Ballardites showed up at a soon to be street-park at 17th Avenue NW and NW Dock Place to play a life-sized game of Scrabble and to give feedback on what the park will one day look like.
Over 50 citizens gathered at the 17th Avenue NW and NW Dock Place last Saturday Oct. 10 for a life-size Street Scrabble tournament and to provide feedback on the uses of the space, which will one day be a park.
Groundswell Northwest, Ballard Greenways and the Seattle Department of Transportation hosted the event.
The intersection was recently reconfigured in the making of the new Greenway running on 17th Avenue NW. There are plans for the space to be a park under SDOT’s Pavement to Parks Program. The program aims to create community-driven public spaces in underutilized street spaces.
Part of the feedback gathered was regarded what the park will look like. Local artists have already proposed mural ideas for an interim look. The Pavement to Parks programs will fund the interim effort. Meanwhile, a $90,000 Neighborhood Park and Street Fund grant was awarded to Groundswell NW, which will go toward constructing the defining and permanent look of the park.
David Folweiler, a board member of Groundswell NW was at the event.
“The tournament is really being held to promote the turning of this pavement into a park,” said Folweiler.
“Initially we are going to put down some ground plane art…and then later we have the $90,000 to build something more permanent. We don’t know what that is yet. We are seeking ideas and input from people today.”
Folweiler reported that some people thought that the space could be used to set up planter boxes to grow food for the Ballard Food Bank.
“Parks are super important for people’s health, both their mental and physical health. They are also great for the environment and an intricate part of any community. We have rapidly increasing density and there are more residents here and there’s more pressure for the open spaces we already have, so we are looking at creating more open spaces.”
Traditionally creating more open spaces means buying a lot but since the cost of real estate in Seattle is so high, Folweiler said that the Pavement to Park programs is re-thinking where parks can be built.
“This is an alternative use of pavement and a good option for creating more open spaces.”
