City and County Council 2026
In November, Seattleites will once again have the opportunity to impact the representatives on our City and County Council. It is important voters pay attention to the candidates’ perspectives on many pressing issues facing our city.
Seattle Parks Foundation reached out to candidates with questions pertaining to some of the most important issues that impact our parks and public spaces.
As you read the candidates’ unedited responses, please consider how they show their commitment to our parks and public spaces, then fill out your ballot and VOTE!
1
What is your favorite park or public space in your district? What would you like a visitor to know about it?
Seattle City Council District 5
Nilu Jenks
My favorite park in D5 is Meadowbrook Pond. It is a place I go to sit with nature, walk my dog, and watch the beavers, herons, and ducks. In the winter, the Meadowbrook Luminaria Walk fills the pathways with lights, the Nathan Hale band plays, and you can stand outside with your neighbors drinking a cup of hot chocolate. When my kids were younger, I used to walk groups of students from John Rogers Elementary past the pond when I chaperoned their swim lessons at Meadowbrook Community Center.
What I would want a visitor to know is that this park represents what I love about parks and green spaces woven into our neighborhoods. They can be beautiful places we travel through as part of our everyday lives, places where we connect with nature and with each other, while also providing connected habitats for plants and wildlife.
Meadowbrook Pond very much reflects my hope for a city with pocket parks and green spaces connected to larger parks and natural areas. You don’t always need to drive somewhere or plan a hike to escape the city for a little while. We all need and deserve places close to home where we can step into nature, breathe, and restore our spirits.
Julie Kang
Carkeek Park is my favorite park in District 5. During the pandemic, it became a place of refuge for me, and I made it a personal goal to explore every path in and out of the park. Now I lead walks to explore different paths on weekends.
I want visitors to experience more than its beautiful trails, beach, and views of Puget Sound. Come during the salmon run and see an ecosystem at work. Watch how the creek supports returning salmon and how beavers build dams that can reshape the landscape. I’ve also appreciated seeing Seattle Parks thoughtfully respond to those changes, balancing public access and infrastructure with respect for the natural processes already at work.
Carkeek reminds us that a park isn’t just a recreational space. It is a living ecosystem and an opportunity for children and adults alike to learn from nature right here in our city. Protecting places like Carkeek means being thoughtful stewards so future generations can experience that same sense of discovery and wonder.
Metropolitan King County Council District 2
Rebecca Saldaña
One of my favorite public spaces in District 2 is Skyway Park. I want visitors to know that this park is more than a place to play—it’s a gathering place for a community that has worked for years to secure the public investments it deserves. From its sports fields and playground to its natural areas, Skyway Park shows why parks are essential public infrastructure. It also reminds me that the people who know a neighborhood best should have a meaningful voice in shaping its future.
Toshiko Grace Hasegawa
District 2 has so many amazing public parks and spaces that it’s hard to choose an absolute favorite, but Seward Park stands out. From the beautiful torii gate at the entrance, to the Audubon Center and its educational programs, tennis courts, gardens, old-growth trees and children’s playgrounds, to its many trails and amphitheater for community performances and celebrations like Pista sa Nayon, it is truly a Southend treasure.
You can spot wildlife throughout the park: walking the inner loop you may see eagles and their nests, while along the outer loop you can see blue herons and, if you’re lucky, otters.
Growing up in the Southend, it was a place we went on field trips and came after school to burn off steam. In my twenties, it was where I taught classes to youth groups or went for my rainy 2.4-mile run around the peninsula. Now, it’s a place nearby where my family can go to get our kids fresh air and movement. My dad grew up in the South End too, and has told me his own memories of driving around the outer loop, back when it was open to cars.
I love that continuity. Seward Park shows how a public space can serve generations of people while continuing to grow and evolve with its community.
Metropolitan King County, Council District 8
Teresa Mosqueda
My favorite park is Jack Block Park—a hidden gem tucked away on surplus Port of Seattle property on the way to Alki. It has the same breathtaking views of downtown Seattle and the Olympic Mountains, the same cool calming waters, but without the crowds. The beach offers safe swimming, the plaza is where our daughter learned to ride her bike, and the tree-lined walkway is where we took our family photos. It is the kind of place that feels like a secret you want to share—and I hope more people find their way there.
Nick Duda
The three-park combination of Alki Beach, Alki Playground (Whale Tail Park), and Schmitz Preserve Park is my favorite in my district. This beach-to-playground-to-old-growth-forest connection is a special place for me. It’s where I’ve helped my children develop a love of the outdoors, where they’ve learned to use a swing, where I’ve bonded with friends over sunsets and recreational activities on the beach, and it’s truly one of the most beautiful combinations of forest, recreation, and beach in our region.
This combination is also remarkably easy to reach and offers a mix of navigable trails and a deep-woods environment. Schmitz allows nature to thrive, including eagles, hawks, coyotes, and more, while also being a great environment to introduce kids to nature. Just down the hill, Alki provides extensive marine life, recreational space, and a gathering place that brings the community together.
In many ways, this combination is the perfect mix of wild nature and human-centered recreation.
2
What challenges and opportunities do you see for the park system? How do you plan on addressing these in the area where you are running?
Seattle City Council District 5
Nilu Jenks
One of the biggest challenges for our park system is keeping pace with a growing city and a changing climate. As Seattle becomes denser, more people will rely on shared parks and green spaces, while hotter summers, heavier rain, and changing conditions put more pressure on the landscapes we already have. We need to make sure we are allocating enough money both to maintain our existing parks and to expand access to green space as our city grows.
