DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE SUMMER 2017
Developed by the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association & the National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This Community Health Profile was created by the following organizations:
The Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA): The mission of DNDA is to activate growth in the Delridge corridor by providing vital resources for all our neighbors. These resources include access to: affordable housing, healthy food, green space, education, art and culture.
Willard Brown Director of Housing and Environmental Programs [email protected]
Nelson Lu Program Associate [email protected]
The National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assitance Program (RTCA): The National Park Service RTCA program partners with community groups, nonprofits, tribes, and state and local governments to design trails and parks, conserve and improve access to rivers, protect special places, and create recreation opportunities (www.nps.gov/rtca).
Alexandra Stone Community Planner [email protected]
Stephanie Stroud Community Planner [email protected]
Additional information was provided by the following partner organizations:
Seattle Green Space Coalition Solid Ground Tilth Alliance K-8 STEM @ Louisa Boren School Pomegranate Center Outdoor Classroom Design Gaynor, Inc
The Delridge Wetland Park is funded by:
King Conservation District Sustainable Path Foundation
Rose Foundation King County Green Grant King County Conservation Futures
West Seattle Garden Tour Students explore the wetland park (Credit: Stephanie Ingram). King County WaterWorks Grant
The Delridge Wetland Park buildout is expected to be completed in the summer of 2019. To get involved in the project, contact DNDA at 206-923-0917.
PAGE 2 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 NEIGHBORHOOD DESCRIPTION Delridge is a neighborhood in southwest Seattle, Washington. Like many communities, Delridge faces health challenges based on social and cultural determinants of health, and the natural and built environment.
This community health profile examines existing health indicators and needs of residents living in the Delridge corridor, a planning zone along Delridge Way SW. It considers both community health and the built environment. It contains information about the potential impacts of the future Delridge Wetland The Delridge Wetland Park before restoration, 2015. Park on the health of Delridge residents and makes recommendations for its planning and design, Located at SW Findlay and 23rd Ave SW, the programming, and monitoring and evaluation. Delridge Wetland Park was acquired through the purchase of a surplus 20,000 sf site, over half an acre, from Seattle City Light by the THE DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD non-profit Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA). Toxic materials were removed and the site was capped as required by state law in 2015. The site continues to experience contamination carried by stormwater due to flooding from rain events.
The Delridge Corridor is located in the Longfellow Creek watershed. Stormwater run-off in Delridge flows along roadways and hard surfaces into Longfellow Creek, which then flows into to the Duwamish River and eventually Elliott Bay in Puget Sound. Flooding in the neighborhood around the Delridge ELLIOTT BAY Wetland Park has historically been a major SEATTLE issue.
The wetland park will be transformed into a public open space, with 7,144 sf dedicated to wetland restoration, with additional space for education and urban food gardening. WETLAND PARK SITE Stormwater filtration will be a major design feature and focus of the park.
This document is a result of research on existing DUWAMISH RIVER plans related to health in Delridge, as well as DELRIDGE input from a team of local community leaders and organizations that have come together as thinking partners to make decisions on the wetland park. A big thank you to all who contributed their insights to this community health profile!
PAGE 3 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 WALKING DISTANCES TO THE WETLAND PARK AND LONGFELLOW CREEK
DUWAMISH RIVER
1 MILE WALKING RADIUS (APPROX. 15-20 MIN WALK)
1/4 MILE WALKING RADIUS (APPROX. 5 MIN WALK)
WETLAND PARK SITE
LONGFELLOW CREEK
DELRIDGE PLANNING CORRIDOR
Basemap Source: Delridge Planning Area, North Delridge Acton Plan, Public Review Draf, 2016.
Left: A student at Longfellow Creek (Credit: Nature Consortium); Right: The wetland park after removing hazardous trees, 2017 (Credit: Stephanie Ingram). PAGE 4 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 EXISTING PLANS/REPORTS
Establishment of the Delridge Wetland Park is recommended in several local plans:
Delridge Neighborhood Plan (currently being drafted): identifies the project as a priority and recommended it for City of Seattle funding and investment (supports City’s environmental justice and food equity goals).
