It’s a fact. The City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods doesn’t recognize Maynard Park, and that has some residents feeling like they’re invisible. A conclave of concerned Maynardites met recently to explore this community identify crisis.
“It’s as if we don’t exist,” decried Gretchen Oublie, echoing the sentiments of those gathered for coffee at the Maynard Park Donut Yurt. “Every other Seattle neighborhood has something that makes them special, something real and tangible that people can rally around. Here in Maynard Park, we have nothing…”
With that spark of anguish, a grass-roots initiative was conceived and the “We Identify Maynard Park” (or W.I.M.P.) citizen activist plan was born. While still in its infancy, a contagion of actualization has begun to crawl, from neighbor-to-neighbor, in a search for a sense of shared self. Their goal is a simple one: Give Maynard Park a “centerpiece” to distinguish it from all other Seattle neighborhoods.
To embark on this mission, the W.I.M.P. citizen council has announced a series of sojourns to selected Seattle Neighborhoods to study and analyze what makes these other neighborhood places unique.
The Maynard Park Neighborhood Blog will be traveling along, as imbedded reporters, with the “We Identify Maynard Park” entourage, and we’ll be reporting on their findings in the weeks ahead.
