Q&A With Shoreline Parks Director Dick Deal

Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Patch editor Tony Dondero visited with Shoreline Parks and Recreation Department Director Dick Deal last Friday, March 23 at his office at City Hall to talk about what’s going on in the city from a parks perspective.

Deal, 62, is an avid cyclist and sometimes makes a three-hour trek on his bike to work from Auburn.

Here are excerpts from the interview.

Where did you go to school, where do you live now and how long have you worked in Shoreline?

I live in Auburn. I went to Eastern Washington University and graduated with a degree in Parks and Recreation Administration back in 1971. I’ve been in the business for a while. I’ve been in Shoreline for over eight-and-a-half years. I really enjoy the community, the team here at the city, putting together opportunities, programs and facilities for a great group of enthusiastic citizens in the community.

I was the parks director in Auburn prior to coming to Shoreline and worked there for 32 years. Shoreline called and needed somebody for a couple months to help reorganize the parks department, one thing led to another, the parks director at the time resigned and I became the parks director after that.

How is the Parks Bond passed in 2006 being used?

We’ve got most of the money spent. We’ve upgraded many park properties Cromwell, Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, Twin Ponds Park. We actually spent the majority of the bond on property acquisition. A little over half of it was spent on the acquisition of South Woods, the property adjacent to Hamlin Park that was owned by Seattle Public Utilities that grew that park almost nine acres in size, and the Kruckeberg Park property. They added 25 acres to our parks system; they were some of the last best opportunities for the community to secure property for the future.

Right now we have some money from the park bond for trail corridors, and we’re doing some trails work, we’ll be doing more signage. We’ll all the bond money spent within the next two years; over 90 percent of the money has been spent at this time.

How is the community garden at Twin Ponds coming along?

It’s coming along great! The community response has been amazing. We sold out the remaining plots in an hour the other night. It’s disappointing that there’s people on a waiting list that are eager we can’t take care of at this point in time.  I’m confident this won’t be the last community garden in Shoreline. I know there are others around town.

How does the city’s Healthy Cities Strategy fit into the Parks Department agenda?

There’s a lot activity available in parks and recreation programming. Healthy city is not just jogging on a trail or riding your bike, certainly it’s learning a new skill, learning about eating healthier, those are all things that build that healthy city. The socialization that happens in a community also builds a healthy city as well.  Our Eats 4 Health Kick-Off event is next Wednesday at City Hall and residents can sample food and recipes.

Is the Parks Department getting adequate direction from the City Council for its initiatives?

We’re blessed to have great support from the City Council and the city manager’s office. That’s one of the things that make work here so enjoyable. Certainly, the City Council basically responds to what they hear from the community and the  needs of the community. We inherited a fairly tired park system from King County and the community has been very excited about the improvements we’ve made, that’s how we got 70 percent of the citizens to vote for the park bond in 2006. But the Council is the one that felt the need to be put that on the ballot and the community spoke.

The cutting and replacement of trees in Shoreline parks and neighborhood has been very controversial to some residents. Why are trees being cut?

I was just out with the representative of the Public Works Department evaluating some trees in the right of way. We are going to the Council April 2 with our draft work plan for the tree board was recently created. The tree board and  park board are one and the same, they’ll just wear different hats at different times. We have a lot of work of ahead of us, there is a lot of enthusiasm for the environment in town here. We have done with improvements with bond issue, added 200 new trees on Aurora, at City Hall added 103 trees and removed three small trees to make way for the building.  We’re wanting to revegetate and reforest the community as we can as projects happen that said there’s some places where there are trees not in the right place, there are trees that are unhealthy there’s trees in the right of way—I  just evaluated some this morning that citizens would like to have removed, and we’ll have to see how we can work that in the street maintenance and right of way maintenance plan. But we’ll only remove a tree if its not on the approved street tree list or if it’s deemed hazardous. We have to do some assessments and it’s not easy to look at tree and say it’s a hazardous tree. But there’s a process we go through with a licensed arborist. We have two on staff and other people we can call on if we need add. assistance. We’ll take a scientific approach to our tree work.  If a tree is hazardous and we can afford to remove it we certainly will , there’s a replanting strategy as well.

How will the tobacco ban the parks work?

The enforcement is going to be pretty much peer-to-peer enforcement its going to be a little like talking on cell phones, yes there’s a law against it but while you’re driving a lot of people are still doing it.

If the Council on Monday night decides they want to move forward with that strategy, I’m confident they’ll move forward with it. There will be a total ban or a ban around facilities that children might be at: ball fields, playgrounds, skate parks, the beach picnic areas. It’s yet to be determined but the Council will continue that discussion this Monday the 26th of March and (and take a vote to approve one of two ordinances). ..My hope is that it will be a total ban on Monday night. It would be easier to sign than put up multiple signs in parks.

Anything else to add about the parks department?

Just really appreciate the support of the community. I really like it when people call us with ideas…

If people have thoughts I’d love to hear from them they can call me directly, 206-801-2601. I feel like the luckiest guy in town to be the parks director here.