More details of yesterday's hike

Dear Diary,

Now that I can write in you from my laptop again, it turns out I already told you everything that mattered from Saturday's hike in "NE" and elsewhere.

My plan for yesterday's hike was actually more ambitious than just for "NW", but, well, I haven't hiked for you in summer before, dear Diary, and as I should've remembered from long summer hikes in years past, I don't move as fast when it's hot out.

Anyway, there are some things worth mentioning from the parks of southern "NW".

I'm sure you remember, dear Diary, but perhaps people who read you need to know that all the photos of running (or not) water fountains and open (or closed) restroom doors are in a public Google Drive folder.  All these photos are dated partly by including the relevant day's newspaper, and photos of those newspapers' front pages, for comparison, are in a sub-folder titled, um, "Front pages".

Golden Gardens Park

The park's hours are being cut, lumped in with Alki as a violent beach (apparently for good reason).  Before the pandemic, the park was open the usual schedule, 4 A.M. to 11:30 P.M.  During the lockdowns, it was one of the parks whose closing time changed every few months.  And now that that's apparently over, it isn't going back to normal, but to the less common standard schedule, 6 A.M. to 10 P.M.:

In more pleasant news, the external water supply that enables showering has definitely been turned on.  I saw the lower spigot used, and the amount of wet pavement, plus an actual puddle (not shown in this photo), near the spigots makes it plain:

The only water fountain I found that I couldn't elicit water from yesterday was here.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't running, and it had a hole in it that suggests it was disabled, but based on a previous photo, it has an unusual control:

Yesterday I didn't notice that control:

Okay, looks like I didn't ignore that dial, but rather it was actually missing.  The thing intruding into the lower photo's bottom is one of the earpieces on my glasses.

Loyal Heights Community Center and Playfield

At the Community Center, child care is still the main thing going on.  As a result, during summer at least, the entire upper half of the Playfield, which was a construction site when I last visited, has replaced construction's metal fences with orange plastic fences.  Nobody showed hostility to my photographing the water fountain.  But remember, children are still ineligible to get vaccinated, so for them, the pandemic is still in full swing.  I saw a sign urging that park visitors mask up and keep distant, and couldn't justify photographing it as an oddity.  Anyone who visits upper Loyal Heights Playfield anytime soon should mask up and keep distant.

On the other hand, this sign still stuck to the fence of the playfield proper, lower down, is surely past its time:

Is anyone really going to try to close a park in Seattle this summer because it's busy?

The water fountain attached to the Community Center, but in the lower half of the Playfield, is running, but its drain seems to be clogged.  The bowl was full the entire time I was there:

Webster Park

The water fountain which only supplied a trickle of water all last year is now actually running properly:

Seattle Public Library, Ballard branch

This time, the door to the restrooms appeared to be locked, as on a previous visit, but the security guy was right next to the door, ready to let people in.  On the other hand, that won't last much longer:

Now, naively, this looks like bad news.  But the restrooms at Ballard Community Center are open, if not too reliably on Sundays.  Or if one specifically wants library restrooms, the Green Lake branch is open Mondays, and the Northeast and University branches are open Sundays.  And,y'know, the libraries have been expanding their hours every couple of weeks; it's possible, if somewhat unlikely, that by July 21st, the Ballard branch will actually be open seven days per week.

Or, of course, people could just discipline themselves not to need restrooms on Sundays and Mondays.  Isn't self-discipline what homeless people need most anyway?

Speaking of downtown Ballard and homeless self-discipline, during my visit to Ballard Commons yesterday, I didn't hear any yelling or arguments.  How unusual.

The Burke-Gilman Trail

In Seattle Public Utilities's pseudo-map of street water fountains, one is listed with an address of "6049 Seaview Ave."  Now, assuming this to mean Seaview Ave NW, it turns out 6049 is a real address, quite a few yards north of the NW 60th St Viewpoint:

It's private property.  I didn't see any water fountains, street-style or no, in any of the areas more or less publicly accessible, nor on the verge.  There is a street fountain on Seaview, but it's half a mile south, near the NW 57th St Street End, and also on the Burke-Gilman Trail, which in the relevant block is the sidewalk on the south side of Seaview.

