At a community meeting on June 3rd about the increase in crime at Ballard parks, Seattle Police said it would work on ramping up officer bicycle patrols. And now a My Ballard reader who has been outspoken against the drug problems at Bergen Place and Marvin’s Garden (and wishes to remain anonymous for fear of her own safety) wrote us this note:
We have now starting as of today (Tuesday), bike patrol officers in the mornings. Several days a week there are six rotating officers, two a day riding bicycles through Ballard. They parked today next to Bergen Place and that in itself is a major deterrent. It may feel like a baby step because the hours are few, but it’s an important baby step. Let’s hear a round of applause for our North Precinct Police!
Two weeks ago, Seattle Parks and Recreation agreed to establish an exclusion zone for Bergen Place, Marvin’s Garden and Ballard Commons Park.
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
it's a step in the right direction, but…
mornings? do you mean shortly after midnight?
or is there crime that needs to be deterred around breakfast-time?
I know the hours are limited due to budget constraints, but who picked these hours in particular?
This is a good start to getting what we've been talking about…beat cops on patrol.
As long as they mix up the times of the patrols, bike cops can be very effective at catching and deterring street level drug crimes.
Why in THE hell does she have to be anonymous? So the good guys are now evil here? This is America isn't it. So just who IS running Ballard then? Truly insane. Algore had it right when stating “what used to be down is up, and what used to be up is down”. Perhaps the only time he said anything credible. Do we all now have to ask permission of thugs to do business in Ballard? WTF is this???? Time to take off our collective blinders and get our hood back. Q: Where in the world in our mayor when we really need him? A: too busy running for re-election and trying to save the freaking world. Fine choices we have there, NOT.
I'm glad to hear the North Precinct is working with us. I know it's frustrating to have more crime here, but I'm sure the city ends up being distracted by all the gang shootings that are popping up in the South end. So, I'm glad they're taking our neighborhood problems seriously too even though it might seem like small potatoes to them.
As for the woman wanting to stay anonymous – it may not be reprisal from drug dealers that she fears but all the nasty comments that show up from people on these public comment forums. I know I wouldn't want my real name here because of the nasty comments that seem to pop up on every other blog post. If I think about it too much I start to get a little freaked out by other neighborhood residents (although I imagine the worst ones are trolls who don't even live here)
speaking of which, ballardmom….
didn't you say you were moving away several weeks ago?
not that you're a troll or anything. just trying to keep it local.
Hey, Norwegian! What's your real name?
she doesn't want to run any risk. our society is crazy as you have stated and as displayed on this webiste. i don't blame her but back her for her continued motivation to solve the problem. why do you need to know who they are? do you want to personally thank them? i bet if you acknowledge them here, they will find your appreciation.
Probably because there are a bunch of nasty posters on this blog – hardly anyone uses their full name on here – unless you are Norwegian Smith?
bingo!
Why so bothered? I don't know who most of you are either. Let her be anonymous, for goodness sake.
And this is 'a step.' Hopefully, the hours patrolled will improve.
if it is helping the common good of ballard it does not matter that we do not KNOW who it is. the fact is that she did a GREAT thing and got something started. good for her!! i thank her.
Chris Knight,
In answer to your questions about the bike patrol hours, yes, it would be nice to have them in the evening – and maybe that will happen – but mornings are also quite effective. We have sleeping bodies all over the place in the AM – no surprise since they are up all night. I just saw the patrol roust the #1 drug dealer and his partner from Bergen Place benches where they had spread their bedding for the day. They were noticeably inconvenienced. Two others were kicked out of the bushes and alley behind Magnum Storage, and a third one was unceremoniously expelled from behind Eidem's Upholstery. Not bad for a morning's work.
You do realize that six packs of “Breakfast of Champions” are voraciously consumed before noon, leaving our district littered with drunken, blithering zombies for the rest of the day. We will see less of that in the coming days.
While it would be ideal to have a night patrol, morning isn't bad. They are still able to impact the disorder that surrounds us.
Anonymous is smart, many understand it, for those that don't, sorry.
I'm grateful that the patrols have finally begun, and yes, even in the morning the undesirable activity is too much.
Thank you to the Seattle Police.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you EW3 for the update, and thanks also to the Anonymous Woman who wrote MyBallard with the news about the bike patrols.
I'm beyond pleased to hear of the improvements; may they continue. Thank you Ballard People!
Actions are actions and words are words — nice to see some of the former even without individuals' names attached.
Another big THANK YOU to EWIII (and all the other EWs), the anonymous woman, and everyone else here and not here who raised these issues. And to SPD. I have no doubt that the primary reason this is happening is because folks got involved and raised the visibility of the problems.
This is absolutely a step in the right direction, and a good sign of progress. Remember, not so long ago when some of us asked for bike patrols, the city told us that we had to raise the money ourselves and hire off-duty officers. The fact that we're now getting cops here on a regular basis, out on the beat, is fantastic. Lets hope it continues to have a positive effect (love the report above by EWIII!) and that the police presence here expands.
This is a great step. Let's keep this positive trend going.
yeah this is better than nothing thats for sure….
i am pretty easy going and have empathy for folks who are down and out, but some of these people are seriously nasty – as far as leaving gross piles of papers and blankets stacked up by the bus stop near the ballard bridge, big heaps of junk at bergen park, etc. – no regard for decency ..
if you live on the street, at least put your crap in the garbage cans that are everywhere..
We're looking at moving but it takes awhile buying a house/selling a house. So while I'm here …
Although wherever we move I imagine that there will be nasty comments on their neighborhood blog right along with the dialogue of local comments.
It's good to hear it is already having some positive effect. The question I have though is what are the chances they will come back later in the day after the patrol is over in the morning?
yahoo! Just saw six (yeah, 6) SPD bike cops heading down Market St.
It's a good day in the hood folks!
Give them a thanks when they cruise by.
The start of some real security in the neighborhood. Thanks, Chopper. I'll be on the lookout and give a wave of thanks.
Thank you to our friends in SPD for making this happen… this very low-impact activity will have a huge beneficial effect on our neighborhood.
It is much appreciated.
My pleasure Trix. Thank you.