Seattle City Wire

We are #ParkProud to have recently released the 2022 Park District Annual Report, a summary of activities, programs and projects funded by the Seattle Park District in 2022. Last year, thanks to the Park District, Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) launched a park Maintenance Surge that dramatically improved the appearance of parks and amenities, developed a new park in the Lake City negihborhood, and saw the return of the Third Shift Maintenance Crew that works overnight so as not to interrupt daytime programming.

More Highlights of Park District-Funded Accomplishments for 2022:

• SPR opened all eight indoor pools and both outdoor pools and provided swim lessons to 13,950 kids and offered 3,597 scholarships.
• We completed improvements at the Westcrest and Genesee Off-Leash Areas, installing dog agility equipment at Genesee.
• All open comfort stations received “deep cleaning” maintenance. Crews also pressure washed 148 tennis courts, 102 basketball courts, 25 picnic shelters, more than 350 picnic tables and all wading pools.
• The Arts in Parks program delivered 33 projects, 21 of which were BIPOC-led. Projects involved 849 artists and offered 119 performances, serving 22,542 participants including 6,000 youth.
• Our Urban Parks Partnership program held 688 events and activities, including 5,139 activation hours, 18,119 concierge hours and 1,608 busking hours

About the Seattle Park District

In 2014, Seattle voters approved a proposition that created the Seattle Park District (also known as a metropolitan tax district), which collects a portion of property taxes to fund parks and recreation services. In 2022, the Park District collected $0.207 per $1,000 of assessed property value for a total of $56,035,590.

The Park District is governed by the Seattle City Council acting as the Park District Board with oversight from the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners (BPRC). Governance and oversight are described in the Interlocal Agreement between the City and the Park District.

The Park District funds park and facility maintenance, recreation programs, land acquisition, park improvements, new park development and other improvements identified and revised on a six-year financial planning cycle. The first financial plan covered the six years from 2015-2020. Due to the pandemic, planning for the next six-year cycle was delayed until the spring of 2022 and in fall 2022 the Park District Board adopted the 2023-2028 funding plan.

Original source can be found here.