Several Seattle community centers reduce hours after funding cut

SEATTLE – Some of Seattle’s most popular community centers will have shorter hours after funding for facilities was cut back.

Seattle Parks & Rec says one of its non-profit partners will no longer pay a portion of the center's operation costs.

Queen Anne community center is like a home away from home for the women in the Crafty Ladies knitting group, who say they’re concerned about the center losing more hours.

“It’s very, very sad because a lot of people, they’re counting on this. Like with children, the children’s activities and older people,” said Ava Heiland, who leads the Crafty Ladies Knitting Group at the Queen Anne Community Center.

Seattle Parks & Recreation says they’ll no longer receive funding from its non-profit partner Association Recreational Council. Without the funding, community centers in Queen Anne, Ballard, Loyal Heights, and Magnolia will lose up to 14 and a half hours per week and shut their doors on weekends.

“The weekend is when they don’t have a lot of scheduled activities minus the basketball games or whatever. So, if they’re losing their safe place to go, where else do they have, especially in our neighborhood?” said Liz Mcquiston, who brings her two children to the Queen Anne Community Center.

In August of 2014, voters approved the Seattle Park District, which manages community center operations. The Park District says its 2019 operating budget for centers is $4.5 million, and so far this year, it’s spent $2.4 million of that money.

“Community centers are free to the public and that’s what we need in the community and we need more of those. Not everyone can just go to the YMCA or can afford to be a member of all these other options,” said Michael Enright, a father of three who takes his kids to the center in Queen Anne.

When asked about using the funding raised through taxes, the Seattle Parks & Rec spokesperson simply stated the District is always looking for ways to optimize their limited resources.

KOMO News also reached out to the Association Recreation Council about why they’re no longer providing the funding and they declined to comment.