Anthony-Paul “AP” Diaz at a press conference announcing his appointment this week at Yesler Terrace Park (Image: City of Seattle)

The Seattle City Council this week set a new six-year budget for the city’s parks that will double the system’s levy rate for a slate of Green New Deal investments that build on public safety investments proposed by Mayor Bruce Harrell.

Meanwhile, Harrell has also made his pick to lead the Seattle Parks Department.

In the budget approved this week by the council in its role as the Seattle Park District Board and City Councilmember and Park District Board President Andrew Lewis, new spending will include overhauls at community centers including Garfield, Van Asselt, High Point, South Park, Rainier, Lake City, Queen Anne, Greenlake, Loyal Heights and four more to be determined locations.

Environmental advocacy nonprofit 350 Seattle who campaigned for the additions to the budget, applauded the approval. “The levy will fund turning half of our Park’s community centers into climate resilience hubs that can open as cool and clean air shelters during heat and smoke events and run entirely on clean energy,” the group said in a statement.

The proposals from Lewis joined parks department plans from the Harrell administration reported on here by CHS that include new park rangers and an increase in staff dedicated to addressing one of Harrell’s biggest urban pet peeves — graffiti.

The around $118 million plan will be powered by an increase in the levy created to fund the district. In 2014, Seattle voters approved establishment of the park district, including the authority to assess up to $0.75 per $1,000 of property value without voter approval.

Additional spending plans call for $3 million a year for the district’s equity fund to provide money for neighborhood projects, $200,000 to develop new off-leash dog areas, and $4 million a year to plant trees in parks across Seattle.

The planned levy increase and new spending plan comes as the mayor has tapped Anthony-Paul “AP” Diaz as his choice to be the next Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation. Diaz currently serves as the Executive Officer for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. Diaz must be approved by the city council but is slated to take over from current interim superintendent Christopher Williams in October.

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