These Seattle parks will stay closed until late December because of 'negative activity'

Lake City Mini Park, Seven Hills Park, and the pavilion at Dr. Blanche Lavizzo Park will be closed until late December due to “negative activity.”

Seattle Parks and Recreation originally announced the closures on August 28, citing “bouts of negative park activity.” With this extension, the parks will be closed for a total of four months, though little has changed in that time, aside from the appearance of fencing.

The original announcement said the parks would re-open in 60 days while staff assessed possible additions like new lighting, fencing, garden beds, or planters.

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Now that re-opening date has been pushed another sixty days to December 27.

A department spokesperson told KUOW in an email that closures have been extended to give the city “more time to engage with community about these parks.” The spokesperson would not specify what kind of negative activity has affected the parks.

Since closing more than two months ago, city workers have installed portions of a new gate, added new benches, put up public art, and made repairs to lighting at Lake City Mini Park.

But little has changed at the other two parks since fences first went up in late summer.

On a recent afternoon, two people were camped inside the Dr. Blanche Lavizzo Park pavilion and said they had not heard about any changes to the site. The chain link fence that surrounds the pavilion had been pried open.

Seven Hills Park on Capitol Hill remains visibly untouched, aside from the rented chain-link fences that wrap around the grassy field and picnic tables.

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Sophia Cortez lives nearby and said she likes to relax on the steps outside of the chained area.

“I don't know why it's not available for people to come and sit in,” Cortez said. “There're definitely parks that are in worse condition that we are allowed to go, so I don't know why this one's all fenced up.”

Cortez said there are no signs explaining why the park is closed, and she hasn’t seen any city workers there since she moved into the neighborhood two months ago.

The parks department is hosting three community meetings next week to talk with neighbors about the future of these parks and others. The goal, a spokesperson said, is to come up with strategies to promote positive park use.