MAY DAY: What you need to know about what’s planned, and unplanned, in Seattle on Monday, so far

| Safety | Transportation | West Seattle news

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(WSB photo of police awaiting protesters under east end of West Seattle Bridge, May Day 2016)

Lots of alerts have been circulating for the past few days about how May Day protests and marches might affect downtown and the surrounding areas tomorrow.

Nothing is specifically planned in West Seattle – but last year, you might recall, we picked up coverage in the evening as one group of demonstrators got close to the east end of the bridge – police kept them from actually getting onto the bridge.

So we’ll be monitoring everything closely throughout the day..

TWO MARCHES WITH PERMITS: A small demonstration is planned to start around 8:45 am downtown, south from 2nd and University; a much-larger march is expected from Judkins Park to Seattle Center starting at 1 pm. More details on both are in this SDOT alert.

METRO’S PLAN: Read it here. Bottom line: “All bus service that travels near or through the downtown Seattle area might be subject to delays during and after Monday afternoon’s events. Bus riders are advised to plan ahead for longer trips, revise travel plans if necessary and allow plenty of travel time.”

THE WILD CARD(S): Demonstrations that haven’t applied for permits can’t be predicted. And last year can’t be used as much of a comparison since May Day was on a Sunday. But a websearch for May Day 2017 in Seattle brings up mentions of an 11 am “March on Amazon” from Westlake Park plus two 6 pm rally/marches – one from Judkins Park, one from/at Westlake Park. We’ll add anything more we find.

TheKing May 1, 2017 (4:38 am)

Back in simpler times people used to leave baskets of flowers on a porch for “May Day”.

Duwamesque May 1, 2017 (7:14 am)

Back in the day, May Day was a day for the working class to rally for their rights. Seattle held the first General Strike in the USA a century ago. Those “simpler times” you pine for were an era of segregation, red-lining, institutional sexism and homophobia. But I guess if you’re a retired white homeowner, the world doesn’t look so bad from your porch…
- TheKing May 1, 2017 (7:53 am)
  
  If that’s how you choose to remember an era so be it. I am a Native American home owner who worked two jobs as an opportunistic young man who saw the world through a different set of goggles. My setbacks were not to be blamed on everyone else.
  - MJ May 1, 2017 (8:23 am)
    
    Best response I have ever read, good for you and thank you!!!
  - Duwamesque May 1, 2017 (8:28 am)
    
    What a coincidence, I’m also part native, and I work two jobs. The difference is you came of age during an unprecedented age of opportunity and economic growth in our nation’s history. As Thomas Friedman says, if you were a man growing up between 1940-1980, you needed a plan to fail. As someone who works two jobs to survive, I am experiencing downward mobility economically and I may be priced out of this city, the place I was born. If you are a property owner in this town you are doing all right (yeah I know property taxes, blah blah blah…). The rest of us who rent and work for a living are hurting and we didn’t benefit from the greatest economic boom in US history. It’s very easy to take credit for your own success when circumstances allowed you to succeed. It would be nice to see some solidarity with the working class on this blog rather than retirees complaining about minorities / immigrants / the homeless because they don’t feel the rising income inequality in their charmed lives.
    - ellipses May 1, 2017 (9:34 am)
      
      Well, there you have it. TheKing is doing great, so i guess there are no societal problems.
    - Ron May 1, 2017 (11:01 am)
      
      Maybe there’s a clue in this graphic: https://static.pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/democrat_urban_monopolies_11-30-15.png
      
      I think the voters in the puget sound area really need to look around at some of the other areas that aren’t in the same situation today and see what they did differently. It’s also worth asking yourself what is a reasonable expectation for city leaders when they’re trying to provide for growth opportunities. I don’t know your career decisions, but some people may be saying “I learned how to make buggy whips when I was young, and expected to be able to retire after that career”.
      
      Individuals and cities need to adapt with the changing needs of the marketplace. The only way that that isn’t true requires that individuals have their freedom to choose removed from them— we force them to work in jobs that make things that aren’t advancing, we force people to buy things that aren’t state of the art, we don’t allow tech advances, etc.
      
      Are you interested in signing up for that world? I’m not.
    - KT May 1, 2017 (3:52 pm)
      
      “Charmed life”? I worked for every damn thing I have from the time I was 17 years of age. I do not now and never did feel entitled to anything. Nothing was ever handed to me. Nobody ever helped me but me. Get off your arrogant, sanctimonious high horse.
    - Double Dub Resident May 1, 2017 (4:35 pm)
      
      Give me a break! I’ve been working (sometimes multiple jobs) since I was a teenager. I’m working middle class that works side work also. I’ve been laid off 2x within 4 years and took a job after my last lay off for significantly less money. I worked hard ( working 60 hours at that job alone) at that job leap frogging people to advance throughout the company before getting a better job.
      
