Artesian Commons struggles with perception vs. progress in downtown Olympia

The Artesian Commons in downtown Olympia has come a long way since it opened in May 2014, but as one city official put it, the park is a work in progress that continues to evolve amid grumblings from downtown business owners.

City parks director Paul Simmons is among those who are optimistic about the 0.2-acre pocket park on Fourth Avenue, which is home to the historic artesian well but doubles as a popular hangout for the street community.

The park was initially envisioned as a food truck hub, but that concept was quickly abandoned because of a lack of successful vendors. By the end of 2014, the Olympia City Council considered closing the park to address fighting and drug use there.

Since then, a stakeholder group called the Artesian Leadership Committee has taken an active role in shaping the park. The park has seen the installation of fencing, lighting, security cameras and a basketball hoop, along with programs such as free summer concerts.

This year, the city will install a Portland Loo to provide a 24-hour restroom for the street community.

“We’re learning as we go,” Simmons told the Olympia City Council during a study session Tuesday.

The city is devoting about $144,700 a year toward maintenance, programs and events at the park, according to the Parks Department. The cost pays for a “well host” and a park ranger who first established a seasonal presence at the park in 2016.

It’s these two positions that Simmons credits with being game-changers for the park. Simmons reports that garbage and graffiti have decreased since well host Garrett Cooper and park ranger Lee Wyatt began interacting with park users. The well host and park ranger will return to duty for five months starting in May and will work 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Olympia police Lt. Sam Costello told the council that the well host and park ranger have improved police officers’ interactions with park users — so much, in fact, that he predicts a drastic reduction in police calls to the park in 2017.

“They serve as a bridge,” Costello said.

The Police Department reports that the number of calls for service to the park have dropped from 421 in 2014 to 394 in 2015, then down to 195 calls in 2016. Nearly one-third of the calls relate to nuisance crimes and disorderly conduct.

In August, the Artesian Leadership Committee conducted a survey of 414 people about their experience getting water at the artesian well. Well users express a range of opinions on the good and the bad aspects of the park, but the results suggest an overall positive outlook on the space.

However, not everyone is enamored with the Artesian Commons. The Parking and Business Improvement Area conducted a survey of downtown businesses in January. The anonymous comments are mostly critical of the park, although there are a few positive notes.

Many business owners report hearing complaints about it from customers and say the “most challenging” months for the park run from May to September. About 58 percent of respondents report their business is more than three blocks away from the Artesian Commons, and about 64 percent of respondents say they have an overall poor perception of the park.

Comments from survey participants include:

▪ “There are a lot of filthy people hanging around with dogs.”

▪ “Should be open all the time, as well as bathrooms.”

▪ “This park is an absolute mess! It’s a complete waste of time, money and resources. It’s become a very unfriendly space used for open drug dealing, open drug use and fighting.”

▪ “It is not a place I would go or advise others to go.”

▪ “It has taken the burden off Sylvester Park, which directly impacts my business.”

▪ “I like all the improvements to make it seem like an urban pocket park, but the crowd is intimidating. The basketball hoop was brilliant — in good weather, I often see it being used.”

▪ “The city’s approach in creating and maintaining the Commons has seemed very anti-business. It has not encouraged people to come downtown, but rather encouraged a negative stigma against downtown and the unsavory people who hang out there. … The Commons has been the primary reason I have considered moving my 45-plus-year-old business from downtown.”

▪ “It’s sad to think that people not from Olympia are directed here from the street signs, and this might be their first and only impression of Olympia. Olympia is an amazing city, and this should not be the face of the city.”

▪ “I have gone to the Bridge Concert Series, and it is a very positive, uplifting, fun event.”

So far, the city has devoted more than $800,000 to the park when adding up all the renovations and a proposed permanent restroom that’s slated for installation this summer.

In the meantime, Simmons said the city will need to assess its downtown parks in the next couple of years — especially with an anticipated influx of 5,000 new downtown residents in the next two decades. Options for the Artesian Commons are limited, he said, because of space and “incompatible uses.”

“We really need to revisit what the long-term vision is for the park,” he said.

At Tuesday’s study session, Mayor Pro Tem Nathaniel Jones said the artesian well and the Artesian Commons are worth preserving and celebrating. He said the city has done well in controlling spending and that efforts to improve the park during the past few years are yielding positive results.

“The call to shut down the park,” Jones said, “was sort of a call to arms to everybody.”

This story was originally published April 5, 2017 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Artesian Commons struggles with perception vs. progress in downtown Olympia."