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Mountlake Terrace commission coordinates community conversations and Ramadan support; schedules multiple spring events
Summary
The Mountlake Terrace DEI Commission on Tuesday planned a series of bilingual community conversations and spring events and discussed operational support and traffic changes for Ramadan at a nearby mosque.
Mountlake Terrace's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission spent much of its meeting on Tuesday planning a slate of community-engagement events for spring and discussing operational support for the mosque during Ramadan.
The commission confirmed a bilingual community conversation at the Mountlake Terrace Library, to be conducted in English and Spanish in partnership with the county health district. Commissioners said the session will run roughly two hours with city staff facilitating one hour and the health district the other; about 8 to 10 people had RSVP'd to the session at the time of the meeting, staff said.
The commission also reviewed plans for a March 29 community conversation hosted at Mountlake Terrace Elementary with the Edmonds School District, and discussed a children's day celebration tentatively set for April 24 that would feature a children's choir, folkloric dancers and student presentations.
Why it matters: Commissioners said targeted, bilingual outreach is intended to include residents who historically have not participated in municipal planning exercises and to funnel input into the DEI strategic plan.
Ramadan and mosque coordination: Commission members and city staff reported a recent meeting with mosque leaders to plan Ramadan logistics. Andrew, a city staff member, said city staff'including public-safety and traffic personnel'had met with mosque leaders to raise patrol awareness around prayer times and to identify temporary parking and signage measures. "We're currently working on, addressing the no parking issues on 56," Andrew said, noting revised signage and use of nearby church parking lots as part of a short-term plan. Staff estimated removing some parking restrictions on certain street segments would open roughly 25 spaces.
Event logistics and digital access: Commissioners discussed AV and Zoom logistics for community events at the library. Staff agreed the commission should host events on the city's Zoom account so remote participants could join and the meeting would not be limited by the 40-minute limit on free accounts. Commissioners also discussed staffing to monitor remote participants and the need to pre-load videos or materials for events.
Other spring events: Commissioners working on AAPI Month said they expect roughly 30 groups to take part and were discussing performance selection and whether to offer vendor or performer compensation. Juneteenth planning includes a father-figure panel and a photo booth; Juneteenth is scheduled June 15 this year from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., commissioners said. Commissioners also discussed potentially limiting food vendors to two for Juneteenth to ensure supply and vendor viability.
Community outreach methods: The commission discussed options for widening engagement beyond in-person conversations, including a short online, social-media-driven campaign in March or April that would invite residents to post short responses or photos to a set of prompts so staff could compile and analyze results for the strategic plan.
What comes next: Staff will continue to coordinate logistics with the library, communications staff and community partners; they will confirm AV/Zoom setup, finalize partner contact lists, and circulate a volunteer sign-up for event support. The commission intends to conclude the public-engagement phase of its DEI strategic plan this spring and begin prioritizing action steps over the summer.
