny park could fill your day with our narrow escapes on that busy arterial. Why can't this group develop Alki Beach with their boulders and log pit? They would have miles of space to develop!

We need your help to stop this small group that is hell bent on taking our teacup park, our last open space, and turning it into this nightmare as one of the mayor's highest priorities.

Our tiny park is not a safe place for children of any neighborhood. Transients stay under the adjacent church overhang and often spend nights in the park. The apartment house one block east on Hill Street is listed on the sex offenders list produced by the Washington State Patrol under the sip code 98116. It is available on the Internet.

Please do consider investigating this issue. It is so very important to over 500 people that live on the perimeter of this tiny open space that is owned by the Park Department. The daycare contingent that wants to dig up this small space could kill the trees and create a muddy pit (of rocks and old logs according to the plan they voiced in the last meeting).

Mr. and Mrs. William Fotheringham

Admiral