Park workers helped tear down the Black Lives Matter memorial on Wednesday, with Seattle citing drug use and vandalism of restrooms as reasons.
A community garden originally planted in Seattle's Cal Anderson Park as part of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests has been torn down due to what the city called unsafe conditions.
Seattle Parks and Recreation workers helped tear down the Black Lives Matter memorial on Wednesday, with city officials citing drug use, vandalism of park toilets and illegal camping as reasons, the Seattle Times reported.
Seattle Parks spokeswoman Rachel Shulkin said the garden "is of public health and public safety concern and requires maintenance, including replanting and turf restoration."
"Over the past several months, the temporary garden has created unsafe conditions for all park users," Shalkin added, "including vandalism at Cal Anderson's public restrooms, public drug use, unauthorized camping, and a serious rodent problem, among other issues."
The garden was part of a protest zone on Capitol Hill where activists gathered for several weeks in June 2020, but Seattle park officials said it should be torn down to make way for other uses of the park.
Alan Meekins, a volunteer gardener and Capitol Hill resident, said the site helps connect people and nature, but has also become a mutual aid center for people experiencing homelessness. He linked Wednesday's shooting to the eviction of blacks from some neighborhoods and called the city's decision an attempt to erase symbols of protest and discontent.
Black Star Farmers, which runs the garden, described it as a place where the working class and the poor can identify the root causes of injustice and condemned its demolition in a statement. The Seattle Times reports that people who use the space mourn "the destruction of years of collaboration, the physical embodiment of connection with plant life" and the exchange of knowledge, food and medicine.
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The organization and other opponents of the removal forced Seattle Parks to postpone the original action date until October. More than 5,000 people have signed an online petition against the demolition of the unauthorized garden, calling it a tribute to Black and Indigenous people killed by police and bringing joy and healing to residents of the area who have not seen much do not have access to green space.
Shalkin said the city will work with black community leaders and the Seattle-based Black Farmers Collective to "develop a concept for a new memorial garden" elsewhere in Cal Anderson Park.
But Yeawa Asabi, a member of the Black Farmers Collective, said the organization does not support Wednesday's firing and does not intend to work with Seattle officials to replace him.
Black Star Farmers said the city "demolished the garden for public health and safety reasons, but not because the garden contributes to the housing crisis and drug epidemic." "The destruction of orchards is a theatrical and reactionary response to systemic problems designed to appease landowners, bosses and politicians who seek to take labor away from the poor and working class."
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The post Seattle Closes Black Lives Matter Garden Due to Homelessness, Vandalism appeared first on TheGrio.