Mind, SPU has done something rather impressive here.  That fountain had been knocked over and eviscerated by metal thieves.  It takes some guts to put another in the exact same place.  But I don't understand why they're advertising the wrong location for it.  Metal thieves are very unlikely to consult SPU press releases to find targets.

 

Anyway, the new fountain's water is good.

OK, that seems to be it for yesterday's hike.  Something different soon, dear Diary.  Until then, happy days and good nights.

Today's hike: Most fountains running in southern NW

Dear Diary,

I'm writing this page on my phone using the app, which means I can't do much with it, so will keep this brief.

Today I went to Golden Gardens Park, Loyal Heights Community Center and Playfield, Salmon Bay Park, Webster Park, Ballard Playground, Ballard Commons, the parts of the Burke-Gilman Trail that include both the actual and the published locations of its western water fountain, NW 60th St Viewpoint (which is near the published location), Gilman Playground, Ross Park, and Sunset Place.  So I went to every park water fountain known to me in "NW" south of 85th (but not to the imaginary one at Baker Park on Crown Hill), every park restroom ditto, and here's what I found:

All fountains were running except the southern one at Golden Gardens Park.  I drank from those at Ballard Playground and on the Burke-Gilman Trail, and found their water OK.

All restrooms were open except Gilman Playground's (still posted), and Ross Park's, but that was at 8:40 P.M.  Even if park restrooms are keeping their advertised hours for summer - 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. - that's within a reasonable amount of leeway.

I'm beginning to hope that year two of the Durkan Drought is finally over, at least in North Seattle.

All for tonight, dear Diary.  Tomorrow I'd hoped to hike again, but I hurt too much, so should have plenty of time to tell you whatever else needs telling about the two latest hikes.

Today's Hike: Many water fountains turned on in areas around the University

Dear Diary,

I have very little time left to tell you much about today's hike, so will summarise.

I went to Christie Park, University Playground, Cowen Park, Ravenna Park, the Burke-Gilman Trail (specifically, its eastern water fountain), Burke-Gilman Playground Park, and Laurelhurst Playfield and Community Center.  Also University Heights Plaza, which still has "sanican"s and an SPU sink, and Ravenna Boulevard, which still has no plumbing.

Restrooms - All open except, still, Cowen Park and University Playground.

Water fountains - All running except, still, Christie Park.  The double water fountain in the northeast of Laurelhurst Playfield is probably un-useable, however:  the lower bowl gives so little water I doubt it can be drunk, let alone fill a bottle, while the upper one overshoots its bowl so spectacularly, the same doubts hold.  The single water fountain in the same playfield's southwest was much cooler than the last time I tried it, last year, so evidently is just affected by the temperature in general, rather than specifically heated.

I found that I do still, after months of filtered tap water, like the water from Burke-Gilman Playground Park's water fountain.

I then went to another suburban library for another Korean drama (which I'd actually hoped to get from the first one last week), and found the water fountains still shut off, but the men's room was fine.

On returning downtown I looked for three of the street fountains listed on the pseudo-map that I hadn't known about.

The one at 298 James St, actually a little north of James on the west side of 3rd Ave, is running despite both kinds of damage I'd found in other running fountains:  its control-and-spout mechanism is wobbly, as at 5th & Olive Way, and its push button is uncapped, as at 1st & Pike.

I couldn't find one within a block of 200 Columbia St.

I did find one at 898 3rd Ave, that is, on the east side of 3rd Ave just south of Marion, but from the ingrained dirt in the bowl, I doubt it's run any time this past year, and it certainly wasn't running tonight.

The fountains at 2nd & Madison and at 3rd & Union were running, but I found I liked the taste of neither.

So things are looking up in North Seattle, but Seattle Public Utilities lied at least a little.  I'll take what I can get.  Good night, dear Diary.

Foolish Mortal Tackles Street Fountains Again

Dear Diary,

This morning I was dawdling over whether to go hiking or stay home - it's supposed to get too hot to work in my storage unit.  So while dawdling, I decided to find out whether the Stranger had published anything interesting recently.  Well, they have, a bunch, but in particular they published what amounts to a campaign speech by mayoral candidate Andrew Grant Houston.  Only since it was a Web page instead of a speech, it contained a link, and this is why I'm a foolish mortal:

Turns out Seattle Public Utilities all the way back on June 25th took credit for the street fountains, and published a sort of map of them.

