Seattle Parks Department workers have covered up or otherwise disabled electrical outlets in Occidental Park and elsewhere so that they can’t be used by the public to charge laptops and cellphones.
“Our electrical outlets are for park use,” not for people to power their devices, said Seattle Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter.
“People were plugging stuff in and leaving it for a long time,” she said.
Potter said the parks department has fit outlets in a few parks with locking covers, “but I have no idea how many,” Potter said. “It’s not that many. It’s just a couple of places where there have been inappropriate uses.”
A park worker at Occidental Park said a group of about 40 homeless people who camp out along the bollards on the east side of the park used the power constantly.
Another person had been using the power outlet near the totem poles and controlling access to it, he said. That outlet has since been covered.
On a recent Thursday, a few of the outlets were used by vendors setting up for the monthly art walk, an event which has a permit for park use. Meanwhile, a man reclining against one of the bollards said he’s used the outlets, too, to charge his cell phone. But he only needed the phone when he was working, and right now he isn’t, he added.
Seattle Parks isn’t the only agency cracking down on access to its outlets. Last month, the Seattle Times reported that Seattle Center covered electrical outlets in the restaurant area of the Armory because homeless people who plugged in their laptops there were monopolizing tables meant for dining.
Seattle Center spokesperson Deborah
Daoust said Center management has received a few comments from the public since the issue was in the news. Daoust said there are still outlets unlocked and open for use in other parts of the building. She said Seattle Center management is exploring the idea of installing a power charging station, with an emphasis on supplying power to those who need it for medical devices.