Cal Anderson Park Surveillance Cameras To Go

• ACLU/GEORGE HICKEY

Good news, Capitol Hill. The Seattle City Council today unanimously voted to remove the Cal Anderson Park surveillance cameras that former Mayor Greg Nickels had sneaked past the council in 2008.

The council’s Parks and Seattle Center Committee has been debating whether or not to bring the cameras down for almost eight months now. Although committee chair Sally Bagshaw hinted at making them permanent at the last meeting, she ultimately crafted legislation to discontinue the cameras.

Nickels had argued that the cameras would make the park safer, but the ACLU protested, citing privacy concerns and the fact that its footage had never helped with a police investigation. Although the program was meant to be a pilot ending last January, the cameras are still recording. Bagshaw noted that Cal Anderson Park has become a lot safer over the last two years with people playing tennis, soccer, and apparently even dodge ball at night. “Folks on Capitol Hill are asking why put these cameras on us?” she said.

So the cameras will be given to the Seattle Police Department, who can use them in other parks provided they follow the protocol established by the City Council in 2008. This includes maintaining a log of the video footage and signs warning the public that they are being recorded. The three cameras installed along 23rd Ave. near the Garfield Community Center will also be brought into compliance with this legislation.