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Posts tagged ‘plazas’

9
Nov

J.P. Patches and Gertrude Statue

J.P. Patches and Gertrude go Bronze to raise funds for Children’s Hospital!

Kids growing up in the Northwest counted on J.P. Patches to put them in the mood for fun each morning before school from 1958 to 1981. Gertrude and all of her/his (Fabulous Bob Newman) alter egos filled the show with guest characters. From 2006 to 2008, J.P.’s (Chris Wedes) carpenter Carl Lovgren and author Bryan Johnston led a team to honor these characters with a bronze statue including a coin bank collecting donations for Children’s Hospital, J.P.’s favorite charity.   The statue is in place and $82,000 in excess funds were donated to Children’s.

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1
Nov

Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza

Photo Credit to David Hutchinson

Alki’s 1/18th scale Statue of Liberty is one of 200 replicas installed around the country celebrating the Boy Scout’s 40th anniversary.  The Seattle Statue of Liberty Plaza Committee built a permanent classy setting for Seattle’s recast bronze Lady Liberty. CAST Architecture and E Workshop donated the design of this project, while Mayor Nickels and the Seattle city council granted $50,000 in city funds.  Once the plaza was paid for and built, the community kept selling bricks until the plaza was sold out.  We gave the money to the Parks Department in exchange for a Memorandum of Understanding that the money would only be used for maintenance of that plaza and no more quickly than 10% of the total per year.

6
Apr

Fremont Peak Park

View from Fremont Peak Park

Photo Credit: Jack Tomkinson

Fremont Peak Park at N 45th & Palatine N was three houses in the woods in 2001.

Aerial view of the houses at the time of purchase

Photo Credit: unknown Helicopter pilot?

Fremont Peak Park (FPP) was the precursor to Urban Sparks.  Jack Tomkinson and Karen Moe, members of the FPP steering committee, were so moved by the experience of creating this park and receiving guidance from park instigators from around the city that we started Urban Sparks to capture and share the hard-earned lesson from successful project leaders.  We thought more people would do public work  if they knew that it was within reach and if they knew where to begin.

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