Tangletown Snail Signs

Tangletown is a special micro-neighborhood in Seattle, hidden away in a mess of streets in North Wallingford and South Green Lake.

To build neighborhood identity, calm our streets, and spread positive messages, this project would install stickers on nearly 80 signs.

THE SIGNS / STICKERS

On nearly 50 yellow diamond signs in 12 traffic circles, roundabout arrows will be added to encourage people to 

Five "Welcome to Tangletown" stickers will be installed over existing "Drug Free Zone" signs.

A combination of "Slow Down for Tangletown" and "We Believe" stickers will be installed over 25 "Neighborhood Watch" signs.

PLACEMAKING

Neighborhood identity will be strengthened with a new "T☆NGLETOWN" logo that includes a five-point star for the "A".  The star honors two businesses that got their start here and who both have similar stars in their logos: Zoka Coffee and Mighty-O Donuts.

An image of a snail will also be used with the traffic calming signs.  Each spring and summer, Tangletown is home to a ridiculous number of snails. 

Addressing Racism

"Neighborhood Watch" signs have a history rooted in racism and the police state. Even today, the Watch signs can serve to make people of color feel uncomfortable, in fear of having the cops called on them simply for walking down the sidewalk.

 ○ "In late 1960s, feds injected billions into police depts to counter Black activists. Millions were pumped into 'soft power' strategies of police control. One such program was Neighborhood Watch." — Liberation News

 ○ "Programs like D.A.R.E. and Neighborhood Watch have been sweeping Americans into the state surveillance system since they were founded in the 1970s." — New Republic

 ○ "Race determines who gets to play detective & who gets marked as a suspect. When Watch was founded, citizens were asked to be 'nosy' & use 'common sense'. But the sense of what was held in common was reinforced by crude signs of visual difference in white suburbia." —New Republic

 ○ Additional Reading: "Who Looks Suspicious? Racialized Surveillance in a Predominantly White Neighborhood," Social Currents 2016.

To make our neighborhood more welcoming, the "SLOW DOWN FOR TANGLETOWN" and "IN T☆NGLETOWN WE BELIEVE" stickers will cover the "Watch" signs.


SIGNS THAT WILL BE STICKERED



LOCATIONS


Black Dots = Neighborhood Watch Signs
Green Dots = Yellow Diamond Signs in Traffic Circles
Yellow Dots = Drug Free Zone Signs