That’s Admiral resident Clay Eals, City Councilmember Jean Godden, and neighborhood kids helping unveil one of four benches this morning outside a new loft-townhouse development in the 1700 block of California SW. (Also seen briefly toward the end of the clip, another neighborhood advocate who worked to make this happen, Dennis Ross.) As we reported yesterday, these benches are more than they may seem to passersby who don’t take a closer look: They represent the culmination of years of neighborhood advocacy to be sure an open-space easement would be part of the deal when the property, which includes a onetime Seattle City Light substation site, was sold. (added 8:50 pm) Here’s Eals explaining that:
And as Councilmember Godden added during the brief unveiling ceremony, the process also led to a change in city law:
That city law has figured into more than a few stories we have covered in the past few years too – like the public-notification process that helped bring the 34th/Barton site into view as a possible P-Patch community garden. (Added Sunday: Here’s the page where you can find out city property that’s currently “under review.”) Back to the ceremony: The bench unveiling was repeated three more times and then of course, it wasn’t official till somebody actually used the bench:
A reception followed, with guests including executives from Soleil Development, who also got kudos as the site’s most recent owners for finalizing the easement deal.
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