Garfield Super Block, future home of Seattle’s first parkour park, is roughly one year away from breaking ground on the park renovation. They’ve raised half of the money they need for construction. To get to the finish line, they need our support.

Luckily, Mayor Harrell has proposed $50 million for new parks projects inside the recent Metropolitan Parks District Cycle 2 budget. That’s $10 million toward major capital projects, and over $40 million for needed new programs and projects.

Let’s voice our support for GSB and make sure this project happens!

Email City Council at Council@seattle.gov and ask them to include the GSB in the funding impacted by the budget proposal.

Here are some great reasons to support GSB which you can share with City Council (from GSB’s email):

Accessibility—the new park design includes a new ADA ramp from the SE corner, improved walkways, an accessible loop path around the ballfields, and a new bathroom and playground with increased accessibility.
Safety—the GSB Coalition believes in improving safety through investment and quality design. Through intentional community conversations, the Coalition has worked to account for sightlines in the park, which impact the high school staff and students. We've discussed thoughtful activation of the park with those who know it best: the community center staff, school staff, teen life center staff, and baseball community.
Youth—The number of activities that occur on the Garfield Super Block premises that are directed particularly at youth programming demonstrates how critical this park is to the community. It is deeply important to surround children of all ages with high-quality design and updated grounds that artfully give historical information and cultural representation, as well as exposure to nature and access to recreation. In bringing the first parkour park in King County to the campus, all ages will have the opportunity for playful movement.
Equity—this park is in the center of one of the most diverse communities in the city and was part of the historic redlined zone. Public dollars should be prioritized to this project.

GSB would like to know how many people participate. If you can, please CC hilary@garfieldsuperblock.org on your email to City Council.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support! We know parks projects can take a long time to complete, so here are some updates:

What’s next for the parkour park at GSB?

Seattle Parks should approve the exact location of the parkour park by October 4th. After that, Colin, our design director, will get to work designing the parkour park under Site Workshop, the architect firm.

Back in June, PKV held a parkour park design meeting. Colin shared a presentation, solicited feedback, and toured the site with community members.

In July, GSB held an open house to share potential designs for the park renovation as a whole. We brought out of scaffolding, ate lots of food, and talked about multi-generational play spaces with the designers at Site Workshop.