One of the biggest opportunities I see is making it easier for communities to create smaller green spaces woven throughout our neighborhoods. I’ve visited several pocket parks that neighbors are working to create in Olympic Hills. What I’ve also heard is how difficult it can be to navigate a disjointed City permitting process involving SDOT, SPU, Seattle City Light, and other departments. A neighbor trying to turn a small piece of public land into a community green space shouldn’t have to become an expert in City bureaucracy. We need better coordination and a clear point of contact to help communities do this work.
We also need to rethink our parks for a changing climate. That means asking what we plant today that will still thrive decades from now. A neighbor recently had to remove a beautiful cedar that was effectively dead, and the arborist she brought in attributed it to the effects of our changing climate. We need trees and plants that can survive hotter, drier summers while continuing to expand our canopy and maintain our biodiversity.
We must also think about what happens when the rain comes down harder. Too much water runs off roofs, roads, and other hard surfaces and into our creeks. In places like Carkeek Park, those creeks are salmon habitat. I want more natural stormwater infrastructure, less unnecessary hardscape, healthier creek corridors, and more places where water can soak into the ground. I also want to work with the community to identify opportunities to daylight more of Thornton Creek, restoring natural habitat while helping us manage stormwater in a more resilient way.
Seattle is going to become a denser city, and I support that. As more of us live closer together, we will want, need, and deserve places where we can step outside, connect with nature and each other, and spend time with wildlife. My vision is a connected network of parks and pocket parks, trees, creeks, and green spaces throughout District 5 that protects and helps maintain our biodiversity. That also means having a strong network of sidewalks, protected bike lanes, safer crosswalks, and frequent buses so people can safely and easily get to and move between these spaces. Finally, making sure our park system has the resources to maintain and expand that network has to be part of how we plan for Seattle’s growth.
Julie Kang
Public safety is one of the most urgent challenges facing our park system because a public space is only truly public when everyone feels safe using it. In District 5, we have seen the double homicide in Virgil Flaim Park, the recent incident involving bounty hunters firing shots in Sandel Park, death by overdose at Hubbard Homestead Park, and persistent open-air drug use in Northacres Park and around public spaces. We cannot normalize these conditions, especially for our children.
This is personal to me. I grew up near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles as a first-generation immigrant and latchkey kid, waiting for my single mother to come home after long days at work. The park was one of the few open spaces available to me. I know what it means for a child who may not have a backyard, a parent waiting at home, or money for organized activities to depend on a public park.
That is why I will prioritize safe, clean, welcoming parks by coordinating Parks, SPD, CARE, outreach providers, and community partners; improving lighting and maintenance; and responding quickly when violence, drug activity, or other dangerous conditions threaten public use. At the same time, we have an opportunity to invest in playgrounds, trails, programming, and partnerships that bring more families into our parks.
Every child, families, and neighbors in District 5 should be able to walk into a neighborhood park and know that this space belongs to all of us, including me.
Metropolitan King County Council District 2
Rebecca Saldaña
I believe parks are essential public infrastructure. They are where our kids play, neighbors come together, and people find a connection to nature. They also protect our health as we experience more extreme heat, wildfire smoke and flooding. But access to those benefits is not equal. In District 2, communities that have experienced decades of disinvestment also face some of the greatest environmental burdens.
I want King County to take care of the parks we already have while expanding access to green space, tree canopy and safe trails in underserved neighborhoods. That means investing in maintenance, improving walking, rolling, biking and transit connections, and working directly with residents to understand what their communities need. Parks should be places where everyone feels welcome and where public investment improves people’s everyday lives.
Toshiko Grace Hasegawa
Our parks face many of the same pressures as the communities around them: population growth, aging infrastructure, climate change, public safety concerns, and disparities in who has access to high-quality parks and recreation. We also need to make sure we are making investments beyond bare-minimum maintenance in the parks and facilities we already have. Caring for our assets requires staffing and resources to care for them.
At the same time, parks represent an enormous opportunity. They are not simply recreational amenities. They support public health, youth development, community connection, climate resilience, habitat restoration and a sense of belonging.
As a County Councilmember, I will prioritize implementation of the new Parks Levy with a strong focus on District 2 communities that have historically received less investment. That means supporting maintenance and capital improvements, expanding tree canopy and access to open space, improving lighting and accessibility, and investing in programming that brings people into parks. I would also continue supporting partnerships with cities, community-based organizations and culturally specific organizations that are often best positioned to activate public spaces and connect residents with them.
Metropolitan King County, Council District 8
Teresa Mosqueda
District 8 is one of the most geographically diverse districts in King County—from Vashon Island to the Duwamish Valley, South Park, White Center, and from Capitol Hill and the Seattle Waterfront, to Tukwila’s river walk and Seahurst Park. Every neighborhood needs equal access to parks, green space and waterfront beaches. Communities like South Park, White Center, and Tukwila have some of the sparsest tree canopy and least park access in the region, while bearing the greatest burdens of environmental harm from industrial pollution, airport noise, and extreme heat. That inequity is the central challenge and the central opportunity.
I championed climate resilience provisions in the King County Parks Levy specifically to direct investments toward frontline communities that have been chronically underinvested – including specific funding for tree planting in White Center and climate resilience hubs on Vashon Island. I will continue pushing for park investments that prioritize communities with the least existing green space, expand tree canopy in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods, creating heat-dome relief with spray park investments and genuinely welcoming public spaces that reflect the cultural diversity of District 8. Parks are not a luxury—they are public health infrastructure, and I have and will continue to push to fund them accordingly.
