If you live near Discovery Park, you’ll likely hear a helicopter and see a Cessna circling overhead on Saturday as part of a training drill. Puget Sound public safety agencies are participating in a several training exercises today. The drill at Discovery Park aims to find and rescue a person “injured” in heavy storms.
A Washington State Patrol Cessna will circle the park, using its thermal imaging camera to find the patient. Then the Seattle Fire Department’s Helicopter High Rise Rescue Team will board a King County Sheriff’s helicopter and lower a rescue hoist to pick up the patient off a hillside near the lighthouse.
The operation will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in and over Discovery Park.
Discovery Park just grew in size. The City of Seattle officially took possession of the old Capehart housing development earlier this week. The former Navy housing units were demolished earlier this year (pictured below).
The Parks department is now working to turn the area back into its natural state with meadows and forest thickets. A public hearing on the work will be held November 10 from 7pm to 8pm at the Discovery Park Environmental Learning Center. To learn more about the restoration efforts, click here.
We’ve noticed another spike in car prowls in and around Discovery Park. The Seattle Police crime map shows three car prowls inside the park (one on Sept. 7, two more on Sept. 13). There was also one just outside the park in the 3600 block of Emerson on September 13.
There’s no wrecking ball, but heavy machinery is now turning some old Navy housing at Fort Lawton into piles of debris. Work got underway this week to demolish 66 units at the Capehart site. It’s the next step in the process that will eventually transfer the property over to the City of Seattle as an expansion of Discovery Park.
As one member of the demolition crew took down the old structures, another member stood by with water to keep the dust from spreading.
“All of these homes had asbestos and lead-based paint,” said Michael Nanney, vice president of Forest City Military Communities. “The very first thing we did was abated all the hazardous materials.”
The demolition work should be wrapped up in September, and the city may take ownership of the property by the end of the year. The parks deparment tells us after the property is purchased the site will be returned to its natural state as a meadow, consistent with the Discovery Park master plan.
We’ll soon know the fate of the Environmental Learning Center at Discovery Park. The mayor’s mid-year budget cuts will be announced on Monday (6/14), including any cuts to the city’s Parks and Recreation department.
Friends of Discovery Park turned out in force back in May to fight to keep the center open. The cuts being announced for the rest of this year could involve closing centers or programs, scaling back hours, or doing nothing at all. Even if the Environmental Learning Center survives this mid-year round of cuts, there is still concern about even more cuts for 2011.
The mid-year cuts will be unveiled during the City Council’s budget committee meeting on Monday at 10:30am. We’ll bring you all the details, or you can watch live on the Seattle Channel (21 on Comcast) or online.
You may see a lot of fire trucks going in and out of Discovery Park for the next month, but it’s nothing to be worried about. The Seattle Fire Department is using the old Capehart housing site at Fort Lawton to conduct emergency training exercises. Teams of firefighters will use chainsaws as they practice their ventilation techniques over the next three weeks. We’re told there will be no siren noise, and fire trucks won’t be left idling during the practice.
Magnolia Voice got an up close look at the training exercises this afternoon. Fire officials tell us using these old homes makes for the kind of experience you can’t get on a training course.
“It’s critical. There’s a lot of areas we go to train that don’t show the same reality you would get on a real roof or structure,” said Seattle Fire Captain Matt Rogers.
Captain Rogers tells us every ladder company will be brought in to practice. The fire department was invited by Forest City Military Communities (Forest City) and the Navy to use the housing site for their training before the homes are torn down. Demolition of the old Navy housing will start on July 5. The site will be turned over to the City of Seattle and will become part of Discovery Park later this year.
A sewer project at Discovery Park is prompting a few changes next week. The Parks Department tells us the south parking lot at at the park will be closed. Work starts Monday (6/14) and runs through Thursday night. A detour will be in place on the section of Emerson Street that runs by the park.
UPDATE 5/28: The Memorial Service for Shaun Murphy will be held on Wednesday, June 2 at St. Anne’s Catholic Church on Queen Anne. The church is located at 1411 1st Ave West. There are more details here.
You can also view photographs that honor Mr. Murphy’s memory and find information about donations to the Crisis Clinic here.
Some of you sent us emails concerned about police activity in Discovery Park last night. One jogger told us he saw a dead man on a bench on the park’s south bluff. Police confirm to Magnolia Voice that a man shot himself in the head and died at the scene. Authorities tell us he left behind a suicide note.
Concern continues to grow about the future of the Environmental Learning Center at Discovery Park. Today, Magnolia Voice learned the city’s Parks Department submitted its “budget papers” for 2011, which identify issues and potential service cuts. We’re told some facilities are on that list, but a spokesperson for the Parks Department could not provide any specifics until the mayor’s office makes its recommendations.
As for the rest of 2010, the mayor is set to announce mid-year budget cuts around June 1. Community centers, pools, and wading pools across the city are facing closure as the Parks Department tries to cut its budget.
