Update - Kiosk Design, Grants

The West Seattle Trails Alliance (a new West Seattle-wide coalition of community members, neighborhood associations, non-profits and service organizations, and the Southwest District Council and the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council) has submitted a large grant request to the city's Large Project Neighborhood Matching Fund program. This NMF grant seeks roughly $100,000 to produce, through neighborhood and artist collaboration, a set of 10 kiosks with associated street guide markers in the Southwest District. West Seattle Trails Alliance is also a partner on another large grant request, under the aegis of Feet First, to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's "Active Living by Design" program, for organizational support.

The designs depicted to the right are the general "thematic" design for the kiosks. These kiosks will be situated in neighborhoods located within the Southwest District Council boundaries. Should this grant be successful, we will submit a similar grant next year to site an additional 12 kiosks within neighborhoods located in the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council boundaries.

Clicking on the thumbnails to the right will open a new page with a full-size PDF file. The top one shows two potential kiosk designs. The middle list defines what the kiosks can or will be made of. The bottom panel shows the existing "design language" used along the Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail, which we are trying to also incorporate in the kiosk design. More information on the design language is also below in the documents section.

These designs have already been reviewed by the city's Design Commission. With very few exceptions, the Design Commission approved the concept and general design of these kiosks. The neighborhood involvement will help identify specific locations at already-identified intersections, and will be the focus for the development of the text and associated artwork (the bottom of the kiosks is the area defined for local art). The artwork and text of each kiosk will reflect that area's history, cultural, business, recreation and view locations, and other features to be noted, as well as the art itself. A panel of West Seattle artists will help local residents define and work to produce the localized art element. Not shown is the other side of the kiosk. Many community associations have asked for community posting facilities on the kiosks. Discussion of these concepts and possible designs will also be part of the community involvement.

The second grant request, the one to the Active Living by Design group, seeks to take the West Seattle Trails process and implementation to the Northeast area of Seattle. Two districts, the North and the Northeast, cover the Thornton Creek watershed area. That area of town offers an equally inviting landscape for the development of a walking trails system connecting the many and diverse neighborhoods which form the Thornton Creek area of Seattle.

The NMF grant process allows for several "open houses" to be held throughout the city this summer. Residents are then invited to comment on the collected set of city-wide large grant requests. Selection of the grant awardees is in September with the project running from October, 2008, through October, 2009. This site will post these open house locations and dates when they become known. The process of developing each of the 10 kiosks will involve several community meetings, which will also be widely advertised.

Comments should be sent via email to Seth Shromen-Wawrin at seth@feetfirst.info or Chas Redmond at credmond@mac.com