As a neighborhood district coordinator, Christa Dumpys attends more meetings in Queen Anne and Magnolia than a community journalist does.
That's saying something, but it's all part of a job the Department of Neighborhoods staffer relishes. "I think it's an exciting time to be here," Dumpys said in the Queen Anne Neighborhood Service Center on Roy Street where she works.
Now living near Green Lake, Dumpys moved to Seattle in 2000 from the Chicago area, armed with a master's degree in social work from the University of Michigan. "My focus area was community organizing."
Before that she did a stint with the Peace Corps in Malawi in Central Africa, where she worked on AIDS prevention, and Dumpys also worked with Hispanics in Chicago teaching English as a second language, she said.
Dumpys moved to Seattle without a job but was able to stay with some friends from Chicago who'd already set up stakes in the Emerald City. "I had a dream of living where there were mountains, basically," said the avid hiker. "My parents thought I was crazy," she smiled.
But Dumpys got a job with Seattle Parks and Recreation half a year after moving here. Her duties included being the coordinator for several community centers, including the one in Queen Anne, she said of a gig that lasted for four and a half years.
Then, two years ago, Dumpys moved over to the Department of Neighborhoods and worked downtown for a year as a district coordinator. She's worked in Queen Anne and Magnolia since then.
"Yeah, I enjoyed downtown, but I thought this would be a cool opportunity," Dumpys said of the Queen Anne/Magnolia posting. She acknowledged that the two areas of the city are different.
"Downtown is very unique because it's so dense," she said. The top issue she heard about at downtown meetings was public safety because of all the crime, drug dealing and prostitutes in the area, Dumpys said. "I guess nightclubs kind of fell into that as well."
Revitalizing parks downtown, replacing the viaduct and dealing with social services for the homeless were also issues Dumpys dealt with before coming to work in these local neighborhoods, she said. "Queen Anne and Magnolia have some of the same issues in terms of transportation and public safety."
As for nightclub violence, Dumpys said that could become an issue in the Uptown area, as Lower Queen Anne is known to some. She was unaware of last weekend's shootings at the Level Five club across Fifth Avenue North from the Space Needle.
Developing design guidelines for Queen Anne is another issue, but there are others. "I'm hearing more and more about affordability here," Dumpys said.
Also on the front burners are development in Interbay around Dravus Street, the Port of Seattle's North Bay area and a major makeover for the Seattle Center, she said. "Fort Lawton is a big project I'm working on, too," Dumpys said of the scramble to claim or buy up the soon-to-be-surplus military property.
Dumpys frequently deals with community activists as part of her job, and she describes the vast majority of them as very dedicated and very capable. "I'm continually surprised; they live their passion," the city staffer said of activists whose interests include - among others - parks and neighborhood planning.
Dumpys denied being a workaholic and said she tries to maintain a balance in her life. "I would say I'm dedicated to my job," Dumpys allowed.
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