North Delridge Action Plan: Public Review Draft 10/2016: The SW Findlay/23rd Ave SW site is among the properties recommended for acquisition and public use for wetland conservation, food gardening, and education purposes. The wetland park can play a role in Delridge’s work on its six goals (diverse & engaged communities, dynamic destinations, access to food, active transportation, parks, transforming the watershed) and strategies. The small site can be an integral piece of Delridge’s desired network of walk/bike trails and routes; public open space and parks; existing and planned greenways; sidewalk/street improvements; safe routes to key community destinations such as schools, parks, shopping, and transit; natural drainage systems; and site improvements and programs.
EXPECTATIONS AND SCOPE FOR THE DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK
• Wetland Restoration: - Protect and enhance existing wetland on site - Create a new wetland that will absorb and filter water with native wetland plants for wildlife habitat • Stormwater Retention: - Address historic flooding around the wetland park site - Improve water quality and hydrology of Longfellow Creek, and its outfall into the West Waterway of the Duwamish River, through green stormwater infrastructure (GSI). • Expand the Wetland Forest: - Plant conifers to improve hydrology and air quality • Demonstration Gardens: - Create a universally-accessible children’s teaching garden to be used as an outdoor classroom - Create a permaculture garden with a food distribution network for area residents - Integrate culturally-appropriate foods - Connect generations through gardening and food production • Education Area for Children and Adults: - Hands-on science learning on watersheds, wetland ecology and restoration, and water quality - Extracurricular science education for school-aged children and their families in Delridge/White Center, including ongoing environmental monitoring and partnership with Louisa Boren School - A core ecology and applied mathematics curriculum for K-8 STEM at the nearby Louisa Boren public school, and potential teaching opportunities for partner agencies
Creating artwork and removing invasive species at the Duwamish Alive event at the Delridge Wetland Park, Spring 2016. PAGE 5 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 DEMOGRAPHICS FIGURE 1: AGE DISTRIBUTION
Delridge has a population of 30,296, and has the highest percentage of youth under 18 years of age (Figure 1) among all neighborhoods in Seattle (23.6 percent). This creates an opportunity to help cultivate a healthier generation in the neighborhood. Delridge is a very diverse neighborhood with many different cultures and languages (Figure 2-3). Nearly half of residents (46.5%) are non-white, compared to Seattle with Source: U.S. Census, 2010 and American Community Survey, 2006-2010 average. 30.5% non-white residents, and King County with 31.3%.
FIGURE 2: RACE/ETHNICITY
Source: U.S. Census, 2010 and American Community Survey, 2006-2010 average. PAGE 6 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 Residents were surveyed in both north and south In Delridge, there are many different languages Delridge to see which languages were most that are spoken in the community. It is important to commonly spoken at home. The following is a list consider these different languages when producing of those languages, and Figure 3 represents the materials, holding meetings, and interacting with most common languages. community members. Translating information is crticial so that all members of the community can participate in neighborhood decisions and Spanish Portuguese activities. Tagalog Cambodian African Laotian In Delridge schools, Somali is the dominant East Other Pacific Island French African language spoken in students' homes and Chinese Scandinavian Amharic is a distant second. DNDA and the City Vietnamese Hindi of Seattle routinely provide information in these Japanese Korean languages at public meetings. Pacific Islander is French Creole Arabic dominated by Samoan and Phillipino languages, German Russian and Tigala is the most dominant language in the Armenian Polish Delridge housing communities. Thai Other Native Americans
FIGURE 3: TOP 8 NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN DELRIDGE HOMES
Source: Languages in Delridge, Seatle, Washington. Statstcal Atlas. Accessed 6/1/2017.
PAGE 7 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 EDUCATION & POVERTY FIGURE 5: EDUCATION STATUS
In Delridge, 40% of the population lives at 100% of the poverty line (Figure 4). Of that 40%, 28% of the population is living 200% below the federal poverty line. This is higher than both in Seattle and King County. Because of economic hardships, many residents in Delridge may have limited resources to access healthy food, transportation, and recreation.
Education attainment influences lifelong health and well-being. According to the Centers for Disease Control report, Health, United States, 2011: Highly educated persons are more likely to be employed and well-paid than the less educated. They have a higher sense of control over their health and lives and more social support...the well-educated are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors and avoid unhealthy ones.
Source: Public Health – Seatle & King County. City Health Profle - Seatle, 2012. In Delridge, there are higher rates of residents without high school and college education: 13% of residents do not have a high school diploma, and 65% do not have a college degree; this rate is 20% higher than in Seattle (Figure 5). Education attainment influences lifelong FIGURE 4: POVERTY LEVEL health and well-being.
