Seattle Drops Plans For Developer-Funded Parks

"Developers fought the idea, open-space advocates more or less shrugged, and the City Council never received a formal proposal from the mayor."

"'We just didn't find much enthusiasm for it,' Nickels said."

"In the face of that, the plan has been quietly shelved."

"Now there's no plan in sight for adding splashes of green to the city's most crowded neighborhoods at a time when they're expected to sprout new skyscrapers and welcome thousands of new residents."

"Unveiled in August 2005, in the home stretch of Nickels' re-election campaign, the mayor's plan called for charging open-space "impact fees," common in other Washington cities, for the first time in Seattle."

"The fees were to be imposed in the city's six urban centers, where Nickels wants to funnel growth and where new green gathering places would be particularly needed."