For the first time, civilians are getting the chance to move into the Fort Lawton Officers Row homes in Discovery Park. Magnolia Voice came across this Craiglist ad for one of the homes renting for $3995 a month.
Photo by Friends of Discovery Park
The Navy formed a partnership with a private company, Forest City, to manage the property as naval families started moving to new housing complexes in the Everett area. Now that the military families have left, the historic homes are now being rented to the general public.
Michael Nanney with Forest City tells us he expects to start selling some of the 26 homes owned by the Navy in Discovery Park this time next year. The homes, which are part of a landmark district, will actually be sold as condominium units owned by a condo association, keeping them under single management. Nanney also says the Navy and Forest City negotiated a historic covenant on the title so the homes can’t be drastically altered from their current state.
Regardless of those safeguards, the group Friends of Discovery Park has concerns that the homes could end up being changed or even torn down. The group has even considered a plan, with the help of others, to acquire all 26 residences in Discovery Park so they can be managed and maintained as a single entity. You can read more about their concerns here.
Magnolia residents and friends of Discovery Park turned out in force during last night’s city budget hearing at North Seattle Community College. Wearing Hawaiian leis and holding signs, they voiced their concerns about budget cuts that could impact the Discovery Park Visitor Center, better known as the Environmental Learning Center.
A loud crowd full of different organizations packed the cafeteria to plead their cases to Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle City Council. City officials are calling for a 3 percent cut across the Parks system, but insist there is no list detailing which parks, community centers, or pools might actually be impacted. But Magnolia residents clearly feel programs at Discovery Park could be in jeopardy and wanted to make sure their voices were heard early in the process.
“Last week I was doing a program when a great blue heron flew over and squawked its prehistoric squawk,” said one member of the group. “It’s moments like these that keeps urban people connected with their natural environment.”
“The city would be throwing work away that it gets for free,” said Jeff Rahlmann, a volunteer at Discovery Park. He pointed out that paid employees are helped out by dozens of volunteers.
The mayor and City Council were clearly moved by some of the stories they heard last night.
“We don’t have a specific proposal from Parks, but this discussion is very helpful to let us know what is important to you,” Mayor McGinn told the crowd.
The Parks department will come up with its suggested budget changes over the next several weeks before presenting them to the mayor. Three more public hearings are set for September and October.
Volunteers are needed to provide educational programs at Discovery Park. Known as docents, the volunteer naturalists teach and lead programs throughout the park. There is training provided for volunteers who make it possible for the park to offer a wide variety of progams throughout the year.
This photo was taken during a recent docent training while they were studying spiders. Docents teach many of the programs for the public and school groups that visit the park. For more information, call the Environmental Learning Center at 206-386-4236. You may also download an application at www.discoverypark.org. Applications are due in January 2010.
The Big Sit! is coming to Discovery Park on Sunday, October 11. Its an annual, international, birding event hosted by Bird Watcher’s Digest. Its been dubbed a tailgate party for birders and there are Big Sit! circles all over the world, including Guatemala, India, Vietnam, and New Zealand and now for the first time – Discovery Park.
Here is how it works. Find a spot in Discovery Park for bird watching. Create a real or imaginary circle 17 feet in diameter and sit inside the circle for 24 hours or as many as you can and count all the bird species you see or hear.
Although The Big Sit! is a non-competitive event, teams can claim bragging rights for most bird species seen by a single circle and the highest combined total from circles within one state. In addition, Swarovski Optik is offering $500 to the circle who finds the Golden Bird. After all of the results are tabulated, a species will be selected by random drawing from all species seen in North America. All of the circles that listed that bird will be put into a random drawing and the winning circle gets the $500. The winner gets to pick a non-profit to receive the money.
You can also organize a team and collect pledges for each species you see. Funds raised will be used to restore habitats for birds. If you are interested in the Big Sit!, you need to register your team now to reserve the best circle. Contact Penny Rose at penny.rose@seattle.gov or (206) 386 – 4250.
The cougar who has been spotted in Magnolia for the past week has been captured and released back into the wild somewhere in Snohomish County. Discovery Park has reopened to the public.
The cougar was captured this morning around 2 a.m. by wildlife officials and tracking dogs (see photos). The cougar is said to be healthy and weighs 138 pounds. Wildlife officials tell us that is a good size cat for the city and that he is “timid and shy and well-behaved as cougars go.”
We’ve been covering the story all day since we first reported the capture this morning. Here’s the story on the cougar’s capture, an interview with the wildlife official who caught the cougar this morning, an interview with nearby residents and information about how they will now track the cougar via text message once he is released. Our updated cougar sighting map is here.
It was a thrill for us to get to see this amazing animal up close, and here is our favorite picture of the cougar.
The cougar was never given a name but is now known as his tag number, which is 1010. We wish 1010 safe travels.
