The 2021 City of Seattle Real Property Report

Dear Diary,

Sorry I haven't yet gone to the places I missed in my hikes through Wallingford, Fremont and Woodland Park.  I was too tired yesterday and it was too rainy today.  But I did manage to go through the 2021 real property report this morning, and boy, was it a surprise.

There were few additions, but given the state of the economy over the year 2020 (this report is compiled each January), that isn't surprising.  The only addition in North Seattle was SUN Park, which I introduced as an example of a private park last June 30 in "The Ballard Seacoast", part I.  The city in the 2021 report claims full ownership.

But I was astonished at the number of subtractions.  After all, I'm pretty sure the city hasn't been selling off parks, at least not in North Seattle.  So what's going on?  Here are North Seattle parks that were in the 2020 report but not the 2021 one:

• 14th Ave NW Boat Ramp
• Bitter Lake Reservoir Open Space
  
• Cedar Park
• Fremont Canal Park
• Gemenskap Park
• Haller Lake Street End
• Ingraham High School Playfield
  
• Laurelhurst Recreation Center
  
• NE 60th St Park
• Northlake Park
• NW 60th St Viewpoint
• Sunnyside Ave N Boat Ramp
• Troll's Knoll Park
• Waldo Woods
• Wallingford Steps
  
• Waterway 19

Now remember, I visited three of these, Fremont Canal Park, Troll's Knoll Park and the Wallingford Steps, a few days ago, and they're all certainly still there.  This is not a matter of a real world change.

Here's what I think is going on.  I think the people who compile the report are simplifying it, most likely at the request of one or more of the officials it's compiled for.

First of all, the order in which properties are listed has changed dramatically.  Each property is assigned a city department, a "current use", and an ID called a PMA.  The 2019 and 2020 reports sorted the properties by department, then by current use, then by PMA.  The 2021 report sorts them by department, then by PMA.  This makes finding an individual property rather easier.

Second, as soon as I saw which parks were left out, I was pretty sure why, and I was right.  None of the parks listed above are ordinary parks owned by the city of Seattle straightforwardly in the name of the Department of Parks and Recreation.  They all have some sort of complexity to their ownership.  So leaving them out should simplify the parks department's part of the report - and it sure does.  Now the "ownership" column says "Owned" or "Mixed" for every single park - and most of the "Mixed" parks are older ones (with three-digit PMAs) whose omission would raise eyebrows.

So let me show you, dear Diary, what the parks listed above looked like in the 2020 real property report:

• 4010 14th Ave NW Boat Ramp - St Use Agmt (Mini Parks/Pocket Parks) City Use on Street
• 4450 Bitter Lake Reservoir Open Space Park - MOA (Neighborhood Parks) City Use Agmt on City Ppty
• 4167 Cedar Park - Lease (Neighborhood Parks) City Use on Non-City Ppty
• 4011 Fremont Canal Park - Use Agmt & St Use (Neighborhood Parks) Mixed Ownership
• 4619 Gemenskap Park (Median) (Community Parks) City Use on Street
• 4464 Haller Lake Community Street End - St Use (Greenbelts/Natural Areas) City Use on Street
• 4156 Ingraham High School Playfield - Use Agmt (Recreational Facility/Community Center) City Use on Non-City Ppty
  
• 4442 Laurelhurst Recreation Center - Use Agmt (Community Parks) City Use on Non-City Ppty
  
• 3975 NE 60th Street Park - WSDOT R/W Agmt (Mini Parks/Pocket Parks) City Use on Street
• 4452 Northlake Park - Street End (Mini Parks/Pocket Parks) Accepted for Street
• 4161 NW 60th St Viewpoint - Street End (Mini Parks/Pocket Parks) City Use on Street
• 3903 Sunnyside Ave N Boat Ramp - MOA w/ SED (Mini Parks/Pocket Parks) City Use on Street
• 4599 Troll's Knoll Park - Agmt w/ SDOT (Park/Playground/Viewpoint) City Use on Street
• 4477 Waldo Woods - Cons Esmt (Green Space/Natural Area) City Use on Non-City Ppty
• 4598 Wallingford Steps - Unopened Street (Park/Playground/Viewpoint - and listed under SDOT, not the Parks) City Use on Street
  
• 4083 Waterway 19 - Street Use (Mini Parks/Pocket Parks) City Use on Street

To clarify a bit more for you, dear Diary:

The city and the school district have agreements on some playgrounds and playfields.  In North Seattle, these include Nathan Hale High School Playfield, which I've yet to find in any real property report, Cedar Elementary School Playground, Ingraham High School Playfield, and Laurelhurst Elementary School Playground or Playgrounds.  Since the school district is governed by a separately elected board, its property doesn't belong to the City of Seattle.

The streets do belong to the City of Seattle, but if the parks understood as street ends - 14th Ave NW and Sunnyside Ave N Boat Ramps and NW 60th St Viewpoint - and for that matter those that look like street ends - Northlake Park and Haller Lake Street End - get rolled into the giant property that is the streets, that shortens and simplifies the report.  Similarly for Gemenskap Park, which is actually a couple of lanes of a street, Troll's Knoll Park, which is next to Aurora Ave N, and the Wallingford Steps.  It looks to me like the compilers of both reports were unaware that the Lake Union waterways, including Waterway 19, are state property, but obviously leaving out areas the city doesn't even own (also including Waldo Woods) is at least as helpful as consolidating street areas.

The rest?  Bitter Lake Reservoir - Seattle Public Utilities.  Fremont Canal Park - the US Army Corps of Engineers (I saw the sign thanking them for their "help" on Saturday).  NE 60th St Park - the Washington Department of Transportation.

Why should anyone care?  Because when I posted the link a few days ago, I blithely told you, dear Diary, that the real property report is the most reliable list of city parks.  Not this year; this year anyone studying the parks will have to juggle more sources than usual.  Too bad!

Good night, dear Diary.