Dear Diary,
As mentioned in some earlier pages, and in a bit more detail in "Two Last Strays" yesterday, on October 16 I returned to Ballard. My first trip to the parks of Ballard, in June, was reported in the pages "History and Parks, part I" and "part II" on June 25, pages that to this day hardly anyone has read, apparently inferring from the title that each page ends with a test. Actually those pages are about the strong impression some of Ballard's parks gave me, that they were about history, indeed that Ballard is obsessed with certain parts of its history. In part II I got to parks that at least concerned other parts of Ballard history.
This page also deals with the water fountains of areas sometimes seen as parts of Ballard, but which I think of as north of it, to wit the water fountains first mentioned in "A Lazy Day on Loyal Heights" June 28, and "What Can a Hill Do with a Crown?", July 1.
It was on this June trip that I finally allowed myself to take landscape and other such photos, so I took relatively few this time. Therefore this page also has room to report on water fountains in Golden Gardens Park and on the Burke-Gilman Trail, which I first told you about, dear Diary, in "The Ballard Seacoast: Parks Not Parks', part I" and "part II", June 30 and July 1, even though I didn't reach these until October 17 this time.
Enough introduction; let's get started.
In Gas Works Park the water fountain still wasn't running, as I already reported October 8 in "South of North Once More, Part I".
Ross Park
On June 22, as reported in "History and Parks" I, I found the restroom open and the water fountain not running. On October 16, this was flipped. As at Bitter Lake Playfield ("Top of the City, part III" November 12 and "Hygiene Is a Luxury I Can't Afford" November 18), the restroom was locked but the water fountain (free-standing, near the restrooms) was ON.
I was particularly annoyed by this situation because I'd wanted to take a picture of a mosaic between the restrooms. I did anyway.
So you can see why I was annoyed.
I asked Rachel Schulkin, communications manager for the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, about the locking, and she said the unlocker goofed. Well, he must have, but we'll get to that.
Ross Park's restrooms are not year-round, so I won't be able to take that picture until next spring.
Sunset Place
This is a small park on one slope of a hill, where I managed to miss a water fountain on my first visit, so had to go back for it. The advantage of nobody having read "History and Parks" I right away is that any future hypothetical readers will get the revised version.
The drama continued this time. As I prepared to climb up to the bottom of the park, I had to adjust my mask. Now, I told you, dear Diary, about my masks from Target that did such a good job of covering my eyes, in "Six Parks in Search of Another" November 30. As I said there, on the long hike October 8 to 14, I wore a different sort of mask. But for this shorter hike I reverted to a Target one; those were, after all, the majority of my masks.
Well, two blocks from the top of Sunset Place, I stopped to adjust that mask, when at last it achieved the goal it and its five siblings had sought since June: by snapping away from my hand, it managed to flip my glasses off my ears and nose, I didn't manage to catch them, and, well, I haven't been able to wear my glasses much since.
So now I have fifteen masks. Six from Target, waiting in my storage until I figure out what to do with them, and nine from Naturepedic. All of those are gifts. I tried to buy a pack, but they only ship Fed Ex, which my address can't accept. So I called them, and they decided the best solution was to send me a free pack. Anyway, those have never fought my glasses as assiduously as the Target ones did, but I'm still not planning to get new glasses until mask time is over, at least if it does end.
ANYWAY. At Sunset Place, the water fountain was ON, as it had been in June. I decided it was time, at a park so obviously created for its view, to photograph that view:
Gilman Playfield
The official names of the parks named for Ross and Gilman, per the parks department website, are both "Playground". My theory is that they aren't allowed to outshine Ballard Playground. In my opinion Ross is obviously a Park, Gilman a Playfield, and I'll go by that until and unless someone gives me a good reason not to.
Anyway, as I reported euphorically in "History and Parks" I, Gilman's free-standing water fountain near its restrooms was ON. It still was in October. On the other hand, those restrooms were open in June, but not in October. I asked Rachel Schulkin about this too, but she never got back to me.
Now, the obvious assumption is that the same unlocker screwed up twice, but it isn't that simple. You see, in June I observed a bunch of homeless people's tents at Gilman Playfield. I considered their occupants well-behaved. Those tents were gone this time. Some trash, however, remained:
So, dear Diary, doesn't this remind you of Licton Springs Park? ("Bad Apples in the Bonny Green Wood", October 29.) A park whose campers were induced to leave by the locking of the restrooms? Except that those campers were abominable neighbours, while, from my admittedly brief observation, it looked like Gilman's were good neighbours. It sends a very bad message to us unsheltered homeless if our behaviour has no effect on the treatment we get.
So I hope it was just an unlocker's screwup, but I don't know whether we'll ever know. Of course, those doors would be locked now anyway, since Gilman Playfield's restrooms are not year-round.
