Honorable Ron Sims	Honorable Cynthia Sullivan
King County Executive	King County Councilmember
King County Courthouse, Room 400	1200 King County Courthouse
516 Third Avenue	516 Third Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104-2312	Seattle, WA 98104-2312

Dear Executive Sims and Councilmember Sullivan:

We are writing to express our agreement with, and support for the County's proposed actions as regards the daylighting of a portion of Ravenna Creek.

As you know, citizens in the Ravenna Creek area have for many years advocated the daylighting of Ravenna Creek from the area in Ravenna Park where it currently enters a pipe all the way to its former mouth in Union Bay. During this same period of time the County has also been planning to revise its current conveyance of Ravenna Creek (so as to divert it away from the West Point Treatment Plant), thus saving capacity at the Plant that will no longer be needed to treat the water from the Creek.

After reviewing several options for daylighting the Creek, the City regretfully concluded that daylighting the entire length of the creek was not feasible. It is our understanding that the County agrees that pursuing daylighting of the entire course of the Creek is not a possible option at this time, and that the Ravenna Creek Alliance acquiesces in this decision.

We understand that the County is now recommending a new alternative: to complete daylighting the Creek through Ravenna Park, and then to pipe the water from there to Union Bay, with some possibility of daylighting the Creek on the University of Washington property south of NE 45th Street. The County proposes to undertake this construction in 2003 with the piping portion of the project to cost approximately $1.5 million. The County also has an additional $1.7 million that is designated for Ravenna Creek and which will be made available for daylighting the Creek within Ravenna Park as well as for art that could be commissioned to memorialize the former route of the Creek outside of the Park and mark it as a spiritual and symbolic connection between the Park and Union Bay.

The City recognizes that Ravenna Creek had a very high priority in the University Community Neighborhood Plan. We support the current proposal: daylighting the Creek through Ravenna Park, installing art to mark the former route, and completing the conveyance construction for the remainder of the route.

To assist with implementation of this proposal, the City will work with the community and property owners along the former route outside of the Park to design and commission works of art, and will convene a Committee to oversee this endeavor. The Committee will be under the aegis of the Seattle Arts Commission and will include representatives of the neighborhood as well as of King County and the City of Seattle.

The City also agrees to maintain the works of art and that portion of the Creek that will be daylighted within Ravenna Park. Funds to design the course of the Creek within Ravenna Park have been earmarked in the proposed parks funding levy for this fall. The Parks Department will work closely with citizens from the Ravenna Creek area and King County to design a route that accommodates current athletic field uses in the park.

We very much appreciate the commitment of King County and the citizens of the Ravenna neighborhood to this project, and look forward to moving ahead with it.

Sincerely,

Paul Schell	Council President Margaret Pageler, Chair
Mayor	Water Resources, Solid Waste & Public Health
Councilmember Richard Conlin, Chair	Councilmember Nick Licata, Chair
Neighborhoods, Sustainability &	Arts, Parks and Culture
Community Development