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| Rosemarie Ives: "Elbow Grease Makes a Beautiful Community" |
Rosemarie read this during "Items from the Audience." She was upset Council didn't respond to it saying they prefer spending Ombuds. time reciting in great detail their committee reports.
Rosemarie Ives,
As former Redmond mayor, 1992-2007, and founder of the Old Firehouse Teen Center, I object to the premature demolition of the Old Firehouse—what is the rush? The public has not seen renderings for the new 13 Million dollar building, nor heard about funding which appropriately should be part of council’s budgetary decisions this fall.
The City administration has failed to give consideration to or share with the public the building’s historic significance—it was the first city hall, first council chambers, first fire station before the teen center, a regionally acclaimed music venue. According to King County Historic Preservation staff, the Firehouse is likely eligible for designation for historic and cultural significance and possibly architectural significance.
Did any of you (Council) know this?
Inside the building, there are priceless artifacts such as the city’s first vault and local newspapers stuffed in the holes of the cinder blocks used in construction, maybe a time capsule and more. This building should be treated with care, not hastily bulldozed.
The mayor and parks director continue to insist the building is unsafe. Yet the consultants who were hired last year to assess the building reported back at the July study session, even they could not say it was unsafe. Yes, needed upgrades and possible issues that could be remediated.
With the city’s Historic Preservation Ordinance being in effect for almost 30 years, the Historical Society had requested a walk through to identify artifacts, take photographs and possibly do an audio/visual recording with the former city clerk, fire chiefs, parks director and Firehouse director who have memories to share.
Last week, Parks staff said “no” to their request, claiming the unsubstantiated mantra: the building is unsafe. The abrupt closure is reminiscent of the senior center’s demise. It appears that the City systematically failed to maintain the buildings. Perhaps the reason why a majority of the council ignored my recommendation for an analysis of the 2014 and 2018 building assessments was because the preferred outcome for a new building was already decided, reinforced by the charade of a contrived shareholders process with only four teens being asked to participate, making sure they were a tiny minority.
The Seattle Times reported that the City is planning an event on April 4th—calling it a “celebration” is really a travesty— insensitive and hurtful especially to the young people who attended every council meeting since the closure sharing their feelings of loss—this is “rubbing salt in open wounds.”— more appropriate would be a funeral vigil !
And if the City wants memories submitted, it should just transcribe all the public testimonies.
The Firehouse is a special place, like no other. It should NOT be demolished until there’s certainty about the new building and that steps have been taken to preserve and document the historical, cultural and architectural elements. Its fate is another unfortunate example of the City’s doing away with activities, things, places, that are iconic—that once made Redmond special.
JUST another “SAD DAY entry” into Redmond’s History book!
