Miller Park featured in 9/20/20 Seattle Times "Then and Now" article

 Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/for-an-ever-changing-neighborhood-we-single-out-miller-park/

Dorpat blog: https://pauldorpat.com/2020/09/17/seattle-now-then-miller-park-neighborhood-1955/

(This, somewhat coincidentally, marks my departure from Miller Park, after 37 years in the neighborhood. Stay in touch. Andrew Taylor  andrew_taylor@me.com )

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

 

Miller Playfield: campers, field scheduling

 (I contacted the City a couple of times: here's part of my 2nd message:

The untidy nature of them speaks to mental health issues that we need to address. The shields seen in one of the pictures are of great concern to some of my neighbors on Nextdoor.com : they interpret them as indicating that the residents are equipped for violence (perhaps similar to that seen in the recent riots). As I noted before, many of the tents are small, neat and unobtrusive, and can surely be accommodated while the City ramps up its outreach to the unhoused. It is the large untidy encampments and collections of seemingly random objects that speak to potential mental instability. ) September 2, 2020 Andrew, hello. Thank you for your August 21 and August 24 emails, addressed to the Mayor and the Superintendent, about the Miller Playfield encampment. The City's Navigation Team is aware of the campers at Miller, and I've forwarded your report to them as additional information. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the City has made the decision to allow sheltering in place. The City's Navigation Team (which includes specially-trained police officers and social workers who go out every day to contact vulnerable people living unsheltered in homeless encampments across Seattle) will continue to do outreach to persons camping, to provide safety direction and small safety kits that include hand sanitizer. They'll continue to clean up litter as resources allow. The team will also continue to track encampments, and will take action according to the City's Administrative Rule once the emergency is over. I’ve also forwarded to the head of our Athletics unit your observation and suggestion about when scheduled play at Miller Playfield resumes. [See my note, below] Thank you for writing, and thank you for your patience during this public health crisis. Sincerely, Laurie Dunlap Superintendent’s Office, Seattle Parks and Recreation ____________________ My note about field use: I have a wonderful view of all the activities on Miller Playfield from my couch. In pre COVID-19 days, the (lighted, Sportsturf) playfield was fully booked all day (up to 10 PM) every day with organized league sports: softball, soccer, lacrosse. Now that organized sports are cancelled, the field has become a wonderful neighborhood gathering place, but a very COVID aware one. Small groups of people gather, in well spaced groups, and engage in all manner of safe, healthy activities: yoga, exercise, little baseball games, little soccer games, even little cricket games. This gives our field much more of a friendly neighborhood feel than previously, when the field hosted team play from the whole region. I therefore suggest that, when COVID-19 is over and team-play resumes, specific well-advertised times be set aside for pick-up local neighborhood use of the field. At a rough guess I’d suggest an early evening hour each weekday, and both a morning hour and an afternoon hour on each weekend and holiday day.