"But given the public comments SPR collected about the garden, it seems that the people who didn’t like the garden were whites who imagined a BIPOC-led garden must be racist."

These comments?

Darrell Powell, President, Seattle/King County NAACP

“The Black Lives Matter Garden was supposed to be a memorial to the Black Lives that have been lost due to police violence. The garden is anything but that. Instead, it is another example of white co-opting. The Black Community is unaware of the existence of the garden, and the garden does not represent in any meaningful sense, the vast number of Black Lives extinguished by police violence.

Family of Che’ Taylor

“The family of Che’ Taylor is outraged that the Black Star Farmers collective co-opted our call for police reform as a response to the lack of police accountability in Washington state. The collective is guilty of the same exploitive tactics and accusations made against Seattle Parks & Recreation. The values, mission and rhetoric espoused by this collective is not by any means reflective of the Taylor family’s tireless work to memorialize Che’s death through state-wide legislation and policy change."

Mariay Rose Jones, BrownGirlFarmer LLC

“As a 20-year-old farmer, navigating the fields of the Black Lives Matter Memorial Garden as the ‘Brown Girl Farmer’ has been a complex journey. Sadly, each attempt to immerse myself in farming activities has been overshadowed by the pervasive drug activity within the space. For someone of color like me, this Memorial Garden seems far from representing the essence of farming and agriculture.

“Yet, I remain resilient and determined. The desire to relocate this garden to a safer environment, one that allows for organized activities, has become my mission. I am eager to contribute to a space where farming and gardening can truly flourish, free from the shadows of illicit activities.

“In the face of these challenges, I plan to engage with local community organizations and authorities, advocating for a transformation that not only ensures safety but also fosters a more inclusive and vibrant community space for the ‘Brown Girl Farmer’ to thrive.”

Here's the link to the SPR statement that's been cited above: https://parkways.seattle.gov/2023/12/27/statement-on-the-removal-of-the-cal-anderson-garden/

and a couple additional, relevant quotes from it:

SPR - "In recent months, the temporary garden has created unsafe conditions for all park users, including the vandalism of Cal Anderson public bathrooms, public drug use, unauthorized camping, and a significant rodent problem, along with other issues."

Family of Che' Taylor - “The financial contributions that are received in the name of our victimization do not support families impacted by police violence nor do donations further our cause to reduce police violence. Black Star Farmer’s abstract agenda of anti-capitalism, food sustainability, land stewardship, US neoliberal free trade policies, sweeps of unhoused neighbors, and solidarity with the Palestinian people’s occupation are not efforts centered on the lived experiences of impacted families and our loved ones’ fatal encounter with police. Our concern with this Black Lives Memorial Garden is the failure of the collective to engage, support and get consent from surviving family members right here in our own city and state.”

That area was not designed to be a pea patch; it doesn't have the requisite infrastructure. There are pea patches throughout the city. Use them. If you want more, advocate for them.

"SPR started to lean on arguments against public drug use and camping, implying that ridding the park of the community-led garden, and replacing it with one that Harrell can take credit for, would somehow cure addiction and make people un-homeless."

whoa
that's a worm-
tonguey tactic: extropulatin'
to Absurdity but if it 'works' for him

"Hmm."

hmmmm
indeed.

Historic?

Or did you mean histrionic?

Did they also take down the signs that the protesters posted around the garden after 10/7 about how decolonization requires violence? I hope not; I appreciated knowing where they stood.

"grew native plants that produced free food and herbal medicine for the community"

Hasn't this already been happening at the Beacon Food Forest for over a decade now? Maybe instead of hijacking park space in Cal Anderson these "highly trained sustainable agriculture experts" could just go volunteer there.

https://www.beaconfoodforest.org/

@8: Given how Hannah’s paraphrasing of “… the public comments SPR collected about the garden,” didn’t agree at all with the actual public comments, quoted at length @2, @3, and @4, above, you might not want to assume her paraphrasing of SPR’s statements represents an accurate description of what SPR actually stated.

@16: Agreed. For this story, I’ll simply quote from what I posted in the Slog AM thread I the same topic:

“The Stranger is just angry, bitter, and petulant that the persons the Stranger prioritizes over everyone else in Seattle — homeless campers, and only those activists with whom the Stranger completely agrees — are no longer allowed to take what rightfully belongs to all persons and communities in Seattle.”

I walked through Cal Andersen a couple of weeks ago. The garden looked surprisingly good. Getting rid of it seems unnecessary. (And I'm guessing most people commenting here haven't seen it.)

I hate to keep reading SPR Seattle Parks has zero to do with any decisions of this nature the mayor and whoever else tell SPR workers what to do. Almost all spr employees don't have a say and are supporters of the surrounding community but of course the mayor is the overall boss and uses spr to look bad when it has zero to do with them!

Doug dear, the trouble is that park land is at a premium, especially in that neighborhood, and it's always heavily programmed to suit the needs of the neighborhood. Parks gave them a viable option.

CHOP was an interesting experiment that lasted way too long and eventually rotted from within, but it's no way to make land use decisions.

Those of you quoting people supporting the city's decision are completely missing the point of this article: the decision was made by Mayor Harrell, and according to The Stranger is therefore inherently bad. If the exact same decision had been made by Mayor Gonzalez or Mayor Sawant, The Stranger's article would talk at length about how it was obviously good. The merits don't matter. It's about who made the decision. Anything Herrell does is automatically wrong.

@21 Most of the people commenting are regular posters, and well aware of the Stranger's shortcomings. I don't think anyone came here expecting accurate, objective journalism.

The city has public pea patches for this purpose. Why does anyone have the right to seize public property for their own purposes? It’s so tiresome. Socialists are the most anti social people in the city.

@18 - Doug, I walked through Cal Anderson today and it was the first time in AWHILE where I didn't feel slightly sick from the fumes of fentanyl in the air. Also the Sunbowl looked like it's on its way to being restored. As a black resident of this city, I honestly didn't know this was a BLM Garden and I honestly don't approve of the marxists attempts to use Black Lives to steal public land. I'm glad black leaders in this city have voiced their concerns and basically said "no we don't know him.. and we want the Sunbowl returned back to what it used to be"

I have a few questions in my head:

What was the real goal of the marxists/far-left groups use of that land? Basically if they wanted to have the final say on things, were they also planning on extorting money, in the form of "donations", out of groups who wanted to use that space for events?
Did the marxists/far-left groups have Sawant on speed dial when issues arose and asked her to try to use her power as city councilwomen to pressure/bully SPR from reclaiming the space back?

didn't
Capitalist
Schultz* seize
part of a park &
build a stone wall &
then reclaim it for hisself?

*Howie
the well-Landed
burnt Coffee Magnate?

I’m glad to read Cal Anderson Park is being returned to the use of all Seattle residents and visitors. State Sen. Cal Anderson always had an inclusive vision for a better Seattle and Washington state, and this action by SPR fittingly honors his memory.

@26: What about whatabout whataboutism? Really, WTF about it?!?

'Garden Activists' can still be happy that they can continue to vandalize the shelterhouse and bathrooms ad naseum. SPR has spent millions on the repair of the tremendous damages to those facilities since 2019. I have friends in the dept and the stories they can tell! Stranger should do a report and accounting of that!

What's interesting is the marxist groups are showing their true colors after the leaders in the black community, including Councilwoman Hollingsworth said "no we don't know them and they're just white co-opting". I'm going to use that term now on whenever they approach me.

Also they're back there again trying to start shit. I didn't see a single person of color amongst them yesterday evening.