Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center

Additional State Funds for Community Center at MLK; School District Extends RFP Process
 
This legislative session, the Washington State Legislature, led by Speaker Chopp, Reps. Tomiko Santos, Pettigrew and Sen. Kline, allocated an additional $1.5 million for a non-profit to purchase MLKing Jr. School (MLK) to make it a community center.  This money is on top of the $1 million the state had allocated previously, which means there is $2.5 million for the express purpose of MLK becoming a community center.  It is great news to see our state leaders so committed to the vision of MLK  being put to community use; if the School District accepts our proposal, CCC@MLK would apply for the state funds.  Thank you to our state legislators for this advocacy - especially in such tight financial times! 
 
After months of no updates or news, with this state action and a few other developments, the School District finally issued an update on the Request for Proposals (RFP) process and the proposals on May 17th. 

Here are a few things to note from the District's update
 
1.  Deadline extension:  the School District is extending the deadline of the current RFP process since they think reality of the new state money (vs. just the possibility) might mean additional parties could be interested in the property and applying for the state funds.  Any of the current proposers are welcome to submit updates to their proposals if they want.  While it is frustrating to use that we will have to wait longer for a decision (quite possibly until close to the end of 2010), we are encouraged that they have not moved forward simply with rewarding it to the highest bidder (i.e. The Bush School) and that we can update and expand our proposal to make it even stronger and continue to build on the strong public support for our vision.
 
2. Continued misperceptions of CCC@MLK's proposal:  the Selection Committee continues to claim we would charge market-based rents -- even though we would not and we have provided additional evidence to the contrary.  And, they continue to have the misperception that we do not provide enough social services or youth education programming.  We will work on fixes to these problems in our update. 

 
3. Issues with Other Proposals:  The Selection Committee raised issue with The Bush School's claim of ample community use of the soccer field, since they also say they would use it for summer camps and rent it to other schools.   They also felt that First A.M.E.'s proposal did not meet the 50%+ requirement for youth programming or social services. 
 
4. Dept. of Planning Deadline to Move?  The Dept. of Planning and Development (DPD) is likely to extend their move-in deadline from August 1st until the end of the year or early 2011.  Currently, the District and DPD have said they may require "installation of substantial improvements as a condition of the reuse of the building" if a tenant or owner does not occupy a substantial portion of the building by August 1, 2010.  CCC@MLK has separately been in touch with the Dept. of Planning about this very topic and this piece of information is pending confirmation and remains a key piece to the RFP deadline extension.
 
Under the rules set out by the School District, the School Board makes the final decision on who will lease or sell the property, and they will sell to the highest bidder unless a proposal meets their special selection criteria of providing 50% (or more) youth programming or social services.  

CCC@MLK will be working quickly to revamp and update our proposal to further clarify our programming, plus work to confirm additional interested partners.  Since submitting our proposal last October, we have had several more groups approach us about programming and space.  If you are interested in participating in any upcoming programming or partner discussions, have ideas to share for additional uses for the center, or know of groups that would be a great addition to our MLK Community Center plan, please let us know right away.