Occidental Park Blowback
Citizens are already, well, doing
passive-agressive Seattleish things in protest of the
Occidental Park DeforestationAt Occidental Park in Pioneer Square over Presidents Day weekend, activists tied green ribbons to trees while Seattle Parks and Recreation fenced off the area, preparing to cut down most of the trees. [They] accuse the department, and particularly Superintendent Ken Bounds, of top-down decision-making that excludes neighborhoods from critical decisions and favors institutional and commercial interests.
Others feel
the Mayor is to blameThe mayor, they say, hijacked [Pioneer Square activists'] process. After four years of community work, which grew out of the city neighborhood planning process completed in 1998, activists say the mayor simply dumped their plan and replaced it with one created by a New York consulting team...
The mayor's new plan for Occidental Park, [Pioneer Square business owner Bif] Brigman and others say, favors real estate developer Greg Smith and his plan to turn a parking lot he owns just east of the park into a mixed-used development that will house a new service shop for King County's waterfront streetcar.
Finally, in a typical Seattle fashion, this debate may be
decided in courtThe project was stalled by a still-pending lawsuit against the city in King County Superior Court. But the plaintiffs missed a Feb. 6 deadline to post a $120,000 bond necessary to stop construction, said Dewey Potter, Seattle Parks and Recreation spokeswoman.
Occidental Park trees go bye bye
Occidental Park will be closed for several months starting tomorrow, for the cutting-down of trees and the removal of the pergola
Parks officials believe the thick canopy of trees at Occidental Park casts the park in darkness and makes it less inviting. Construction fences will go up around the park Friday, and work -- which also includes removing a pergola and benches and replacing the park's cobblestones with a new simulated brick surface -- will begin next week.
More in the PIupdate: more
detail about the changes:
It's all part of a $1.8 million plan to "activate" a park used largely by the homeless and poor who live in the nearby Frye and Morrison hotels. In addition to the bocce ball court already in place, the plan includes adding chess tables, lighting, a raised platform for performances, and electrical outlets for street vendors to use along the park's east edge.