Letter to the Editor: Keep the Bonney Lake Parks Conversation Going

Dear Park Board,

To plagiarize Rick Talbert’s quote in the News Tribune recently,

We are one city and no particular type of park

 is more important than another. 

This the real story of this meeting.

In my travels trying to pass a parks and trails in 2004, as a former park board member, former city councilmember and citizen of the Bonney Lake area for over 25 years, I have heard many wants and needs for our parks, trails and a community center/YMCA. 

As the mayor mentioned at the last week, the Comprehensive Plan has been passed by the council. There is a park element that the Park Board, past and present, has worked very hard on. In 2011, there was also an Arts and Cultural element added to the comp plan.

Parks and public buildings, public art both inside and outside public buildings or in parks, museums, a community center or YMCA and pools are all public facilities that make a city like Bonney Lake vibrant. Couple that with a variety of nice housing and a wide range of prices, good schools, businesses and services we all need creates a city that is desirable and livable. 

If it were me, I would have had the Parks Summit be an introduction to a variety of different meetings that would take place over the next 6 months. The Summit last week would have been the kick-off, communicating what are the potential projects, what the funding options are and a timeline of going on the ballot, if the citizens show they are inclined that way. Having renderings and costs of projects on an item by item basis would be good.

Future meetings would be for the three basic priorities that became evident at the summit: sports complex, trails and YMCA/community center. They would each have their own meeting, discussing projects, priorities, costs and timelines (or breaking down into phases).

I would then have a culminating meeting to discuss the outcome of each of the three meetings, and again talk about the funding mechanisms, comparing the cost of the projects to the expected revenue generated by each funding mechanism. 

I was encouraged by the attendance. When having such meetings you need to communicate the reason for the meeting, but let it play out. Creativity and inclusivity takes time. The citizens want to feel their input is valuable, not that they have a time limit. If it is one of a series of meetings, that needs to be stated in flyers, the City website and in newspapers. This is going to take time to be vetted. The whole thing cannot be expected to be resolved in one meeting.

The park board, city council and staff can very effectively get the message and information out to the public up to the time the council votes to put this on the ballot. Then, it is up to the voter pamphlet statement committee and campaigns for and against to get out the word. I think there were one or two good candidates for the voter pamphlet statement committee and endorsers of the ballot measure. 

The time is now to be putting cost information on the city website about possible projects being considered on the ballot and information about the different types of funding mechanisms.  

I think the Summit shows that there is a desire. I think having it on the ballot in April 2013 is a good move, when spring is in the air and people are ready to get out and go to parks. I think former Park Board member Fred Jacobsen had a good idea that we should mentioned the item on the ballot at all summer events. 

As the statistics show, the median age of a Bonney Lake resident is age 36.  The latest census shows that statewide voters ages 18 to 34 make up only 16 percent of the voters. Your highest demographics of voters are the older citizens and it declines by age.

I have provided you with the latest census info as follows:

Bonney Lake citizen ages:

65 and up: 24.5 percent   

55-64: 23 percent  

45-54: 21.5 percent   

35-44: 15 percent  

25-34: 11 percent   

18-24: 5 percent

What you put on the ballot should match what your voters think. In 2004, the community center bond failed. No one could visualize what that was; a YMCA they understand. The parks and trails bond got 52 percent, but needed a supermajority of 60 percent, as would a bond or levy. Splitting it up was a mistake. The MPD only needs that simple majority. We did it before; we can do it again if we all pull together.    

The MPD advantage of being only within the city boundaries means annexations automatically come in and participate in funding. The board could be the council, but better yet a mix of elected citizens in the community and council.  

Thank you for all you do. Your input has been invaluable to the city on deciding which direction to go with park planning, the possibility of a park district, how to infuse a cultural and arts dimension, and the possibility of putting a bond on the ballot and funding to put the plan in place.

The Summit was a meeting about a vision for everyone, not a few or one.  It was just the beginning of things to come.

Sincerely,

Laurie Carter