Credit Where It's Due: Downtown Street Fountains

Dear Diary,

Two days ago, both before and after my trip out of Seattle, I checked some of the downtown street drinking water fountains (as opposed to uptown park bathing oil fountains, I suppose), and found to my surprise that each one I tried was working.  So today I checked all those known to me, plus three outside downtown.

Executive summary:  The only one I found not running was the only one I checked in North Seattle.  All those in and near downtown were running.

I've been trying to update the libraries spreadsheet, the one I've put into a public Google Drive folder.  So I was able relatively quickly to figure out that on Mondays, at the moment, only three Seattle Public Library branches are open, and the only one sort of near downtown is the International District / Chinatown branch.  And I needed to know whether those three were really open today, or closed in observance of July 4.  So I took the light rail to the ID stop and went east along the south side of S Jackson St to 8th, then south, and sure enough, it was open.  I didn't even look at its plumbing - sorry, dear Diary! - but checked something out (well, another Korean TV drama, if you really want to know), and left.

Heading back downtown I walked on the north side of S Jackson St, and the reason, of course, was to look for street fountains along the way.  I didn't find any, and am somewhat confident that was because there weren't any to find.  That doesn't mean there aren't any on any of the nearby parallel or intersecting streets, though.

Before I go on to the ones I did find today, perhaps I should illustrate what I'm talking about.  I have incredible powers of observation - incredibly slow ones, that is - so I finally noticed today, after more than a year of writing about them, that these street fountains are not actually all the same model, though recognisably all akin.  There are at least three progressively more complex versions:

Basic, with a squarish pedestal; this example is on the east side of 3rd Ave, just south of Union St.

Intermediate, with a step for children; this example is at the intersection of 5th Ave and Olive Way, the southeastern corner.

And advanced, with a shallower, higher step and a receptacle in the back.  This one is on the north side of N 45th St, just east of Wallingford Ave N; there, the receptacle is used as an ashtray, but I don't know whether that was the original idea.  (It's certainly possible; these fountains are obviously old enough to date to when smoking was much more prevalent and accepted.)

Also, the front page of today's Seattle Times:

I didn't remember the paper, though, for today's first picture, of one of those SPU sinks, just off the south side of Jackson:

Occidental Park

I mentioned in some early page or other in you, dear Diary, one water fountain in each of Occidental Park and Pioneer Square, one running, the other dry.  Today I found a total of four in those two parks, all running.

In Occidental Park, which runs alongside Occidental Ave S for a block, one is at the south end:

In general, to indicate locations I preferred street signs as above, but at the north end of Occidental Park the only nearby street signs are occluded by a tree from near the fountain, so I used a couple of sculptures instead:

Pioneer Square

Pioneer Square is actually a triangle, like Wedgwood Square, and there are fountains at both southern corners, but not at the northern corner, at least as best I could see.

Southeast (towards 2nd Ave and Yesler Way):

 

Darn, looks like my location shot there didn't take.  Oh, well.

Southwest, near the intersection of Yesler Way, 1st Ave, and James St:

This was the first of several location shots delayed considerably by tourists.  A nuisance for me but a good thing for Seattle.  Note, dear Diary, that some tourists come from countries much less vaccinated than the US, so we'll have to be considerate of their concerns regarding masks and social distancing.

2nd and Madison

This is a fountain, on the east side of 2nd Ave a little north of the intersection with Madison St, which I only found by passing it on a bus a couple of days ago.  Today a man with two bulging satchels was standing near it.  I figured maybe he was in shock that it was running, and standing guard against anyone who came to shut it off again.  I walked half a block away and read my book for ten minutes, but then, tired of waiting, said "Excuse me" to him.  Thankfully, he took it OK and simply backed away so I could take these photos:

1st and Pike

About a year ago, on first finding this fountain and finding it shut off, I noted that having such a thing at one of Seattle's front doors sent a message of incompetence, and if our mayor was really shutting off the water fountains as part of a fight against water addiction, she should say so.

Well, she never has, but at least this particular message of incompetence is no longer being sent.  The fountain on the east side of 1st Ave just north of Pike St is now running, even though the cap on the button one pushes to draw water is missing.

It took forever to take my photos, not only because tourists were always waiting at one or another of the crosswalks, but also because a drummer was busking between the crosswalks.  I remember verifying that the photos had come out OK.  So it's extremely annoying that none of them is now in my phone to show you, dear Diary.  I have to go downtown again soon, so will re-try then.

3rd and Union

A story I never got around to writing for Seattle Weekly would've been about living without an address.  I don't mean, by this, simply being homeless, but rather the specific effects of not having the string of letters and numbers that identify a person with a place.  Getting regular mail is actually one of the easier aspects of such a life.  In old Westerns, people called for their mail at the Post Office, and that's how homeless people are still expected to, General Delivery.  It's the US equivalent of Poste Restante, for those who prefer European novels to Westerns.  Anyway, this fountain is right in front of Seattle's relevant P.O., so is almost as familiar to me as the one on Capitol Hill.  To be more precise, it's on the east side of 3rd Ave, just south of Union St.  And today it was running:

It was also running Saturday, when I took a shot that emphasises Benaroya Hall across the street:

One water fountain for people using the downtown post office and people attending the symphony.  Why it's ever allowed to stop running is beyond me.

4th Ave

This is the only fountain in today's survey that isn't near an intersection.  It's about halfway between Pike St and Pine St on the east side of 4th Ave.  This means it's adjacent to Westlake Park, but unlike the street-style fountains in pairs within Occidental Park, Pioneer Square and the Burke-Gilman Trail, as far as I know this is the only one near Westlake Park.  It was running Saturday mid-day.  It was running Saturday night, when a guy I think is homeless was so shocked by this fact that he kept pushing the button for a minute, just watching the water flow, taking a few sips, and going back to pushing the button, except when other people indicated wanting the fountain.  And it was running today:

An impending problem

One thing I've noticed about Seattle is that nobody here takes responsibility for taking their posters down.  Candidates and yard sales are routinely advertised for months after their due dates.  Pets are forever lost.  And so forth.

