I like these ideas.

I wish the gazebo wasn't locked up.

I've seen a number of parks around with gazebos and Olympia seems to be the only city that thinks it should be locked up.  I don't understand this at all.  It would make more sense to leave it open and increase the utility of the park.  Frankly it sends the wrong message.  A park should be inviting, not restricting.

Well, according to Larry Kessel (I hope I got his name right!) the reason is that the graffiti was too bad, and they locked it to prevent people from tagging the uprights. Of course, that does not explain why they originally fenced it up on the platform outside perimeter, and then moved the fence down to the ground - just outside the dripline of the roof. Before, the kids who hung out in the park in those days would sit outside the fence on the platform, and be dry under the eaves. Yet they were not tresspassing. I even used it for a Soapbox in the 2004 October 22nd night out against police brutality. I was told to get down by - you guessed it - Sgt Mike Dahl of the WSP. A month later give or take, the fence moved out beyond the drip line. The IT center downtown became the hangout spot and Sylvester dried up like a desert. Then trees began to die. You do the math.

Of course, if we had to paint the gazebo's uprights every month to discourage tagging there, that would still be cheaper than building the fence was. So the official cover is - for me - simply that. The real reason is the kids - the downtowners. They wanted them gone. They wanted them out of Sylvester Park.

Seems to me that kids (of all ages) and parks go together.  I have had constant contact with Sylvester park for several years (having lived in the exact vacinity of the park)  and never had any inkling that kids in the park were a problem.  Kids in a park are what parks are about.  For sure, there might be occasional graffiti, but I suspect that if the park is made more inviting that the problem will become a thing of the past as the park would be a self policing community.  The fence around the gazebo is a joke.  It really can't keep anyone out of it, its only purpose is to create a charge of trespassing.  Trespassing in a park, now that is an oxymoron.  I, for one, am tired of young people becoming the scapegoat of downtown.  Seems to me that people are too busy trying to find solutions to things that are not problems.  What people should be doing is identifying and implementing those things that will make things better for EVERY?ONE.

One thing we should keep in mind is that Sylvester Park is state-owned, not city owned. It would be easier to get tables out at Sylvester if it was city owned, so maybe we should be asking about Heritage Park. Crap, no that is state owned as well. What park in central Olympia isn't owned by the state?

I happen to know a legislator on the capitol grounds committee.  He'd probably be a good person to approach about this.  I can count on my fellow OlyBloggers to jog my memory.  Doh!!!

Well, there is the canoe paddle park by the Bridge, which is city owned. It's not very large, but a few chess tables would be appropriate there.

Then there is the Intercity Transit Center downtown, which is a kind of park... TJ sits on that board as well, and they might be responsive to making it more elderfriendly to discourage the 'scene' there.

There is a lot of Port property which sits idle and could be made parklike...

I guess locking the gazebo was the only way they could justify kicking people out of it into the rain. Let's not forget that the park was the last Transit Center.
Crenshaw, it is so refreshing to hear someone say that we should welcome kids in downtown. Kids are not a problem. We should welcome their energy and flirtatiousness and mischief. We should appreciate their adolescent power and magic. We should think about protecting them from pain and bad luck and abuse, not treat them like they are a threat to the beauty of our town.
Oh yeah--Anyone can use the gazebo with a permit. Its free. You just call the state and tell them what you plan to do in the gazebo. They never say no. My friend used to get a permit every week for a different purpose. Examples are: 2 people need a permit to kiss in the gazebo, 18 people need a permit to play four square in the gazebo, 4 people need a permit to eat lunch in the gazebo, etc., etc. As far as I know, they never refused her a permit. Every week they obligingly showed up and unlocked the gate for her.

Features are put into parks to attract users.  Clearly the gazebo was attracting users, so what do they do?  Lock it up, of course.  The best features in any public space are those with unintended uses.  Features that can serve multiple purposes other than intended.  It is a way that people make a public space their own.  With Sylvester Park we have the makings of a great public space.  Great location, great opportunities to watch and meet people.  You have many varieties of people using the park.  We have a good start.  But to me the park is lacking a soul. Maybe it not quite that.  More like is is starting to get a very broken soul.  Padlocks and police patrols make for a very broken soul do little to invite people to use the park.  Sure people still use the park.  A nice sunny day and the population goes way up.  But let me tell you this, if the park were truly one with a soul it would have such populations on even not so sunny days.  You take a census of the users of the park on a typical day and you will find it incredibly underused.  On very nice days the population approaches the numbers you would expect on a typical day for a great park.  There are numbers for square yards to users for public spaces in the book "A Pattern Language".  Unless there is some big event in the park, Sylvester park never approaches those numbers.  The fix would be relatively easy.

