An Impolite Fiction

If you have ill intent and money to burn, you could choose to hire an attorney, perhaps register a website out of Arizona, consider creating a disinformation campaign — all with the intent to gum up the system and stall the E Harrison Street End (aka “Hidden Beach) proposal. We can’t make this stuff up folks. It’s stranger than fiction.

Enter the latest counter to our efforts: the Orwellian “Restore East Harrison” website:

https://www.restoreeastharrison.org
(note: may cause nausea, confusion and laughter)

What should be a simple process of permit > improvements > native plantings > get back to swimming is now clouded by this misleading website, which was sent to us today. The website claims Hidden Beach is a wetland, but this is a known classification error worthy of its own blog post. SDOT and SDCI have expressed that is it not a wetland (otherwise people would not have been allowed to swim, sunbathe and relax here for decades). But “wetland” is a convenient cudgel for their purposes. Don’t believe the hype!

Example:
A photo (taken from our website) shows a crowd of beach goers at Hidden Beach on June 27, 2021 — a day that people turned out for a “float-in” to support Hidden Beach. It was a scorching 108F. People showed up and (gasp!) swam in the public lake at a public street end.

View fullsize

You may be in this 6/27/21 photo. The Restore East Harrison website says, “crowds trample the wetland and destroy vegetation and native grasses.” We say, “It was 108F. People were at a float-in showing support for Hidden Beach. Seattle street ends for the win!”

Restore East Harrison describes this image as, “crowds trample the wetland and destroy vegetation and native grasses.” But our proposal makes it clear that we love plants. In fact, native plantings are a big part of the proposal under review (which they reject). Where we may disagree: We believe that the public should have access to public street ends.

They go on to say, “in the summer there are days when over 500 people a day are jammed into this small space.” This stretches credulity as there aren’t even 100 people in the above photo, taken on the busiest beach day in memory. If you count, there are about 55 people in the photo. And maybe 10 floaties.

The good news: our proposal is in review with SDCI. We don’t have lawyers, but we do have love for Hidden Beach. We swim in the lake, not in disinformation. We’re the public, not the enemy. Hopefully these folks will find a better use for their influence — we can always use help at a work party.