How It All Started

Sign for Save Frances Anderson Center with an illustration of a building, mountains, and a sunset background.

In early 2025, in response to a growing budget crisis, Edmonds city leaders advanced the idea of selling two of our beloved community landmarks: the Frances Anderson Center and Hummingbird Hill Park. This approach may have offered a short-term financial boost to our budget, but it would have done nothing to resolve the city’s deeper, structural budget challenges—and once sold, these public treasures would have been lost forever.

In response, we organized an online petition to advocate against the selling of public assets. Within just 72 hours, more than 7,200 emails were sent to the mayor and city council, clearly expressing the community’s overwhelming opposition to selling these irreplaceable public spaces.

At the next City Council meeting, nearly 250 residents packed the Council chambers, urging city leaders to protect our shared assets. In response, the Council voted to table the proposed amendments, pausing—at least temporarily—further exploration of the sale of Frances Anderson Center and Hummingbird Hill Park.

A large indoor gathering of people attending a meeting or protest, with some holding signs that say "Save Our Parks" and display a tree logo.

Photo of event as seen in My Edmonds News. Photo credit: Teresa Wippel.

What Happened Next?

We were encouraged by the city council's decision to table the motion to explore selling our public spaces. Still, without stable, long-term funding, the threat of losing these shared assets will continue to hang over Edmonds.

Motivated by this uncertainty, we set out to better understand the roots of our budget crisis—and to hear directly from the community about the best path forward to secure our city’s financial future.

We hosted community workshops to hear directly from residents, analyzed the budgets of similarly sized cities in our region, and launched a community visioning initiative called “What Should Edmonds Be”—an effort to gather ideas from the public on where new sources of revenue could come from.

This work culminated with a presentation to the Edmonds City Council on May 27th, where we shared with them our vision and long-term plan for our city, backed by data, and supported by community feedback.

What On Deck?

Stay tuned for exciting updates on the horizon. In the coming months, we’ll be sharing what’s next for this initiative, including new opportunities for community involvement, and the steps we’re taking to turn vision into action. The journey is just beginning, and we’re looking forward to building the future of Edmonds together.