      I lived with roommates in crappy neighborhoods and saved money in order to buy a house. I AM not some retired rich white guy who was “lucky” enough to “get” a house or charmed.
      
      The problem with the alt left is that everything is systemic. While I don’t deny there is racism and issues. I think many people would find that where they are at in life are a result of their decisions
    - TheKing May 1, 2017 (4:55 pm)
      
      So which era did I grow up in, the era of unprecedented growth and opportunity it the other one you mentioned the era of segregation, red lining, etc…..my grandmother used to tell me she grew up during a depression and nobody on the Rez knew it. That’s where I get my outlook from.

Double Dub Resident May 1, 2017 (5:56 am)

What a joke, headed by the cop hating, socialist, wannabe activist Sawant. But hey, she got the city council to pass a deal where city employees (minus civil servants of course) can take the day off unpaid without any punishment, to go play in the freeway and such

work for justice or enjoy no peace May 1, 2017 (8:24 am)

“No justice, no peace” has been a protest mantra for decades. It’s brief, direct, and easy to understand. Working for justice is more than Facebook posts and comment thread grandstanding (in this case, sharing our president’s trait of doing so at an ungodly hour). Which part of the mantra is unclear? You’re calling for a docile working class with oppressive city oversight, that’s the opposite of what the world needs. Worse, you’re doing it from your kitchen table, waiting for the Today show to start.

If you want what you aren’t getting, go somewhere where influential people can hear you. Otherwise, Councilwoman Sawant’s enablement of city workers to stay safe and voice their opinions is the heroism you’re incapable of unwilling to support with accountability.
- Double Dub Resident May 1, 2017 (1:32 pm)
  
  This woman is no hero. She’s an elitist passing off as a socialist who hates the police and wants us all to pay for her snow globe ideas.
  
  Look at your computer, cell phone, clothes, TV, etc. that you own made through essentially slave labor then spout off about work justice.

Huck May 1, 2017 (7:28 am)

I’m sick and tired of this may day destruction every year.

Learning64 May 1, 2017 (8:16 am)

Sawant’s suggestion of blocking freeway traffic is dangerous and stupid. How would she like a loved one to die because he or she couldn’t get to the hospital in an emergency. I voted for her, and can’t wait to see her go.

SMon May 1, 2017 (9:41 am)

I’m with ya that her rhetoric is a bit too angry and not all that helpful… but it’s worth noting that she’s not advocating that people block freeways. She did talk about blocking “highways,” but in the interview I heard she specifically said people shouldn’t block “freeways.” Anyway, it’s all semantics and the bottom line is she supports protests that go beyond planned, permitted marches, but in the “alternative facts” era I think it’s important to note facts.
- 56bricks May 1, 2017 (11:43 am)
  
  Semantics. How do you unring a bell?
- Karl May 1, 2017 (11:57 am)
  
  If I-5 gets shut down she may think she’s covered by having said “highways” and not to shut down “freeways.” That’s inexcusable. I feel like almost everyone uses the two interchangeably and anyone who hears “shut down the highways” and thinks it’s a good idea will almost certainly take that to mean the interstate.
  
  Voting to allow government employees to march in permitted demonstrations is one thing (and a good thing), but advocating anarchistic disruption by an elected official is beyond disgusting. I have to go downtown for a doctor’s appointment that could not be scheduled for any other day and it is painful to sit in a car for more than 30 minutes. I can’t believe someone who represents the people would encourage action that would potentially cause me hours of physical pain (remember last time I-5 was shut down all day?).
  
  She also said they should shut down the airports. God forbid nobody is trying to take a last minute flight because a loved one suddenly went to the hospital, the flight is delayed or canceled, and they miss their chance to say goodbye.

Old Time Gal May 1, 2017 (11:36 am)

Wow. I also remember leaving flower baskets on my neighbors’ porches as a kid. How did this day turn into what it is now? But I agree that no freeways, highways or arterials should be shut down. Traffic is already horrible and no one should have to suffer through that–especially in an emergency.

Katie May 1, 2017 (12:51 pm)

May Day being a time for worker protest is about a century old. So a hundred years ago?

Please don’t march onto highways everyone. That’s dangerous and not worth it.

wscommuter May 1, 2017 (12:30 pm)

I have great sympathy and support for peaceful demonstrations which speak to the many ways that our society is now stacked against working class laborers. I support protesting against Trump/Trumpism this year in particular.

But I have no respect for protesters who become violent, who destroy other people’s property or who decide to impose their selfishness on others by trapping them with road closures (to say nothing of the risk of impeding emergency vehicles). I fully support police response to deal with that minority of jerks who become violent/destructive.

And I can’t for the life of me understand anyone who voted for that idiot Sawant. Her statements about May Day are just one in a series of fringe/stupid thoughts coming from her.

Sorry, comment time is over.