Some rich person is throwing a shindig in Gasworks Park, and everyone’s been abuzz over just who it is. Dan Savage decides to check it out:
SIK [Dan’s codename for his friend who worked the posh event. -Will]also told me that, just a few moments before I breached security, a Wallingford resident—one of the with-friends-like-these-who-needs-enemies “friends” of Gasworks Park—had treated him to a screaming fit. SIK told this “friend” of Gasworks that parks all over the city can be rented for weddings, and the “friend” of Gasworks insisted that his wasn’t the case, that it was theft, that it was a public park and what SIK and his crew were doing was illegal, blah blah BLAH.
Most of the park was open to the public, including a large lawn right next to the spot where the tents were set-up—the perfect spot to watch the fireworks display later that night.
I took my son’s dog for a walk after I got home from my party-crashin’ bike ride… and what do you know? There was a wedding in Volunteer Park the same night. Most of the lawn in front of the Seattle Asian Art Museum was covered by a huge white tent. That lawn not only has the best views of the Space Needle and the reservoir, but it also happens to be my son’s dog’s favorite place to take a shit. I noticed that a couple of other dog walkers—park regulars, always fully clothed—nearby; apparently that lawn is a favorite for lots of neighborhood dogs. The best man was giving a speech about the lucky couple—when they met, when he first realized it was serious, how nervous the groom was the first time he met his future in-laws. The folks with dogs standing outside the tent joined in the applause at the end of the speech, and then strolled off to find other places for their dogs to crap.
No one screamed “theft!,” and no one threatened to sue. Everyone in the neighborhood seemed genuinely happy for the couple. The next day we got our park back, no harm done.
The “Friends of Gasworks Park” are ridiculous ninnies who need to take a Valium with their wine spritzer. Gasworks belongs to everyone, not just the neighbors, and like all Seattle parks, it’s for rent for special events. Always has, always will be.
Will
I thought I was supposed to be the mixed up liberal!
What other public property should be for rent to the wealthy?
How about GreenLake? Hmmm, I’ll bet for a few 100K Paul Allen could rent the entire lake for a personal party. Maybe he will let us poor folks look on?
Hay .. why not rent out Mt. Rainier? Imagine the light show he could put on!
If the parks are for rent, could we rent other public resources? Hmmm. Well, we do rent and sell school buildings.
Then there is the privately owned Space Needle. Were you here when they filled in the legs with that lower level restaurant? I wonder what they would charge Mr. Allen if he wanted to rent the upper level as a personal home. Imagine being able to look at the ultimate penthouse from anywhere in the city!
Oh well, we mice ‘n rats still have our parts of Seattle to run around in.
Personally I would like to see public spaces as strictly public as possible. The overwhelming wealth of Seattle’s megarich is, to be honest, oppressive to me.
Do you know the story about how Seattle Yacht Club acquired possession of their amazing property on the ship canal? They bought it, from the city in return for the police boat site on Lake Union. Damn it all, I would love to have a little park there where I could walk the dog and he could chase the ducks. This way I get to look at the rich folks yachts.
Having a special event in a public park is fine, but this one tied up a good chunk of Gasworks for a week. At least it was just a week. I think the Parks Dept. is getting back at the neighborhood for squelching what would have been a permanent placing of the Summer Nights at the Pier concert series. If you lived in an area where your little bit of peace is threatened, you’d be more sympathetic. No one empathizes much until their life is disrupted.
I hope the city made a lot of money on the deal.
Well, lessee…the Seattle Center is “public property”, and parts of it get rented by various organizations all the time. In fact, seems that’s really its predominant use.
There are instances of churches renting school auditoria for Sunday services.
The thread above this one deals with people around here having been dumb enough to take seriously the idea of building a huge arena on the public dime, with exclusive use of and all proceeds going to an NBA franchise.
Anyway, I’m glad I don’t live in Wallingford any more. An occasional use of a nearby park for some joyous celebration I have no problem with. Listening to my neighbors whine about it, I can sure do without.
In this case we have clash of two liberal Seattle values:
–protection of local parks & public interest from abuse by private, corporate, government, etc interests.
–promotion of arts, artists, musicians, writers, publishers, etc who are in the creative infrastructure.
Thus you have good liberals going overboard on both sides. The neighbors don’t want the park or their neighborhood distrupted. While Dan Savage has a vested commerical and emotional interest in extravaganzas, the bigger the better.
OF course there is substantial private use of parks. BUT Gas Works Park neighbors do have a point, because the Seattle Parks Department DID try to strong arm them and pull a fast one viz-a-viz the summer concerts.
Also would submit that the footprint of this weekend’s private party at GWP was greater than average weddings or other private events commonly occuring in our parks. Though from what I saw & heard it appears it was within the bounds of reason, if only just.
Seems what we need is a clear sense of how much is enough when it comes to private functions in public spaces.
Note that in above, “distruption” is MUCH worse than mere disruption!
