Ten thousand dollars: That's how much the Homeless Remembrance Project had to raise by Jan. 15 to receive a matching grant, with the combined funds directed toward the construction of a memorial for homeless people who have died in the region. Victor Steinbrueck Park had been selected as the tentative site. But with a recent decision that gave that site the nix, the Place of Rembrance needs a new place to go.
In a unanimous decision on Jan. 27, the Pike Place Market Historical Commision voted to prohibit placement of the memorial -- a 13-foot-high artistic construction known as the "Tree of Life." Plans submitted to the commission had indicated the structure would be placed within the park's "Children's play area," yet the commission suggested better locations could be found.
Also opposed to Victor Steinbruek Park as a site was landscape architect, Richard Haag, who co-designed the park. "The proposal to displace the little persons with sculpture is not good," Haag wrote in a Jan. 27 letter to the commission, adding, "There are many reasons (aesthetic, humanitarian, jurisdictional, legal) to reject the project." He offered that all sides could "work together to secure a more commanding location."
A spokesperson for the historical district indicated that the decision can be appealed.