Posts tagged gas works park
Seattle employs age old propaganda tactic against Gas Works Park victims
Seattle employs age old propaganda tactic against Gas Works Park victims

The City fired its opening salvo in the Gas Works Park nuisance lawsuit filed after the death of 15 y.o. Matthies Johnson.  This is how the City’s Answer begins:

“The City admits that some trespassers at Gas Works Park who have climbed or attempted to climb the appurtenances to the fenced-in towers have been injured and died in falls.”

The City does not refer to Matthies Johnson or the other 14 young people as humans with names and ages, families and friends.  It classifies them as negative disembodied entities.  Law breakers.  Bad people.  Trespassers.

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human, pretrialKaren Koehlercity of seattle, gas works park, government legal defense
Still toxic after all these years: tragedy at Gas Works Park
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 surround GWP - because of the toxic sediment which has been waiting for more than a decade to get cleaned up.

But 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.

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humanKaren Koehlerpro bono, gas works park, lawyer life