Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 3, March 2004

Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

GUEST EDITORIAL:

Former 'Neighbor' speaks out

Dear Matchless Friends,

I'm currently doing some work with the small, cash-strapped town of Toppenish, which is establishing a Neighborhood Matching Fund of $100,000. Toppenish city officials clearly understand the value of engaging citizens with their communities and with their government and of leveraging additional resources for community priorities, especially in a time of scarcity.

Seattle is 63 times as large as Toppenish and far more affluent. Yet, Mayor Nickels is providing NO money for community self-help projects in Seattle. Nickels unilaterally froze the Neighborhood Matching Fund last July, and there is no thaw in sight. Dozens of projects and thousands of volunteers have been left in the lurch.

Seattle was the nation's leader in neighborhood programs with the first and largest Matching Fund, bottom-up neighborhood planning, P-Patch community gardens, block watch, and more. While other cities are replicating these programs, Nickels has made severe cuts to all of them.

We need to draw the line before any more damage is done. Please contact Mayor Nickels and the City Council and urge them to release the remaining Matching Funds and make them available for community projects.

Thanks so much for your help! Together, we can once again make this city a leader in participatory democracy. It's the Seattle way!

JIM DIERS,

former director of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods