Save Wallingford Playfield- NO TURF!

Do not convert this park. It is a gem for the entire community, particularly for young children who enjoy the playground. You could consider converting the barely used 3 par golf course at Greenlake.

Not for artificial turf.

Julian Jannazzo, age 8- I thought this was a public area. How rude!

Please do not put a turf field at Wallingford Park!!!

The park should be kept as real lawn and should not be replaced as sports fields.

There is so much wrong with this plan. When LHS reopened, it did so knowing it had no field. Now, not only do they want to take over a park, but they also want to create a plastic astroturf field. Astroturf causes a myriad of issues. Why is high school football prioritized over families using a popular park? Why spend money on a football field when the district is so broke it is closing schools? LHS should focus on academics and in a football/soccer free environment. Save Wallingford Playfield for Wallingford!

I can’t believe the parks department is considering allowing this community green space to be converted to a plastic athletics field that will displace use by neighborhood families, children, and adults of all ages who are not involved in high school sports. This is concerning in regards to its impact on the health of our community, relationally, mentally, and environmentally. I strongly oppose this acquisition by SPS athletics.

SPS Supt John Stanford promised the program at Lincoln would not use the park. SPS Director of Facilities, John Vacchiery, promised Lincoln would not use the park. The condition of needing athletic space existed since before Lincoln closed in 1980, when Lincoln practiced and played at Lower Woodland. Limited athletic space is one of the reasons (among many) that the plan for 20 years was for Hamilton to move to Lincoln. Alternatives exist, including restoring the field that used to exist on the north parking area at Lincoln, or building a new athletic field on the gravel lot at 50th and Aurora in Lower Woodland. Both could be a win-win, instead of taking away from the neighborhood a loved grassy area the is open for a variety of uses, including picnics, Frisbee, playing catch, watching the fireworks, or just lounging to read a book. The District created this problem thru poor design choices. Don’t take away a neighborhood park for their stupidity and bad decisions.

Seattle Public Schools should NOT be allowed to take over the Wallingford Playfield for their use as a lighted, artificial turf football field and scheduled organized athletic field. The proposed plans removes the public bathroom, kids play area, picnic knoll and the entire grass field. The Wallingford playfield was expanded in 1970 as a permanent OPEN space for recreational and scenic purposes. Forward Thrust Funds was used to expand the park and HUD records restricts the site from being sold, leased or otherwise transfer without prior written approval of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. It was not built to be assimilated into the school property or used by limited organizations. Wallingford has always been limited by the amount of open space for use by young kids to seniors. As Wallingford is designated as an Urban Village, it is suppose to receive more open space. This never happened and taking the only open space in the Wallingford Urban Village by the school district is not acceptable.

Save our playfield!

Don't want the plastics, the chemicals that treat the cork, the PFAS. No thanks.

No turf or school take over of any kind

The high school should appropriate an already turfed field at Lower Woodlawn

I love this park— I’m there all the time and it’s one of the best things about this neighborhood. The park is not perfect, but I see people picnicking, families throwing frisbee in the early evening, kids at the playground, yes many dog owners who are overwhelmingly considerate and try to stay out of the way of kids playing. I feels very unfair to take the park away from multiple daily community use and designate this pocket park to a single use. We can support local sports teams, and also ask for another solution to meet their needs so we don’t diminish and exclude the needs of others. Additionally, ripping out green space to install a giant patch of disgusting plastic is so antithetical to what I want my tax dollars invested in and the direction our city should be going. We, the broader community, all NEED access to green space !

The Wallingford Playfield should remain as it is. The mature trees should not be destroyed or altered in any way. It isn’t suitable, in this residential neighborhood, for an athletic field with lights on every night until 10pm. The best choice is probably Queen Anne. Another alternative is to reclaim the athletic field north of Lincoln school, presently a parking lot. Build a parking lot on top of the present parking lot, reclaim the land under it as an athletic field.

This park is such a central community space - people go to dance together, have picnics, and take their kids out to play. It's a spot for neighbors to get to know each other - it's the main place I hear how everyone is doing, and what's going on in their life. The green space in the park is central to this, and an astro-turf field that you have to sign up for in advance will destroy the ability for neighbors to spontaneously meet, and will box out any group of people too small to reserve a spot - ie. 90% of the current users of the park. The high school was moved to Lincoln on the contingency that they not use Wallingford playfield as their own - and now they've turned around and done exactly that, just a few years later. We're happy to have the high schoolers in our community, and we're happy to share our green spaces with them, but this isn't sharing! It's the school district commandeering land that isn't theirs, in defiance of Seattle City Ordinance 118477 which states that any park must stay a park, and if it is used for another purpose (like a sports field), the community must be provided with another space, "equivalent or better size, value, location and usefulness in the vicinity." No such space has been provided. There IS no space that could serve the purpose, and if there was, they should be developing THAT into their football field. The School District doesn't have the jurisdiction to take the park, nor the support from the community. This will destroy a central gathering point of community that has been in Wallingford for decades. The Wallingford community is united in its frustration with this proposal.

Do not allow a take over of Wallingford Playfield for an athletic field. It is a well-used community park frequented by many people in the area (walks, pick-up games, frisbee, picnics, community gatherings, etc.) Those activities would be destroyed by an SPS field, especially a field that could only intermittently and rarely be "scheduled" for any uses other than by SPS. We need this as a community park, and I and other neighbors are very upset about this potential hijacking of a beloved park with its lovely tree canopy areas. Our concerns will not be ameliorated by managed community meetings. This is and has been a park that I and others use every day. Leave it alone! I even say this as a Lincoln grad! Build your field at Lower Woodland, where you already use the fields.

keep Seattle green and preserve spaces for all in the community to use.

Wallingford Playfield is a community resource that is actively used throughout the day 365 days a year by joggers, dog walkers, pre-school groups (the rope children), families who play ball, families that have an event to celebrate, and just people who need some peaceful contemplation. Destroying it merely solves one problem by creating others. I would rather see Wallingford Center torn down and turned into an athletic field. It is owned by the school district after all.

There is no good reason to put harmful plastics down in a public park. Also, get your own green space. This is a dedicated place for families of many neighborhoods to gather. I myself come from fremont to enjoy the green space. Please don't muck it up by putting a playfield in this small of a space. Also have you thought of the environmental impacts fake turf that heats the ground way above the air temp, and cars that drive a handful of priveleged sports players to and from practice in this dense neighborhood will cause? Its not good. Build an indoor play space or use the greenlake play fields. Stop trying to give my rights to a park away. I have more mental issues than those kids, and believe me when I say green space is the only thing which cures me. Without it, I tend to harm things. So think about who you're removing a calming space from and why they need it in the first place.