I received this letter today and thought I’d share it, since there has been so much talk of starting new neighborhood groups.

Greetings,

I am writing to invite you to participate in a forum on neighborhood planning at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs on Saturday, March 1, 2008 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30p.m. I hope you can join us – your opinions will be valuable contributions to this event.

As the City of Seattle prepares to update the 38 neighborhood plans created nearly ten years ago, we are faced with an extraordinary opportunity to ensure that the next ten years successfully meet the needs of our community. Seattleites worked together to assess the needs of their neighborhoods and develop their Neighborhood Plans. Over the past ten years, we have seensome of the recommendations fulfilled and await the further implementation of these plans.

It is important that we enter into this process with the support of and participation from Seattle residents. Those who make their home in Seattle will be directly affected by any actions the City takes concerning the future of these neighborhood plans. We want to make sure that we move forward will full information from our community members.

In an effort to do this, I have partnered with City Councilmember Sally Clark to host a forum about the future of our neighborhood plans. This event seeks to bring together a diversity of voices and opinions from representatives of neighborhood associations, the business community, and other community groups. We want to hear from members of all communities in Seattle, including those who were not involved in the previous planning process. I hope this event will be one of many discussions and will serve as a template for future engagements.

I hope you can take part in this rare and valuable event to help direct the future of Seattle neighborhoods. If you would like to attend, please email your RSVP by Friday February 22 to Chris Godwin at [email protected] or call Ryan Curren at 206.499.5342. Please include a mailing address. Thank you for your part in making Seattle neighborhoods strong, healthy, and responsive to community needs.

Sincerely,

Norman B. Rice
Visiting Practitioner-in-Residence

The forum will be held on the UW campus in Parrington Hall that is located on Memorial Way and George Washington Ln. (enter campus at 15th Ave and Skagit Ln)