Seattle Backs Off Quibbling Over Park's Wine Tiles

Share

By By KOMO Staff & News Services

Summary

A controversy over four decorative tiles in a neighborhood park ended Monday when the city backed off its ruling that the wine imagery on the tiles promoted alcohol use.

Story Published: Jul 29, 2002 at 3:30 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jul 24, 2009 at 11:04 AM PDT

Seattle Backs Off Quibbling Over Park's Wine Tiles
SEATTLE - A controversy over four decorative tiles in a neighborhood park ended Monday when the city backed off its ruling that the wine imagery on the tiles promoted alcohol use.

"It's a great feeling to know that there is some common sense at the parks," said Paige Stockley, who worked on the tiles project at the Lynn Street Park in Eastlake.

The struggle started about a week ago, when the city Parks and Recreation department decided to remove four tiles and alter another to rid the park of alcohol references.

The tiles were created last spring and summer when the Friends of Lynn Street Park Art Tile Project group got together to create something that would represent the waterfront neighborhood.

"The houseboat community is unusual," said Jonathan Ezekiel, the chairman of the group. "A lot of people wanted to get involved in giving Eastlake a distinct park."

Some of the 160 tiles depict water and houseboats. Some show fireworks and the Space Needle.

One tile shows a wine bottle with "A day without wine is like a day without sunshine" curled around it. Another has a houseboat inside a wine bottle.

They are positive pictures of wine, Stockley said.

"The images in those tiles depict wine with food, wine as one component of a beautiful evening picnic," Stockley said. "Wine is a part of the community - not the abuse of wine."

Stockley's father, Tom, was the wine critic for The Seattle Times before he and his wife, Peggy, were killed in an airplane crash in 2000.

Some of the wine tiles are tributes to the Stockleys, but others were made by people who didn't know them.

When the parks department got a complaint about the wine tiles, they investigated and found the pictures were unacceptable in a public park, spokeswoman Dewey Potter said.

"Alcohol is not allowed in city parks," Potter said in an interview before the department reversed its decision. "It's not appropriate for a public agency to be sending messages to kids that we think are more appropriate for their parents to be teaching them."

But Monday, the department changed its mind.

"These ones are not very visible, and the park is not that attractive for kids," Potter said.

Plus, the city discovered that removing the four could possibly damage surrounding tiles.

The park, remodeled after a truck hit its retaining wall, fills a small embankment between houseboats and a building on Lake Union. The tiles decorate four tiers of benches that look out over the water and are not visible from the street.

Stockley said she is pleased the city realized they were too rigidly applying a new policy excluding alcohol, tobacco, firearms and pornography imagery.

"Somehow it all went too far, and they are stepping back," she said.

Potter said the city will try to better evaluate content before projects are installed.

The city will also work with Stockley and others on a tiled bench, dedicated to her parents, for the park. The tiles are painted with flowers and cats for Peggy Stockley and wine bottles, glasses and grapes for Tom Stockley.