I thought this was just laziness, but something I saw in Westlake Park led me to wonder.

To put it mildly, this sign does not appear to be up to date as regards what behaviour Seattle parks actually need today.  Indeed, I'm pretty sure several of the ways it's out of date work against the interests of the sign's apparent sponsor, the Downtown Seattle Association.

So is there actually some natural or political law that requires outdated signs to stay up in Seattle, and it isn't laziness at all?  Are we going to be living with COVID-19-era signs for a generation to come?  If so, will children grow up with extreme tolerance for cognitive dissonance, or just conclude that nothing reliable can be communicated by means of signs at all?

5th and Olive

I've previously identified this fountain as being at 5th and Westlake.  Those streets do meet at the relevant intersection, but the particular corner the fountain is on is where the east side of 5th Ave meets the south side of Olive Way.

This fountain used to be painted red, as I showed you, dear Diary, in your first page about these fountains in general.  I interpreted that as a nod to the preferred colour of Bartell Drugs, the nearest business.  The fountain is now, however, as green as most of them are.  Is this because Bartell has been sold, and we don't know what colour the new owner might want, or for some inscrutable reason beyond guessing?  Still further on, evidence for the latter possibility.

At present, the control wobbles.  The fountain works fine.  When I was unable to do so at the Westlake Park fountain, I ended up washing my bottles, and filling two of them, at this one Saturday night.  But I hope it gets repaired before the next heat wave.

Spending Money

By this point I was pretty happy.  I'd visited nine water fountains, and every one was running, even two with visible damage.  I'd also pulled it all off in about two hours, so I was way ahead of schedule.

So I allowed myself to visit a few places that remain from when I lived on Capitol Hill.  First Goodwill, then Twice Sold Tales.  They didn't have any of the books after which I'd lusted for years while homeless still there, but did have the final book of a tetralogy I'd been accumulating, as well as the second book, which I'd owned but lost; so now I think I have the whole thing, and just need to gather them all to read it.  I haven't yet earned any money since becoming housed, and can't keep doing this forever, but decided voting with my money might help persuade the mayor to continue to defer the fight against water addiction.  So there went $20.

Then I went to Dick's.  There was a long line, so even outside I masked up.  There were three visible guys along the streetside.  The one in the middle was playing a guitar and singing, and I was determined not to give him money, getting worried, but then started noticing his lyrics, which included several well-turned phrases and an impressive ability to apply more chemistry than I've ever known to lyricising topics such as explosives, drinking, and nukes.  A guy to his left seemed to be supporting him somehow.  A guy to his right was holding up a sign that caught my eye because it used the word "Inside".  Turned out to say "Need Dick's Inside Me".  I decided to call his bluff, and what with Dick's new prices, there went another $20.  He was suitably grateful, but when done eating (and sharing with a dog I hadn't noticed), he continued holding up the same sign.  He told me doing so enabled him to contribute $300 per month in return for sleeping on a friend's sofa.  I urged him to investigate food stamps.

The busker, meanwhile, was astonished when I asked if he had any CDs to sell.  Said his music was online, and he hadn't bothered to record a CD in ten years.  I didn't have the presence of mind (or social grace) to ask his name, and although I went back specifically looking for him an hour later, he was gone, the apparent supporter performing in his place.  Another thing to do on another trip, but at least his determination not to be retro spared me a third $20 I couldn't afford.

So do you hear me, powers of Seattle?  The most efficient way to part someone who could still become homeless again in a few months from his remaining money is to do your jobs right and make this a pleasant place again, a place where at least water, if not milk and honey, actually flows.  Just try it, won't you?

Broadway and Oliveway

All right, all right, dear Diary, I'm sure you talk with Open Street Map, so this fountain is actually on the west side of Broadway E just north of E Olive Way.

I've already shown you a photo of it running this year, but here are a location shot and a shot of it running with today's newspaper in:

14th and Madison

The last fountain on my itinerary is one I've often found damaged, probably by young men who attend nearby Seattle University and who also attend nearby bars, after the latter.  This time, however, I found what appeared to be a metal thief's tool, presumably abandoned while escaping attention from law enforcement or some such, but there ready for that person or someone else to try again.  I wasn't able to figure out how to remove the device, so it's in these photos, and I took a third photo specifically of it:

I can't think of an obvious reason for this fountain to be painted yellow, so that's the evidence that the red paint on the one in front of a Bartell Drugs was something inscrutable and not just a concession to the host.

The device in the foreground of the third photo is actually one of the earpieces of the glasses I currently wear, which I usually take off when taking photos.  Sorry.

Back to Reality

I wanted on my return trip to pass the building I used to live in, and find out what was happening there.  At 4:22 P.M., not much:

That's forty relatively affordable housing units standing vacant.

The next stop on my route was a potential employer, who didn't have up the sign, more or less equivalent to "Help Wanted", that I'd expected.

Nevertheless I was so up from the trip as a whole that I decided to change my route home so as to check the fountain that was shut off in March.  Surely by this time it'd be running again too?

No.  This fountain on the north side of N 45th St, east a ways from Wallingford Ave N northbound and west a little bit from Wallingford Ave N southbound, remains shut off:

So when, later this week, I start hiking North Seattle again, checking park water fountains and looking for more street ones, I have no idea what to expect.

Until then, dear Diary, happy days and good nights.