Dear Diary,
Hooray! This is the last page about the Wednesday and Saturday hikes. Then my phone will be clear of photos meant for you, and I'll be able to go on more hikes, though they'll be different from the recent ones.
This page is about four places on Banner Way NE and on NE Banner Place. Only one is an official Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation Park. One is a Seattle Department of Transportation wannabe; two are leftover properties the city doesn't care much about.
A map:
Banner Way Triangle
This is a lawn on a triangle near NE 80th St and Banner Way NE. It's rather like Corliss Place tilted:
But unlike Corliss Place, Banner Way Triangle has an amenity:
So why isn't it good enough for the parks department to recognise as a park, if it's better than Corliss Place?
Well, that's the wrong question. Corliss Place is a park because you, Seattle Department of Transportation, managed to hand it off to the parks department before they got picky. But of the properties you still own and think of as parks, only two in North Seattle have been accepted as such by the parks department, and they're both spectacular, Peace Park and the Wallingford Steps. So the question isn't whether Banner Way Triangle is better than Corliss Place, which it clearly is, but whether it's good enough for the parks department to want to brag about. And that, it clearly is not, at present.
Much depends on the site's native qualities. This is never going to be as spectacular visually as the Wallingford Steps, and is unlikely to attract art as has Peace Park. But there are big apartment buildings in the vicinity. Why did I find this triangle deserted on a sunny spring evening?
The first thing you need to do, SDOT, if you want Banner Way Triangle to grow up to be a Real Park, is signage. You need to tell the residents of those apartment buildings that they're welcome there. Don't imitate the parks department's signage, which coasts on the department's brand and is full of NOs. Instead, find a way to tell people what they can't do primarily by telling them what they can do.
And one way to do that is to find some neighbourhood group, or gin one up if there is none, and host their festival. That's right. You want people to actually trample that grass you lovingly tend (or hire the parks department to tend, whichever), one weekend per year, or maybe more. The only way Banner Way Triangle, as currently conceived, is going to become cool enough for the parks department to covet is to become popular, and the most efficient way to make it popular is to put something popular there.
You're welcome.
Snippet at 7609 6th Ave NE
Snippet at 7602 6th Ave NE
This is another triangle resulting from Banner Way, and what a contrast to the SDOT park it is.
This is what Banner Way Triangle would look like if nobody cared about it as long as the neighbours didn't complain.
Six thousand square feet, this is, being wasted. How many homeless people could pitch their tents there, I wonder. It's also conveniently close to a Safeway, whose restrooms have exceptionally long hours; that's where I relieved myself after the arduous hike Wednesday.
Do you hear the warning I'm giving, Seattle Department of Financial and Administrative Services? Do something with this land, or don't complain when someone else does.
Snippet at 640 NE Banner Place
There is a house at 640 NE Banner Place. East of that house is a steep slope, landscaped as best possible, and 214 square feet of that slope, possibly including some of what's in this next photo, is city property. I think.
Rainbow Point
This is a much better park than Corliss Place, as most parks are, thankfully. Rainbow Point is vaguely symmetrical, with two low sides:
surrounding a central hillock:
Although I usually find kids playing on the hillock, the park's purpose in existing is its views, which disturbs its symmetry: the western side includes a viewing area with benches, which the eastern side doesn't. Here are the views I shot Wednesday night:
I went back Saturday because I figured those views would be worse than they actually are. So here are three more, with different light:
And another picture of the hillock, which was kid-free that hour:
On that trip, I also passed a much smaller triangle than the three above, between Roosevelt Way NE and Lake City Way NE at NE 75th St. I have no idea who owns it; it isn't in the city's real property report, but that doesn't prove the city isn't the owner. Anyway, I took a picture of some flowers there:
But now it's a quarter hour into quiet time and I'm still clicking a very loud trackpad button, so I'd better stop. Tomorrow, dear Diary, at least two pages and probably more about why these hikes have to be paused now, and what sorts of pages I'll be writing in you instead.
