Pottharst's replacement, John Leonard, arrives with a stellar background in grassroots community activism. Which is important since the service center - part of the city of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods - serves as a "little city hall," where the coordinator is a community organizer, coach and resource. The coordinator is also a link to and between city staffers and an ombudsman to whom you can communicate your neighborhood concerns.
Among other things, neighborhood projects, such as creating a new park, stand a much better chance of becoming reality with the resources provided by the service center co-ordinator.
Leonard comes to Queen Anne and Magnolia with the experience of bringing his own community project to fruition. His in-depth education in grass-roots community activism began when he founded the Gay City Health Project in 1996.
While working as a health educator with Seattle-King County Public Health, Leonard realized that gay men weren't getting their fair share of HIV/AIDS funding. Leonard was instrumental in getting a study done that jumped the funding level by 40 percent. Leonard took some heat from his superiors for pushing to increase funding.
He began to realize there was a better, more direct way to educate gay men about safe sex and HIV/AIDS than could be accomplished at Seattle-King County Public Health, even with all of its resources. "The government has the capacity to do great things. They have a certain scale of resources to make changes in people's lives. With that comes a downside: bureaucratic red tape, conservatism and fear of taking risks," he said.
So he decided to start his own nonprofit AIDS education and prevention project.
"Looking back, I don't really know if I knew what I was getting into," Leonard said. "As the director of a startup nonprofit you have to do everything from figuring out how to get the fax machine to work to asking people for $10,000 with a straight face."
What followed was a crash course in fund-raising, publicity, cobbling together coalitions - everything that keeps a nonprofit growing.
After six years with the Gay City Health Project, Leonard decided he had accomplished his goals for that organization and that he was burned out. He left Gay City Health and took a sabbatical for several months to travel, spend time with his daughter and decide what he wanted to do next.
While Leonard is attracted to causes, he concluded that no single issue called to him.
"It was more about a very strong, fundamental belief that people can change the world, that people make a difference. So I knew I wanted to do something in line with community development."
In the end, he realized that the Department of Neighborhoods was a good fit.
"There was a culture in the Department of Neighborhoods when I was hired - [former Department of Neighborhoods head] Jim Diers had been out there as a neighborhood radical activist - so there had been a spirit in the department to encourage people not to think like bureaucrats in working with the neighborhoods," Leonard said.
About a year ago, Leonard became the neighborhood development manager for the Department of Neighborhoods' southwest sector. He believes his former work with a government agency and a community-based nonprofit organization comes in handy for his work with the Department of Neighborhoods. For example, he has learned how to think outside of the box when it comes to finding funding for a project.
Leonard already has some grounding in the issues surrounding choosing the monorail route in Queen Anne. He served as the Department of Neighborhood's representative on an interdepartmental team that examined and asked question, about the evolving plans for the monorail.
Leonard has been meeting with Pottharst for intense sessions to help get up to speed on Queen Anne and Magnolia issues. He intends to start off by doing a lot of listening.
"I plan on going door to door in the business district to find out what's on their minds," Leon-ard said.
Pottharst - a tall, affable man - has served as the service center coordinator for Queen Anne and Magnolia since November 1999.
He has a knack for spreading oil on the troubled waters that can sometimes boil up during public and private projects in the neighborhoods.
"I talk about what we have in common and that I think we can work together and get past the differences," Pottharst said. "Most often it works."
He has a way of asking the right questions or stepping in to help that keeps projects moving.
Pottharst is pleased with his role in recent community projects, such as the establish-ment of the Uptown Neighborhood Center in its own building at 157 Roy St. about a year ago.
Pottharst's former job in the environmental department of Seattle City Light and his continuing connections played a part in obtaining the lease on the old City Light building on Roy Street.
But Pottharst always makes sure credit is given where the credit is really due - to the community members who came up with the ideas and toiled to bring them to fruition.
Pottharst was not thinking of making any change when the Lake City opportunity came up.
"I've had a fabulous three years here in Queen Anne and Magnolia," Pottharst said. "But when the move came up, one of my colleagues reminded me that moving helps keep us young."
Pottharst's service to the community and the arrival of Leonard will be recognized at the next Uptown Alliance meeting on Thursday, Jan. 9, with cake and coffee. The meeting, which also celebrates the Uptown Alliance's fourth birthday, starts at 7 p.m. at the Uptown Neighborhood Service Center, 157 Roy St.
[[In-content Ad]]
