City Council Candidate Questionaire Responses

While working as a Crime Prevention Coordinator in south Seattle for nearly the last 30 years, I have had the privilege of working with both the Beacon Food Forest near our home on Beacon Hill and the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetland, applying my expertise in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) to conduct a public safety analysis at each site while also providing personal safety and security recommendations for those using the P-Patches. I believe that these green spaces play a crucial role in our neighborhoods, providing spaces for people to grow healthy food for themselves and others, for teaching the next generation, and for building strong communities as neighbors from all backgrounds work side-by-side. P-Patches are particularly important in the south end as they provide an opportunity for people of diverse cultures to grow dietary staples for themselves not often carried by our large grocers. Further, many in the southend are economically distressed and having the opportunity to grow their own food eases burdens of buying culturally appropriate staples. If elected to city council, I will work to ensure the P-Patch program is fully funded, incentivize developers to set aside open space for community gardens, and work with Seattle Parks to move displaced gardens to underutilized city lands where these P-Patches may be viable.