Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 04/25/2025 4:26:39 AM PDT by TigerClaws
SEATTLE — A group of Seattle homeowners is suing the city alleging elected leaders have knowingly allowed Denny Blaine Park to become "a regional venue for criminal and uncivil behavior."
The homeowners point to numerous cases of public masturbation "in broad daylight" and said that instead of attempting to end the activity, Seattle is planning to spend taxpayer money on “public masturbation deterrent infrastructure” at the park.
The case cites many videos, court records, and meeting notes to suggest Mayor Bruce Harrell, Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth, and Parks Superintendent AP Diaz “are well aware” of the escalating situation and have failed to curb the activity.
The case was filed in King County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon by “Denny Blaine Park for All” and seeks to force the city of Seattle to patrol the park or close it, also claiming the city has breached a fiduciary duty by allowing the rampant activity to continue.
A Seattle Parks Department website also outlines a proposal for Denny Blaine Park that includes the aforementioned “public masturbation deterrent infrastructure."
Yet, no city official could immediately explain the language or intent of the plan that has lived on the Seattle Parks Department website for close to a year. Denny Blaine Park is one of 15 projects with allocated funding for improvements in the last budget cycle.
As a neighbor, I can tell you, it's scary to leave your home and see someone masturbating in broad daylight, to see sexual acts happening in broad daylight,” said a woman who lives near the park that sits on Lake Washington and fears possible retribution by filing the suit. “This is outrageous.”
“All we're asking is the city to enforce the laws, and we've asked and asked, and we just feel that this is the last resort," said a man who has roots in the neighborhood dating back several decades and is a party to the suit. "It's not something we wanted to do, but it is something we felt we had no choice."
Both people spoke to KOMO News with a condition of anonymity, citing concerns about retribution and the sensitive nature of the allegations.
The filing will renew a simmering debate about the park, nestled on the water between lakefront homes. It was first created in 1901 by the Denny and Blaine families in what was then and is now a more affluent part of Seattle.
In recent years, Denny Blaine Park has gained a reputation for having an unofficial nude beach.
In 2023, after a private effort to build a playground at the site became public, members of the LGTBQ community pushed back calling it an attempt to “purposely displace the queer community” that found the park and beach to be a safe haven.
The city eventually dropped the playground proposal.
But the group of homeowners claims the park is now unsafe for everyone.
As a gay male who has lived near the park most of my life, this has nothing to do with gay or not gay," said the man who wishes to remain anonymous. "It is just asking the city to enforce the laws that are on the books to get rid of the illegal activity and lewd behavior that goes on down there."
The homeowners said they were asked to provide police and city officials with videos of the activity, so they began recording what they argue are near-daily occurrences.
In videos and pictures shown to KOMO News, multiple people can be seen performing sex acts in the park in broad daylight as other visitors walk by and try to look away. Other clips show lewd behavior in the Denny Blaine Park parking lot, and video surveillance cameras indicate some parkgoers have cased private homes while in various stages of undress.
Recent charging documents also suggest a pattern of behavior from men who have visited the park with the expressed intent of committing a public sex act.
On March 4, a Tacoma man was arrested and jailed after Seattle police responded to a call of public masturbation at the park.
A woman who worked nearby reported she had seen the man and another man both separately performing lewd acts and had captured cell phone video of the incident. The report said she told the officer that she had seen six different men in a week doing the same thing at Denny Blaine Park.
The officer found the man in the park and wrote that he was the same person captured in the cell phone video.
In another case on Feb. 24, a neighbor called to report a man committing a similar act in Denny Blaine Park and said she had seen him do it publicly 15 times over a few years. He was arrested.
That same man, from South Seattle, is separately awaiting trial next month on a hate crime charge after King County Prosecutors alleged he was at the beach in August of 2023 and assaulted another man who had disrobed there.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit suggested there is a difference between public nudity and committing lewd acts, and that the park has become a “regional destination for public masturbation, public sex, and other types of indecent exposure, and many other violations of the law, including the Department’s Code of Conduct.”
The lawsuit specifically names dates of incidents and meetings with elected and appointed city officials and says that the lack of action means that Seattle Parks and Recreation is now “enabling and maintaining a public nuisance” and is violating state laws.
The suit also suggests that, in totality, along with illegal parking blocking access points and drug use, the entire park has become a public safety hazard for residents and visitors alike.
The group outlines in the filing specific meetings on specific dates with Hollingsworth, who chairs the Council Parks committee, as well as Diaz and other senior Parks staff.
Harrell's Office issued a statement to KOMO News:
“Creating clean, safe, and welcoming parks has been a top priority for Mayor Harrell from day one – including resolving encampments in parks across the city, increasing park maintenance, and increasing the number of park rangers from 2 to 28.
“The mayor has consistently stated that while individuals have a right to be nude at parks under state law, no one has the right to commit lewd, illegal, and unwanted sexual conduct at our parks, and no one has the right to make others feel unsafe at the park. Under this administration, efforts at Denny Blaine Park have included SPD enforcement of lewd conduct laws, deployment of park rangers, clearer parking regulations and enhanced parking enforcement, more frequent litter pickup, installation of portable toilets, and signage restoration."
