Seattle closes three parks for safety but fails to curb nearby encampment growth.
SEATTLE — Seattle has temporarily closed three parks, citing ongoing safety concerns and misuse. But neighbors say the closures haven’t solved the problem — and a growing encampment across the street from an elementary school has them worried.
Seven Hills Park on Capitol Hill, Lake City Mini Park, and Blanche Lavizzo Park in the Central District were all closed Aug. 28. Seattle Parks and Recreation says the parks will remain closed for 60 days while the city considers changes such as new lighting, decorative fencing or removing certain amenities.
Neighbors who live near Seven Hills Park say conditions there had spiraled out of control.
“This problem has metastasized,” one Capitol Hill resident said. “The park has been marked as a safe space to come and do drugs and be an outlaw, and that cannot go forward.”
Before the fences went up, photos taken at Seven Hills Park showed tents, trash and used needles scattered across the grounds.
While residents welcome the temporary closure, they fear the activity is simply moving elsewhere.
“We’ve been bombarding the city with our Find It, Fix It reports, and it is only after months that something will miraculously happen,” one neighbor said.
Several blocks away, neighbors say an encampment across the street from Lowell Elementary School has been growing for weeks. Mary Lamery, who lives nearby, says she’s deeply concerned about students seeing or walking past the site.
“When I see an encampment across the street where fentanyl is being smoked, it concerns me greatly,” Lamery said. “Blocking the sidewalk, there’s several tents up there, garbage, abandoned furniture. Who knows what else is on the ground there.”
Lamery says she’s filed multiple complaints through the city’s Find It, Fix It app but hasn’t received a response. The night before school started, she says she flagged down a Seattle police officer to raise the alarm.
“I said, ‘Officer, there’s a fentanyl encampment across from Lowell Elementary, and tomorrow is the first day of school,’” she said.
She says the officer told her he would check it out.
“He said he would, and he understood the importance of what I was requesting and why he needed to go,” Lamery said. “And then he asked me, he goes, ‘Did Find It, Fix It ever get back to you?’ And I said, ‘No, they didn’t.’ And I could see a shift — he just went like this, and he couldn’t believe an agency responsible for attending to that hadn’t made their way there. He said these encampments are an ongoing problem.”
Neighbors say they want the city to take responsibility and act faster.
“Start dealing with this head-on and realize you have a serious problem, and quit making excuses for it,” Lamery said.
“Help us and help these people — help yourselves. This is insane. It’s insane,” another Capitol Hill resident said.
Seattle Public Schools says the encampment near Lowell Elementary is not on school property. The district says it is working with the city and has rerouted a few bus lines to prioritize student safety.
