Queen Anne’s Trolley Hill Park was covered with red graffiti last week, and according to one neighbor, Vicki, so far nothing has been done to fix the extensive damage.

“Last week I noticed some red spray paint tags on real estate signs and parking signs near my apartment building (on Taylor Ave, right where it merges with 5th Ave.). Then when I was walking my dog in Trolley Hill Park I came across the saddest sight. Huge amounts of tagging on all the wood tables and benches, and down the entire length of a large tree’s trunk. Things like “Bloods” “Crip Killers” “KKK” and anarchy signs,” she wrote Queen Anne View. “Likely not really anything gang related, probably just some brats with some spray paint. Still SO sad.”

Trolley Hill Park is tucked away on the east side of the hill at 5th N and Blaine Street, and because of this it is more secluded and one of Queen Anne the neighborhood’s lesser known parks. The park includes a natural kids play area, a picnic area with tables and benches, a community P-Patch, and a beautiful view. It was named after one of the main trolley lines leading up Queen Anne Hill , which was in operation from 1890 to 1940.

In all cases of vandalism, officials recommend swift and and thorough action. When vandalism takes place on public property, as in this case, the City of Seattle takes on the responsibility of cleaning it up. Graffiti found on public property can be reported by calling the City of Seattle’s Hotline at (206) 684-7587, or filling out this online report form.

The graffiti at Trolley Hill Park was reported to the city’s response line this morning, and crews will be looking into the incident, though they were not able to provide a definite timeline for when the graffiti would be removed, though the city says that action will be taken in a timely manner.

For graffiti on private property, the city provides a number of resources to help residents respond. If you find vandalism on your property, the city recommends you document the vandalism for insurance purposes and call the Seattle Police Department’s non-emergency number (206) 625-5011 and file a report. If you witness an act of graffiti or vandalism in progress, it is recommended that you call 911, as vandals must be caught in the act to be prosecuted. For more information on what to do about vandalism in the community, check out the city’s resources here and here.

“Property with graffiti that has not been removed in a reasonable amount of time may be subject to fines under the Graffiti Nuisance Ordinance,” according to the Seattle Police Department website.

Though the city will be handling the incident at Trolley Hill Park, Vicki says she’s ready to take some action in the meantime.

“I’m going to head over to the park at 11 a.m. on Saturday to try and do some scrubbing, if anyone wants to help they are more than welcome to join me,” she wrote. “I go to this park every day and its just infuriating to look at.”

Even when city crews tackle public graffiti, they often ask for community volunteers to help them with the clean-up, so Vicki’s efforts are very much welcomed. Get more information on how to organize a Volunteer Graffiti Clean-Up Event here to keep a four-block area in your community graffiti free (Seattle Public Utilities provides the supplies and waiver forms needed for the event), or learn more about taking part in SPU’s Summer Paint Out program in July or August (again, SPU provides free paint  in white, brown or gray, and rollers, brushes, scrapers, and gloves).

Supplies can be picked up at the Seattle Public Utilities warehouse (3633 E Marginal Way S) on the following Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
-July 2
-July 16
-July 30
-August 6
-August 20

In order to receive the supplies, you must register first – use the link, email daniel.sims@seattle.gov or call 206-684-7790.

* Thanks to Vicki for the tip and pictures!

Volunteers from Seattle Country Day School will be repairing the tagged mural under the Aurora Bridge this Saturday, May 15, according to Head of School Michael G. Murphy. The mural, which has been tagged and repaired countless times, was repainted just last fall. Unfortunately the site seems to be a frequent target for vandals.

“Let’s hope it remains in good shape and not hit again by graffiti!” Murphy wrote. Murphy also emphasized Seattle Country Day School’s commitment to contributing to the Queen Anne community. He wrote:

Besides the mural and Adopt-a-Street clean-up, SCDS has hopefully been a positive influence in the neighborhood in other ways.  Several of our students have made multiple visits to the nearby Queen Anne Care Center bringing Valentine’s Day gifts, sharing music, and interviewing some residents as part of their history classes.  Also, for several years, our students have regularly been sprucing –up designated areas in Rogers and Mayfair Park under the guidance of the city’s Parks Department.

Vandalism around the neighborhood is nothing new. Read up on the most recent occurrences here.

