Liberty sooner or Liberty later: Meeting #2 tonight

You have another chance tonight to hear organizers make their case for keeping the recast Alki Statue of Liberty on hold till a “plaza” and new base can be built for it. We reported on their meeting last Wednesday; they say the gathering tonight by the old statue base, 7 pm, will be similar, and they’re planning to be at the Alki Community Council meeting this Thursday as well. Here’s an updated architect rendering of what the plaza would look like (more here):

smallerstatue.jpg

And here again is the e-mail address for the Parks Department (which has the final say) person who’s on the project — write to let ’em know what you think.

4 Replies to "Liberty sooner or Liberty later: Meeting #2 tonight"

  • Libby Carr July 16, 2007 (3:06 pm)

    We had the pleasure of sharing the architectual drawings with many people yesterday at the Summer Fest Hi Yu street fair on California in West Seattle yesterda. It was wonderful to see so many people taking a close look at the drawings and almost everyone expressing significant approval and enthusiasm for the new plaza concept. We had over 50 new signups indicating support for the idea, and wanting to contribut either time, money or both to the formation of the Seattle Statue of Liberty Committee.

    Thanks to all of you for your support of this plan adopted by the community over 2 years ago. Let’s come together and finish what was started.

    Everyone is encouraged to come tonight for the meeting at 7:00 at the Statue site (61 & Alki) to hear Matt Hutchins (one of the architects) talk about the design and Libby & Paul will talk about plans they have in mind for the new committee. Thanks = Libby Carr

  • Jo July 17, 2007 (9:16 pm)

    A few comments re: Monday’s meeting.

    New plaza plan is pretty, but…
    I have questions/concerns regarding the design.
    1. the smooth surface of base and benches makes it “skateboarders heaven” (as a previous poster noted).
    2. the smooth surface of base, benches, and tiles makes it “Taggers Heaven.” Parks Dept. will most likely be responsible for cleanup. ???
    3. Statue is rotated facing west towards mountains, not as original was orientated, facing out towards the straits the way the original settlers arrived.
    4. Plantings need Parks Dept. upkeep (weeding, replacing dead plants, etc), plus must survive in salt water.
    5. All engraved tiles must be done at installation of Plaza. Tiles can’t be added later as tiles are set in mortar (per architect)
    6. Per architect, construction time will be 2 1/2 to 4 months depending… That leaves 8 months to raise $150,000 plus.
    7. The new committee hasn’t received 501(c)3 status yet, so can’t begin to accept money til then. We just want these people to be realistic about how hard it is to raise money now in an environment when so many flood, fire, hurricane, homeless, etc. victims are needing help. In most people’s minds the ‘humanities’ come first.
    8. Can new statue be brought back to Seattle where she belongs, maybe displayed in the Bathhouse or at Log Cabin Museum?
    9. Parks Dept has suggested a 3rd option: installing new statue on old base – with a spiffed up base with sold tiles incorporated. I think this could work and would be acceptable to lots of people.
    10. What happens if we don’t raise enough money? Will some of the work be done depending on how much money has been collected; i.e., base constructed, installed with new statue, tiles set, etc. These are questions that haven’t been answered. How long will this fundraising effort be allowed to go on before some action is taken?

    I wish the new committee luck. I don’t hate the project. I do hate that we’ll be without the recast, paid-for statue for another 1 plus years. The new committee dismisses this concern with ‘just be patient’.

    Please, please email/call Pamela Kliment at Parks Dept., (206) 684-7556, Pamela.Kliment@Seattle.Gov.
    It’t imperative that you contact her with your opinion.
    Thanks.

  • matt July 19, 2007 (10:19 am)

    Jo

    I wanted to response to your questions as best I can:

    1. We’ve considered skateboarding and located the pavers to inhibit it, and talked about installing breaks on the benches to keep them from being used as well.

    2. The pedestal will have a slightly rough sand blasted finish and be treated with an anti-graphiti finish so if it does get tagged it will be easier to remove. There is no guarantee that it won’t get tagged but that can be said of the current pedestal as well.

    3. See my comments from the prior thread. I think that what we get in return for the slight rotation (seating in front, seating out of potential maintenance traffic, alignment with the plaza entrances) makes it worth it.

    4. We are proposing species of plants that are native to the seashore ecosystem, more like what the original settlers would have seen on the beach, so they won’t be adversely affected by the salty environment. Upkeep has been an issue that we have been working on, and last year had gotten a commitment from the Starbucks folks across the street to help with volunteer hours maintaining the planting.

    5. Yes, and hopefully there won’t be another need to raise money for this community space in the next hundred years.

    6. Exactly.

    7. Libby and Paul are working on it right now and it should be in place soon.

    8. I think this is a great idea to bring the statue back to the bath house and help fundraise for the completion of the project.

    9. Although Parks has informally mentioned this idea, they haven’t presented anything to the community, solicited comment as to what improvements they might want to make, or set out when they might be ready to do so. Perhaps Pam will tonight at the Community Council meeting.

    10. Breaking the project into phases has been discussed, but I’m sure Parks would rather have the project done in one fell swoop, rather than in incremental, intermittal construction over the next couple of years. Our goal is to raise the total sum now, build it all at one, and finish as fast as possible.

    Thanks Jo, for your participation and comments on the project!
    If there is anything else, post a question and I’ll try to answer it.

  • Jo July 19, 2007 (4:53 pm)

    Thanks so much for your response to our concerns. Finally we get direct answers, not just the standard ‘party-line’ that we’ve been hearing.
    Again, thanks.

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