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Lake City News
Know what’s happening now in Lake City. We keep you up-to-date on local activities, LCFF committee work, and other good things to enjoy about your neighborhood.
Are You Prepared?
Next Community Conversation on Emergency Preparedness
Wednesday, November 15th – 6:30-8pm – Lake City Community center
Thanks to All the Participants for Fall Clean
Neighbors Come Out on Beautiful Autumn Day to Shine Up Lake City
On Sunday, October 15th, LCFF wrapped up a great year of neighborhood Clean Up efforts starting back with our “Spring Clean” in April. About 60 participants came out to enjoy conversation, some tasty snacks and the feeling of doing something tangible for the Community.
It was amazing to see so many families and young people join the effort. Keep an eye out for the Clean Up’s to return in Spring!
Thank you! 
A huge thank you to our Clean and Safe Committee Chairs, Annette from Kaffeeklatsch and Annie from Two Dog Yoga for all their hard work. Special thanks to Jonathan Neufeld at GLA, Nance Blase from East Lake City Collaborative, Chuck Dickey with Lake City Lions and LCFF Board Member Molly Burke from the LC Farmers Market for help with set up and staffing the locations. Big gratitude goes to Kaffeeklatsch and Elliott Bay Brewery for providing sandwiches, cookies and coffee for the participants.
New Full Service Community Center in LC Needs You
Message from Council Member Juarez’s Office
We need your help. There has been a new development in the City’s budget process that leads to potential negative implications for the Lake City Community Center rebuild.The new budget chair, Councilmember Lisa Herbold, has signaled she may reallocate some of the Lake City Community Center’s funds to other projects. She is considering this reallocation because the Parks department has indicated they would not spend all of the funds in 2018. However, we know that any movement backwards threatens the future success of the project. We need the entire funding to remain in place. Please contact Councilmember Herbold to ensure the project receives the full $5M committed in the Mayor’s 2018 budget.
Councilmember Juarez will be discussing funding for the project at the Budget Committee meeting Friday afternoon. We want to show there is a united effort behind this project. Please start contacting Councilmember Herbold’s office at 3pm this Friday, 10/13 and through the weekend to let her know it’s imperative we maintain the full funding commitment of $5M in the Mayor’s budget for a new Lake City Community Center.
Councilmember Lisa Herbold’s Office
Please share this information with your neighbors and friends.
Contact Sabrina Bolieu with questions: 206-684-8805
Fall Clean In Lake City
Join Us for LCFF’s Fall Clean Up
Sunday, October 15th
3-4:30 pm
Meet us at one of three locations:
- 125th and Lake City Way – the Lake City Mini Park
- In front of the Lake City Library
- At God’s Lil Acre on 33rd Avenue
We provide all you need to take part. A great way to make connections and to feel good about your neighborhood. Please email director@lakecityfuturefirst.org for questions
Finding Community–Summer in the Lake City MiniPark
Activating Public Spaces
Part 1 Summer 2017 in the Lake City MiniPark
What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people.” —William H, Whyte, from The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Hidden in plain sight, the MiniPark is the heart of the Lake City Urban Core. You either love it, or hate it. Okay, you probably hate it. Maybe you’ve called it Porta-Potty Park because of its landmark feature. It collects trash and dirt and reminds us all men are created equal, but that it doesn’t always work out that way. Yet it is prime public space in the Lake City Neighborhood. Can we reframe how we think about this corner lot and invest it with purpose?
In Summer 2017, Lake City Future First (LCFF) hosted 10 free weekly concerts in the MiniPark with some of Seattle’s finest musicians and performers including Gansango, the Lance Lu Quartet and Skolkis. This is the second year of high quality programming through the “Put the Arts in Parks” grant from the Office of Arts and Culture and Seattle Parks Department.
LCFF launched an ambitious effort to activate our public spaces in 2016. Over two summers, LCFF, Seattle Parks and Recreation and the Lake City Branch Library have hosted over 48 free multi-cultural art performances in Lake City. This summer we saw families with strollers, jazz buffs with lawn chairs, neighbors coming for a concert and dinner, commuters getting off the bus and visitors driving through from Alaska all stop and wile an hour in the Park.
Public park plazas are the gems of urban environments. They may be named for a famous fountain or sculpture, but as Whyte says, what really attracts people is seeing other people. Plazas are an opportunities to enjoy public life–share a lunch, people watch, catch a sunbreak, see some art. As we shed our reputation of auto row and state highway and work towards a walkable neighborhood, activating public spaces is our key to a vibrant community.
Have ideas for artists you would like to see in 2018? Are you interested in writing a Put the Arts in Parks or Small Sparks Fund grant for a cultural event in our neighborhood? Contact us. Hope to see you at a concert in 2018.
Find this article interesting? Delve more into the activation of small urban spaces….
The Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Transformation of Public Spaces