Mayor Announces Park Rangers Debut

SEATTLE-Mayor Greg Nickels today introduced Seattle to the new Park Rangers who will provide a presence in Center City parks.

“Park Rangers are a big part of making our Center City parks lively and inviting,” Nickels said. “By acting friendly but authoritative, our Park Rangers will create a positive presence in our treasured and popular parks.”

The inaugural crew of Park Rangers includes three former police officers, a former music instructor, two former security officers and a former state park ranger.

The rangers will offer assistance, provide information, and give a helping hand to park users. They will support parks programming and community efforts to help solve parks-related problems, monitor our parks for safety issues, educate people on the laws and regulations of the parks, and deter negative activity.

They will wear badges but will not have authority to issue park exclusion notices or issue citations. They will be in radio contact with the Seattle Police Department when needed.

The rangers have been trained in customer service, laws and regulations relating to the use of parks and public space, crime prevention, community relations, personal safety, basic First Aid and CPR, human services, public health resources, general Seattle parks and downtown parks history, basic plant identification, and other information about individual parks.

The primary parks where the public will see the rangers are City Hall, Freeway, Hing Hay, Waterfront, Occidental Square, Piers 62-63, Westlake, Victor Steinbrueck, Lake Union, and Cal Anderson. They will visit other downtown parks as time allows.

Five of the seven rangers are already on the job and the other two will begin on June 11.

Park Rangers are part of a City Center parks strategy that calls for increased security, physical improvements and creating more fun activities downtown.

Visit the mayor’s web site at www.seattle.gov/mayor. Get the mayor’s inside view on efforts to promote transportation, public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities by signing up for The Nickels Newsletter at www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsletter_signup.htm.

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Office of the Mayor