Nick Duda
Our region has a beautiful network of parks, and we should continue to preserve and invest in them. I see three key areas where we have both challenges and opportunities.
First, we need to balance preserving the natural environment of many of our largest parks with the need for more recreational space. We should first seek to better use the developed portions of our parks by upgrading neglected courts, ball fields, playgrounds, trails, and other recreation areas. At the same time, we should continue protecting forests, wetlands, shorelines, and tree canopy, particularly as our region continues to grow.
Second, some parks near our most challenged areas have seen major degradation from large-scale encampments, trash, drug use, vandalism, and other disorder. Parks on north Beacon Hill, near the CID, including Lewis Park, Daejeon Park, and Dr. José Rizal Park, have all dealt with these issues. Similar challenges have affected Camp Long, Rotary Viewpoint Park, and, more recently, Roxhill Park in West Seattle.
These parks serve families, kids, walkers, athletes, and entire neighborhoods. We owe it to residents, who have consistently supported investments in parks, to ensure we have clean, safe environments to explore and enjoy. That starts with connecting people to treatment and shelter, backed by clear expectations for how public spaces are used.
Third, I am a firm believer that we should have excellent transit access to our premier parks. Within Seattle, that looks like improving access to major waterfront parks such as Alki, Golden Gardens, Discovery Park, Magnuson, and Seward Park. We should have strong, frequent transit access to these locations, making it easier for any resident to get to beautiful, fun, and natural environments throughout our region. This summer’s new Golden Gardens Direct service is a good model to build on.
As a County Councilmember, this is an area where I can have a direct impact through King County Metro, as well as through the County’s own extensive park, trail, and open-space system, as evidenced by the high transit usage to county parks like Steve Cox Memorial Park.
3
As our region grows, how do we balance more housing, climate goals, and the preservation of neighborhood green spaces? What would an inclusive and successful growth strategy look like to you in your district?
Seattle City Council District 5
Nilu Jenks
Thank you for this question, as it is a big reason for why I decided to run for city council. I look at my kids, their friends, and other young people and wonder whether they will be able to afford to live in the city where they grew up. Housing affordability and fears about climate change are among the reasons young people are delaying or deciding against having children. They need to see us act on both. If our children cannot afford to stay here, who exactly are we preserving our neighborhoods for in the long term? We should be preserving our parks, our trees, and the things we love about Seattle for them too. They should be able to inherit not only a beautiful city, but a place where they can actually afford to live.
To me, that is why housing, climate, and green space cannot be pitted against one another. We need to make room for more people while protecting and expanding the natural spaces that make Seattle a beautiful and healthy place to live.
In District 5, that means upzoning around the NE 130th light rail station and allowing more types of homes throughout our neighborhoods, including stacked flats, triplexes, and cottage housing. My commitment is 1,000 new affordable homes in District 5 in my first full term. We must make our permitting and design rules more flexible, including height bonuses that allow housing to be designed around mature trees rather than forcing a choice between preserving a tree and building a home.
Housing and transit policy is also climate policy. Transportation is Seattle’s largest source of climate pollution, so putting more homes near light rail and frequent buses gives people real alternatives to driving. We should pair that with sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and safe crossings so people can actually get where they need to go without a car.
How we build matters too. I want Seattle to encourage energy-efficient construction, including passive-house principles, electrification, heat pumps, and building standards that reduce energy use in the first place. More housing can and should be part of building a lower-carbon city.
And as we become denser, parks and green space become more important, not less. Parks are for all of us: kids who need a place to play, seniors who need a nearby place to walk and sit outside, families gathering together, people walking their dogs, and anyone who needs a little quiet and nature in the middle of a city. As I discussed in my previous answers, that means pocket parks alongside larger parks, a healthy tree canopy, restored creeks, biodiversity, and green spaces that are connected and easy to reach.
An inclusive growth strategy does all of these things together. It builds enough homes that young people can imagine a future in Seattle and enough different kinds of homes that people can stay in their communities as their lives change. It gives people alternatives to driving. It builds cleaner, more efficient buildings. And it protects and expands the parks, trees, creeks, and biodiversity that belong to all of us.
We don’t have to choose between making room for the next generation, taking care of the people who are already here, and preserving what makes Seattle special. We have to do all three.
Julie Kang
We need more housing, but growth should make neighborhoods more livable, not simply more dense. In District 5, I support adding housing near transit corridors like Northgate and Aurora, while protecting the green spaces and tree canopy that become even more important as our population grows.
I support preserving naturally occurring affordable housing so that growth does not automatically mean displacement. We need new housing at different price points, but we also need to protect existing homes that working families, seniors, and lower-income residents can already afford.
That is why I am open to welcoming the proposed 500-home Fort Lawton housing project to shovel-ready public land near 130th and Aurora. It is close to transit, grocery stores, utilities, and other essential services. But housing cannot be planned in isolation. We need the infrastructure and support systems for both new and existing neighbors to thrive, including safe crossings, transit capacity, parks, utilities, childcare and community services, and planning for the potential impact on local schools.
We also need to recognize that roughly 60% of Seattle’s trees are on private property. Protecting our urban forest therefore cannot be the responsibility of Parks alone. We need to give homeowners and developers practical incentives and options to preserve mature trees and healthy groves while still allowing housing to be built.
