I share Karen Gardner’s vision (“The Power of Our Parks,” June 20) for a vibrant community where we use and enjoy our parks, and where our parks can fulfill needs for a range of people here in our own community. Similar services, such as our schools and our health center, are also vital to maintaining such a community. Without these, we risk sliding toward becoming a bedroom community for people who work in Seattle and can afford to live here.

My vote against the parks levy was the first time that I have ever voted against a community levy. It felt like a hastily put-together campaign that was asking for a large increase, and that wasn’t being transparent about why that money was needed or how it would be used. My more sinister interpretation included concern that this levy aimed to preempt its property tax share before the health district levy, proposed for the November ballot, could reach the community.

The current shifting nature of our community, with increasingly limited property tax allocations and shifting demographics, desperately demands open, conciliatory and creative ways to address our needs as a whole community. I appreciate the commissioners’ effort to reach out subsequent to the recent levy, and I trust that open conversations might ensue—not only among our different tax districts, but also among the wider community as we work to minimize inequities within our community.

I hope I will be able to support the parks levy in November.

—Marcie Rubardt