(Image: CHS)
Following a nine-month pilot of shortened hours for Broadway Hill Park since its 2016 summer opening, the Board of Park Commissioners will consider making those hours permanent on Thursday.
Rachel Schulkin with Seattle Parks and Recreation said the pilot of opening the park at 6 AM and closing it at 10 PM was spurred by a mix of what parks employees were seeing in the park and complaints from area residents.
Staff reported finding beer cans and damaged benches in the park, graffiti had been an issue, 911 calls about loud, late-night activities were frequent, and members of the community reported feeling unsafe in the park in the evening.
“The pilot has shown a reduction in that activity, which is great,” Schulkin said.
According to a memorandum about the change of hours, “this adjustment in hours, over the 9-month pilot period, reduced the illegal behaviors and reduced the number of complaints and negative impacts on the Capitol Hill neighborhood.”
UPDATE: Of course, as noted below in comments, the pilot period pretty much covers the entirety of the 12,000-square-foot park’s official lifespan.
The department’s default hours for city parks are 4 AM to 11:30 PM.
“We actually don’t see this too often. We really do it on a case-by-case basis,” Schulkin said about shortening the park’s hours.
Broadway Hill Park features a lawn, seating, and tables, barbecue areas, a community garden, and landscaped planting. While it opened officially after a stretch of construction last summer, the empty lot had served as a community space during the years it sat empty following acquisition.
Parks acquired the land at the corner for Federal and Republican in 2010 for $2 million after a townhome project slated for the property fell through. In addition to the small grants the community received to plan the project, the park was made possible by a $750,000 grant from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund which was used for construction.
Parks hasn’t received any feedback from the community about the shortened hours but hopes to hear more at the meeting Thursday where the staff will provide a report and the public has the opportunity to provide comment. The meeting will begin at 6:30 PM at 100 Dexter Ave N. You can also email comments to [email protected].
The commissioners Thursday night will also consider shortening Kerry Viewpoint Park’s hours.
Can we get this at Summit Slope Park too?
Summit Slope Park outside of hours activity has definitely lessened since the construction and then even more dramatically when the picnic table and grill were removed. Even before that, there was a noticeable ramp up of police patrols through the alleys in the areas. A vehicle would even camp out by the park.
I’m confused. This park has been open for less than 9 months, yet Parks is saying they have had a pilot period of shortened hours for 9 months, which presumably was preceded by some months of the default hours?
Regardless, homeless people, drunks, druggies have no respect whatsoever for open/closed hours in city parks. How is this going to be enforced?
Agreed the “pilot” description is misleading. Updating up top. Thanks
homeless people, drunks, druggies…say ” you can beautify Seattle but ya can’t beautify us”.
Also, it seems likely that people who are interested in hanging out with “late night activities” are probably more likely to be interested in doing that during the glorious summer nights rather than during the miserable, rainy, cold winter.
So…. it seems likely that the reduction was due to weather and seasonality rather than the “pilot” (such as it was.)
What happens this summer will be telling.
If they want to reduce the hours, that’s fine. But, let’s not pretend the “pilot” proved or disproved anything.
I had to leave Capitol Hill before this park was complete, so I have not seen it since completion. What I remember, it was not fenced. Is that still the case? How does one “close” a park without fencing it?