A work party spruced up Ballard’s new park on 9th Ave. NW near 70th.
They pulled weeds, trimmed hedges and laid down a ton of mulch.
And had some fun, too. Last April, the city purchased the land from Seventh Elect Church in Israel, and the first public planning meetings are expected to begin this fall or winter. The park has been allocated $800,000 from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy for development (see other park allocations in the neighborhood in this .pdf file).
By the way, organizers say they’re having a problem with off-leash dogs tearing up the grass, and they said the city will include the park in an effort to step up enforcement. Fines can run from $54 to $162.
An update on Ballard’s newest park
off leash? no, not in seattle?
why does it matter who the city purchased the land from?
It's kind of a weird scene over there. When you see it, you wonder what was going on there before they started making the park. If you know that it used to be one of Love Israel's homes, it makes sense.
Why is it (s0me) dog owners can't contain their mutts? These must be the animal rights I keep on hearing about. Nice to see so many others care and are taking time to do this though. Nicely done folks!
This property was NOT purchased from Love Israel, it was the Seventh Elect Church of Israel, founded in 1900. Love Israel's “church” and commune was founded in 1968on Queen Anne Hill. When we were kids, we would occasionlly see the “brethern” riding around Ballard on bikes, with long hair and beards. This church professed celibacy, ergo, the reason it died out. The property was held up in the court system for years. This same church owned a ski area in Colorado, and there was all sorts of financial hanky-panky with the caretaker, after the last remaining members of the sect died in the 1990s.
Man oh man, I could have spent 100 dollars on shrubs, vines, and cover crop, 10 dollars on a shovel and hoe, 5 hours on craigslist free and got all that done in two weeks. Where is the community financial realism?
sh*t, the amount of one dog roaming free and dropping a sh*t would have paid for all my expenses.
This property was never one of Love Israel's homes; it was the Church of the Seventh Elect of Israel, started in 1900.
which resort?
whoever the previous owner was got their money for the property, so this is completely irrelevant in my book. it's not like they gave the land to the city as a charitable donation. in other words, who cares?
Glad to see the neighbors spending their time and money fixing the park, but didn't people vote for the 'parks levy' or has that money magically vanished and why should I not be surprised?
Walking home after school from Ballard High to my friends house, we would walk by this place. We thought for the longest time that it was a grave yard. We would peak in around the huge shrubs that blocked its view but we always thought something was going to come and get us for doing that, it was a pretty wired little place whoever owned it. We later found out it was owned by the church, but we didn't understand the odd statues or landmarks or whatever they were. This will be a very welcomed change to the neighborhood.
Neat! I've been seeing a lot of community work in Ballard around parks lately. Last week I saw some folks volunteering to replant a couple trees at Salmon Bay Park where one had to be taken out a couple years ago because it was sick. I've been seeing lots of folks out working in their streets traffic circles too.
They should have instated a productive permaculture training display instead of another grass wrapped park for people to take their spoiled mutts to.
Land was purchased from the Seventh Elect Church of Israel's Board of Directors, not Love Israel as previously reported in this blog. Also, this park has not yet gone through the development process. The city let it be used as a park after opening because the grounds were already park like. Early public meetings for development of this park should start this winter. GroundswellNW will have updates on this, as will the Friends of the 9th Ave NW Park group (here's hoping the park name gets shorter).
Like most people, I can say if I had a nickel for every time I mixed up Love Israel and Church of the Seventh Elect of Israel I'd have anywhere from 20 ¢ to 25 ¢.
Ignorance is bliss.
Take a walk around the park now, as the structures remain. I have always found it interesting that a 7th Day Activist Sect had a commune in “my own back yard” – though most had passed on by the time we arrived. These people lived a simple life, and planted fruit trees and vegetable gardens. But as happens with celebate sects, their system of belief died along with the last of “em.
Remember that this planning of a park is an on-going process. The city leaves most planning to the “Friends of 9th Avenue Park” – meetings are open to all, even permaculture training buffs.
lol…agreed, much shorter.
Love the pics!!!
As I recall there was some involvement by the Love Israel group but I have no idea how it was resolved. The last of the old congregation was bedridden and an unknown ‘niece’ of some sort came out of nowhere claiming the rights to the property. It was discovered she and others were attached to the Love Israel group in some way. The old man died shortly after and they sort of became squatters and did clean up the overgrown property a bit. Since the members of the church were all dead I am not sure who the city paid for this land.