From Citizens for a Community Center at MLK:
The city of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods has started a series of public meetings on the future of the former Martin Luther King, Jr. school. These School Use Advisory Committee meetings are open to the public, and will determine what the neighborhood, city, and school district believe are appropriate uses for the site. It’s essential that those of us who support a community arts center at MLK attend and speak up for true community use of this former school.
The first public meeting took place in July, and many of you turned out to speak up for a community arts center at MLK! Thank you! It’s important that you continue to attend, so that the Madison Valley neighborhood gets a facility for meetings, arts, youth programs, playground space, and lifelong learning activities. CCC@MLK will be actively participating in and listening to the results of these public meetings to craft our formal proposal to the school district later this fall.
Please attend: Tues. August 12, 7:00 p.m. T.T. Minor Elementary at 1700 E. Union St. (17th & Union). The committe is also organizing a public tour of the MLK facility at 6 p.m. that same evening. If interested in touring the building, meet at MLK school at 3201 E. Republican.
About CCC@MLK:
Our group is a neighborhood grassroots effort to establish a community arts and meeting center at the former MLK elementary school. We can’t do it without your help! We have a great, fun group of folks interested in turning MLK into a focal point of our community–a place where people of all economic and cultural backgrounds can come together to experience the arts, build community and continue to grow and learn.
Here are a few opportunties we having coming up for you to participate. Join your neighbors! For info, contact Andy Engelson at [email protected]
I am part of the “community” and I think that the obvious use for this school is to sell it to the Bush School. I resent stories that hi-jack this site and proclaim the author of the posts as the unofficial “community spokesperson”.
Hmmmm….I don’t see anything wrong with author’s posting. There is a group of people that are trying to turn the building into a community center. Central District News seems like the perfect venue to post about this meeting.
Also, I am pretty sure that The Bush School is not in position to purchase the property. Back in the 1980’s The Bush School signed a neighborhood agreement that prevents the school from purchasing any additional property adjacent to the current property. (At the time the school was building a gym and theater and needed neighborhood agreement to get the permits). Second, the school built a new lower school last year and has extended themselves significantly. They still need to raise a significant amount of money to pay for the recent construction. From there, the school is looking to work on the middle school. Purchasing MLK Elementary doesn’t seem like it is an option.