Source: Public Health – Seatle & King County. City Health Profle - Seatle, 2012.
PAGE 8 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 HEALTH RISK BEHAVIORS FIGURE 7: LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH
Delridge is designated as a food desert by the USDA (Tract 53033010701 in King County, Washington. 2017), which means there is limited or no access to grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and other places to buy fresh healthy food.
Delridge residents are at high risk for chronic diseases such as Source: Public Health – Seatle & King County. City Health Profle - Seatle, 2012. diabetes, obesity, and heart disease (Figure 6). In Delridge, 32 percent of residents are obese, which is the highest rate of obesity within Seattle.
Fifteen percent of residents in “Fifteen percent of residents Delridge reported no physical in Delridge reported no activity in the last thirty days, which is also the highest rate in physical activity in the last Seattle. Delridge residents have an thirty days, which is also average life expectancy of 79.7 (Figure 7), which is lower than both the highest in Seattle.” Seattle (81.7) and King County (81.6).
FIGURE 6: HEALTH RISK FACTOR
Source: Public Health – Seatle & King County. City Health Profle - Seatle, 2012.
PAGE 9 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 FIGURE 8: LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH IN DELRIDGE, SEATTLE & KING COUNTY
Source: Public Health – Seatle & King County. City Health Profle - Seatle, 2012.
Cancer, heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory disease, and suicide are the leading causes of death in Delridge, and the age-adjusted mortality rates from these deaths are higher than Seattle average (Figure 8). Chronic lower respiratory disease is responsible for many more deaths in Delridge (47.4) than in Seattle (31.1). POPULATION GROWTH IN DELRIDGE The population growth rate in Seattle is 8% over 10 years, or 0.8% per year. Population projection should encourage zoning changes. Delridge home and rental values are consistently less than the Seattle average in 2017. In Delridge, the Zillow Home Value Index (2017) is $419,700, which is over $200,000 less compared to Seattle as a whole at $638,100. The Zillow Rent Index (2017) for Delridge is $2,167, cheaper than the average Seattle rent at $2,540. FIGURE 9: POPULATION PROJECTION (DATA BASED ON PAST CENSUS) Because of its affordability, Delridge is expected to grow quicker than other neighborhoods in Seattle. By the year 2020, the population is expected to reach 38,065; in 2025, it is estimated to be 39,499 (Figure 9).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau Decennial Census 100% Count data 2010. Produced by: City of Seatle, Department of Planning and Development PAGE 10 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT The following seven tables summarize existing conditions and research information from the Seattle’s Delridge Corridor Multimodal Improvement Project: A Health Impact Assessment (University of Washington: Gundersen,G., Jauregui,H., Mager,M. & Snelson, CD. 2015). The tables provide health indicators for the Delridge neighborhood, which were considered along with issues and opportunities related to the wetland park to make planning and programming recommendations. They also list suggestions for how to monitor and evaluate the success of the wetland park in influencing health in Delridge.
1. ZONING & FOOD ACCESS EXISTING CONDITIONS PLANNING PROGRAMMING MONITORING & RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS EVALUATION •Delridge is primarily zoned as •The wetland park can •Food grown in the wetland park •Count the number of people single family and lowrise provide access to healthy can be incorporated in the visiting, walking or biking to residential, with small food by providing a “Garden-to-Table” and “Lettuce the site, and track participation neighborhood commercial community garden for area Link” programs at schools and in gardening, food education zones, which means families have residents to purchase or grow preschools, which would bring and programming. to travel beyond their immediate and harvest fresh produce. fresh food directly to the neighborhood to get groceries residents and their families. •Survey students about food and to reach other services. •The wetland park will require and nutrition knowledge. better foot and bike access, •Promote the use of farmer’s •Transportation is one of the considering those who cannot market “bucks” and EBT at the •Track participant success and challenges in Delridge, and limits or choose not to use a wetland park community garden completion in community residents’ easy access to shopping vehicle for transportation to and events for low-income training and work-exchange and services. the site. Design should residents. garden programs. promote walking and biking •Many residents struggle with by integrating safe routes to •DNDA can incorporate •Measure food access for high food insecurity, which the park and nearby programs such as on-site specific target populations increases their risks for chronic destinations. community cooking, food through a work-trade CSA and diseases such as diabetes, demonstrations, and taste- track participation with SNAP obesity, and heart diseases. testing to promote healthy participation. eating habits. •With population growth, new •Measure changes in options for accessing healthy •Join the Delridge P-Patch in demographic health indicators. food are needed. food production & distribution. •Track number of residents that start home gardens based on skills learned at wetland park.
