A few years back I was working in the Eastlake neighborhood. I walked to work almost every day, down the stairclimb, across the treacherous I-5 onramp, and down the hill to the office. One morning at the top of the stairclimb I noticed a flyer – an Eastlake neighbor was looking for help getting funding for transforming the blackberry and beer infested patch of dirt underneath the freeway in to a park. (Sorry for that bad sentence. I’m trying to unravel it.)
I signed up to help. I posted petitions, gathered signatures, attended a few city meeetings, wrote a truckload of letters to the city… once, I was on the evening news – with my bicycle – talking about how bike and pedestrian unfriendly the crossing was and how great it would be if the Eastlake and Cap Hill neighborhoods, divided by I-5, could be connected again.
Today when I got home from yoga, there was a message on my machine from Chris, that Eastlake neighbor, asking me if I could attend the opening of the park this weekend. He said he really appreciated my work and wanted to introduce me at the festivities! I was touched and honored by that, though I’m not really sure I deserve any recognition. Writing down what I did, maybe it was significant, but it didn’t feel like much at all. Still, it’s a very sweet success! Where once were fences and candy wrappers, there’s now a park with bike trails! It’s just like that Talking Heads song! “This was a parking lot, now it’s a peaceful oasis!”
If you’re in Seattle this weekend, buzz by Colonnade Park and take a look. I helped make that happen! I couldn’t be more proud.
This is wonderful Pam! I wish we could all be so community-minded … and successful to boot!
Very impressed. Congratulations and you do deserve recognition, this is one of the reasons that you are a great citizen and your neighbors should be given the opportunity to thank you!
Thanks, both of you! I’m a mediocre citizen at best, really. It seemed like so little effort and I can take so little of the credit, others were involved too. But I can’t wait to see the park completed and to feel like a tiny bit of pathway is, sort of, my doing.
Multiple smileys here.