“We would defer to Seattle Parks and Recreation with regard to details of an RFP related to the park. Further, we would defer to the Seattle Police Department on recent enforcement actions resulting in arrests of people committing lewd behavior.”
In an interview with KOMO News, Hollingsworth tried to explain the Parks department's mitigation efforts and phrasing.
"I don't know the specific definition of that, but again, it's a combination of things, besides police, park rangers, public intervention of that signage, also a code of conduct," Hollingsworth said. "There's a bunch of things that we need to address."
When asked if she thought Denny Blaine Park was safe for families, Hollingsworth said, "Yes and no."
"I don't think it's safe when someone unfortunately is exposing themselves to that," Hollingsworth told KOMO News. "I do believe that the park overall is safe, and so we want to continue to make sure that our city response is well, and that includes ensuring that we have enough bathrooms for the Denny Blaine, make sure that the parking is accessible so people aren't blocking folks' driveways."
Hollingsworth also said closing the park should not be an option.
"That's not what I want, and that's not what I know that a lot of people park goers want as well," Hollingsworth said. "We want every park to be accessible and safe, and especially as this is a truly like a treasure for the city."
Seattle Parks and Recreation issued a statement to KOMO News suggesting the language used to describe improvements "was from the public submission to the Park CommUNITY Fund for the project and was removed from the scope.
"It was left on website as we kept all original submissions on the hub to show how the projects developed into more informed scoped proposals," the department said.
The Parks statement also claims that there are current improvements being made.
"We have scoped the project from the initial Park CommUNITY Fund submission and will begin broader public engagement effort for the project in late 2025," the department wrote. "We anticipate improvements occurring in 2027. Currently, there is a stair improvement project at the park, which involves installing a railing and landings on the south stairs," wrote a Parks spokesperson.
“We as a neighborhood have exhausted every possibility. The last thing we ever wanted was to do something like this,” said the woman about filing the suit. “I think that people that live in the neighborhood are fearful. They're fearful about what's going on in the park and in the surrounding area.”
She recalled showing a city official the videos and asking for action, but said the unnamed official was reluctant to watch with children in the room.
“We don't get to turn off our video," the woman added. "We don't have that opportunity. We live this day in and day out, and it's only increased because of the city's lack of enforcing the law."
“To me, it seems so basic," said the man, who is a longtime resident. "We've called we've asked them to come enforce the laws. There are people breaking the laws, and there just does not seem to be a lot of response."
“This is not a political situation, or gay or not gay," he added. "This is just asking the city to enforce the laws so that the park feels safe and welcoming for everyone."
When asked what he thought about the undefined deterrent infrastructure, the man said he feared the city was trying to wall off an area of the park so the activity wouldn’t be visible to the residents.
"Imagine what would go on behind that wall," the man said. "Masturbation would probably be the least of our worries."
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
“As a gay male who has lived near the park most of my life, this has nothing to do with gay or not gay,” “
Yes it does.
“Our Democracy” has no interest in normal people. It works for the criminals and perverts. Normal people should just suck it up, pay their taxes, and blame Trump.
The city’s solution? Build “masturbation infrastructure.”
”…ensuring that we have enough bathrooms for the Denny Blaine Park, make sure that the parking is accessible so people aren't blocking folks' driveways.As Dave Barry wrote, “you can’t make this stuff up.”"We want every park to be accessible and safe, and especially as this is a truly like a treasure for the city."
"We have scoped the project from the initial Park CommUNITY Fund submission and will begin broader public engagement effort for the project in late 2025,.We anticipate improvements occurring in 2027.
Imagine you work in the city parks department and your boss hands you an assignment to write an RFP for “masturbation infrastructure for our parks” and to review the proposals.
Only a Democrat would pull this off ...
Denny Blaine
Wasn’t that a song by The Rutles?
“ and we just feel that this is the last resort,” said a man…”
No, it isn’t the last resort.
L
What they need is a “Denny Crane” Park where a cantankerous old guy shoots off perverts’ peckers, then enjoys a cigar and a single malt after a good day’s work.
if they institutionalize and rehab these creatures it would cost money, money they can use to support the invaders in this country so they throw them in neighborhood parks. Bet the foidy toidy liberal my sh## don’t stink residence around this park didn’t expect that from those they blindly vote for year after year, enjoy! Lets just throw in this to, The park has also been one of Seattle’s unofficial queer- and trans-friendly clothing optional beaches since the 1970s.
As much as it rains in Seattle, what does the byproduct of this activity do the water supply? Yucky to think about.
President Franklin Pierce vetoed 'The Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane' (also known as the 'Land-Grant Bill For Indigent Insane Persons') in 1854, arguing that federal welfare spending would infringe on the states' police powers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_for_the_Benefit_of_the_Indigent_Insane
“Denny Blaine is in my ears and in my eyes”
- The Beaters
Masturbatists!!
The most proficient of them are master baters.
...but women shouldn’t vote because men are so stable and moral...
“Public masturbation deterrence infrastructure”
WHAT KIND OF POLITICIANS ARE BEING ELECTED??????
Watch a Democrat eventually roll out indictments for transmitting porn.
How ridiculous is that? It's ok for adults to be nude in a public park, and they also think a nudism-enabling park should be a safe place for families with children? There's no cure for this brand of stupidilty.
Civilizational decay looks like this. The fate of Ancient Rome looms large.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.