This month the Seattle City Council will consider, and possibly approve, the Asian Art Museum expansion project. Below we reiterate the many reasons we believe this project not to be in the public interest, particularly the proposed 55-year lease/subsidy deal which was first revealed on December 1. Please check our web site for updates as the month progresses: http://ProtectVolunteerPark.org WHAT YOU CAN DO There are two important actions you can take now: 1. Comment at the public hearing on Friday, January 12, 2:00 PM AND/OR 2. Email "council@seattle.gov" in your own words before Jan 12. (See below for suggested talking points). You may also be interested in the January 17 (2pm) meeting of the Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee (new name of the parks committee) when we believe the Committee is likely to vote on the legislation to expand the museum. ABOUT THE PUBLIC HEARING The Council will hear public input about the legislation to exempt Asian Art Museum from the land use code. This hearing is on: Friday, January 12 2:00 PM Council Chambers, Seattle City Hall 600 4th Ave. Comments will likely be limited to 2 minutes. RSVP to pvpinfo@protectvolunteerpark.org to get last minute details. We believe that the Durkan administration has already signed the museum deal in December, anticipating retroactive Council approval. It will be void if not approved by the Council. This is a lousy deal which should not be approved without full consideration of alternatives. Seattle Art Museum (SAM) has sent communications organizing its supporters to attend this hearing. Please come out and help show that many people have an alternative view. SUGGESTED TALKING POINTS We wrote a comment specifically for this hearing, which you can read at this link: http://protectvolunteerpark.org/land-use-comment/ For your convenience in planning your comments (or emails to council@seattle.gov), we reiterate our 16 main points of objection to this museum expansion proposal: * The proposed expansion is visually dominant and spoils the Olmsted Brothers' naturalistic design of Volunteer Park. With great foresight the Olmsteds planned a landscape park to give the public the psychological benefits of being in nature, within a city they recognized as likely to become much more dense and built-up. * The proposal makes the museum building taller, contrary to claims by Parks Department staff (and the legislation's misleading language about "elevation"). A wall over 49 feet tall would be placed directly in the greensward and block Olmsted-designed vistas. * We have documented that there is not enough parking available in Volunteer Park to expand the museum program, and that the submitted parking study is inadequate, as it counted cars on two wet November days and took that to represent peak demand from park users. * Alternatives were never offered to the public, as the Parks Department's Public Involvement Policy requires. It is not public involvement to keep repeating one plan which is said to be "necessary". * The proposed lease commits the City for 55 years of subsidy of one partner without the opportunity for any reconsideration. The old agreement was not a long-term commitment and could be ended with only 3 years notice. * Under the proposed lease deal, the City commits to initial spending of $19 million, plus 55 years of free rent for SAM, 55 years of subsidy payments to SAM, and responsibility for major capital repairs to the building. Over the entire 55 years the City is to receive absolutely nothing, $0, in exchange for taking on these obligations. This deal is in blatant conflict with the public interest. * A fair process would consider proposals from multiple potential tenants, not just one. * Seattle Art Museum (SAM)'s Asian art exhibits were founded at a time when laws forbade people of Asian American / Pacific Islander descent to immigrate and build wealth. We would only perpetuate institutional racism by committing to an additional 55-year subsidy of SAM's Asian museum without allowing any other organization to be considered as a potential partner. * SAM is not a "public museum" as referred to in the proposed development agreement. The public has no ownership of SAM's assets, right to elect its directors, or control over its operations. SAM is a private corporation whose non-profit status requires it to be operated for an educational purpose, prior to any City subsidy. * The Parks Department is the wrong department to choose a huge arts subsidy. Arts investments should be handled through the Office of Arts and Culture, with involvement of the Arts Commission, and evaluation of their fairness relative to other City arts investments. * This investment in expanded Volunteer Park facilities violates the Parks Department's equity goals of focusing capital investment in underserved areas and rapidly densifying urban villages. * SAM has already built 8 floors of expansion space downtown with the help of a City subsidy in the form of a bond guarantee. SAM now declines to use these floors for expansion, preferring to lease them out as office space and keep the revenue. Each of these 8 floors contains twice the space proposed to be added in Volunteer Park. * We take climate action by preserving green space. It is climate-negative to build expanded facilities in public green space when suitable expansion space is already built downtown, having much better public transportation options. * The City's original subsidy of the Volunteer Park museum came with an agreement to make it free of charge, four days per week. The proposed new agreement requires only four free days per month. The public expenditure has increased while the public benefits have been reduced. * SAM's proposed Asian Paintings Conservation Center at the expanded Volunteer Park museum is an industrial use, not recreational, and of no direct public benefit. * The proposed additions are too close to two exceptional beech trees, coming right up to the drip line and (in the case of the Park Lobby) overhanging the drip line and depriving the tree's critical root zone of needed rainfall. Thank you for your interest in protecting Volunteer Park. Best regards, The Protect Volunteer Park team