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Applicant Lee Williams describes neighborhood-focused approach for Park Board seat
Summary
Lee Williams, applying for a Spokane Park Board seat, told the City Council she has three decades of nonprofit management experience and emphasized neighborhood-led stewardship, support for daytime park use but not overnight camping, and outreach to create more "Friends of" groups and Adopt-a-Park volunteers.
Lee Williams, an applicant for a Spokane Park Board seat, told the City Council on June 2 that she has lived in Spokane since 1981 and has spent about 30 years working in the nonprofit sector, including serving as CEO of Community Minded Enterprises until retiring in 2022.
Williams said she applied to the park board to bring experience in creating “systems and spaces for children and families” and to help neighborhood groups coordinate across the city. “I actually have been here in Spokane since 1981, so I feel like Spokane is my hometown,” Williams said. She added that she has been working with the Brown's Edition Neighborhood Council and the Friends of Coeur d'Alene Park and has been meeting with other neighborhood groups, including Shiloh Hills, Audubon and Lincoln Park, to discuss park needs.
Williams described her views on camping and park access in response to council questions. She said she does not support overnight camping in parks but defended daytime use: “during the day, when people need to rest and relax in the shade, they should have the ability to do that.” She said her neighborhood (she lives across the street from Coeur d'Alene Park) has contacted the city through 311 and received outreach teams to address camping-related issues.
On a planned ordinance the council is expected to consider next week about designating portions of parks as nonpublic, Williams said she was inclined to a “positive response” but wanted more information about how such a designation would work in practice, what the parameters would be and how it could be adjusted if problems arise. She also endorsed neighborhood stewardship programs, describing the city’s volunteer brochure and the options of Adopt-a-Park or forming a friends group to gain a park liaison and more input with the city.
Council members asked about other park features and uses; Williams said she thought zip lines were “fabulous” but added she would not use one herself. Council members told Williams the council will vote on appointments in about two weeks and that the mayor’s office will follow up on next steps.
Williams’s interview was part of a block of board-and-commission interviews that evening; no appointment to the Park Board was made at the meeting.
The council discussion about this applicant will be revisited at the appointment vote scheduled after the administration’s follow-up work and mayoral recommendation.
