Greenwood Neighborhood Service Center to close under mayor’s proposed budget

The Greenwood Neighborhood Service Center at 8515 Greenwood Ave. N. would close under Mayor Mike McGinn’s proposed 2011-2012 budget, announced earlier today.
Six of the city’s non-payment Neighborhood Service Centers, and the West Seattle payment and information center, would close; six payment Neighborhood Service Centers will remain open (the closest to us would be Ballard).
Janice Bellotti-Pace, the office assistant at the Greenwood Neighborhood Service Center for the past three years, says the office was aware that closure was a possibility. She said Neighborhood District Coordinator Beth Pflug was already contemplating retiring in January.
The Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce shares office space inside the service center, and a number of community groups meet there on a regular basis. The Chamber and all those groups would have to find a new space, and it would leave another empty storefront on Greemwood Avenue North.
The Greenwood Neighborhood Service Center provides information on neighborhood services and events, job opportunities, crime prevention and block watches, food banks, land use and zoning, bus schedules, heating bill assistance, weatherization services, plus a free legal clinic. It also provides forms on business licenses, the Neighborhood Matching Fund, voter registration, collision reports, property tax exemptions, U.S. passports, and provides public access to the Internet.