Compare Views - Ballard P-Patch

1

Lisa Herbold

I would support an allocation of City funds to help purchase the property.

1

Phil Tavel

Short-term, I think City Council should contribute dollars through the General Fund to retain the Ballard P-Patch. Long-term, I think the City should establish a fund to retain P-Patches throughout the City should an issue like this come up again.

2

Mark Solomon

I would use funds from the Sweetened Beverage Tax to bridge some of the funding gap and explore public/private partnerships to raise necessary funds to preserve the Ballard P-Patch.

2

Tammy Morales

It's frustrating to see the displacement of P-Patches due to speculative real estate. Part of my ideas to stem displacement is centered on community land trusts for public land to ensure that we're not selling our city owned land to the highest bidder. As far as the Ballard p-patch, I support their efforts to raise the funds and buy the land outright. We should be developing a community fund to eventually convert or move private land p-patches to public land. I'd also like to see a dedicated and expanded fund for the Department of Neighborhoods to better manage the gardens and develop a revenue mechanism to help sustain them.

3

Egan Orion

In other parts of the city, such as Hillside Park, Seattle has been granted or purchased parkland where they were able to reserve spaces for parks, seating areas, and designated P-Patch spaces. We could do the same with the Ballard P-Patch by using the money we make from selling city land (like the Mercer Mega-Block) and reinvesting it into our threatened P-Patches. We should also consider grants and other financial mechanisms to support the Ballard P-Patch, or if all else fails, find an alternate site or sites for the P-Patch. I will work alongside District 6’s future Councilmember and community members to find a way forward, to preserve this great community asset and preserve and protect Seattle’s P-Patches.

3

Kshama Sawant

Housing should not be pitted against gardening and other green space, and land for community gardens should not be subjected to the mercurial real estate market. And in fact, both housing affordability for working families and green spaces have been adversely affected due to the for-profit construction market. I support raising funds for real community needs, including community gardens, by taxing big business and the super rich. I support density, and advocate for high quality, publicly owned housing development, rather than profit driven development. A community focused approach to development means affordable housing, and means incorporating urban gardening into not-for-profit community planning based on people’s needs. In an immediate sense, Seattle should fund the Ballard P-Patch, with progressive sources of revenue like corporate developer impact fees, and other taxes on big business..

4

Alex Pedersen

I have a solid professional relationship with both candidates from District 6 (where the Ballard P-Patch is located) and would work closely with whomever D-6 voters choose. I can lend my private sector and budgeting experience to fend off the threats to the P-Patches.

4

Shaun Scott

I would call for community support and stand strongly on the side of the farmers and volunteers who help run the Ballard P-Patch. Much of this situation sounds like corporate bullying, and too often whole communities are uprooted (in this case, almost literally) from their homes. We need to stand up to corporate greed in this city, and that involves refusing to acquiesce to their demands. Financially, I would look into funding resources that could potentially alleviate this immediate threat; however, I think the most important aspect of this is building the political will on our council to not back down against high-end real estate developers.

6

Dan Strauss

I will use my community contacts to help identify grants, assist with fundraising, and work with the city to create a matching fund that would benefit Ballard P-Patch and other P-Patches around the city. Whether it’s a revolving loan program or direct funding, we need to address what is going on in Ballard right now, and we have to support P-patches throughout Seattle. I’ve already worked to get events space at the Elks Lodge for Ballard P-Patch, and I will work to make sure they secure the funding they need.

6

Heidi Wills

I would prioritize the immediate threat to the Ballard P-Patch to find City funding. This is exactly what City funding should be used for – benefitting community, open space, produce for the Ballard Food Bank, intergenerational connections, and minimizing our global warming footprint. I think about how many years it took to make the Ballard PPatch what it is. I think of how many families are using that garden, and how many more will use it in future: people who we don’t even know who will get joy from it, if only we retain it as an asset. I think it’d be a travesty to lose it and I would absolutely prioritize saving it. This is why there are district representatives on the City Council. What comes to mind for me is the City’s Sugar Tax as a source of funds. That’s unanticipated revenue intended, in part, to support healthy food programs. What could be healthier than community gardening? Not only can we not afford to lose any of the existing P-patches we have, we need more Ppatches as our city grows. The City of Seattle has over 1,000 surplus properties interspersed throughout our neighborhoods. Yes, we have a lot of affordable housing needs for surplus properties, but we also have open space needs to maintain the quality of life for the residents in our communities particularly for people who are low income. Ppatches are a vital component of our quality of life. I would take a lead role in trying to convert some surplus properties to P-Patches throughout our city. And I think that more should be done to incentive green rooftops. It’s good for lowering our global warming footprint, it’s good our environment and it’s another location for additional P-Patches, especially on affordable housing projects.

7

Andrew J. Lewis

Acquire the private half-acre plot through imminent domain to maintain the entire P-Patch. Out of a $1.4 billion general fund we can come up with the money to make sure this P-Patch, which has operated at this location for decades, remains a part of the community.

7

Jim Pugel

I would first look into existing local laws and potential policy changes that could be made to preserve P-Patches under threat from property development. In addition, I would help raise awareness for the preservation of the Ballard P-Patch and work to assist gardeners to help raise the money required to preserve the community garden. Ballard is not in my district, but P-Patches benefit ALL Seattleites.