RIP Alki Trail picnic bench, 5/3/26 to 5/7/26
On Sunday, volunteers from West Seattle Urbanism (including me) built a picnic bench in the dead space where there used to be diagonal parking at Duwamish Head along Alki Trail. A few minutes after we started building, a worried neighbor came by to ask what we were doing. I had a long conversation with her, and she ultimately told me that she wanted the area to remain "inhospitable to the wrong type of people," and that she would call the city to have it removed.
We left a QR code for feedback, and got lots of positive responses: "I loved sitting here and eating my dinner as the sun set" and "Very convenient" and "Looks great! Good job building it and I love the idea." But the neighbor got her way, and yesterday the city removed the bench. There's once again nothing but asphalt in that space.
We're not discouraged though, and have built and placed three more benches in West Seattle! If you find one, I hope you'll take a rest, meet some friends, and enjoy it. Each has a QR code which you can use to give feedback and suggestions for more locations. If you want to join us in doing things like this, we meet up at 6 PM every Wednesday at Great American Diner. Or, come hang out with us on Discord! All the info is here: