Seattle man faces $500-a-day fine for sandbox

A Seattle father is digging in over threats by the city to
fine him $500 a day because the family’s sandbox is too
close to the street.

Paulo’s troubles started when his family moved in June to
a house between Wallingford and Green Lake in Seattle.
Their new house has a small yard, so he was limited as to
where he could put his children’s 4 foot by 8 foot sandbox
they brought with them. At their old house, it was
situated in the parking strip between the street and
sidewalk and was never a problem.

In the two months that they have lived in the new house,
the sandbox has been a place they spend many hours playing
with their small children and getting to know neighbors
who walk by or bring their kids over.

A couple of weeks ago, an anonymous neighbor complained to
the city.

“We got a letter that said, you know, somebody’s made a
complaint and this is illegal and you have to move it or
pay $500 a day,” says Paulo.

The city considers play structures situated near the
street, like the Nunes-Ueno’s parking strip sandbox, an
illegal safety hazard and they have an ordinance
regulating how many feet away from the street a play
structure should be located. Paulo was told that he would
have to comply with the regulations or face the fines.

“It just seemed like a natural place for us to have a
gathering spot for our kids, for the neighborhood kids,
for the parents to meet each other,” says Paulo. “I think
the real question is how do we make our street safer, not
how we keep our kids from playing in front of their
houses.”

“We got a letter that said, you know, somebody’s made a
complaint and this is illegal and you have to move it or
pay $500 a day,”

Paulo went to city officials to appeal their decision,
explaining the benefits of keeping a sandbox in the
parking strip where neighbors can interact and share the
public space.

“The city said that they were going to put together a task
force to take a look at this issue, and that I don’t have
to move the sandbox until they make a final
determination,” says Paulo.

In the meantime, Paulo will circulate a petition Tuesday
August 7 at his neighborhood’s “Night Out” block party,
which he will then turn in to the city Council. He says
his family has a lot of support from neighbors who hope
that the sandbox stays where it is on their quiet
residential street.

“I’m going to take that on August 14th to the
transportation committee of the city Council and just ask
them to think more broadly about how people can use that
piece of public land that’s in front of their house,” says
Paulo.