A park is about choices and opportunities.  Improvising and creating.  A park, by its very nature is for the young, and very much enjoyed and appreciated by the old.  A park, if properly configured will actually make an older person feel young.  There is something magic about a park.  If you have a place to play, dream, meet, veg, hide, pretend, believe, ignore, be conspicuous, you have something truly marvelous and worth supporting.  Remember it is the diversity that a park represents that makes it really special.  The more diversity the more magic it will have.  So play chess, bang on your bongos, skip rope, hang from the monkey bars or just watch others do the same.  The magic will be worked on you.


"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."

Why not just set up tables ourselves? I for one have access to a fairly portable card table I could truck down to a park a few times this summer. If we just choose a day, let folks know in the regular way, and have one or two people per table, it might work as a statement by demonstration.

We each sit one or two to a table (maybe 12 in the park), have a chess board or dominoes set up, and see what happens. See who happens along...

I never thought I'd use Intelligent Design on this blog, but bear with me.  It would be a good start for people to bring and leave tables and chairs in the park.  Heck I might just scrounge up one wooden picnic table and leave it in the park.  Not sure how long they will allow it to live there, but I love little experiments.  With a park there should be some permanent, but flexible elements.  Chess tables are just one of these elements.  You can play a variety of games on such a table, or you can use it for lunch, chatter with friends. Reading.  Many many uses from one element.  People are free to improvise with the elements.  If the element is permanent it is comforting to know it will always be there.  People that see alternative uses for the elements are freed to improvise for themselves. Leaving tables in the park is a great idea (kind of wish I thought of it myself) but the intelligent design of a park shows respect and empowerment towards a community.


"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the guitar.

With feeling. So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and sing it when it does. Here it comes.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

That was horrible. If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud. I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes. I could sing it for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired.

I propose we start the leave a picnic table in Sylvester Park Movement. I'm sure there are lots of derelict picnic tables about and could be transported to Sylvester Park. Maybe one table will be moved away by the rulers of the park. Maybe two tables will be moved away. They keep taking them away and we keep bringing them. Eventually they get the message but if nothing else, people will have a picnic table for a time. I'm thinking we have a movement here. As Arlo sang, I'm not proud,......or tired. The Sylvester Park Anti-dullification Movement. So sing it next time it come round on the guitar.

 

"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."

Check it out.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/wan/166391523.html

Also here:
http://www.inoly.com/viewmsg.asp?msgid=412&catid=4&subcatid=108.

Below is my response to the rejection I got from the moderators at freecycleOlympia.  You can see my original posting at the bottom and the wise moderator's response.  Contact info for the moderator has been expunged.

Thank you for your response.  I will try to rewrite it to fit your editorial standards.  I guess I am asking people to do a radical thing, create action where people are chosing to take no action.  I understand that you encourage person to person transactions.  I believe I have warned the group members that this is not such a transaction, but an act of grassroots activism.  I really did not want to make the post as anything but that.  I am trying to build up a little community spirit, create maybe a sense of conspiracy.  All that being said, I understand your point about the blanket requests for washing machines and the like.  Still there should be room on freecycle for these random acts of kindness and civil disobedience.  The best transaction is the one that does the most good.

CS
Moderator  wrote: While this has resulted in some discussion, among the moderators,
we're going to reject the posting, as you've submitted it.

Please keep transactions on a person-to-person basis. The moderators
are going to reject messages of the kind that ask members to just drop
Freecycle items off at some location.

If you will re-word your message, simply requesting picnic tables,
that would be fine. As with all Freecycle transactions, arrange to
take possession of as many picnic tables as you wish. Don't forget to
send a "Received" message, when you want to stop receiving contacts
about your request. Then, you can certainly contemplate how best to
transport your picnic tables to Sylvester Park.

While we moderators can agree with your observations about the current
state of Sylvester Park, we don't care to have to deal with other
messages of this kind (. . . "my friend's apartment building could use
more laundry machines, so please drop your washers and driers on the
curb at this address. . .").

Thank you for understanding and for re-sending a message triggering a
more (shall we say) "conventional" kind of Freecycle transaction.






> I have a little experiment that I'm proposing. Sylvester Park in
> downtown Olympia needs some alternative seating and tables. I'm
> asking those that might have usable picnic tables to drop them off in
> Sylvester Park in a nice place where they can be used by the public.
> Sylvester Park is sorely needing this type of thing to make the park
> more inviting and friendly. I have to honest, I'm not sure how long
> the powers that be will allow the tables to stay in the park, but
this
> is an experiment. Sylvester Park needs help. This would be a great
> start. Summer is coming. Chess and checkers and dominoes need to be
> played. Lunch must be consumed. Laptoppers need to keep their hot
> laptops off their lap tops.




"I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."

Sylvester Park does need tables and chairs. Especially now that B&B has removed the ones they had out front. But even if B&B still provided them, the park needs to made more welcoming and useful.

A group of us walked to the park to continue conversations after the B&B closed for the evening. But benches only offer limited side by side conversation, a larger group needs more seating, sometimes sitting on the grass just doesn't suffice, especially if it is wet.

With tables we can play board and card games, use laptops, eat drippy foods over napkins, write and draw, and share top secret documents.