Nearly a quarter of a million people are targeted to visit this facility each year. The development will convert Discovery Park from a quiet natural sanctuary into a heavily trafficked destination with vastly more cars, noise and litter, and thousands more people every week. It will squeeze out the nesting eagles and other wildlife for whom the park is the last remaining habitat in the city. The group has received at least a million dollars in government grants this year alone to develop the project, although it has yet to be permitted. Even without gambling, imagine the impact of this Las Vegas-scale extravaganza in Seattle's largest park and one of the only remaining habitats for birds and wild critters in the city.
Discovery Park is an asset loved and used by people from all over the city.
Folks from all Seattle neighborhoods have been advocates for Discovery Park from its very beginnings. When hundreds of dedicated volunteers procured Discovery Park, King County had a population of just over a million. Yet, these visionary citizens realized that major cities require wide open spaces. Our county's population has since ballooned by 42 percent and our traffic congestion is on a par with Los Angeles. How we handle this open space will have much to do with the future greatness of our city.