Story by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog 

Summer visitors to some of West Seattle’s most popular parks will likely have slightly fewer hours to enjoy them. 

As we’ve been reporting (including last week, and a couple of weeks before that), Seattle Parks had been considering “permanent seasonal” reductions (Memorial Day to Labor Day, for all upcoming summers) to the hours during which several parks across the city are open, including our own Alki Beach Park and Don Armeni Boat Ramp, as well as a permanent reduction in hours for Hamilton Viewpoint Park.

On Thursday night, the city’s advisory Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners held a public hearing and vote, and the board unanimously approved the proposal, which now goes to the Parks superintendent Anthony-Paul (“AP”) Diaz (who was in attendance on Thursday night) to issue a final decision, which would be followed by necessary city clerk filings and then updates to parks signage and websites. 

Of the impacted Seattle parks that are specifically in the West Seattle area, the now-approved proposal calls for:

• Alki Beach closing one hour earlier at 10:30 pm rather than 11:30 pm (just like last summer) and being open 4am-1030pm daily in the summer
• Don Armeni boat ramp shifting away from 24hrs/day to instead match the Alki hours of 4am-1030pm daily in the summer
• Hamilton Viewpoint Park would have a permanent year-round change, shifting from the current 4am-11:30 pm timeframe to a new reduced timeframe of 6am-10pm (this is based on the results of a pilot program dating back to 2015).  

The meeting on Thursday was a “hybrid” forum, with the board and a handful of in-person attendees gathering downtown at Seattle Parks HQ, while others joined online via Zoom. Public participation was light, with two “general commenters” who signed up and offered thoughts about overall parks concerns, but zero commenters signed up or in attendance to speak specifically about the proposed hourly changes. However, commission members did make reference to some emailed comments from West Seattle residents, as well as “comments on the West Seattle Blog,” summarized as such:

• Via email: Two heartfelt thanks from WS residents in favor of the change, and one question about parking on Harbor Ave which, in some areas, is a “no parking” zone from 11 pm-5 pm, which means there is one hour of misalignment in the morning when nearby Don Armeni and Alki Beach will be open (at 4 am) but no parking is allowed on Harbor Ave until 5am.  Attendees at the meeting said they’d look into that. 
• WSB comments: At least two commissioners made note of comments here on WSB stories regarding the proposal, describing them as a “mixed reaction,” but noting that many commenters do understand and agree “that the changes are being made to help make things safer.”

From last month’s meeting slides, here are two tables showing the city-wide changes that were proposed and now approved:

Commissioners noted that the rationale for the changes included fire safety (particularly for Alki and Golden Gardens), managing late-night noise and problematic “non-boating activity” on the boat ramps, and aligning hours and resources with SPD and other resources.  Commissioners added that although public commentary on the issue was minimal, the department had done the best it could to get the word out via their web and social channels, and in local news and blogs and social media. Two commissioners suggested the need for a future “comprehensive approach” to park hours, noting that numerous parks (such as Ravenna) have late-night hours but minimal/no lighting, which probably should be evaluated, and others agreed. 

In Thursday’s meeting, commissioners discussed the general positive sentiment about the proposal among board members, and among the (admittedly small) number of comments gathered online and via email (again, there was nobody signed up to comment at Thursday’s meeting). Based on that, they agreed to call for a vote rather than to delay a vote to a later meeting (the board meets again on April 24), and the motion then passed unanimously. 

Aside from the park-hours discussion, there were a handful of other West Seattle mentions during other portions of the meeting agenda:

• Spring and Summer programs: Registration is now open for both, and many spring programs are already underway. Online brochures are available for Spring 2025 Classes and Activities (“Zone One” includes Delridge, High Point and Hiawatha, although programs associated with Hiawatha are held elsewhere due to facility closure) and for 2025 Summer Camps (includes Delridge and High Point).
• Troll celebrity: During a presentation by Communications Manager Rachel Schulkin, who talked about overall web/online/social efforts at Seattle Parks, she called out some successful examples of outreach and marketing across Seattle, and first on her list was our own “Bruun Idun” Lincoln Park troll, featured prominently on various Parks blogs and garnering lots of traffic including unique TikTok cameos featuring a visit from a tiny Edward (of Twilight fame).