I don’t see housing, climate goals, affordability, and green space as competing priorities. A successful growth strategy plans them together. We can welcome more neighbors, preserve naturally affordable housing, protect and grow our tree canopy, reduce car dependence, and invest in the infrastructure that makes density work. That is the kind of growth I want for District 5, not growth at any cost, but growth that improves quality of life for the people who are already here and those we are welcoming.
Metropolitan King County Council District 2
Rebecca Saldaña
I’ve spent much of my career working at the intersection of housing, transportation and environmental justice because we cannot solve these challenges separately. We need more affordable housing, but we also need to protect the parks, trees and natural areas that make our neighborhoods healthy and livable.
My vision is to build complete communities, with affordable housing near frequent transit, jobs, childcare, parks and the services people need. We should protect existing green spaces, create opportunities for new parks as neighborhoods grow, and invest in trees and green infrastructure where they are needed most.
Just as importantly, growth must not displace the people who have built these communities. At Puget Sound Sage, I worked to connect public investment with affordable housing and anti-displacement strategies. I would bring that same approach to the County Council, ensuring longtime residents help shape neighborhood growth and can stay to enjoy its benefits.
Toshiko Grace Hasegawa
I am a firm believer in building more housing in areas already zoned for residential use, particularly around transit stations so people can move around freely, dependably, on time and safely. Building housing in established neighborhoods also connects people to the amenities they deserve, including grocery stores, schools, libraries, doctors and parks.
Getting people out of cars and onto mass transit is one of our most important strategies for reducing single-occupancy vehicle trips and carbon emissions. We can build the housing and transportation infrastructure our communities need while preserving precious open and green spaces.
An inclusive and successful growth strategy in District 2 requires transit-oriented development alongside a commitment to invest in parks and expand tree canopy. That is particularly important from an environmental justice perspective in communities already burdened by transportation-related pollution, heat and other environmental impacts.
At the Port, we see investments in parks as more than investments in open space. They can provide environmental mitigation, habitat restoration and additional public benefits through safe places to gather and recreate. I championed a holistic assessment of the Port’s entire parks portfolio and subsequent funding for infrastructure improvements that support greater activation and public use.
We can accommodate growth without sacrificing the natural assets that make our communities healthy and livable, with sustainability and environmental justice guiding how and where we grow.
Metropolitan King County, Council District 8
Teresa Mosqueda
Housing and green space are not in opposition—they are both essential components of a livable, equitable community, and we can and must pursue both. The key is smart, dense, transit-oriented development that concentrates growth near existing infrastructure rather than sprawling into natural lands and green space. Building dense housing that utilizes the air space helps prevent sprawl and encroachment on forest lands, wet lands and farm lands. When people live near their places of employment they spend less time in their car community in greenhouse gas emitting single occupancy cars – it’s better for our environment and our mental health when we can live near our jobs, places of worship, childcare, commerce, and economic hubs.
In District 8 that means incentivizing family size units (with 2, 3, and 4 bedrooms) through green, affordable housing development that builds up and utilizes air space, instead of sprawling through incentives in the comprehensive plan. It means incorporating trees, greenspace, and community gathering space as part of the design—not afterthoughts. It means requiring meaningful tree canopy preservation and replacement tied to any new development on county-owned or publicly supported land. It means using the Equitable Development Initiative model to ensure that as neighborhoods grow, BIPOC and low-income communities are not displaced but instead have real decision-making power over what gets built and where. An inclusive growth strategy centers the communities most at risk of displacement, pairs housing investment with park investment, and ensures that density creates neighborhoods that are healthier and more connected—not just denser.
Nick Duda
A core part of my approach would be to put more housing where we are already making our largest transportation investments.
Where the County has zoning authority, as in White Center along the RapidRide H Line, we should prioritize more aggressive upzoning near high-frequency transit, particularly light rail and RapidRide, and partner with cities to do the same elsewhere. We are making multigenerational investments in regional rail and transit, and our housing development should be commensurate with those investments.
Densifying near these locations has the mutual benefit of creating more housing while reducing pressure on existing green space. It also helps create more complete communities, because greater density can support grocery stores, daycares, restaurants, and other neighborhood services within walking distance.
At the same time, we should be thoughtful about protecting and expanding tree canopy, as it provides shade, reduces heat, improves air quality, and creates meaningful habitat. Rapid expansion of our tree planting efforts in neighborhoods, while not directly a parks issue, is a key part of a livable and sustainable community and further expands natural locations for wildlife too. We should be able to add significant housing while being much more deliberate about where growth occurs and what green spaces we preserve.
As mentioned, expanding transit service to some of our largest and most prominent parks, many of which have limited parking to begin with, allows residents across King County, regardless of income or whether they own a car, to experience the best our region has to offer.
Finally, we should continue programs like King County Metro’s Trailhead Direct that connect residents by bus to popular trailheads and natural areas outside the urban core, giving more people an opportunity to get outside the city and experience some of our region’s best hiking and open spaces.
4
What are your strategies for Seattle to meet the climate commitment of 30% tree canopy by 2037 (which has been pushed back from the original goal of 2030)?
King County Council candidates were not asked to answer this question.
Seattle City Council District 5
Nilu Jenks
We need to start by recognizing that we are not currently moving in the right direction. Seattle’s tree canopy declined from 28.6 percent in 2016 to 28.1 percent in 2021. If we are serious about reaching 30 percent by 2037, we need to both protect the healthy mature trees we have and be much more intentional about growing the next generation of canopy.
