Followup: New fencing up at Genesee Hill campus, as promised

| Crime | Genesee Hill | West Seattle news

Thanks to Rob for the photos from the ex-Genesee Hill School campus, where Seattle Public Schools has just fenced off building access – as they had told us two weeks ago that they planned to do in the “near future.”

District spokesperson Tom Redman had told WSB that they planned to fence off the buildings because of increasing crime – graffiti, other vandalism, break-ins – but that garden or field use wouldn’t be affected. Rob says that with the fencing, “The buildings are still accessible from the west side (51st) and the park is only accessible from the south end (Genesee Hill).”

Last month, the district had fenced off field access from SW Genesee, citing vandalism concerns.

steve April 26, 2012 (9:44 pm)

so many complain about developers but nobody comments about how “beautiful” this is…

a sign of disfunction in the Seattle School District and City of Seattle?

norsk girl April 27, 2012 (6:57 am)

The fences do not look very sturdy, certainly not to establish an impenetrable barrier to stay off troublemakers. I feel it is a frustrating waste of money.

Machel Spence April 27, 2012 (8:12 am)

WOW, talk about bittersweet to see those photos. My daughter started there in kindergarten and is graduating 8th grade this year from the new building Pathfinder moved to. Lots of great memories at that school!

Operator April 27, 2012 (10:03 am)

I walked the perimeter of the school and found that they fenced most of the entrances to the buildings off, but it also closed all but one accessable entry to the park which is off Genessee. I’m really curious to see if this stops graffiti, it certainly stopped people from bringing their dogs which is sad, I’ve met a lot of nice people there on sunny days. Weird to see it so empty lately

Trying! April 28, 2012 (2:42 pm)

Yes, the school seems spookily abandoned. I’m there almost everyday and the regular crowd seems to have given up. Weird, the whole 51st side of the school is not fenced and that includes a courtyard and easy access to the roof (a problem area). If the concern really was vandalism and graffiti why was this left open? Several people have said they thought this whole fence idea was just a way to further cut off the lower field. Big waste of school money if that’s the case?

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