This SPU map and the fountains I know about differ greatly.  It includes, in areas north of, say, Dearborn St, nine fountains I didn't know about, and omits nine I did know about, so only six fountains are both mapped by SPU and known to me.  In my maps that follow, those six are in blue; the ones I knew about that aren't mapped by SPU are in green; and the SPU-mapped ones I didn't know about are in purple.  (The red dots in my second map are something in Open Street Map, my source, not fountains.)

In particular, the SPU map omits two fountains known to me in North Seattle.  So while it doesn't map any North Seattle fountains that weren't known to me, that doesn't prove much.  In particular, I do remember a fountain in downtown Ballard somewhere, and one somewhere in the U District, which I still haven't found; but for all I know they no longer exist at all.

Several of the nine omitted by the SPU map are in or near parks:  the eastern Burke-Gilman Trail fountain; the fountain adjacent to Westlake Park; the southern Occidental Park fountain; both fountains in Pioneer Square.  However, several more aren't:  the fountain at 2nd & Madison; the one at Broadway & Olive Way; the one at 14th & Madison; the one at Wallingford & 45th.  So the omissions aren't wholly explained by jurisdiction.  Anyway, the SPU map includes the western BGT fountain and the northern Occidental Park one, which are at least as park-located as those it leaves out.

I'm not convinced all the nine on the SPU map that I didn't know about are actually at the addresses SPU lists.  In one or two cases, it's possible that an SPU-mapped fountain is actually a fountain known to me with a weirdly discrepant address, but not in the majority of cases.

Well, this needs more investigation, but after all this work, however foolish I may be, I feel no qualms about staying home the rest of the day.  Until I go hiking again, dear Diary, happy days and sweet dreams.

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.

 

The Grass Isn't Always Greener: Introduction

Dear Diary,

Yesterday I went on a long trip that included visits to two libraries in two counties.  I didn't bring water along on this trip, but did bring my bottles, so I could fill them along the way.

In Seattle's Central Library, I filled one without even thinking about it, and certainly without taking a photo.

But in a suburban library outside King County, that I was told had just re-opened last week, I was shocked to find this, and certainly did take a photo:

After seeing that, and other things nearby, I went on a long, and increasingly parched, hike with very dispiriting results.

People complain that the homeless flock to Seattle because it's "Free-attle", full of things homeless people can get for free here.  It hadn't occurred to me before that one of the things these complainers object to Seattle providing is free water.  But based on my hike yesterday and my pounding on the relevant park district's website already this morning, I fear it is.  Indeed, I wonder whether twenty years from now Seattle will be thought irresponsibly easy on the homeless because it won't have started charging them for the air they breathe.

I can't call the relevant agencies during the holiday weekend - in particular, the parks I visited yesterday (but not that library) could have lead as a better explanation for their paucity of fountains - and I can't really hike today, as I'd planned, because I still hurt from yesterday's unplanned hike.  I don't intend to let up on Seattle, and will still be doing water fountain hikes in North Seattle soon.  But as I get chances to go elsewhere, I'll take them, and as I learn more, I'll report it.  Because Seattle should also get what credit is due, and places that claim to be cities but are barbarously lacking in the basics of life, in things the Romans had already mastered two millennia ago, should get what shame is due.

Results of a relatively short hike, in Seattle but not North Seattle, tomorrow, I hope.  Until then, dear Diary.

 

New water fountain hikes coming

Dear Diary,

My life has gotten much more complicated, as housed lives tend to, but I happened to pass the street water fountain at 45th and Wallingford today, and it still isn't back on.

So I'll be hiking soon to see how many of the water fountains the city turned off in order to force homeless people to buy water or die of thirst were turned back on before, or shortly after, the hottest weather in Seattle history.

Until then, dear Diary.  I'd been hoping I could complete you this summer, but it's looking increasingly probable that I'll have to keep you going until the current city administration is over.  Always assuming, that is, that the next one isn't also headed by someone who personally wants all the homeless people in the city to suffer, leave town, or die.