Two residents, who live on Ballard Avenue overlooking Marvin Gardens, submitted an 80-signature petition to the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation at the April 8 Ballard District Council meeting in an attempt to make the downtown Ballard parks safer.

The petition asks the city to create an exclusion zone for Marvin Gardens, Bergen Place and Ballard Commons Park that would forbid anyone removed from one of the parks from returning to any of the parks for seven days.

Christopher Williams, deputy superintendent at the parks department, attended the meeting to talk about park safety and was presented with the petition.

There has been an incredible increase in drug traffic in Marvin Gardens, said one of the petition submitters. He said he sees the same people at the same time on the same days and sends photos to the police, but the drug dealers are still there.

Williams said exclusion zones can be a good tool, and he would be willing to try a number of different solutions in Ballard, such as earlier closing hours, park ranger patrols or events co-sponsored by the parks department.

Cyril Ishem, one of the park rangers who patrol parks in downtown Seattle, said their presence helps but the best thing for residents to do is to flood the parks with people and activity so the unwanted element doesn't take over.

"The people that are doing bad things in the park don't want witnesses," he said.

Council member Jody Grage suggested a regular knitting party in the park. A woman attending the meeting seconded that idea and advocated residents bringing their pets to the park or some of Ballard's music venues taking the music and dancing outside.

"These guys (doing illegal activity) don't want to talk to your dog," she said. "They don't want to watch your wife crochet an afghan."

Williams said he walked around a few of the parks before the meeting and was surprised by just how many transients were present.

The Ballard Avenue man who submitted the petition said he wants to make sure all homeless people aren't scapegoated.

"It is not a homeless issue," he said. "It is a crime issue strictly. We who are fighting it have nothing against homelessness."