Tag Archives: mlk way

City, community groups creating ‘Memorial Garden’ in MLK Way’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park

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“The park features Robert Kelly’s 30-foot-tall sculpture inspired by King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, which was gifted to the city by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Committee in 1991″ (Image: Another Believer/Wikipedia)

While the public process around a planned art installation honoring the Black LIves Matter movement at Capitol Hill’s Cal Anderson Park has gone quiet, an effort to create a new memorial garden in MLK Way’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park is busy.

This summer, the MLK Memorial Garden Development Project is beginning with an effort to create a garden and “enhanced park space” that promotes “healing, solidarity, and sustainable living.”

“By centering community voices throughout the design process, SPR seeks to co-create a garden that honors Seattle’s Black diaspora, celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s enduring legacy, and provides a dedicated space for reflection and remembrance of those lost too soon to gun violence,” Seattle Parks and Recreation said about the project as it kicked off earlier this summer. Continue reading →

SPD locks down schools during search for teens who made MLK Grocery Outlet gun threat

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Police locked down the area searching for a group of teens after a hold-up at the MLK Grocery Outlet Tuesday afternoon.

Police say they were called to the MLK at Union grocery around 12:30 PM to a report of three teens who attempted to steal around $50 worth of items but were stopped by employees. Police say store security engaged in a “brief struggle” and recovered the stolen items before the teens threatened that they had a firearm and were able to flee the store.

SPD says a K-9 team conducted a track of the suspects, “leading back to the entrance of Garfield High School where the track ended.” Continue reading →

Mayor’s office: Powell Barnett Park asylum-seeker camp being cleared

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(Image: CHS)

The city has acted quickly to clear the camp of asylum seekers that has filled the Central District’s Powell Barnett Park for the past week.

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office said Tuesday most of the remaining families had already moved out of the park and that any remaining tents and material were to be cleared by 8 AM Thursday morning:

This morning, about 30-35 people were in the park, including mutual aid workers and other people who are helping to break down tents. Our Unified Care Team posted notice that all individuals will need to leave the park by 8 am this Thursday. UCT will provide anyone still remaining at the site at 8 a.m. on Thursday with the option to store any personal belongings and will conduct a thorough cleaning of the site.

Next will come clean-up and any any needed repairs. “Following resolution, the Parks Department will evaluate the park for environmental and hygienic impacts, cleaning and restoring it as necessary to ensure it is available to the broader community for its intended purpose,” the mayor’s office statement reads. Continue reading →

As asylum-seeker camp grows in Central District park, neighbors call on Mayor Harrell for ’emergency response’ — UPDATE

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(Image: CHS)

Neighbors, members of the Leschi Community Council, and descendants of the man the park is named for are calling on Mayor Bruce Harrell and the city to act quickly to address health and safety concerns that have grown at the asylum-seeker encampment that formed late last month in the Central District’s Powell Barnett Park.

“How does the city deal with this sort of the emergency?,” Maisha Barnett, granddaughter of Powell S. Barnett asked during a Monday press conference organized to present a call from the community group for the city to provide an immediate response to sanitation and health needs at the park.

“We’re not here to decide whether they need shelter,” Barnett said, trying to put aside larger questions and frustrations that have complicated efforts to help the campers.

The group that spoke Monday is asking the city to act now to bring resources like portable toilets and sinks, better solutions for garbage, and more efforts to coordinate the camp immediately to Powell Barnett while larger questions about immigration and the bureaucratic grind that has created the camp to continue to play out.

UPDATE 4:45 PM: The mayor’s office says it has already started clearing out the camp and is working to remove “families and single adults still remaining. In the statement, the mayor’s office says about 150 people “transitioned from the park and into shelter and housing over the weekend.” The city says it has identified shelter for 40 families from the park. “Following this, we will evaluate the park for environmental and hygienic impacts, cleaning and restoring it as necessary to ensure it is available to the broader community for its intended purpose,” the statement reads.

Continue reading →

Tents, blankets, and tarps — Camp of asylum seekers back in the Central District at Powell Barnett Park

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The Central District’s Powell Barnett has become the latest landing spot for asylum seekers from Congo, Angola, and Venezuela who have been shuttled from temporary camps to county and donor-supported motel rooms and back again while local governments try to sort out more permanent shelter.

Mutual aid groups announced the new camp location as tents were set up Monday in this Central District park along MLK Way. The new camp is a few blocks east of Garfield Community Center where the group briefly set up tents on the campus tennis courts earlier this month in what turned out to be a one-day camp thanks to a private donation securing enough funding to pay for more nights at the Quality Inn in Kent.

With funds again short, organizers say the group needs tents, blankets, and tarps to make the Powell Barnett camp livable. Continue reading →

Mail carrier robbed at gunpoint in Central District as Postal Service faces wave of ‘arrow key’ hold-ups

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The cover of a United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General report on arrow keys

A Central District armed robbery of a United States Postal Service worker last week is part of a trend of hold-ups targeting mail carriers for their keys which can give access to package and mail-stuffed collection boxes.

According to Seattle Police, a carrier called 911 last Thursday morning reporting she had been robbed at gunpoint along MLK Way south of Dearborn. The victim told police the suspect approached her as she was getting mail and packages out of the truck, pointed a black handgun, and demanded her keys and phone. Continue reading →

Street signs mark a Central District legacy on the new D’Vonne Pickett Jr. Way

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De’Auzjanae Pickett

A portion of E Union linking two important corners in the Central District’s history and community has a new name.

New honorary street signs have gone up marking D’Vonne Pickett Jr. Way.

At a ceremony marking the new honorary designation, De’Auzjanae Pickett said it was a fitting way to remember her brother.

“As you guys all know, this block, this scene as a whole, played a major role in D’Vonne’s upbringing and who he was and who he is and where his legacy will continue to go,” she said.

This week, loved ones and family were joined by Mayor Bruce Harrell, and City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda at a ceremony marking the installation of the new honorary street signs joining the existing E Union signage just west of 23rd and Union, the Liberty Bank Building, and Midtown Square.

“Even as we mourn the tragedy of his loss, we know that his legacy will live on forever in the hearts of those who he inspired, especially the many young people he mentored as they become the future leaders of this city,” Harrell said. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council to vote on designating part of E Union as D’Vonne Pickett Jr. Way to honor slain business owner — UPDATE

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KeAnna Pickett and D’Vonne Pickett, Jr. at the 2018 opening of The Postman (Image: CHS)

The Seattle City Council is scheduled for a Valentine’s Day vote to honorarily designate E Union between 21st and 22nd Avenues as D’Vonne Pickett Jr. Way.

UPDATE: The resolution passed in an unanimous 9-0 vote.

“D’Vonne embodied and internalized the belief of being ‘HEAVY’ over airy in all of his endeavors, particularly in his role as a family patriarch, as a mentor and a friend to almost everyone he encountered throughout life, a sentiment he often uniquely expressed in the form of his favorite catchphrase, ‘Stop Playin!,'” the resolution being introduced by Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda reads. Continue reading →