Seattle AIDS Legacy Memorial
Mission and Goals: The Seattle AIDS Legacy Memorial (SALM) will ensure that an historic epoch, the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Seattle and neighboring communities, is accurately and comprehensively told by those who were on the front lines of the initial battle against AIDS and the fear and discrimination created by the epidemic. SALM’s Community Advisory Group is guided by three goals/mandates:
Create a place of reflection and remembrance;
Tell the history of Seattle/King County’s AIDS crisis of the 1980s-90s and to capture the lessons of the crisis and diverse community responses to it; and
Provide a call to action to end HIV/AIDS and to protect against discrimination and stigma.

Background: Former Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, along with Leonard Garfield, executive director of the Museum of History & Industry, and Michele Hasson, community volunteer, convened a group of stakeholders in summer 2015 to assess interest in creating a memorial to recognize those lost during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s-90s as well as our communities’ responses to it. Seattle City Council provided funding to MOHAI to identify sites for the memorial, engage with community leaders, identify design parameters and goals, and seat a Community Advisory Group, with three subcommittees: Community In-reach, Content & Experience, and Fund Development.

Site Criteria: Requirements for the physical location include that it be prominent, visible to passersby, and primarily outside; accessible to convenient public transportation; secure and safe and easily maintained and managed; ADA accessible; access to power and internet; and capable (through design) of allowing for reflection, sharing information, engagement, and a place of assembly.

Selection: The Community Advisory Group identified and vetted a number of prospective sites for the Seattle AIDS Legacy Memorial. The group concluded the best of these to be a site consisting of the northern edge of Cal Anderson Park, the adjacent public plaza at the Capitol Hill Link light rail Transit-oriented Development (CHTOD), and the connecting festival street block of East Denny Way.

Status: This year the group received approval from Gerding Edlen Development to create a proposal to include the legacy memorial on the CHTOD public plaza and we conducted two half-day design workshops, submitted that proposal, received formal approval to begin planning, and are in process of negotiating a memorandum of agreement with them. Groundbreaking for CHTOD underground construction is expected in March, 2018. Meanwhile, SALM representatives have met with City of Seattle leaders and have secured the go-ahead to begin working with the Seattle Parks & Recreation Department to plan and site along the northern edge of Cal Anderson Park and with Seattle Department of Transportation to consider activation of the East Denny Way festival street block. The 2018 Mayor’s budget includes a funding request for SALM planning and design.
Image (c) Seattle Parks Foundation

Seattle Parks Foundation