A makeover of the sitting area next to the Vashon Pharmacy comes as one of several projects that will take shape around the Island over the course of several months in a wide effort to curb public drinking and drug use.
A motion-sensor light will be installed under the shelter at the Village Green, where drinking and drug use often happens at night. The alley behind the PlaySpace, where drug deals are sometimes made, will be gated off. And blackberry bushes will eventually be mowed down by the entrance to KVI beach to create a clear line of sight to the sandy stretch where teenagers sometimes gather to drink.
The small projects, which will be completed in at least eight locations on Vashon, are part of an effort by the Vashon Alliance to Reduce Substance Abuse (VARSA) to curb substance abuse at popular spots and perhaps send a message that the community does not tolerate underage substance abuse.
The project is funded by the 10-year Drug Free Communities Grant that Vashon Youth & Family Services received about three years ago. Luke McQuillin, who oversees VARSA as coordinator of the grant, said the task force doesn’t expect to eliminate public drinking or drug use. However, he said, VARSA believes making physical changes will go a long way to removing illicit activities from public places and make them seem less acceptable anywhere on Vashon, where teen alcohol and drug use is significantly higher than the state average.
In the 2010 Healthy Youth Survey, about 90 percent of 12th graders said they believed that if they drank on Vashon they would not be caught by police.
“What it will start showing is that the community is intolerant of this,” he said of the physical changes in the works. “That’s a big piece to changing perceptions around the community.”
The idea that the physical environment can influence crime rates is not new. VARSA’s project, now about a year in the making, follows an approach called crime prevention through environmental design, or CPTED. The concept’s principles have been practiced in communities across the country since the 1970s and much-hailed in books and articles about urban renewal and community development.
Last winter, VARSA volunteers spent time surveying locations reported by community members to be popular spots for teen drinking and drug use, scouting the “hot spots” at night to see first-hand how they were used.
After narrowing its list to nine locations to address first, VARSA hired Duane Dietz, an Island landscape architect certified in CPTED design, to make recommendations about what could change at each spot to discourage illegal activities.
Ed Swan, who helped collect data and approach business managers and property owners with the recommendations, said everyone was open to making changes at their property, even if it meant paying for the work themselves. In doing so, he added, they could make their property safer and cut back on litter there.
“Everyone is pretty much on board because often there are real hassles involved for them,” he said.
Many of the CPTED-inspired changes will involve bringing more visibility to places that provide cover by cutting back brush or installing lighting. Sometimes, Swan said, a solution is as simple as fixing a light that has long been broken. Other businesses will opt to go farther, gating off parking lots or installing security cameras.
VARSA is paying for a motion-sensor light to be installed at the Village Green, which Swan called “a place people feel uncomfortable walking after dark.” Soon, he said, the light will make it more uncomfortable for people to drink or do drugs there at night.
“Hanging out there is cool, but shooting up or doing some kind of illegal activity is going to be noticed,” he said.
At the woods behind Ober Park, another place known to hide illegal activities, VARSA hopes to see an informal trail widened, opening up visibility in the woods and making it into a more public place. A Boy Scout has already expressed interest in creating the trail for his Eagle Scout project.
“Altogether, that will be part of a process of saying, ‘hey, the community is here and enjoying these areas … It’s not for partying,’” Swan said.
The Vashon Pharmacy, as many have noticed, is already implementing CPTED recommendations that VARSA presented. Tom Langland, who owns the pharmacy with Dave Willingham, said the two of them have long been concerned about safety at the “pocket park” directly south of the pharmacy building.
For years, they’ve had to deal with drug- and alcohol-related litter at the spot and occasionally call the police to remove people from the site, Langland said. After VARSA approached them, encouraging them to take action, they decided to address the problem by removing seating and bushes. Next month the area will be planted with low, native shrubs and a footpath will be created from the parking lot to the sidewalk.
“It’s not meant to be a park to spend the day in, but a pleasant-looking green space,” Langland said.
At the same time, they’ve decided to remove the parking lot entrance on Vashon Highway — an unsafe place where a child was recently hit, he said.
“We thought maybe we can solve a whole bunch of different problems at once,” Langland said.
Vashon Presbyterian Church has taken action as well. Volunteers cleared much of the brush from the church’s large parking lot, which is known to be a spot for drinking.
The church’s pastor, Rev. Dan Houston, said he used to find piles of alcohol bottles and cans in the lot but has seen far fewer since the bushes people hid behind were cut back. He feels it’s now a safer place for people to park at night.
“It hasn’t completely stopped people, but the amount of drinking has decreased immensely,” he said.
Houston applauded VARSA’s efforts to deter public drinking and drug use and hopes the church’s participation in the project sends a message that Vashon cares about teen substance abuse.
“I’m pleased that on Vashon there is a profound ownership of everyone,” he said.
