West Seattle Crime Watch: Vandals damage P-Patch shed

| Crime | Delridge | West Seattle news

(Photo by Holli Margell)
A comment following Sunday’s report of burglaries at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center mentioned vandalism at Delridge P-Patch. We don’t know if it’s related, but we do know more about the P-Patch problems tonight, thanks to this firsthand report from Valerie:

The storage shed at the Delridge P-Patch (5078 25th Avenue SW, at 25th Ave SW and Puget Blvd SW) has been vandalized , with holes chopped into the walls from the outside and both doors badly damaged, twice in the past five days. So far nothing has been stolen, but both times the damage has required considerable effort to repair. Police reports have been filed for both attempts, but of course after the fact there’s not much to be done except make the repairs.

People garden here through the city’s P-Patch program, which not only provides individuals with a space to garden in the city, but P-Patches also donate a significant amount of fresh, organic produce to food banks around the area. All P-Patch maintenance and improvements are done on a volunteer basis by people who garden there, and it’s dispiriting to have to make repairs after pointless acts of vandalism.

We’d appreciate it if people would keep an eye out, and if anyone sees anything suspicious at the Delridge P-Patch, or any P-Patch, please report it to Seattle Police.

And if you see this before 7 pm, one more reminder that tonight is the monthly West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting at the Southwest Precinct (Delridge/Webster).

CD April 17, 2012 (11:46 pm)

So is there any tech peeps out there with some extra cameras and time to show the p-patch peeps how to monitor from home? Only a suggestion in light of last years continuous vandalism of grown veggies and plants turned useless after all the hard work and dedication that volunteets put intothis project. Now the vandalism has started early and obviously not going to stop. So besides taking shifts during the night to protect all this hard work a donation of a small camera and some time to teach a person how to monitor them from home would at least be a start….

Thistle April 18, 2012 (8:43 am)

This has been suggested in the past. Unfortunately, my understanding is (please correct if I am wrong) since the P Patch is part of the public parks system, no cameras are allowed without going through some major red tape hurdles with the parks department. Same reason why locked gates or other protective measures are not allowed. It is really hard as on the one hand, I know exactly what its like to come to your garden patch only to discover each and every plant uprooted and ALL of your veggies taken but at the same time, the ideal of a community garden is one of openness and cooperation, not locked gates, security cameras, and inaccessibility. I really hope they figure this out as vandalism was the reason I had to give up my P-patch spot after spending two years on a wait list, I just could not afford to re-plant so many times with little to show for it

Valerie April 18, 2012 (10:16 am)

Vandalism would (or will? the jury’s still out so far) take me out of the P-Patch program too, Thistle. I’m sorry that it came to that for you, but I totally get it.

Karen (Old Desolate) April 18, 2012 (2:03 pm)

I don’t have a patch at the Delridge P-Patch but it’s one of my favorite stops on neighborhood photo forays year-round. Was just there a few days ago – nice, sunny day. Met a nice young mom with her kids, their enjoyment as they worked on their patch was contagious. I guess I’m just mystified by anyone wanting to vandalize such a place or uproot crops – don’t these vandals get it? Most of us are working people and acts of vandalism such as this (and others in West Seattle) are demoralizing and yes, even frightening. I can only imagine how upset the folks were I met/talked to working in the P-Patch a few days ago.

douglas April 23, 2012 (9:26 am)

oddly enough i notice this gets reported. how do other burglary/break-in events reported to police become listed? a local business i do work with, had break in with damage, attempted theft of equipment, previous thefts never show up here. i mention this as the police are not interested in searching local video or fingerprinting for “minor theft and damage”. (after being reported and evidence available) what dollar amount is the limit for investigation? Or reporting to the public. I can not name the business if they asked not to be listed, but did anyone check with them?

WSB April 23, 2012 (9:36 am)

Douglas – Police reports don’t show up online for days afterward. So, the break-ins we report are the ones people tell us about because they would like to get the word out; been that way for the past couple years. In other words, if the victims you’re mentioning didn’t tell us, we didn’t hear about it. Once in a very rare while we will catch something major while we’re listening to the scanner, but burglaries don’t generate a large amount of scanner traffic – one quick dispatch and unless it is “in progress” it’s radio silence after that. – TR

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