Time-travel with Edward to learn about Seattle Commons, Seattle’s legendary Central Park that never was, with Christopher Blado and Weston Brinkley.
Chris and Weston are members of the Atlas Obscura Society, a nationwide organization dedicated to finding and preserving the mystery and magic of everyday life. Atlas Obscura devised a counterfactual walking tour of Paul Allen’s brainchild Seattle Commons, exploring the South Lake Union site it would have occupied, as well as the reasons why 1990s voters failed to approve it. Come for Seattle Commons, stay for Chris and Weston’s trenchant insights into the civic and environmental politics that seem to define Seattle. The resistance to Seattle Commons eerily echoes other historical moments when Seattle’s engaged citizens have from many different points of view opposed proposed projects and this variegated and nuanced opposition has been boiled down at the ballot box to a simple no.
“If the vote were taken today, it could…go differently.” - Christopher Blado
