We’ve counted each vote and checked it twice! And, now is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the announcement of vote results for Your Voice, Your Choice: Parks and Streets!

2017 Your Voice, Your Choice: Parks and Streets Vote Results

DISTRICT 1  

• Delridge: Crossing Improvements at Delridge Way SW & SW Oregon St (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 477)
• Westwood/Highland Park: Bus Stop Improvements at Delridge Way SW & SW Barton St (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 470)
• High Point: Walkway Improvements on SW Orchard St between Delridge Way SW & Sylvan Way SW (Cost: $80,081, Total Votes: 425)
• South Park: Crossing Improvements on S Cloverdale St (Cost: $85,700, Total Votes: 396) 

DISTRICT 2  

• Hillman City: Sidewalk improvements on 39th Ave S (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 870)
• Rainier Beach: Lighting Improvements on S Henderson St between MLK Way S & Renton Ave S (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 558)
• Hillman City: Accessibility Improvements along 39th Ave S (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 530)
• Rainier Beach: Lighting & Landscape Improvements at Rose St and Rainier Ave S (Cost: $57,319, Total Votes: 394)

DISTRICT 3  

• Capitol Hill: Crossing Improvements at I-5 Exit on to Olive Way (Cost: $75,000, Total Votes: 240)
• Central District: Traffic Calming on 17th Ave S between E Yesler Way & S Jackson St (Cost: $15,000, Total Votes: 200)
• Judkins Park: Improved Connections to Judkins Park from S. Dearborn St (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 173)
• Capitol Hill: Crossing Improvements at 19th Ave E & E Denny Way (Cost: $83,000, Total Votes:  171) 

DISTRICT 4  

• Wallingford/Fremont: Crossing Improvements near Gasworks Park (Cost: $8,000, Total Votes: 262)
• Wallingford: Crossing Improvements on Green Lake Way N & N 48th St (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 257)
• Wallingford: Crossing Improvements on N 40th St (Cost: $45,000, Total Votes: 228)
• Ravenna/Bryant: Crossing Improvements on NE 55th St at 30th Ave NE (Cost: $8,770, Total Votes: 193)
• Wedgwood: Crossing Improvements on 35th Ave NE at NE 80th St (Cost: $80,000, Total Votes: 188)
• Magnuson Park: Accessibility Improvements between Sand Point Way NE & “A” St (Cost: $45,000, Total Votes: 170)
• Bryant: Crossing Improvements on NE 55th St at 35th Ave NE (Cost: $2,500, Total Votes: 151)
• Magnuson Park: Crossing Improvements in Magnuson Park (Cost: $6,000, Total Votes: 141)

DISTRICT 5  

• Lake City: Crossing Improvements on 35th Ave NE & NE 130th St (Cost: $75,000, Total Votes: 686)
• Meadowbrook: Traffic Calming along Ravenna Ave NE near NE 98th St (Cost: $88,200, Total Votes: 633)
• Pinehurst: Crossing Improvements near Hazel Wolf School (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 630)
• Broadview: Walkway Improvements near Broadview-Thomson K-8 (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 584)

DISTRICT 6  

• Ballard: Crossing Improvements on Leary Way NW & 20th Ave NW (Cost: $5,000, Total Votes: 590)
• Wallingford/Woodland Park: Crossing Improvements on N 50th St & Whitman Ave N (Cost: $6,000, Total Votes: 317)
• Phinney Ridge/Woodland Park: Crossing Improvements on N 50th St & Dayton Ave N (Cost: $75,000, Total Votes: 315)
• Green Lake: Crossing Improvements at N 80th St & Corliss Ave N (Cost: $75,430, Total Votes: 310)
• Crown Hill: Traffic Calming on 14th Ave NW between Holman Road NW & NW 95th St (Cost: $40,000, Total Votes: 301)
• Sunset Hill: Accessibility Improvements on 24th Ave NW & NW 70th St (Cost: $9,000, Total Votes: 249)

DISTRICT 7 

• Queen Anne: Crossing Improvements at Several Locations in Queen Anne (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 376)
• Queen Anne: Crossing Improvements at upper N. Raye St & 4th Ave N (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 285)
• Uptown: Crossing Improvements at 1st Ave N & Thomas St (Cost: $45,000, Total Votes: 264)

As a bonus, while Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) reviewed ideas submitted by Your Voice, Your Choice participants, it ran the projects through its program priorities and was able to fund additional traffic calming and pedestrian improvement projects in underserved neighborhoods throughout the City. SDOT will work with communities to announce, design, and implement these projects in the upcoming year.

To provide some context to the results above, with $2 million to spend on park and street improvements, we allotted a maximum of $285,000 per City Council District. After the top projects in each district were selected by voters, there was $233,019 remaining in the budget. These dollars were used to fund one additional project in the three districts with the highest voter participation (Districts 1, 2, and 5).

You will also note that the number of funded projects varies per district. This is because the fund allotment is based strictly on overall cost and not the number of projects. The funding for these projects will be included as part of the Mayor’s 2018 Proposed Budget, and the work will begin in 2018.

This is the second year we have asked residents to weigh in on how to spend a portion of the City’s budget. Last year the focus was on youth, and this year anyone over the age of 11 could participate.  We are blown away by the response with 7,737 community members voting for projects in their neighborhoods! We are so grateful to everyone who participated:

• The community members who kicked things off in February by submitting 900 ideas for projects.
• The community members who participated on the Project Development Teams.
• The Vote Champions who mobilized their communities.
• The educators in Seattle Public Schools who made sure students’ voices were heard.
• Our Community Liaisons who were out in force with translated ballots in Arabic, Chinese, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
• The amazing City staff at libraries and community centers who facilitated in-person voting.
• And, of course, you the voters!

Here are a few of the wonderful stories we heard from this year’s participants:

Roosevelt High School: Sophomores in Janine Magidman’s AP Human Geography class at Roosevelt High School took on a class project to visit potential project sites across the city. They then presented their findings to their schoolmates and encouraged them to vote online. One student stated: “I thought this project was really great because it gave students an opportunity to get out of the neighborhood and also gave students a pretty good clue about city planning and how it works.”

District 5: We had great participation in each of Seattle’s City Council Districts, but none so much as North Seattle’s District 5, where almost 2,000 community members stepped up to have their voices heard! Janine Blaeloch, District 5 resident and Vote Champion, said: “North Seattleites are passionate about making our streets safer and people liked being able to study each project and cast three votes. Paper ballots in many languages were a huge hit at the Lake City Farmer’s Market and the library.”

Cham Refugee Community: One of our strongest Vote Champion communities was the Cham Refugee Community in Hillman City, which engaged nearly 500 community members! Mohamad Sulayman said: “For the first time in my community’s history, the Your Voice, Your Choice program has motivated all members, elders and youths to get involved. This program welcomes all, opening the opportunity for small unheard voices to be loud.”

Do you have a story about how you or your community engaged in Your Voice, Your Choice? We’d love to hear it! Please reach out to Kraig Cook at kraig.cook@seattle.gov.

Thanks again to everyone for participating in Your Voice, Your Choice: Parks and Streets! We are evaluating this year’s program as we gear up for YVYC 2018, so stay tuned and share any thoughts with Program Coordinator Kraig Cook (kraig.cook@seattle.gov, 206.256.5944).