CrazyJew @ 1
Park space has always been for rent. Always has, always will. This is not a new thing. Companies of varying size rent out parks all over the city for private use for things like company BBQs.
isabelita @ 2
Gasworks Park is not a pocket park. It’s one of the jewels in the crown of the Seattle Parks system.
Lots and lots of park was open to the public. Yes, the part rented was really nice, but soon the tents will be gone and it’ll be yours again. The Summer Nights concert series was never going to be permanent @ Gasworks, just until the Pier was reopened downtown.
will, you’re being disingenuous, but i’ll leave it to you to admit whether or not it’s intentional – the summer concert series that they tried to move into gasworks would have closed off the *entire* park immediately before & during the event. they had no intention of letting non-paying people into the area, so using the story from volunteer park as a comparison is invalid & misleading.
the “friends of gasworks” had valid concerns with the way the city handled the situation, and it probably would have been less contentious had the city (ha!) been upfront. of course there are probably loons in the group, but that has as much basis as cherrypicking loony comments from this site & depicting goldy as sharing the sentiments.
you can do better.
Again, real reason that last weekend’s private party at Gas Works Park stired up such a storm, was because of the DISHONEST way that Ken Bounds and the Seattle Parks Dept. went about attempting to railroad the Wallingford neighborhood AND parks lovers across the city.
The equally dishonest hype employed by Dan Savage and Will is SERIOUSLY undermining their argument, which is that private use of parks is status quo and a good thing. Reason their rhetoric is counterproductive, is because the status quo is REASONABLE and REGULATED private park use.
Now “reasonable” and “regulated” are NOT descriptive of either the scale of encrouchment proposed for summer concerts OR of the vehemenent rhetoric used by those who might be seen as having a personal financial stake in the expansion of musical and other events in Seattle parks.
You are making your opponent’s case for them!
8 “Disingenuous”???? You mean he’s being like….like…like MICHAEL MOORE??????? Oh, horrors!
Seriously, there is a difference between a one-time private gathering (even a big one) and a whole series of profit-making events like Summer Nights. In the latter case you are talking about repeated inconvenience to the local residents, including hearing the music whether you want to or not, traffic, garbage and “regular people” being denied use of the facility.
By the same token, I’d be disappointed to see the residents of Queen Anne sue to stop the 4th of July fireworks on the waterfront. (Don’t laugh–they’re there because they got run out of Greenlake years ago.)
Will
You need to learn to recognize sarcasm.
I know that places in the parks have long been rented out. However, I also think the economic polarization of Seattle is raising a number of disturbing questions about such things.
Do you know in Sweden there is a law about public access to water front property? The idera,as told to me, is that no-one should be able to own such a common resource.
A lot o what is happening to Seattle seems to me to endanger a long tradition of egalitarianism in this city. Yeh, someone puttin’ on a wedding or whatever occasionally in a park is no big deal, but can’t you see the POV of the locals as well?
Sometime before DL join me for a visit to the Seattle Yacht Club. SYC fully occupies the water front of what once was a public park. I know a little about how they achieved this deal and it pisses me off because I also know that SYC is unwilling to open their gates even occasionally for University or neighborhood functions. I once wrote a ltter in a local boating rag suggesting that SYC might, as a matter of good will, provide a public access dock for pumpouts, something badly needed around here. I have not seen such an allergic reaction since John Wayne accidentally visited a bar near my home on Cap. Hill!
Don’t get me wrong, I luv the rich and only wish they would luv me too. What i do not luv is finding parts on MY city where I can’t go cuz I don’t have enough money.
Take the SAM as an example. I am glad we have it and am a member. Still, SAM is supported by TAX dollars. I wish that meant it could be open for free every day. But then I feel the same way about our pro teams. If I buy a stadium I ought to be able to afford tickets too.
So back to sarcasm, don’t you like my idea of Bozao renting Green Lake for the next Amazon party? They could import swann boats from Boston and Jeff’s buddies could peddle around while bikinied (male and female) swam between the boats delivering comestibles. Yummy! Wouldn’t it be fun to watch from across the street?
I have to agree with the Friends of Gasworks Park on the concerts. There is like NO parking there.I’m sure it is bad enough having to put up with the 4th of July shindig. I live near Seattle Center, and I dread three weekends, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and whatever weekend they put on the Bite. Nobody wants to pay the prices in the parking garages, and they all park on our already over-crowded streets. I live three blocks away, but I’ve never been tempted to attend Bumbershoot, I get to hear the music whether I want to or not. And I can’t take my usual route to the grocery store because they’ve got the whole place fenced off. At least with this wedding shindig, they bussed the people in and didn’t mess up the parking for everybody else.
Isn’t there a difference between a private wedding and a community wide celebration?
Do you know in Sweden there is a law about public access to water front property? The idera,as told to me, is that no-one should be able to own such a common resource.
They have the same law in Hawaii.