PAGE 11 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 2. MOBILITY & TRANSPORTATION
EXISTING CONDITIONS PLANNING PROGRAMMING MONITORING & RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS EVALUATION
•Delridge lacks investments in •There are no sidewalks between •Establish “Safe-Routes-to- •Conduct a walkability alternative and non-motorized the wetland park and the K-8 School” programs that promote analysis. transportation. STEM school, so design should safe, walkable routes and crossings provide safe walking routes to the to the wetland park so that it can be •Assess the number of • Pedestrian and biking injury wetland park. a destination for area residents and “complete streets” rates are high (between January K-8 students using active connecting the wetland park 2012 and April 2015, there was a •Create safe, walkable transportation. to other key destinations. total 354 vehicle collisions, 9 connections between bicycle collisions and 14 Longfellow Creek, nearby parks, •Offer information about •Assess the number of pedestrian collisions along trails, greenspaces, and the community resources and community members Delridge Way SW). wetland park. suggested safe routes for active participating in wetland park transportation. Offering programs who live within •The topography of Delridge has •Incorporate information from information on the proximity of a quarter-mile, half-mile, historically been a challenge to other transportation plans, community resources and and 1 mile radius from the obtain priority and funding for including the plan for the Rapid businesses such as schools, wetland park using sign-in infrastructure improvements and Ride in 2020. restaurants, and library encourages sheets with addresses. traffic navigation. walking and accessibility. •Establish clear link (with •Survey how frequently •Given the lack of investments, signage and complete streets) to •Hold events that promote visitors walk or bike to the residents are less likely or Delridge Way SW. walking and bicycling to the wetland park. unable to use alternative wetland park. transportation and as a result •Support multiple safe and •Track the number of safe- many are less physically active. appealing routes for walking and •Partner with local bicycle shops routes-to-school biking, including alternatives to and hold bike workshops at the programs within varying Delridge Way SW. wetland park. distances of the wetland park. •Install bike racks on site to •Conduct bike and walking promote bicycling to the wetland audits with community members park. at the wetland park.
•Install signage at top and base •Work with adjacent landowners to of nearby hillclimbs/stairs that maintain a clear alleyway next to direct visitors to the wetland park. the wetland park. PAGE 12 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 3. SOCIAL CAPITAL
EXISTING CONDITIONS PLANNING PROGRAMMING MONITORING & RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS EVALUATION Social capital describes the social •Promote walkability and •Promote extracurricular activities for •Conduct a social capital relationships among community improve the neighborhood children and teens, recreation time impact assessment (see https:// members, which foster trust and environment by adding for adults around work hours, and www.hks.harvard.edu/programs/ norms of reciprocity. community shared space and involvement in activities for all ages saguaro). natural areas at the wetland and provide quality programs for •In communities with high social park. families and neighbors to spend •Count the number of capital, people have rich time together. participating community social networks and are active •Support the idea of a network members (attendance, officers, in their communities. They tend by connecting to other public •Thank volunteers for etc.). to live longer and enjoy better green spaces. participation with a special physical and mental health. gesture or token of appreciation. •Survey neighborhood •Add play equipment Offer awards for most volunteers residents about their feelings of •Delridge is a community rich appropriate for children of all hours, heroic efforts, and special social cohesion. with culture and diversity, which ages, including pre-school. talents. also brings some challenges. •Inventory current •Create infrastructure that •Provide information in key community gatherings, •Delridge has lower social capital meets the needs of languages used in Delridge. festivals, and events and relative to other Seattle neighborhood gatherings create space and time for neighborhoods due to a high (rain protected seating areas, •Promote student and appropriate events at the percentage of residents that electrical outlets, bathrooms, neighborhood ownership of wetland park. cannot communicate with one fenced child play areas, etc). wetland park through education. another due to language •Connect with and inform all barriers and lack of integrated •Offer benches and tables at •Offer free community “meet and neighborhood stakeholders media. the wetland park. greet” meals at the wetland park. about planning and construction activities. •Delridge has numerous •Create flexible space for •Offer garden produce in exchange community groups, and residents different group activities. for volunteering. •Document number of are civically engaged. However, families that are served by the lack of accessible •Provide spaces for sharing •Offer free childcare at community food garden. transportation and other community information and meetings at the wetland park. barriers prevent strong comments, like a kiosk or participation in those community bulletin board. •Invite food trucks to the wetland groups. park.
