Still toxic after all these years: tragedy at Gas Works Park

Gas Works Park is a toxic waste site where oil and other harmful chemicals fester just below the surface. But the city of Seattle had the great idea of turning it into a park - opening it to the public fully in 1976.

Beautiful “kite hill” is actually a mound of sewage and toxic structural materials covered by several inches of clay and a lawn. You can’t dip your toes into Lake Union which surrounds GWP - because of the toxic sediment which has been waiting to get cleaned up for more than seven decades.

The piece d’ resistance are the cracking towers. A delightful name not to be confused with cracker jacks or anything delicious and safe. This is where carcinogenic chemicals and coal were heated up to create fuel. The environment be damned.

The city paid the power company over a million dollars which is about eight million in today’s dollars, to take over the disaster of GWP which had been abandoned since the 1950s. Through this land deal the city inherited the home of a new park. And state and local taxpayers inherited hundreds of millions of dollars of future environmental clean up. $80 million has been funded to start work (again) in 2027. But that won’t be the end of it.

While the chemicals bubble below, the crackling towers are bejeweled by ladders, catwalks, platforms - a total invitation to climb. A shoddy (crappy) cheap chain link fence surrounds the towers - as part of the cleanup deal required by environmental regulations. That fence is not a fine feat of engineering or human-factors based design to address the grand nuisance that rests in the middle of one of the most distinctive urban recreational parks in the country.

Children, teens, young adults have heeded the siren’s call of the crackling towers and fallen. While the city has watched from a distance.

Until this last time when 15 year old Mattheis Johnson, who just finished his sophomore year at Ballard High, died while he and his friends tried to get a better view at a pop up concert.

Then the city (parks) said behold! This structure is dangerous to the public and emergency action should be taken. Here are the funds to fix it.

And then the city (neighborhoods/landmark) proclaimed: No! And in doing so prioritized the crackling towers as more important than human life.

And the city came to a stop over what to do about safety at GWP.

This is why, as a personal injury lawyer who has never been primarily motivated by money but by the cause… by the wrongs done to those not as powerful… by wanting to fight injustice. Well, this is why I belong to a law firm that believes as I do. And why I drafted a nuisance/abatement lawsuit. With my team (Mo Hamoudi, Kristin Michaud, Jamie Kessler, Kassie Slugic) jumping in to help. And why my firm is standing by cheering us on. As we handle this matter pro bono. For free. To support a family who has suffered the greatest loss. A family we can help empower to do whatever we can to protect our community. And get the city to do its job.

And to all the haters who cannot read more than one sentence out of a news article before jumping to the wrong conclusion - thinking this is a money grab. Maybe you should ask AI to do the homework instead.

Because lawsuits can be brought for things other than money.