West Seattle, Washington

21 Tuesday

32℉

FOLLOWUP: West Seattle parks’ play/fitness equipment, now off-limits, gets taped up

March 22, 2020 3:59 pm
|      22 COMMENTS
 |   Coronavirus | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

3:59 PM: Seattle Parks crews are continuing to make the rounds, taping off playground and fitness equipment at parks, now off-limits by order of the mayor. Thanks for sending photos of what you are seeing – above, Carolyn sent that from the Lincoln Park north play area; below, from Mark, outside Hiawatha:

We’ve been checking south end parks – here’s one scene we found:

5:36 PM: We’ve just been out checking on more playgrounds and it appears Park staff had been to every place we looked – here’s Highland Park Playground:

Southwest Teen Life Center’s little-kid area:

And the Alki spot unofficially known as Whale Tail Park:

Lowman Beach’s swing set, too.

Share This

22 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: West Seattle parks' play/fitness equipment, now off-limits, gets taped up"

  • Cycleman March 22, 2020 (5:12 pm)

    About time!

  • Lisa March 22, 2020 (5:39 pm)

    I didn’t take any photos but I was just walking around highland park and noticed that all the danger tape that was put up has been torn off the playground equipment… my husband was really disappointed by the number of children who were unaccompanied by adults, although they were not on the equipment. I’m assuming that all/some of our local grocery store heroes have children who assume that they are safe since their parents are required to work. 

    • WSB March 22, 2020 (5:52 pm)

      It was still up (or replaced?) when we went by not long ago – photo above.

  • Sg March 22, 2020 (5:41 pm)

    Glad to see this. Is the equipment at the schools to follow? Around 4 pm the playground at Genesee was not taped off. 

  • PatWS March 22, 2020 (5:43 pm)

    The yellow tape didn’t stop the two adults with a tiny child from playing tennis on the taped-off Lowman courts earlier today. Hopefully the message will sink in soon.

  • Dp March 22, 2020 (5:55 pm)

    What about school playground areas where the toys are shouldn’t those be taped off???

    • WSB March 22, 2020 (6:03 pm)

      There’s no requirement for taping off – just a directive not to use them. I haven’t heard or seen Seattle Public Schools mention whether they’re planning to.

  • Mj March 22, 2020 (5:55 pm)

    Why cannot a couple play tennis together?  I get restricting pick up basketball, but tennis is not a contact sport.

    • wsgal March 23, 2020 (12:06 pm)

      Sigh. If you’re entering a court with a gate, you’re touching a gate. The gate could potentially be contaminated, you pick it up, and spread it. Just stay home for two weeks and play tennis later. 

      • Will Gibson March 23, 2020 (7:32 pm)

        Give me a friggin break.  

  • Mp March 22, 2020 (6:30 pm)

    Good! 

  • Onion March 22, 2020 (6:31 pm)

    People are not taking this  situation seriously enough. I probably need to include myself. But if there are too many Grey area infractions don’t be surprised if martial law is declared. This question of what we can get away with is not a game, it’s a threat to health and society

    • Will Gibson March 23, 2020 (7:33 pm)

      Not really….  its dangerous to some.  And the more restrictive the guidelines become,  the more people will push back on them.

  • Kimberly Valadez March 22, 2020 (7:09 pm)

    Tape removed at whale tail park and people playing tennis

  • MJ March 22, 2020 (10:44 pm)

    A couple of people playing tennis should be allowed, for crying out loud enough.  Team sports with contact are a different animal and should be banned for up to two weeks.

  • tom2w March 23, 2020 (1:21 am)

    It’s about time. On my walk last week near the park/golf course in Beacon Hill, I saw quite a few kids playing on the equipment with their dumb parents.

  • Bradley March 23, 2020 (3:14 am)

    I’ll still use the pull-up bar and parallel bars at Lincoln Park as I’ve done 4 times a week for 30 years. There’s never a soul around when I use them and I’ve been wiping them down with antibacterial wipes before and after for the past 3 weeks.

  • Phil March 23, 2020 (9:02 am)

    Would love to see the playground in High Point Commons roped off. Kids have been playing there all day for the last week now that they aren’t in school, and this is right across from Bridge Park where an elderly woman recently died from Covid19.And tennis should not be excluded. Lots of sharing equipment/sweating/face touching involved there, even with 2 people. 

  • miws March 23, 2020 (10:04 am)

    Phil brings up a good point. On the surface, two people, presumably from the same household, separated by six feet by the nature of the game might seem harmless enough. But, what if the ball ends up over in the next court, occupied by unrelated players? Or, if it, or any type of ball, or frisbee flies/rolls off to an area where social-distancing strangers are walking/running/sitting. It’s instinctive for those people to want to toss the item back to the player(s), or for the player(s) to ask them to, and for the citizen to comply. This is another of those “everyday” things we do, like touching our face, that we do without even thinking about it. —Mike

  • Gina March 23, 2020 (10:49 am)

    Lafayette Elementary is chaining the playground gates.

  • Lola March 23, 2020 (11:45 am)

    I live by Ercolini.  I will have to see if the tape is up?  Yes everybody needs to stay away from the parks and surfaces where it can live.  It is fine to take a walk just keep your distance from one anoteher. 

  • Jim Dean March 23, 2020 (12:00 pm)

    What, if anything, is being done to controll the gatherings at Alki Beach?  Maybe it is getting better but was out of hand late last week and over the weekend.  Kids think they’re infallable, but they’re not and we seniors could easilly pay the price.

Sorry, comment time is over.