Maybe it's because I'm still fundamentally an outsider here, but I just don't get the hysteria over the Alki Statue of Liberty, which, by the time you read this, will have been unveiled on its original pedestal after months of political wrangling. The latest news concerns Mayor Greg Nickels, who got wind of Council Member Tom Rasmussen's efforts to restore the statue and parachuted in at the last minute to claim the credit.
Nearly three years ago, the crown of West Seattle's plaster replica Statue of Liberty—which, at just over seven feet tall, is about one-twentieth the size of the actual Statue of Liberty—was broken off. The statue was removed in 2006.
Replacing the inexplicably beloved statue has proved a Sisyphean task, with every minor step forward undone by a dozen comical stumbles back, most of them perplexing internecine battles it would take a marriage counselor to untangle.
The biggest debate so far centered on whether the statue's pedestal should be replaced at a cost of around $150,000. Ultimately, the pro-pedestal forces prevailed, but residents are still working to raise the money. In the meantime, the decision was made to retire Lady Liberty—which many statue fans insist, somewhat disturbingly, on referring to as "she"—to the Alki Bathhouse. (Was that debate contentious, too? Oh, yes.)
Rasmussen got involved in the flap when he volunteered to represent the city at a (temporary) unveiling of the statue on its old pedestal on September 11. When Mayor Nickels got wind of the community's 9/11 plans, he did Rasmussen one better, promising statue fans $50,000 to replace the pedestal. Nickels also hijacked (sorry) the 9/11 event, turning it into an orgy of patriotism featuring an honor guard, a big band, Boy Scouts, and an appearance by the fireboat Leschi, which spewed water into Elliott Bay in honor of the occasion.
In other construction news, at least three city farmers' markets—Columbia City, Lake City, and Capitol Hill—will be forced to move in the next three years, and Council Member Sally Clark's neighborhoods committee is trying to find a way to accommodate them. At their meeting last week, market advocates thanked Clark for getting a temporary waiver of the city's park-rental rules, which require vendors to cough up 10 percent of their take to the city. "If you're selling cheesesteaks at Volunteer Park, I don't feel that bad about taking 10 percent of your sales," Clark said later, but farmers' markets are another matter.
