Submitted by Tom McClellan.
Fort Steilacoom Park is the jewel of the City of Lakewood’s parks system, and is beloved by its many visitors. The great staff work hard to maintain the park, and the citizens of Lakewood help in multiple ways, from picking up litter to pulling scotch broom. Unfortunately, the State of Washington is not doing its part to be a good neighbor.
There are two water towers within Fort Steilacoom Park, constructed many years ago to provide water to Western State Hospital. The State of Washington transferred ownership of the land of the park to the City of Lakewood back in 2019, but the bill authorizing that transfer stipulated that the State would retain ownership of the “water facilities” located within the park, including a wellhead and the two storage tanks.
Maintenance staff from Western State Hospital periodically do work on these storage tanks, checking on the valves and the fill levels, repairing the pipeline from the wellhead to the tanks, and periodically flooding the park when they purge the tanks. But they do not do anything about the prolific graffiti that have been painted on them. This neglect is still happening despite calls to the hospital staff, and despite the City of Lakewood staff conveying notifications at least twice to Western State Hospital reminding them of their duty to maintain their property.
Since normal reminders are not working, it is time to employ the tactic of shaming, and that is where you dear readers can help. Please forward this article to your local elected State representatives, to anyone you know who works at Western State Hospital, of at the State Department of Natural Resources. Please let them know that the State is failing at its responsibilities to clean up this graffiti, and as a result park visitors have to be assaulted by this blight on what is otherwise a beautiful landscape.
I contacted the Western State Hospital (WSH) Public Information Office (PIO) on Thursday, Nov. 9, seeking comment before submitting this story, and I have received no response.
Tom, when I saw the headline of your article in the SubTimes I thought when I clicked on the link to access your full article that you would be addressing the Ecology sanctioned aluminum, sulfate and sulfide pollution of Waughop Lake and prescribing what needed to be done to restore its safe beneficial uses by park attendees, migratory waterfowl, turtles, frogs and fish.
Seems now that there are two major issues that need to be addressed by the City of Lakewood Council and staff.
My thoughts exactly. No one cares about graffiti. It almost seems like this article is a joke.
Seems to me, not as a citizen of Lakewood, but rather as a drive-by observer, is first a power washer and about 20 gallons of white paint and power paint sprayer fixes this offense to the eyeball. If the disagreement is about who pays someone with the time, Inclination and can-do spirit. do the job take the cost off in their tax returns. As charitable contribution. The IRS is bare bones and will never audit them.
Install a sprinkler system around the tank that works on a motion detector, lot’s of them, then see who try’s to paint the TANK! Also set up a trail cam or cam’s in various points of the tank and watch for the late night painter’s! Then impound there car and sell it!
In the great scheme of things and in the fullness of time, it’s hard to see this as an existential matter for City priority; actually adds a touch of EU joie de vivre, stimulates spontaneous artistic imagination, contributes vitality to young limbs, and possibly expends their youthful spray paint compulsions at one of Lakewood’s more acceptable expressive art venues.
Too bad the tag art is trash. But thanks for your woke opinion.
Agreed. And have to imagine the folks at Western State Hospital are quite busy maintaining its massive, aging physical plant. And meanwhile, doing their best to keep staff and patients safe in what is a rather challenging environment in which to live and work.
The park needs to be cleaned from all the trash, carts and textile the homeless leave behind. And why is the park not apart of pierce county’s gleaning project. There are tons of heirloom fruit trees that can be cared for to produce harvest that can add in hunger relief, food product development, and feed for livestock. Nothing should be going to waste:( I pick the italian plums and some of the apples each year and make delicious desserts and beverages.
I am sorry for the graffiti painted on the bottom of the water tanks/towers.
On South Hill, Puyallup across from South Hill Fred Meyer. The powers that be got permission to have professional painters paint a beautiful scenery on the water tank/tower. Perhaps suggest doing the same thing at Fort Steilacoom Park.
Remove graffiti = new graffiti…
If it’s a Park, isn’t the state responsible!
Why not have the water tanks wrapped in the same method used to wrap the utility boxes found at numerous intersections throughout Lakewood. They are beautiful art additions to what has been unattractive elements in our environment and notice they have not been marred with any graffiti.
The water towers could become beautiful attractive rounds with constructive art and another element to enjoy in the park.
Fort Steilacoom Park is a wonderful place for our community with many attributes—an abundance for the community.
Great idea !!!
I worked for a large nearby city’s water department, and they protect the public’s reservoirs like this one with barbed wire, razor wire, strong fences/ gates, and video surveillance. The world is a changed place. Whoever this water serves, be it CO Lakewood or Western State Hospital, deserves the highest protection from water quality incidents as possible. Anyone gaining access this easily to a reservoir that protects public health could easily tamper with the water supply itself, causing sickness and death on a large scale. THAT is how serious this is. I would absolutely FLIP if this was the source of my drinking water!
I spent alot of time in this wonderful place growing up in Steilacoom in the ’80s, and the only place that really got vandalized was old western state concrete building in the center of the park, another blemish on the state’s record.
Hahaha you want to spend money on paintings? Use the funds to help the sourounding area so there will be let crime.
My understanding is that Western State hospital is desperately underfunded and has had many sections and wings closed over the last few decades. It is not any wonder that they do not have the money to support maintenance of the exterior of the tanks.
The state can’t even fund public schools adequately, particularly special ed. How about the ferry system? And what about the litter piling up on the shoulders of state roads? We tried to adopt a sore spot but it is not adoptable bc it’s considered dangerous.