A day after a new privacy fence was put up at Seattle's Denny Blaine Park, much of it was gone.
The city installed the fence Wednesday in response to the ongoing controversy over how to preserve the nude gathering space, while also addressing the complaints of neighbors who don't want to see certain behavior.
As Rachel Schulkin, spokesperson for Seattle's Parks and Recreation, wrote in an email, the fence was put up in accordance with a court-ordered plan submitted related to nuisance behavior at Denny Blaine Park."
The fence is a 4-foot-high, chain-link fence, with green tarps affixed to block the view. The fencing was arranged to create three sections, two of which, beach and lawn, are clothing-optional, Schulkin wrote, noting that fence "obscures views into the park.
But around 11 p.m. Thursday, the tarp began to be ripped apart, according to a Seattle police report.
Two officers were dispatched to the scene for a property damage call. They found a green tarp that had been on the fence in a nearby portable toilet. The fence itself was also damaged, according to the police report.
A witness who recorded a video of a man with the tarp, told police she recognized him as someone who frequents the park. Police tried unsuccessfully to find the man that night, according to the report.
The damage to the fence has been repaired, Schulkin said Friday.
The incident comes as city officials try to tamp down this dispute and move on. The city has proposed adding surveillance by park rangers in its plan for suppressing illegal activity at the park, which a judge demanded last month as part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by neighbors.
The proposal, lawyers for the city argue, strikes a balance between the rights of “adjacent landowners and the LGBTQIA+ community’s historical use of the Park as a nude gathering space.”
Neighbors of the park, who sued the city over alleged apathy toward lewd and illegal behavior such as public masturbation, criticized the plan. For two years, residents have looked for ways to change the situation, including offering to pay for a playground at the park.
Material from The Seattle Times archives was included in this report.
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