I have a love hate relationship with Pioneer Square and Occidental Park, upon which our offices look. Pioneer Square has the potential to be an amazing neighborhood. It is historically rich, boasts beautiful architecture and is located in the heart of the city. It feels like “Old Seattle.”

Unfortunately, Pioneer Square is also extremely seedy. Countless homeless people occupy the streets and the area is riddled with crime and drug use. There are even two milk crates labeled something like “Property of Seattle Police Narcotics Division” in one of the surrounding buildings. The police often sit on the crates and watch for drug deals in the park, hardly a difficult endeavor.

In short, Pioneer Square and Occidental Park have great potential but need to be cleaned up. The city is begining a renovation of the park which includes replacing the cobble-stone surface with a synthetic one and removing several London plane trees. Will this improve the park and help clean up the area?

Some think “no” and have filed a lawsuit protesting the renovations. Construction is underway, though. The park is currently surrounded by fences, and the renovation is scheduled to complete this summer.

I disagree with replacing the cobblestone with a flat, synthetic surface. Are they going to replace the grass with Astro Turf, too? And I fail to see how replacing the trees will make the park more desirable. It isn’t exactly a dense forest. Hopefully the city planners see something I don’t, and the renovation will decrease the amount of homeless people, crime and drug use in the area. We’ll have to wait and see.