District 1 Councilmember Lisa Herbold offered an update on the public safety issues facing the South Park Neighborhood in her most recent letter to constituents.

Herbold writes:

Here’s an update on implementation of recommendations of the South Park Public Safety Task Force, most recently discussed here. Below are updates on public safety, lighting, parks and transportation.
 
The Public Safety Coordinator position seeking bids from community based organizations who will then hire and supervise a city-funded public safety coordinator for South Park was released in late February; the deadline for responses closed on February 28. Notification of the award should be completed today, with a contact completed by March 30th.
 
This City Light map shows where additional lighting improvement have been made, over the last few weeks, in particular, the location of new streetlights to be installed in the alley between Cloverdale and Donovan, and 8th and 14th, and in the alley between Cloverdale and Sullivan between adjacent to 12th. Here’s a detailed engineering map for the alley streetlights. SDOT approved the installation of the alley lights earlier this week.
 
The Recreation Program Specialist position for the South Park Community Center focused on youth recreation is posted on the City’s job opportunities page, and open for applications through March 27 at 4 p.m.  After hire of this permanent position, the Parks and Recreation Department will be working with youth in the area to identify and design new youth recreation programs.  I have requested the Teen Late Night Program, currently operating only on Friday nights, to be expanded to Saturday nights.  I’m looking forward to hearing back from the Executive about my request.
 
For the $500,000 in Transportation Improvements funded by the Council, the Department of Neighborhoods (DON) has begun a community process to prioritize funds based on recommendations from the South Park Public Safety Taskforce.
 
Here’s a link to a map showing where improvements are taking place for crosswalks, radar speed signals, a new pedestrian light, LED lighting upgrade, street curb improvements, and trail upgrades. Also included are the locations of five potential new transportation improvements, and how to help prioritizing the $500,000 for those projects the Council approved in the 2018 budget.
 
The map is also available in Spanish, and in Vietnamese. DON has developed paper voting ballots for the prioritization of transportation projects in Spanish and Vietnamese as well.
 
DON is conducting outreach in the South Park community throughout the months of March and April. DON has confirmed the following direct outreach opportunities:

• Concord PTA Meeting on 3/8 (12 residents attended)
• Seattle Parks and Recreation event at the Community Center on 3/9 (100+ residents attended)
• South Park Neighborhood Association on 3/13 (20 residents attended)
• South Park Neighborhood Information and Resource Center on 3/14
• Senior Center Community Conversation on 3/14
• Duwamish Valley Youth Corps meeting on 3/15
• Duwamish Safe Streets on 3/20
• South Park Community Center Easter Egg Hunt on 3/31
• South Park Arts on 4/9
• Concord PTA Meeting for Spanish speaking families on 4/19
• Duwamish Valley Youth Corps meeting on 4/26

DON will be hosting office hours in South Park throughout the months of March and April. DON will be available at:

• South Park Library Branch on 3/21, 4/3 , and 4/17
• South Park Community Center on 3/30, 4/6, and 4/20
• Via Vaddi Caffe on 4/9 and 4/23

 
As many of you know, Seattle Parks and Recreation has also been working on a renovation to the South Park Community Center, last Friday they presented to the community the final plan which they came to after receiving community input through and online survey that I previously sent out and at the Duwamish River Festival. Here’s a link to the final site wide plan.
 
Work is also taking place on two projects through the Neighborhood Matching Fund for the 5th and Cloverdale streetscape design, and Duwamish Waterway Park Improvements Phase 2.
 
Thank you to the Department of Neighborhoods for stepping up and coordinating City work in South Park, and to SDOT, Parks and City Light for their work in the South Park Community. Here’s a link to an update on DON sent me about implementation of the South Park Public Safety Task Force recommendations on Wednesday, March 14