PAGE 13 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 4. AESTHETICS & GREEN SPACE
RESEARCH FROM HIA PLANNING PROGRAMMING MONITORING & RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS EVALUATION There is growing evidence that •The wetland park can serve as an •Provide community art •Assess neighborhood exposure to nature and interpretive center for opportunities. resident’s current access to participation in art positively Longfellow Creek. private and public influence mental and physical •Offer health and wellness greenspace. health. •The wetland park can provide programs that have a focus on relief and space to build nature and the outdoors. •Evaluate the value of Contact with nature is essential community resilience, foster “placemaking”: Measure the for healthy mental and cognitive social cohesion and potentially •DNDA to partner with others change in property values development in young children decrease health-related to enrich programs at the wetland surrounding the wetland park and studies have shown that poor inequities within the community. park (possibilities include Puget and conduct a visual access to urban green spaces is Ridge Edible Park, Delridge Food assessment of neighboring associated with behavioral •The wetland park should have a Co-op, etc.). properties, assessing problems and inattention and design process that creates a place changes or improvements. hyperactive disorders. Increased that appeals to the whole •Offer art and culture programs access to and involvement in art community’s idea of beauty. reflective of the Delridge •Track volunteer hours, and support higher literacy and community and support offer awards for most hours. increased academic •Create an identity for the park intergenerational connections. achievement. using design and art elements like murals or fencing. •Access to the wetland park can Greenspaces provide relief and provide the community mental space to build community •Create art projects that and physical benefits of being resilience and social cohesion, engage the public through exposed to nature and art. and provides public outdoor space “citizen science”and stewardship for individuals and families. efforts and connect to the natural environment at the wetland park (ex: wavy blue line on road to represent water absorbed by plants).
•Gardens and art should reflect the many different diverse cultures in Delridge.
PAGE 14 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 5. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
EXISTING CONDITIONS PLANNING + DESIGN PROGRAMMING MONITORING & RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS EVALUATION •Industry first moved into the bay •The wetland park design •Connect wetland park •Measure the amount and over 150 years ago, and with it came must slow stormwater and projects to ongoing SPU and quality of water entering many pollutants, which may still be in prevent pollution from SDOT plans in the area to and leaving the wetland park. the soil and can be carried into the entering nearby waterways. maximize effects of Green waterways with heavy rains. Stormwater leaving the Stormwater Infrastructure •Re-test soil regularly for wetland before entering (GSI). contaminants, and observe •Stormwater run-off has negatively Longfellow Creek will be over time. affected water quality and habitat of cleaned by wetland •Create a robust citizen Longfellow Creek. vegetation before entering science program to educate •Measure the amount of Puget Sound as clean water. students and residents about CO2 offset by comparing •Air pollution raises the risk of environmental health and number of trees/amount of cancer, and heart and lung disease, and •Plant specific vegetation for how the wetland park projects vegetation before and after increased hospitalizations from asthma water absorption and filtration. affect community health. wetland park is constructed. and other respiratory illnesses. •The wetland park will •Promote environmental •Measure biological diversity •Noise pollution can cause a variety provide a clean, natural health by holding by documenting all vegetation of health issues, from stress to tinnitus outdoor space for Delridge informative workshops for and wildlife on the site. (ringing in the ears) and difficulty residents that may live or families to learn about how sleeping (which can exacerbate other work in a polluted to improve health in their own •Weigh produce that is health issues). environment. home and yard. produced on the site.
•Healthy soils produce healthier •Promote biodiversity in the •Compost and mulch at the •Document what food is vegetation and trees, which absorb park and surrounding areas by wetland park to create healthy grown and where it is carbon dioxide, provide shade, and planting a variety of native soil. distributed. reduce stormwater runoff. plants. •Provide information/ •Participate in long-range •Roughly half the homes in Delridge •Create a footpath along interpretation on history monitoring of neighborhood were built before 1980 and may wetland for observation and of site and and restoration temperature, bird species, contain lead paint, asbestos, education. efforts of the wetland park storm surges, etc. polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) or and nearby areas. chlorinated hydrocarbons, and •Create a bioswale to pretreat other potentially harmful toxins used stormwater before entering •Provide community before modern construction regulations. the wetland park. education at clean-up events.
