What’s going on with Discovery Park?

I’m a little reluctant to post this because it’s sitting so defenseless now.

What is the point of having a parks levy if it doesn’t keep the visitor centers open? I’m thinking specifically about Discovery Park’s Environmental Learning Center.

See the photos. I was there a couple days ago and just found out about this. My apologies if you already know.

I did a quick search and saw that Harrell proposed a budget without funding for the center and the Council approved it, I think? Here’s a King5 article. It sounds like it fell victim to budget deficit cuts. And according to the sign on the door, the idea is to reopen it in 2027 as a private organization.

But again, I thought that the reason we approved a parks levy was so that our parks facilities would be maintained and kept open. Sorry if that’s naive of me. I don’t know, man.

Does anyone have any insight on this?

And what is this “major flood damage in January 2025”? Does anybody know what happened?

I’m also concerned about potential damage and loss to the Environmental Learning Center property, both human-caused and otherwise. Who’s keeping a tab on the place?

Also, why are the bathrooms at West Point closed off and replaced with Honey Buckets? Is that also part of the park closure? The bathrooms at the south lawn are still open. Apparently, the water treatment plant is also going to be renovated. Is the bathroom closure connected to that?

And why were two of the large cedar trees that were by the final/first bus stop for the #33 cut down, with one of the two remaining ones looking so sickly? (See the second photo.) Did they get some sort of infestation? (And I know these aren’t a native species.)

Also, at the wetland portion of the Wolf Tree Nature Trail, nearly all of the skunk cabbages and horsetails have been knocked down/are dying. (See last photo.) Is this natural? Is the Parks Department trying to kill them off on purpose?

The third photo is of the little pond by the North Beach. It has a bunch of cut vegetation in it and it’s overgrown with algae. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that area look so bad.

Fourth photo is the West Point bathrooms, mentioned before.

Fifth photo is of the paved trail/road near the West Point bathrooms, with the writing, “start tree cut”, and an arrow pointing in the direction of the bathrooms. Whatever that’s talking about, it doesn’t sound encouraging. How many trees are they going to cut, and why? (Also, it’s sad that all the lupines in the field by the bathroom died off or were killed off, whatever it was.)

At the top of the north bluff trail leading to the beach, there’s a large sign announcing upcoming beach trail renovations that will be partly funded by the parks levy: “$420,000 is the anticipated budget for the project from a combination of the Seattle Metropolitan Parks District funding, Recreation and Conservation Office grant funding, and donations from the Friends of Discovery Park.” The project will address badly-needed work on the trail, apparently rerouting some of it away from the steep, eroding edge. Maybe the upcoming tree cut at West Point has something to do with this?

And the other side of the condition of Discovery Park is that I have never seen it so popular. When I first moved here, it was like this desolate outpost at the end of the bus line where you could go to sit alone in a field. Not anymore. If there was ever a time when the Environmental Center should be open, it’s now. Also on the positive side, I’ve also seen a lot more habitat restoration work and planting of native species the last couple years. Is that being funded by the city with the parks fund or by the Friends of Discovery Park?

Sorry if this is a long post. Discovery Park is my favorite place in Seattle, so that was kind of a depressing walk. There’s no flair for “Question” so I’m posting it without any.

EDIT: Where are the photos I uploaded?