March 16, 2006

SHORT TAKES

Justice for the trees

Occidental is the “martyr park.”

That’s how one of the litigants who fought the city describes the Pioneer Square park in the wake of the city cutting down 17 of its trees, destroying its pergola, and removing its cobblestones on March 6.

Occidental is a “martyr” because the plaintiffs, a group of Pioneer Square residents and business people, have decided to move forward with the lawsuit. Though the city tried to have the case thrown out last week, Superior Court Judge Joan Dubuque said no.

That means the group will get an appeal hearing, set for May 1, in which attorney Jim Klauser will argue it was illegal for the Parks Department not to conduct a SEPA environmental review on what could happen to the park’s remaining trees as a result of replacing the old cobblestones at Occidental with water-tight pavers.

“ It isn’t just the 17 trees that are dead, they’re going to kill the other 43,” Klauser says.

If the group wins, the case would set a precedent for how the city proceeds at other parks the mayor wants to wholly redesign, such as City Hall Park. At Occidental itself, Klauser says, “We’ve told the city that if we prevail, we’re going to make them put it back together again.”

— Cydney Gillis