Volunteers got together over the weekend at Counterbalance Park, at the corner of Queen Anne Ave N and Roy St, to work to better protect the park against vandalism.

Counterbalance Park was vandalized overnight back in February, when both concrete walls of the “urban park” were covered with red lettering almost 15 feet high. Alex Braun, the manager of The Willis condos that border the north wall of the park and the Barclay Court business building to the east, was able to remove the majority of the tags the next day.

However, because the park walls were only sealed up to 11 feet, it took another three weeks and a graffiti specialist to remove the final traces.

On Saturday morning a handful of volunteers brought paint, rollers, ladders and snacks to the park, where they painted the top half of both walls with a protective seal and then another coat of matching gray paint on top of that, in the hopes of protecting the park against future acts of vandalism.

Mike Allen at Juniper Flowers, located at 308 W. Republican St., just wrote in informing us that their shop was broken into over the weekend (sometime between the evening of March 26 and the morning of March 27). He wrote,

We were vandalized on Friday night/Saturday morning. Our business is in lower Queen Anne on Republican St. Someone attempted to break the glass on our door. When they were unsuccessful, they broke a much larger window with a rock to gain access. They made off with our cash register. Just thought residents of Queen Anne should know.

If anyone has any information about this break-in, please comment below.

Reader Terri L. has sent in more reports of car vandalism in the neighborhood this week. She wrote,

I live on Taylor Avenue on the east side of Queen Anne, and it has come to my attention that there have been several incidents of vandalism of cars.  My car has been keyed twice in the last two months (even parked in the driveway!), my roommates car was hit by another car (a dent and scratches were the outcome), and I’ve also notice a few other cars having been keyed as well.  I’m not sure if this is occurring in other areas of Queen Anne, but I thought I’d bring some attention to it, since there seems to be a rise in crimes around the city.  I have filed two separate police reports about my vehicle, but there isn’t much the SPD can do about this type of crime.

Not sure if there’s much I can do either, but I thought I’d voice my frustration – and see if there were any other residents that have noticed anything suspicious going on.

This kind of crime is not unfamiliar to Queen Anne residents, especially recently. In fact, almost a year ago there was a similar incident of car keying and just last month a string of cars parked on the south slope of the hill had their windshields smashed in.

If anyone remembers seeing anything suspicious in regards to the recent car vandalism in the neighborhood, comment below or email me at tips@queenanneview.com

Yesterday, Saturday, February 27, Parks and Recreation crews removed the last of the graffiti sprawled over the concrete walls at Counterbalance Park almost three weeks ago.

Reader Cliff Cooper sent in these photos. He wrote,

It looks as though the left side is completely clean, but there clearly having difficulty removing from the corrugated siding.

Through most of the graffiti is gone, there is still a faint indication of the paint on the metal siding. The majority of the tags were removed the day after the vandalism took place, however because the concrete walls were only sealed up to 11 feet high, it has taken this long to remove the remainder.

(Thanks to Cliff Cooper for the pictures and tip!)

City crews will be closing down the eastbound and westbound lanes of Mercer Street under SR 99 one at a time on Saturday, February 27 between 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. so that Seattle Public Utility Graffiti Rangers can remove vandalism. Keep this in mind when traveling off the hill this weekend, as added delays are expected.

Although graffiti has not been as big of an issue in Queen Anne in the past as it has in some neighborhoods, the vandalism of Counterbalance Park last week rattled many in the community. It was one of the largest acts of vandalism the hill has seen since the mural at the Dexter Ave underpass was graffitied last year. And since then several other tags have popped up around the neighborhood.

We have started working on a collaborative project with the Seattle Times and its news partners, on how graffiti has impacted different neighborhoods around the city. Although we’re not yet sure what shape this project will take, we thought we’d start by posing some questions to the neighborhood: What are your thoughts on graffiti in Queen Anne? Have you noticed any particular areas where vandalism is often targeted? Have you noticed if incidences of graffiti have increased or decreased in the area? Do you see graffiti as a growing concern? What do you think can or should be done to stop taggers? Post your thoughts in the comments below or email us at tips@queenanneview.com.

Early yesterday morning vandals targeted Counterbalance Park in lower Queen Anne, tagging both concrete park walls with bold, red graffiti. Though half of the vandalism has since been removed and the remainder is expected to be cleaned off today, many readers have also noticed a string of new tags around the neighborhood.

