From open-air drug deals to vandalism, Ballard’s central parks have become a growing concern for many Ballard residents and businesses. “The drug activity and tagging in Ballard and specifically Bergen Place is out of control. We need help,” wrote Victoria Sangrey Hunter from Friends of Bergen Place in an email to several Seattle city council members this week. Over the weekend, vandals had defaced the historic mural at Bergen Place.
We spoke to North Precinct Captain Mike Washburn, and he said officers will soon resume undercover stings at Bergen Place, Marvin’s Garden and Ballard Commons. “I’ve asked the anti-crime team to take another look at the parks,” he said, “and to really focus on the drug dealing piece of it.” Capt. Washburn explained that the six-member anti-crime team will conduct a plainclothes sting known as “See Pop” — an undercover officer observes a drug deal and signals other officers nearby to make a narcotics arrest. He also said the community police bike patrols and the new park exclusion zone are helping. “It’s been fairly effective at clearing folks out,” he said.
Responding to the email written by Sangrey Hunter, Councilmember Nick Licata said he’s open to extending the use of Park Rangers from downtown into Ballard, an idea also supported by the parks department. Currently the rangers are patrolling downtown parks as part of a pilot project, and Licata said he would push to fund the extension in the next budget. “Their presence would go a long way to addressing the chronic tagging problem has affected not only the public parks, but private businesses as well,” he said.
Beyond enforcement, Seattle Parks and Recreation is encouraging community groups to “activate” the parks by waiving the permit fees to hold public events (like they did for My Ballard’s meetup at Bergen Place last week.) And Ballard District Coordinator Rob Mattson is working with Seattle Parks and the city’s information technology team to install WiFi in Ballard’s central parks, possibly as early as this summer.
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
You would think that the police would already be doing this, but since we have such a shortage of officers we have to be happy to get anything.
Agreed. Also, it wasn't so long ago that we were told it wasn't possible to get patrols here. We've come a long way.
Thanks to everyone's effort, we can see some result.
Sure hope the drug dealers don't read MyBallard.com. Shouldn't we be told AFTER the sting was successful?
i think its funny that people would want wi-fi in a park. anyone just sit, relax, and have a moment of reflection anymore?
*shakes fist* Hey kid, get off my lawn!
ahem. anyway, i'm surprised to hear of this when just recently it seemed there were no funds or available cops, etc…wonder why the sudden turn around?
I have a hunch they probably don't.
people complaining creates action.
I'm not so sure it's a good idea to post another pic of the Bergen Place tag. I think it was effective to post it when it happened, to let people know, but now it's just giving publicity to the tagger.
Unless it's free WiFi, it's useless.
When I was a kid growning up outside of DC in the late 70's, there was a family two doors down with a father who was an undercover narcotics cop. And I thought he was the coolest mofo in the whole world. He had long blonde feathered hair, wore amber aviator sunglasses, and drove a Pontiac Firebird…one of those with the big ass bird painted on the hood.
But then they got divorced and moved away after he was caught cheating on his wife.
I certainly have no real issue with graffiti until it ends up defacing someone else's artwork. I guess tagging the front of businesses and murals is much different than making an interesting painting in an ugly alley.
Tagging is kinda lame.
Bergen Place is the crappiest “park” in the city, with some of the worst public art in America. The mural is putrid, and the sculptures, oh my god. There is no way to have a decent usable park on a narrow triangular lot like that; they should put a building there.
wow. intense. When bergen place was a big covered bus stop it made a bit more sense. I think the mural is fine, but yeah, the sculptures are pretty rough. I have to say haven driven through every major city in the US more than a dozen times that Bergen Place absolutely does not have the worst public art in America. Maybe in the top 50 but not the worst. It gets way worse.
It does make for a good central gathering point and the open air design keeps that intersection from feeling boxed in.
I don't really get the sculpture either, but I'm not a big fan of modern sculpture to begin with. I've always viewed the mural as more of a Scandinavian pride/history of Ballard thing than a pure art piece, so I've never had any beef with that.
What's the alternative for that spot? We could always one up Fremont…I know where we could get a Stalin statue cheap.
I”m sorry, “boxed in”? That's one of the least boxed-in intersections in the city; due to the configuration of the streets and the mile-wide sidewalks there are thousand-yard vistas in every direction. It's like standing on the freeway. And another more accurate way to say “boxed in” is “streetscape” — streets can and should be “urban rooms”, with interest on all sides. Buildings built out to the sidewalk, with shops, that could tie together side streets like Ballard Avenue with the main drag, and pull the neighborhood together.
“Open air design” is just another way of saying “waste ground”. Why do you think the homeless encamp there? Because no more valuable use can get a foothold. No one else WANTS to go there. It's not a “park”; you can't have a narrow triangular park work in a space like that, with heavy traffic never more than ten feet away. Triangular lots are meant for buildings, with shops.
Read your Jane Jacobs and William Whyte; this particular type of problem was solved fifty years ago. This is a city, not a roadside out in the country. Street use is synergistic; by taking away the three sides of this triangle — a density of interesting land use that a rectilinear lot cannot match — this bogus “park” is killing the streets on all sides of it. Why not have a space that people are attracted to instead?
fnarf,
You may well have a good point about the bogus “park” killing the streets on all sides of it. It does, however, create a no man's land that better defines the cohesive, vibrant Ballard Avenue neighborhood.
Christopher Alexander in his classic book, “A Pattern Language – Towns, Buildings, Construction” has a lot of suggestions as to how to transition into a neighborhood like Ballard Avenue. Your idea of buildings with shops would, indeed, enliven all sides of the street and tie Market Street with Ballard Avenue.
The junction of Market Street and 22nd Avenue is complicated by the addition of Leary, an aggressive portal into Ballard. There are too many streets with too much hard, open space. Leary has been softened somewhat by Canal Station, but more needs to be done ( perhaps a tree-lined planting strip?).
Anyway, serious, intelligent urban design is much needed and Bergen Place would be a good place to start. Who is willing to write the request for permission from the King and Queen of Norway?