PAGE 15 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 6. ACCESS TO SOCIAL & COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES EXISTING CONDITIONS PLANNING + DESIGN PROGRAMMING MONITORING & RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS EVALUATION •Social services allow people to •Community members representative of •Explore the possibility of •Record number of live longer, healthier lives: Delridge’s diverse socio-economics and providing basic health social health service housing, education, libraries, cultures should be included in leadership services during events at events hosted on site basic nursing services, and and site development roles during planning wetland park (blood pressure (South Seattle other services and community and development phases. monitoring, etc). College, Earth Day, building organizations that Tilth Alliance). provide food, education, • Neighborhood residents need to be •Provide opportunities for affordable housing, and committed and informed during planning and horticulture-based job skill •Record number of well-paying jobs are critical to development phases of any changes in training and employment. schools and students increasing the health of a transportation, access, parking, or any who visit and utilize neighborhood. other concerns. •Maintain and foster new the site for hands- community connections in the on learning of next •Many studies have demonstrated •Design park elements (such as the gardens, Delridge neighborhood. generation science that education is the art, places to rest, book mobile presence standards. cornerstone of living a longer, and access to food) to help residents build a •Coordinate with local social healthier life. stronger sense of self-identity and create a service organizations before, •Record number of place for all. during, and after the students that •Mindful planning assures that construction phase. obtain jobs with skills displacement of long-term •Gather data from local social services learned at the wetland residents does not occur through regarding populations served and park (green economy revitalization efforts, and is of transportation-related barriers to prioritize jobs). critical importance for access for populations that need it most. maintaining a community that reflects the diversity of Delridge. •Consider how local households will be able to afford to stay in the neighborhood; plan for potential community tensions and build equity to decrease the health impacts of gentrification.
PAGE 16 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017 7. SAFETY
EXISTING CONDITIONS PLANNING + DESIGN PROGRAMMING MONITORING & RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATIONS EVALUATION •There are three measures of safety: • Create a stronger natural • Trained volunteer park •Study crime rates traffic safety, crime and personal surveillance system by ambassadors can be at the before and after safety, and preparedness for increasing foot and bike park to provide information, installation of the park. disasters. traffic on Delridge Way SW help surveillance, and provide through pedestrian and cycling a friendly face at the wetland •Establish emergency •Safety fosters a sense of infrastructure improvements (the park. hubs and record the community by instilling trust and more pedestrian movement in an number of trainings and respect among neighbors and area, the more observers to •Make the wetland park a attendance at trainings. diminishes harm and dissuade criminal acts). resource center/meeting stress. place for emergency •Monitor trash and •Traffic calming measures and response. pick-up. •In Delridge, crime concerns are walkability infrastructure such as unsafe driving along Delridge shade trees and sidewalk •Host Delridge neighborhood • Inventory current Way SW, property crime, and an improvements can increase safety. natural disaster “drills” at emergency evacuation overall sense of safety related to the wetland park. plans and survey high-profile crimes (gangs, gun- •Include resilience in the planning residents to see what shots, etc.). and building of the wetland park •Keep the wetland park clean they would do in case project, as detailed in the Seattle and well-maintained to of emergency or natural •People who feel unsafe in their Climate Action Plan. dissuade criminal acts. disaster. neighborhood may have higher levels of anxiety and stress, which •Include emergency planning as •Work with law enforcement •Monitor 911 calls over can lead to cardiovascular disease, part of the wetland park to establish policies about time with proximity to poor endocrine regulation, cancer, project, in cooperation with emer- park use (hours, code of park. and psychological disorders. gency medical services. conduct, etc.). •Monitor vulnerable •People who live in high-crime and •Incorporate Crime Prevention populations (children, low-income neighborhoods are at Through Environmental Design elderly, etc) and their use greater risk of drug abuse, un- (CPTED) principles and consider of the park. wanted pregnancy, relationship elements such as lighting, fencing, problems, establishments between private and •Monitor hours of use elevated body mass index and public space, and signage. during and after park cardiovascular risk in adolescents. hours.
PAGE 17 | DELRIDGE WETLAND PARK: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROFILE: SUMMER 2017