Reader Sarah Monley snapped a picture of this tag, which seems to match the one sprawled over Counterbalance Park yesterday, at 419 Queen Anne Ave N while walking home from work yesterday afternoon.

“Looks like BTM was busy last night,” she wrote.

I came across a series of similar tags this morning on walls and sidewalk halfway up the hill on both Queen Anne Avenue and 1st Ave W between Aloha and Prospect. One also had the letters “BTM” in it.

One reader commented on yesterday’s story, wondering if posting pictures of tags may encourage the behavior. SPG wrote,

Although it’s nice to know what’s going on, do we really need to have the actual tags written up in the article? It would be much better if the story just showed a part of the tag without showing the whole thing. That way the tagger who is looking for attention doesn’t get it and the community is still served with accurate news reporting. The best deterrent to tagging is to remove the tag immediately so that the tagger gets no recognition or credit for their effort. If every tag disappeared within a day there would be little incentive to keep tagging. By running a photo of the full tag the tagger gets even more credit for their vandalism and more incentive to do it again even after the actual tag is scrubbed off.

Though we will not post every picture of graffiti on the hill, we will continue to report on tags around the neighborhood and will be keeping a record of where tags are spotted and what each looks like in order to raise community awareness and help prevent future acts of vandalism. If you notice more vandalism around the neighborhood, please note the location in the comments below or email details and pictures to tips@queenanneview.com.

Update: This story has been updated since it was originally posted. See below for new information.

Counterbalance park, at the corner of Queen Anne Ave and Roy St in Uptown, was graffitied early this morning, covering both the south and west facing walls of the “urban oasis” in red spray paint and the letters “BTM” and “3AK.”

By 10 a.m. Seattle Police Department officers and Parks and Recreation representatives were on the scene. According to officer C.J. Lang, they believe the vandalism happened after 3 a.m. this morning.

Though the actual park is city property, Lang said, the walls belong to the condominium bordering the park. According to a parks department representative, the condominium has agreed to take care of the damage.

As for who is responsible, SPD is still investigating.

Several readers wrote in this morning disturbed by the vandalism.

“I’m so sorry to report that this morning on my walk to work I saw that someone has vandalized the uptown park at the corner of Roy and Queen Anne Avenue,” Sarah wrote. “It is such a shame that someone would ruin this community park with graffiti.”

(Thanks to tipsters Sarah, Cliff, Sean and Josh!)

Update 11:06 a..m.: The manager of The Willis condos bordering the north wall of the park and the Barclay Court business building to the east, Alex Braun, is working to remove the damage today. “I always try to get the tags down as soon as possible because that ruins their game,” he said.

Braun is pressure washing the first 11 feet of the walls, which have been sealed to keep out paint, this morning. Fortunately, he said, the paint is relatively light and hasn’t had a chance to set into the concrete yet due to the cold temperatures. After brushing over a portion of the tag, some of the red paint loosened, a good sign that they will be able to restore the wall quickly. If that doesn’t work, they’ll repaint over it, he said.

As for the unsealed concrete above the 11-foot mark, Braun said he’s called in a graffiti removal specialist who will be coming to the park either late this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning.

“We only sealed it to 11 feet because we thought that was going to be enough,” Braun said. “These taggers usually don’t go around with ladders. They usually repel down over freeways, but that’s hard to do here…concrete is like a sponge–it just sucks it up. If you try to remove it without knowing what you’re doing, you could make it permanent.”

Braun says this is the second largest tag he’s seen in the park since he began managing both bordering buildings 11 years ago – the largest one happened back in 2000. He said the park walls have been targeted before, most recently two months ago, but the tags are usually small and he has been able to remove them before many notice, something he believes discourages repeat offenders.

“They spend a lot of time and effort to make these tags, so if you take them off, they may come back a second time, but they rarely come back a third,” he said.

As for the taggers, Braun said no one in the condos overlooking the park or in the surrounding businesses saw anything. “From 2 until 4 a.m. this is like a dead zone. My condo faces Queen Anne and I can count the cars that go by here between 2 and 4 on one hand.”

Though, Braun said he did remember seeing a similar tag on northbound I-5 just before the convention center just yesterday. “The paint was dripping down…it looked just like this,” he said.