Detective Cookie Chess Park: Community Plays Long Game for Neighborhood Revitalization

Project Title: Detective Cookie Chess Park: Community Plays Long Game for Neighborhood Revitalization
Landscape Architect: Johnson+Southerland
Category: Community Stewardship
Award: Award of Merit
Location: Seattle, WA
Description:
Detective Cookie Chess Park is a unique project represent ingequity and the persistence of an underserved community in claiming public space, the power of community policing, and a remarkable turnaround in how Seattle regards community use of the right-of-way, opening a wealth of opportunity for design of community spaces throughout the City. The park, a landmark and a gathering place in the Rainier Beach neighborhood, honors Seattle Police Detective “Cookie” Bouldin, a local hero for her chess club which diverts kids from the streets to a game that helps children develop healthy strategies aroundobstacles.The Chess Park design, featuring 12 chess tables for tournaments, a giant chess board, and a 10-foot King and Queen sculpture, was not permittable under Seattle Department of Transportation standards. The landscape architect spent years pushing the City for rule changes that would allow construction. The 2020 Black Lives Matter protests yielded City promises to support underserved neighborhoods and eroded SDOT’s last resistance to the project;in fact, they became collaborators and built the project with their own crews.

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