One of the biggest opportunities is right in front of us: our streets. The public right-of-way makes up more than a quarter of Seattle, and we actually lost canopy there between 2016 and 2021. I want us planting and maintaining many more street trees, particularly in neighborhoods with less canopy. As we build sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and safer streets, trees should be part of that infrastructure too. They provide shade, absorb stormwater, create habitat, and make our neighborhoods better places to walk and live.
We must also understand where and why we are losing trees and address those causes directly. That means looking at climate-related tree loss, what is happening on City and school property, trees being removed on private property, and other sources of canopy loss. Different causes require different solutions, and if we are serious about reaching 30 percent canopy, we need to know where the losses are happening and respond accordingly. We also need a diverse mix of climate-resilient trees that can survive hotter, drier summers while supporting biodiversity and providing meaningful canopy decades from now. We should also prioritize areas that have historically had less canopy and make it easier for communities to help create and care for green spaces in their own neighborhoods. And planting a tree isn’t enough. We need to make sure young trees are watered and maintained so they actually survive.
The City can also use its permitting and land use rules to make it easier to build housing while preserving mature trees. I support clear, predictable tree rules and more flexibility in how a project is designed on a site. If moving a building’s footprint, adjusting a setback, or allowing additional height means we can preserve a mature tree and still build the housing, our code should make that easier, not harder. We should also consider height or density bonuses for projects that preserve significant trees or create meaningful new canopy. Our permitting system should give builders a clear path to design around trees rather than treating housing and tree preservation as competing goals.
Trees are climate infrastructure. They cool our neighborhoods, manage stormwater, provide habitat, clean our air, and make our city more beautiful. My goal isn’t simply to hit 30 percent on a spreadsheet. It is to build a city where every neighborhood benefits from healthy trees, shade, biodiversity, and access to nature.
Julie Kang
Reaching 30% tree canopy requires us to do two things at the same time: protect the healthy mature trees we already have and aggressively plant the next generation of trees.
First, the City should lead by example. I support planting more street trees, restoring our parks and greenbelts, replacing trees lost on public property, and identifying underused rights-of-way where we can add canopy. We should prioritize neighborhoods with lower canopy and greater exposure to heat and pollution so that tree canopy is also an issue of environmental equity. This is not what I currently see in District 5. I’ve walked every part of our District 5 and knocked on over 10,000 doors personally. I’ve taken photos of trees with X marked in public land that were taken down during growth and density efforts.
Second, we cannot reach our goal by focusing only on public land. Much of Seattle’s tree canopy is on private property. We need to make homeowners partners in this effort by expanding free-tree programs, providing incentives such as rebates or assistance for planting and maintaining trees, and helping residents preserve mature trees rather than making tree stewardship another financial burden on homeowners.
Third, as we build housing, we should give builders flexibility and incentives to design around significant trees where feasible. I support more housing, including naturally occurring affordable housing, but we should not assume that housing and trees are automatically in conflict. Thoughtful site planning, denser housing near transit, shared walls and stacked flats, and strategic use of public land can help us accommodate more neighbors while preserving green space.
Finally, we need accountability. I would regularly measure canopy gains and losses by neighborhood, track survival, not simply the number of trees planted, and make sure City departments are working toward the same measurable goal.
Thirty percent should not just be a citywide number. Success means a healthier and more equitably distributed urban forest that residents can actually see, feel, and benefit from in their own neighborhoods.
5
What barriers still exist to equitable access to parks and public spaces? What would you do to ensure all communities benefit equally from park investments?
Seattle City Council District 5
Nilu Jenks
The first barrier is simply being able to get there. In District 5, our sidewalk network is incomplete, we have dangerous arterials, and east-west public transit is inadequate. A beautiful park doesn’t provide much access if a senior, a child, someone in a wheelchair, or a parent pushing a stroller can’t safely get there. Park access starts before you reach the park. It starts with sidewalks, safer crossings, protected bike infrastructure, and frequent transit.
We also need to pay attention to the condition of the parks people already have. A park with a locked restroom, poor lighting, broken equipment, or trails that aren’t being maintained isn’t providing the same experience as a well-maintained park in another neighborhood. Equity isn’t just about where parks are located. It’s about whether people can actually use and enjoy them.
And communities should have a real voice in what gets built and where investments go. That means engaging people early enough that their ideas can actually shape a project, not presenting a nearly finished design and asking for feedback. I want the people who use these spaces every day helping us identify what their neighborhoods need.
I also want more transparency around where our park dollars are going. We should be able to see which neighborhoods are receiving investments in parks, maintenance, tree canopy, and new green space and identify where the gaps remain. Areas that have historically received less investment should be prioritized as we expand our tree canopy, improve existing parks, and create new pocket parks and public spaces.
In District 5 specifically, I would connect our park investments to the other work I’ve discussed throughout these questions: completing sidewalks and safe crossings, improving east-west transit, planting street trees, supporting community-created pocket parks, and making sure our existing parks are well maintained. I also want young people in District 5 to benefit directly from these investments through parks programs and youth employment opportunities.
Everyone deserves a park or green space they can safely and easily reach and that feels cared for when they get there. That is what equitable access means to me.
Julie Kang
As an educator who has taught multicultural education for years, I know equitable access to parks means identifying and removing the barriers that prevent people from benefiting from public spaces. Those barriers include public safety, distance, disability, lack of sidewalks and transportation, language, cost, inadequate facilities, and historic underinvestment.
