That’s most of what’s left of the view at Admiral Way Viewpoint, which is technically part of Belvedere Park. Here’s a 180-degree version:
The WSB inboxes have recently yielded multiple questions about whether Seattle Parks plans to trim trees to restore the almost-fully blocked view. We inquired and found out they won’t be doing it any time soon. Parks spokesperson Rachel Schulkin‘s reply to our inquiry:
Parks & Recreation is pausing any view trimming while we review and update our viewpoint and tree trimming policies. We are assembling a task force to help us with this process.
The longer story is that we are very frequently asked to trim trees to preserve views at various sites, some official viewpoints, some unofficial viewpoints. We are not funded sufficiently to be able to keep up with all these requests, and we’d like to work more proactively and regularly to keep these viewpoints clear. That will require us, along with the task force, to determine which sites require view point trimming and with what frequency.
She promised an update would be available “soon” regarding “the formation of that task force, and its progress.” Official Seattle Parks policy (see page 5) says that “Views from designated public view parks and viewpoints will be preserved through maintenance and management of parks vegetation in front of or below the viewpoint.” (Page 16 of that same document shows that this viewpoint is indeed on the designation list.)
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