As the physical clean-up of E Pine and Cal Anderson is completed, activists and the communities that formed around the Capitol Hill protest zone have growing doubts about the commitment of Mayor Jenny Durkan and her city department leaders to Black Lives Matter promises big and small made in the wake of the Seattle Police raid and sweep that cleared the area of the occupied protest last week.

An off-the-mark preservation effort Sunday to protect the massive Black Lives Matter mural that stretches along E PIne south of Cal Anderson at the heart of the month-long protest and occupation is a sign, the artists behind it say, of their concerns that the city wants to simply wash away Seattle’s BLM goals even as activists continue to march — and risk their lives — for the cause.

“What happened today is putting a very bad impression on how these things will go,” Takiyah Ward of TDUB CUSTOMS, who said she was speaking as one representative for the 13 artists who worked on the mural, tells CHS.

Sunday morning, Lawrence Pitre, an artist and head of the nonprofit business organization the Central Area Chamber of Commerce, began what he called a citizen-led preservation effort to seal the painted pavement and protect the street-wide BLACK LIVES MATTER letters.

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“We’re here to preserve the artwork for 13 artists that created this,” Pitre told CHS. “This is an immaculate piece of mural that was created and our job is just trying to help them out. And so we’re here to preserve it.”

 

Ward said she and other artists were unable to stop the effort they said was rushed and slap-dash and would possibly damage the paint by using an improper sealant and not adequately cleaning and touching up the paint before preservation.

“We were in talks with the city about preservation,” Ward said. “That was never supposed to be happen.”

Pitre said the plan is for his small, community-led crew to come back, make adjustments, and then seal the work again.

“I don’t any other way to do it,” Pitre said. “Other than the fact the city sometimes doesn’t move as fast as we like them to. So the community took it upon itself to work with the 13 artists that created this, to let them know, first of all, we apologize.”

“But secondly, let them know, we just want to preserve what they’ve done,” Pitre continued. “This is the greatest gift that that we’ve gotten so far here in the community.”

CHS has reached out the Seattle Department of Transportation but has not heard back on Sunday’s effort. Last week, SDOT workers placed plastic speed bumps and posts to block-off the painted pavement and create an island for the work in the middle of E Pine’s traffic.

Preserving the mural that has become one of the symbols of the month of protest in Seattle is one of several initiatives Mayor Durkan has promised around the East Precinct in talks with occupation camp leaders and in public speeches, and media conferences. The mayor has also promised an effort to create a new community facility and meeting place inside the East Precinct building, a proposal for maintaining community garden space inside the park, and the preservation of some of the protest art and graffiti in the area including the Black Lives Matter paint job the campers gave the Cal Anderson bathrooms.

The roster of art and community assets is a far cry from the most significant BLM goals, of course. The mayor has so far swatted away #defundSPD demands that call for a 50% cut to the police department’s budget as impossible but has answered some demands with her direction to the City Attorney not to prosecute misdemeanor cases from the protests. Activists and community groups continue to apply pressure on other goals that have crystalized in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Saturday, the King County Equity Now Coalition led an Independence Day rally at 23rd and Union for the goals including demands for a roster of Central Area properties to be put into control of Black-led organizations for social and community development.

Monday afternoon, the City Council is set to approve a new tax on big businesses that could raise around $200 million a year to help Seattle recover from the coronavirus and fund social and community initiatives.

Wednesday, meanwhile, will bring a critical debate over COVID-19 crisis-driven changes to the city budget including what could be major cuts to SPD.

For Ward and the artists of the E Pine Black Lives Matter letters, it is difficult to trust a city and a collection of officials and community leaders that can’t coordinate the preservation of their movement’s signature artistic effort.

“This is a huge mistake on a lot of people’s parts,” Ward said.

Meanwhile, the streets and sidewalks around the East Precinct save for areas like the fenced and blocked corner of 12th and Pine are mostly fully open again and Cal Anderson Monday was busy with people and neighbors taking their dogs out for a morning walk.

UPDATE 2:50 PM: SDOT has issued a statement on the Sunday preservation effort. “SDOT had previously notified some of the artists that we did not plan to apply weather sealant to the mural due to concerns that this would bind to the pigments in the paint and potentially cause the paint to fade faster,” it reads. “This was largely due to concerns that sealant would accelerate the wear due to cars driving on the mural, which has been addressed by our changes to the street design.” The statement. says it was not able “to immediately dispatch crews” on Sunday and “the individuals added sealant without City involvement.”

For the past few weeks, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and Seattle Department of Transportation have been engaging community, businesses, residents, artists, and protest leaders to develop a plan to preserve the public art around Cal Anderson Park and Pine Street. We have worked with several individuals who were on site daily during the protests and who had been designated as responsible for decisions related to art produced on site. This included contacting several individuals who helped coordinate the artists who painted the Black Lives Matter street mural on Pine Street. Our overall goal has been to work with the artists to preserve and/or provide temporary storage of the artwork while the artists determine the long-term future of the artwork on their own.

SDOT has committed to finding the best way to preserve the Black Lives Matter street mural and has been working directly with the artists to create a preservation plan. We remain committed to the long-term preservation of this mural, and quickly worked last week to install posts to keep vehicles from driving on the mural when the street was reopened to traffic. We have also installed a new 4-way stop sign at 10th Ave E and E Pine St to help eastbound drivers transition onto the block with the mural at a slower speed.

SDOT had previously notified some of the artists that we did not plan to apply weather sealant to the mural due to concerns that this would bind to the pigments in the paint and potentially cause the paint to fade faster. This was largely due to concerns that sealant would accelerate the wear due to cars driving on the mural, which has been addressed by our changes to the street design. This Sunday SDOT dispatch received a phone call notifying us that some individuals on site were attempting to apply weather sealant to the mural. SDOT was not available to immediately dispatch crews and the individuals added sealant without City involvement.

UPDATE x2: Another outcome of the work to preserve the mural is a new stop sign and crosswalk on E Pine. The new stop brings traffic to a stop at 11th Ave and adds a second crosswalk connecting Pike/Pine to Cal Anderson. Meanwhile, Metro announced that its #11 bus has been routed off E Pine between Broadway and 15th. You’ll now find the 11 on E John.

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