“The thing about the International District itself is there’s a lot of heritage there. Gracy’s office is up a flight of stairs and has a small view of the courtyard.
On 810 Virginia Street, a block from the spray painted wall, sits the vaguely gloomy Seattle Police Department West Precinct. The only vandalism to be seen is a spray painted message reading, “SCHOOL TO PRISON, COLLEGE TO STARBUCKS.” The jingle of backpacks and scuffed-up chrome bags are replaced by silent, heavy briefcases. People walk quickly, wearing fluttery tops under expensive suit jackets to compromise between formal wear and the afternoon’s heavy heat. On the other side of downtown, buildings begin to morph, becoming taller, darker, and more angular. Sergeant Paul Gracy, who is just one of many officers working with the Parks Department and the managers of the Danny Woo Community Garden to decrease crime in the area, believes the problem is perception. While green space improves community participation, creates a cultural resource, and promotes sustainability, it also plays a role in perpetuating a cycle of crime. Parks like the Danny Woo Garden are both apart of the problem and the solution. The neighborhood has one of the fastest growing population densities in Seattle and the median household income is less than half of the city average. Yet the overall crime rate in the ID is 110 percent higher than the national average. On Tuesday, May 19th, the Seattle Police Department announced that city-wide crime had decreased twelve percent since last year.
Under Chinatown’s colorful belly of tourism, harsh realities manifest. But does the ID actually need more attention from the Seattle Police Department or is the public’s perception of crime distorted? Thanks to a reputation for high crime, treasures like the Danny Woo Community Garden go unnoticed and so do it’s issues. Residents’ voices are even harder to hear and communication between the residents and police remains frayed. Due to a language barrier, the ID is often lost in a sea of other city problems. Despite the beauty of the garden and culture behind each vegetable, it is unprotected against crime and the retaining walls that support it’s sloped location are falling apart. Not on purpose per se, it’s simply overlooked-a real-life metaphor for the ID. Located on a slope, concealed by shrubbery, and juxtaposing Kobe Terrace Park, the Danny Woo Community Garden is for all intents and purposes a secret. “I think it’s the most gorgeous place in the entire city.” I love it…I love it.” Andy Sheffer’s voice is gravelly yet kind, and very slow-paced.Īlthough it is not one of the parks displayed on his office wall, or one he had a hand in creating, Sheffer appears star-crossed by the Danny Woo Community Garden which resides in Seattle’s International District, or ID. “Ever since the late 80’s, when I was going to college, I’ve been going through. One long window behind an office chair faintly illuminates his lanky frame, and aside from a whiteboard covered in doodles (his coworker’s daughter’s), the walls boast large birds-eye prints of Seattle’s parks. Two large monitors consume the left corner, a bicycle–he doesn’t own a car–with one wheel resting half-way up the wall, sits stationary on the right. Andy Sheffer’s office is the size of a shoebox.
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