“WWI Battlefield … Arsonists … Colonized … After-Dark Activities”
We live in a world of heightened rhetoric where exaggerated claims often dominate public discourse. Following are select quotes from a letter the north homeowners submitted to SDCI regarding proposed plantings and improvements to Hidden Beach:
QUOTES FROM THE NORTH HOMEOWNER’S LETTER
“Roughly fifteen years ago the rich vegetation was cleared out to minimize illegal and after-dark activities.”
“That looks like a reminder of a WWI battlefield in France”;
“Arsonists rarely make good fire Marshalls.”
“FOHB has colonized the East Harrison SSE.”
“ … a driveway layout that puts the public and my family in danger.”
“For over 3.5 years we have been trying to reduce the size of our existing driveway, open more of the SSE for public access, and protect the environment for the public to enjoy.”
WHERE TO BEGIN?
Hidden Beach does not resemble a WWI battlefield in France. It resembles a 2025 public street end in Seattle designated for public use. Or as Marty succinctly put it:
“THE highest and best use of a shoreline street end IS Public Access. Period, moving on!” - Marty Oppenheimer, FOSE leader
If someone lights a fire on the beach, or anywhere else in Seattle, we should all report it to the police or fire department — especially those who are more apt to witness “after-dark activity”. Let’s put this false fire out.
Hanging out at a city-designated beach is not “colonizing” it. Paving over a public street end seems more like colonization or, “the action of appropriating a place or domain for one's own use.”
The public is not a “danger.” We are your neighbors (in swimsuits). Here’s a photo from yesterday of a group of friends at Hidden Beach taking a dip in Lake Washington. Hardly a group of arsonists or colonizers hanging out on a WWI battlefield in France.
Three ladies from Peru and Chile take a cold dip in Lake Washington on March 10, 2025 at Hidden Beach (aka E Harrison SSE).
If people want to “reduce the size of our existing driveway, open more of the SSE for public access, and protect the environment for the public to enjoy,” then let’s approve the proposal so we can plant native plants, reduce private pavement on public land, and get back to the important business of swimming and enjoying this gem of a public street end.
