bikeseattle.org

The Washington Post has a decent article on the upcoming Olympic Sculpture Park, which is set to be opening this spring.

The 8.5 acre park is being offered up as a “space where people can experience art outdoors”.

From the post:

Seattle’s park will be free, fenceless and in the heart of the city. Officials hope the easy access will encourage a greater appreciation of the arts from people cycling, jogging or just strolling through the area.

This sounds like it will be quite an impressive place. There is a catch though. The site where the park is being built used to be a toxic site.

The WSDOE[pdf link] says:

The site is located at the corner of Elliott Street and Broad Street in Seattle and it is intended to be part of the future Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park.

As a result of welding and automotive service activities on this site soil and groundwater was contaminated with an assortment of petroleum hydrocarbon products.

The study goes on to say that cleanup on the site is complete.

Stories like this always tend to be complex. On the one hand, it is inspiring to see an organization such as SAM take on what must be a dauntingly huge project. On the other is public concern that the clean up is truly sufficient.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide, but I’ll be there for the opening.