I was reminded of this while canvassing. One longtime supporter of public parks told me that if our local parks do not get cleaned up, they can simply take their boat to the San Juan Islands. For 99% of us, that is not an option. For a child in an apartment, a senior who does not drive, or a working family without a backyard, the neighborhood park may be their primary access to nature, recreation, and community.
That is why I would not simply divide park investments equally across Seattle. I would prioritize resources based on need, including public safety, accessibility, tree canopy, environmental health, safe walking connections, facility conditions, and historic underinvestment. I would also use multilingual and culturally responsive engagement to make sure we hear from residents who may not traditionally participate in City processes. Most importantly, we must maintain what we invest in. A new playground or park improvement means little if families do not feel safe using it or if it falls into disrepair.
Successful park equity means that regardless of your income, age, ability, language, neighborhood, or whether you have a backyard or a boat, you have access to a safe, clean, welcoming, and beautiful public space.
Metropolitan King County Council District 2
Rebecca Saldaña
Where you live, how much money you make, whether you have a disability, and whether you have access to a car can all affect your ability to enjoy a park. Some neighborhoods have beautiful, well-maintained green spaces within walking distance, while others have fewer parks, less shade, unsafe routes or limited transit access. Those differences reflect longstanding decisions about where government has invested—and where it hasn’t.
As a community organizer, I learned that the people most affected by these decisions need to help shape the solutions. I would use environmental and public health data alongside participatory budgets to elevate community priorities to direct investments toward neighborhoods that have been underserved. That includes accessible paths and facilities, safe connections to parks, dependable maintenance and spaces, including public bathrooms, that reflect how different communities gather, play and spend time together.
Equity means more than putting a park on a map. It means making sure people can get there, feel welcome, use it and have a meaningful voice in its future.
Toshiko Grace Hasegawa
Physical proximity to a park does not necessarily mean equitable access to it. Safety and perceptions of safety matter. So do ADA accessibility, transportation connections, language access, culturally relevant programming, clean and functioning restrooms, well-maintained equipment and whether families can actually afford to participate in recreational programs.
We also know that historically, public investment in parks and open space has not been distributed equally across King County. I believe equity should be an explicit factor in how we allocate park dollars, looking not just at geography, but at community need, environmental health disparities, existing access to open space, and historic levels of investment.
In District 2, that means prioritizing communities with the greatest gaps, while investing in maintenance and activation of the parks we already have. Programming, especially in the Summer, can make a tremendous difference. Keeping parks clean, accessible and appropriately lit, providing multilingual info and signage, and investing in community-led programming all help create spaces where people feel they belong.
Metropolitan King County, Council District 8
Teresa Mosqueda
The barriers are interconnected and well-documented: distance and lack of transit access to parks, absence of culturally welcoming programming, language barriers, fear of law enforcement, lack of accessible facilities for people with disabilities, and the simple reality that displacement is pushing the people who most need green space further from it.
I will continue to address these barriers by prioritizing park investments in underserved communities through the Parks Levy as I have – now we just need to make sure policies we fought for are implemented. I will continue pushing for culturally and linguistically appropriate programming in partnership with community organizations, ensuring ADA accessibility standards are actually met and enforced, and pairing park investments with anti-displacement policies so communities can actually stay and benefit from the parks we build. I will also push for language access in all park programming and community engagement processes, because a park that is not welcoming to all is not truly a public park. As I like to say—I want our parks and trails systems to be branded with ALEGRA: that they are for all Ages, Languages, Ethnicities, Genders, Race and Abilities!
Nick Duda
Transit access to our biggest and best parks is one of the primary barriers to equitable access. If elected, improving this through King County Metro would be an important priority.
Additionally, we need to make sure local parks in some of our most historically underserved communities are clean, safe, and well maintained, allowing parents to feel comfortable with their kids playing there. Equitable access isn’t just whether a park exists nearby. It also matters whether the playground works, the field is maintained, the bathrooms are usable, and families actually feel comfortable spending time there.
When we allow disorder, persistent drug use, and crime to take over parks, we are failing our communities and, most notably, our children.
This ties directly to my approach to public health. We should lead with treatment options for people suffering from addiction and homelessness. But we need to couple that with clear backstops that do not allow public spaces to be taken over by individuals who repeatedly refuse services. Nowhere is that more important than parks, playgrounds, and schools.
A comprehensive public-safety and public-health approach allows our Parks departments and supporting foundations to focus on making parks exceptional and accessible, rather than continually spending resources fixing and maintaining problems that are downstream of larger public-policy failures. We see the pressure on the Seattle Parks capital budget, where capital programs towards maintenance and repair now a much higher share of the capital budget than just a few years back. Disorder adds avoidable repair costs on top of an already large maintenance backlog; reducing it frees up dollars for upgrades instead of repairs.
Finally, I believe there is an important role for partnerships with local community organizations. These groups help neighborhoods raise money, organize volunteers, activate public spaces, and identify the improvements that matter most to the people who use a given park. This community involvement can compound the benefits of public investment in so many ways.
6
What's your vision of a safe and vibrant park? What policies or partnerships would you support to make that vision a reality?
Seattle City Council District 5
Nilu Jenks
A safe park is a busy park. Parks feel safest when they are places people actually want to be: kids playing, teenagers hanging out, seniors walking, families gathering, people exercising, and neighbors running into each other. The more reasons we give people to use our parks, the more vibrant and welcoming they become.