Ballard Commons
Of course people were still camped here. I still couldn't find the restrooms, the only ones in Ballard proper listed on the 2019 list of year-round restrooms. Rachel Schulkin finally ended my suspense; it turns out the parks department sees fit to claim the "Portland Loo" as a restroom.
Triple free-standing water fountain ON both in June and in October.
As a precaution, I went to the Ballard branch library to use its restroom before proceeding, but I needn't have.
Ballard Playground and Community Center
The single-user restrooms at the Community Center both have dryers, and that afternoon both still had toilet cleaner in their bowls. The only explanation I can think of for why these restrooms, built into a heated building, are not open year-round is that neighbours are afraid we homeless will use them, when the other park restrooms are closed. Well, October 16 was a kind of experiment in that regard, and on its showing such fears would be overblown. Dear Diary, if anyone in Ballard reads this page, I hope they'll be kind enough to check whether those restrooms are really locked, and report back in a comment.
The free-standing water fountain nearby but technically in the Playground had not been running in June, but was ON in October.
Webster Park
Free-standing water fountain mid-park: TRICKLE, as in June.
Salmon Bay Park
The restrooms were open. The men's room has a dryer but no stall door. These are not year-round restrooms.
Attached water fountain, men's side: ON (it had been off in June).
Loyal Heights Community Center and Playfield
The restrooms were open. Weirdly, these have stall doors but no dryer. They're also the first year-round restrooms mentioned in this page, unless there really is a mistake about the Ballard Community Center ones. The attached water fountain, off in June, was ON in October.
Free-standing water fountain in the Playfield's southwest, near the baseball diamond: ON (previously off)
Free-standing water fountain upstairs: ON BUT VISIBLY DAMAGED (previously off)
Baker Park on Crown Hill
The parks department website offers a set of symbols under the heading 'Amenities' on most parks' individual pages. A symbol I've interpreted as meaning "water fountain" has indeed pointed to a water fountain very reliably - this is how, for example, I found out about the one at Sunset Place.
But that symbol is on the page for this park to this day, and I still couldn't find the water fountain. Nobody I asked at the park knew anything about one, but they all said they hadn't been visiting it long. The page talks about an expansion opened in 2020; maybe a water fountain was removed due to that, or as at View Ridge Playfield for fear of COVID-19. Or maybe the page is wrong, or I've misunderstood the symbol. I asked Rachel Schulkin, but she never got back to me.
Crown Hill Park
Free-standing double water fountain ON, both bowls' flow low but probably useable
You'll remember, dear Diary, that one of the first parks I visited at the beginning of my October hikes showed the official re-opening of the playgrounds. But the one adjoining this park, not parks department property, was still locked in the evening of October 16.
Soundview Playfield
The restrooms were closed, but it was 7:20 P.M. and I didn't expect any different.
Free-standing water fountain near the water play area: OFF, as in June
Water play areas didn't open this year. It seems likely that this water fountain is on the same pipe as the water play area, and there may not be separate shutoffs. Rachel Schulkin has told me that all the working water fountains were turned on this year, but I'd find it quite plausible if this one were an exception.
Golden Gardens Park
That night, rain was expected, and so tempting though the benches at Soundview were, I knew I had to reach a shelter. You already know, dear Diary, from "Standing Room Only" V, that the shelters at this park are very, well, un-sheltering, but I didn't know that as I careened fearfully down Golden Gardens Drive, where no sign survived of its time as a "Stay Healthy" street. It was full dark, so I didn't turn aside to look for water fountains near the upper restrooms, which I hadn't found in June.
There was a ton of traffic at the bottom. Most seemed to be for the 24-hour Eddie Vine Boat Ramp, but there were more than a handful in the park as I clambered along looking for the shelters.
Rain had already begun too, occasioning the remarks I used as an epigraph for "Standing Room Only" I from a loud young woman in a party of young people who eventually coalesced at the south end of the beach around a fire. As I understand it, the city plans to evict all the homeless from Cal Anderson Park because, among other things, of two illegal fires. Will the city eject half the young people from Golden Gardens because of one?
Anyway, I spent a miserable night in that shelter, and in the morning apparently I was careless. I had reported, in "The Ballard Seacoast" II, a water fountain near the restrooms and another at the south end of the beach, both off. This time I only noted
Double free-standing water fountain near the restrooms: ON, both bowls a bit low flow
The restrooms were opened between 7:49 and 8:30 A.M.
The Burke-Gilman Trail
In my October hikes, I walked all but about two miles of the trail, but largely without my glasses. I think it's unlikely, but not quite impossible, that there's another water fountain on the trail besides the one on 30th Ave NE and this one at 37th Ave NW.
Well, that's a sad photo, but "NW" actually did considerably better, this year, water fountain-wise, than "N".
Tomorrow, starting the street ends. None have restrooms or water fountains, and none of those we can visit have lockable doors, so the photos, much more numerous, may also be more interesting. Good night, dear Diary.
No comments:
Post a Comment