
Not only as a symbol of peace, this park is also a well-known project supported by Neighborhood Matching Fund. As Jim Diers has ever shared this wonderful case in his Neighbor Power, here I would like to quote a short paragraph from the book:
Diamonds in the Rough
Floyd Schmoe, a lifelong naturalist and peace activist, worked as a ranger on Mount Rainier and a volunteer in the reconstruction of Hiroshima. At the age of 95, Schmoe decided to combine his passions by building a “peace park” across the street from the University Friends meeting hall.The site he selected was a strip of Transportation Department property between 40th Street and the Burke-Gilman Trail below. Overgrown with brambles and littered with trash, it was one of many Transportation Department properties that was not maintained because it served notransportation purpose.
Schmoe and his Quaker friends, many of them his contemporaries, cleared and regraded the land. They planted trees and shrubs native to Japan and the Pacific Northwest. The centerpiece of the park is a life-size statue of Sadako Sasaki, the girl who folded paper cranes as she was dying of leukemia caused by the bombing of Hiroshima, and through whom the paper crane has become an international symbol of peace. Now children from all over make pilgrimages to Seattle Peace Park as well as to Hiroshima’s Peace Park, draping chains of origami cranes over Sadako and also, without knowing it, paying tribute to Schmoe, who recently died at the age of 105.
Project: Seattle Peace Park
Sponsor: Seattle Peace Park Associates
Year awarded: 1990
Amount awarded: $2,809
Amount leveraged: $3,063
Year completed: 1990
西雅圖和平公園不僅是和平的象徵,也是社區媒合基金所(Neighborhood Matching Fund)贊助的一個成功的案例。我剛巧曾參與《社區力量:西雅圖的社區營造實踐》的翻譯工作,該書的第四章中便特別介紹了該公園設置的過程,以下是翻譯之內容:
點石成金
佛洛伊德‧斯克摩(Floyd Schmoe)是一位畢生奉獻於自然保育及和平運動的人士,他不僅在雷尼爾山國家公園擔任管理員,也曾志願參與日本廣島市(Hiroshima)在原爆後的重建工作。然而,斯克摩在即將屆滿九十五歲高齡時決定要將他的熱情投注於建設一座「和平公園」。他當時選擇了一塊公誼會會所(University Friends Meeting)對街的空地,該地位在四十街(40th Street)和柏克‧吉爾曼步道(Burke-Gilman trail)間,其雖然為交通局所有,但此地野草叢生,遍地垃圾,長久以來因為難以作為交通規劃所用,一直是處於荒廢的狀態。
於是斯克摩和與幾位年齡相近的公誼會教友決定自己動手清理環境並整理該塊空地。他們先是種植了一些適合太平洋西北部與日本的原生植栽,然後再設計了公園中最重要的一座真人比例的小女孩雕像,該雕像雕刻的其實正是因廣島原爆而得血癌過世的佐佐木禎子(Sadako Sasaki)。她離開人世前所折下的紙鶴,如今成為知名於國際間的和平象徵。如今,來自世界各地的小朋友們在造訪西雅圖和平公園時,都會向去廣島和平公園一樣將一串紙鶴掛在雕像上,雖然他們並不認識斯克摩,但這樣的舉動其實也同時是向最近才剛以一百零五歲高齡過世的他致敬。
計畫名稱:西雅圖和平公園(Seattle Peace Park)
發起人:西雅圖和平公園協會(Seattle Peace Park Associates)
地點:東北四十街(Northeast 40th Street)和東北第九大街(9th Avenue Northeast)
補助年度:1990年
補助金額:兩千八百零九美元
自籌資源:三千零六十三美元
完工年度:1990年
發起人:西雅圖和平公園協會(Seattle Peace Park Associates)
地點:東北四十街(Northeast 40th Street)和東北第九大街(9th Avenue Northeast)
補助年度:1990年
補助金額:兩千八百零九美元
自籌資源:三千零六十三美元
完工年度:1990年
(迪爾斯,吉姆. 社區力量:西雅圖的社區營造實踐.台灣:洪葉文化事業有限公司,.2009.)
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