That starts with getting the basics right. Lights need to work. Restrooms need to be open and clean. Paths and play areas need to be maintained. We need programming and activities that bring people into our parks throughout the day and evening. I also support park rangers who can be a visible presence to help people and connect people with resources when needed.
But we also have to recognize that many of the challenges we see in public spaces begin somewhere else. Parks cannot solve homelessness, untreated behavioral health needs, addiction, or gun violence on their own. We need upstream solutions: housing and shelter people can actually access, behavioral health and substance-use treatment, an expanded CARE program, youth programs, and community-based organizations that can intervene before someone reaches a crisis.
That is especially important with gun violence. I have engaged in gun violence prevention for years, including organizing a gun buyback after Parkland, and I believe strongly in community violence intervention. I support investing in community violence interrupters and making sure North Seattle benefits from those approaches too. Keeping parks safe means preventing violence before it reaches them.
Partnerships are also essential. I want to work with Tribal partners on parks, shorelines, salmon habitat, and restoration. I also want neighborhood organizations and community groups to have opportunities to help create and steward public spaces.
I have seen firsthand what that can look like. After a spree shooting by my home, my neighbors and I came together to create the Lake City Living Memorial Triangle. It was a community-led project from the beginning, with neighbors turning a small piece of land into a living memorial and community green space. Seattle Parks Foundation served as our fiscal sponsor and helped us turn the community’s vision into a lasting public space. It is a good example of what can happen when nonprofit and City partners give communities the tools and support to create something themselves.
My vision is for parks that feel alive and cared for. The parks are clean and well maintained, people of different ages are using them, there are things to do, and when problems arise, we have the right people and systems in place to respond. The best park safety strategy is creating places that people love, use, and feel belong to them.
Julie Kang
My vision of a safe and vibrant park is one that the community embraces as its own. It is a place where a child can play, a senior can walk, teenagers can meet friends, and neighbors can run, walk their furry friends, or simply enjoy nature without wondering whether the space is safe.
I see that sense of ownership already in District 5. At Northacres Park, neighbors continue to step up and pick up not only trash, but needles and other things our children should never have to encounter in a playground or public space. At Carkeek Park, limited Parks staff are responsible for maintaining an enormous natural area, so volunteers and neighbors step up to help maintain the trails that thousands of us use to walk, run, explore nature, and enjoy with our furry friends. That community stewardship is something we should celebrate and strengthen, but we also cannot expect volunteers to replace essential City services.
I would strengthen coordination among Seattle Parks, SPD, CARE, outreach providers, neighborhood organizations, and community volunteers. Many of us have already done that and can use the help of existing tools that keep us safe. We need adequate maintenance, lighting, functioning facilities, safe trails and playgrounds, and timely responses to dangerous conditions. We cannot normalize violence, open drug consumption, discarded needles, or other conditions that push children and families out of public spaces. Matthews Beach Park is an example of successful coordination and activism by neighbors but it took years to create what we have to enjoy. Yes, more can be done there too as I visit my friend across the park who has lived and supported the park since the 80s.
I also support partnerships with schools, youth and senior organizations, arts and cultural groups, local businesses, environmental organizations, and philanthropic partners to activate parks with recreation, environmental education, arts, and community events. Public private partnerships can also help us improve aging playgrounds and amenities while keeping our parks public and accessible to everyone. One Roof Foundation and Hubbard Homestead Park is an example of a partnership that delivered a beautiful, fun playground.
The best parks are not simply places the City maintains. They are places neighbors love and take pride in. My vision is for the City to be a reliable partner with those neighbors, providing the resources and services they deserve while empowering the community stewardship that makes each park special.
Metropolitan King County Council District 2
Rebecca Saldaña
To me, a vibrant park is a place where you see children playing, seniors walking, families gathering and neighbors getting to know one another. It is clean, accessible and well-maintained, with places to play, rest, exercise and connect with nature. Most importantly, the people who use it feel that it belongs to them.
Creating those spaces takes more than building a park and walking away. I would support strong maintenance, including public bathrooms, safe and accessible routes, youth recreation and community programming, and partnerships among King County Parks, cities, schools, Tribes and local community groups. I also want residents involved in decisions about park design, activities and stewardship.
My approach to community safety has always emphasized prevention, connection and investment in people. Parks can be an important part of that work when we make them welcoming places where neighbors build relationships and young people have opportunities to learn, play and thrive.
Toshiko Grace Hasegawa
My vision of a safe and vibrant park looks like places such as Jefferson Park, Mt. Baker Park and Madison Park at their best: well-maintained grounds, functioning facilities, active programming, and safe spaces where people of all ages can recreate outdoors, from babes in strollers to elders.
Safety comes in part from activation. A park filled with families, young people playing sports, elders walking, community events and regular staff presence creates a very different environment from a neglected or underused space with dilapidated or dirty facilities. That requires reliable funding for maintenance and staffing, but also partnerships (with schools, community organizations, sports and arts programs,, and neighborhood groups that can attract and serve people within these spaces.
I would support investments that keep parks clean and maintained, improve lighting and accessibility, and expand recreational, environmental and cultural programming. And the County should continue partnering with cities and community-based organizations through its parks grant programs, particularly in communities that have historically had less access to quality parks and recreational opportunities.
Ultimately, a successful park should feel like it belongs to the community around it, and reflect community’s pride. In it, people should feel welcome, safe and healthy.
