Two popular Seattle parks will close early this summer, city says

Seattle Parks and Recreation plans to shut two of town’s hottest parks earlier throughout the summer season, citing considerations over violence and criminal activity.

From Could 27 to Sept. 4, Golden Gardens in Ballard and Alki Seashore in West Seattle will shut at 10 p.m. as an alternative of 11:30 p.m. Each parks will nonetheless open at 4 a.m. throughout that point.

In a weblog put up on town’s web site, Seattle Parks and Recreation mentioned it’s testing the brand new closing time to “tackle [the] harmful and/or unlawful habits that has been typical of summer season evenings at these two parks.”  

Alki Seashore made headlines final summer season for a string of violent incidents.

In Could, police closed the park early after making three arrests throughout a big seashore get together. Police mentioned “a number of fights” and a strong-armed theft had occurred throughout the festivities. Then, in June, a capturing after a dispute over fireworks left one particular person lifeless and three others injured.

Golden Gardens additionally noticed two separate high-profile cases of legal exercise final yr, together with a drive-by capturing and one other capturing wherein police discovered that no less than 20 pictures had been fired.

A metropolis spokesperson instructed The Seattle Instances that the lowered hours are a part of a pilot program that permits the parks division to probably make the change everlasting. Park commissioners will doubtless take into account the everlasting change throughout public conferences held later this yr or early subsequent yr, the spokesperson mentioned.

Public enter on town’s choice to shut each parks early may be made on town’s web site.