My neighborhood park is Sandel Park. Sandel Park is a beautiful, full city block of green space that for some reason receives little funding as far as I can tell. I've done the Seattle City Park circuit, and other than the parks down south of the city, which I willingly admit I'm less familiar with, this park has got to be the saddest park inside the city limits.
For those of you unfamiliar with Sandel, it is located in the Greenwood neighborhood, at approximately 90th and 2nd NW. Most of the park is just sprawling green space, frequently occupied by youth soccer or adult volleyball groups, depending on the season. In addition, it boasts a few basketball courts, a rarely used wading pool (I think I've seen water in it three times--and all three times were during the summer of 2006), 6 swings and a "play area." It is the "play area" that offends me most. I pay as much in city taxes as my Queen Anne or Laurelhurst counterparts, yet this "play" equipment is not just outdated, it is dangerous. (Here she goes...) It is a roughly slapped together piece with 1 slide, some metal bars for flipping around on, and some boards. When I reported to the City that one of the boards came loose last summer, I showed up a few weeks later to find a sheet of 1/2" plywood slapped on the top. I kid you not. Oh yeah, that makes the structure safer.
So why hasn't this play equipment been replaced with something more appealing??? At one point I was so perturbed that I got involved--as if I didn't have enough to do. The amount of neighborhood fundraising and support that the City expected us to muster up to prove that we were worthy of new (safe) play equipment was, in my opinion, ridiculous. But they weren't just interested in replacing the play equipment that would be used by many a sibling or offspring that was awaiting a family member at an adjacent sports event, they have plans for a full park overhaul. I guess it's all or nothing in Greenwood. No right-minded resident would take on the task of motivating so many masses to get involved. As far as Seattle goes, we're working class, so who has the time? I'm willing to bet that the City charges groups who practice soccer and volleyball on yonder green, so this is probably one of the few parks that takes in money. I'd just like to see some of it returned.
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Though I must admit that I have never been to Sandel Park, I know there is a worse park in this city. It goes by the name "Lake City Memorial Triangle." (http://www.seattle.gov/parks/park_detail.asp?ID=333) Yup. Even the Seattle Parks Department fails to use the word "park" in the name.
This bit of land sits on the corner of 31st Ave. NE and Lake City Way. It is nothing but concrete, and it has an arch, I think. It's open from 4:00 a.m. - 11:30 p.m., but what, I ask, is it open for? I think it has a bench, upon which a weary bus rider may sit, but that is it. Oh, and I think I remember a water fountain. I really don't know. I've never bothered to stop at this bit of traingular-shaped concrete in lovely Lake City.
Oh, and let's not forget the information the city lists about the park:
Acerage: 0.01
Descriptive.
A one-word question comes to mind: Why?
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