Metropolitan King County, Council District 8
Teresa Mosqueda
A safe and vibrant park is one where people actually want to be—activated by programming, maintained with dignity, and designed to welcome everyone regardless of age, ability, income, or background. Safety comes from presence and community, not from enforcement alone.
My vision includes robust year-round programming in partnership with community organizations that reflect the cultural diversity of District 8, well-maintained facilities including clean and accessible restrooms, adequate park ranger presence focused on community connection rather than enforcement, and behavioral health outreach workers available to connect people in crisis with services rather than punishment. I support expanding the Health One model and CARE team approach to parks, investing in community violence intervention programs, and ensuring that parks in historically underserved neighborhoods receive sustained, not episodic, investment. A vibrant park is one that belongs to its community and I will fight to make that real for every neighborhood in District 8.
Nick Duda
There are certain characteristics we should expect from all parks if they are going to be safe and vibrant. They should be clean, free of trash and drug paraphernalia, and safe to walk through and play in. They should be navigable, with paths and trails that people can explore whether they are highly mobile or have mobility challenges.
We should also strive for clean, safe public bathrooms in as many high-use parks as possible. This is a basic public good and one we need to build, protect, and reliably maintain.
Because our parks range from highly natural environments to very urban spaces, other needs will be unique to each park. In urban parks in dense areas, we should ensure we have good lighting, benches, working water fountains, and recreational areas that are maintained and usable.
Where appropriate, that should include well-lit basketball courts, soccer fields, tennis courts, pickleball courts, and other recreation areas. Given how dark our winter months get, ensuring we are maximizing the recreational space we already have can make a major difference in creating a vibrant and accessible park system.
There are key organizations that support the activation and stewardship of our parks in a wide variety of ways. These range from groups that run classes and camps for kids to groups like A Cleaner Alki, which organizes community cleanups and has helped encourage similar efforts elsewhere in the region. Groups like Seattle Parks Foundation can also help community organizations turn good ideas into real projects by helping with fundraising, partnerships, and administration.
Finally, none of this works without the people who maintain and care for our parks every day. Ground crews, maintenance workers, recreation staff, arborists, and others are often the first to see where facilities are deteriorating, where safety problems are recurring, and where relatively small investments could make a major difference. We should make sure they have the staffing, equipment, and support to do their jobs well, and that their on-the-ground experience is part of how we prioritize park investments.
Simply put, vibrant parks are safe, clean, well-used, and well-supported by the community.
That collective sense of ownership and stewardship helps build community, preserve and protect our beautiful parks, and ensure we continue to improve them as our region grows.
7
Seattle voters make a major investment in parks through the Metropolitan Parks District. Would you support continued growth in this tax base to support parks? What are strategies to fund park projects throughout the city?
King County Council candidates were not asked to answer this question.
Seattle City Council District 5
Nilu Jenks
Yes. Seattle voters have made a significant commitment to our parks through the Metropolitan Park District, and I support continuing that investment. Parks, community centers, trails, restrooms, tree canopy, and recreation programs are public infrastructure, and we need to fund them accordingly.
I would support continued growth in Park District funding as our city grows and the demands on our parks increase. But I also think we have to be honest about how we pay for it. The Park District relies on property taxes, and working families and seniors on fixed incomes are already feeling squeezed by the cost of living. If we want people to continue supporting levies for parks, schools, libraries, and other public services, we need to shift more of our overall tax burden toward those who can most afford to pay.
That is one of the reasons I support the millionaire’s tax, and I want us to continue looking for other sources of progressive revenue such as a capital gains tax. A fairer tax system gives us more ability to invest in the things that make Seattle a good place to live without continually asking the same households to carry an even higher tax burden.
For park projects themselves, we should use every tool available to us. That includes the Park District, state and federal grants, and county and regional funding for conservation, open space, salmon recovery, climate resilience, and restoration. We should also look at opportunities to use public land for parks and green space where it makes sense.
I would also like to deepen our partnerships with Tribal Nations, including supporting Tribal-led land and water restoration and exploring opportunities for Tribal stewardship where Tribes are interested. In District 5, I would particularly like to work with Tribal partners as we identify opportunities to daylight and restore more of Thornton Creek. Projects like that can bring together parks, salmon recovery, stormwater management, habitat restoration, and climate resilience, opening the door to funding sources beyond the traditional parks budget.
Most importantly, parks need reliable funding for both new projects and the less exciting work of taking care of what we already have. We should not build parks without funding their maintenance, and we should not allow maintenance to be the first thing deferred when budgets get tight.
Julie Kang
Yes, I support continued investment in our parks, including through the Metropolitan Park District, but I also believe every additional public dollar must come with transparency, measurable outcomes, and accountability. Seattle residents already make a significant investment in our parks, and they should be able to see and feel the results in clean, safe, accessible, and well maintained public spaces.
We should also diversify how we fund park improvements. I support pursuing state and federal grants, expanding partnerships with philanthropic organizations and foundations, and developing responsible public private partnerships for playgrounds, recreational facilities, environmental restoration, and other capital projects. We should also coordinate park investments with major housing and transportation projects so that infrastructure and green space are planned alongside growth rather than added afterward.
I would prioritize funding based on need and historic underinvestment, while making sure we maintain the parks and facilities we already have. Building something new is exciting, but if we cannot keep our existing parks safe, clean, and functional, we are not being responsible stewards of public dollars.
Seattle voters have demonstrated that they value parks. My responsibility as a councilmember would be to honor that investment by protecting it, leveraging it with other funding sources, and making sure residents can see the results in their own neighborhoods.