Jennifer Sullivan, KOMO-TV, November 8, 2018

For more than a century, totem poles have adorned parts of Seattle.

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But the Seattle City Council is taking a closer look at art in public spaces, like parks, to make sure it’s culturally appropriate.

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“Asking these communities what is historical, what it cultural, what gets built, what gets saved,” said Seattle City Councilmember Debora Juarez in a council meeting earlier this year.

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Juarez brought up the need for this public art evaluation last summer — when her colleagues were arguing for preservation groups to save the Showbox, a downtown concert venue.

“People have been deliberate in erasing us and making us invisible,” said Juarez, who is part of the Blackfeet Nation. “The soul of this city are the people who were here.”

Inside council chambers earlier this year Juarez motioned toward the city seal, which features Chief Seattle.

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“We have many things, representational art, whether it is a stone a totem pole around the city that has been here, sometimes for over 100 years, may have passed more than a useful life but may have moved into what is now politically offensive,” Bagshaw said.

{snip} Two 50-foot totem poles at Victor Steinbrueck Park, next to Pike Place Market, are at the heart of the controversy.

University of Washington Professor Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse said there’s no history of towering monumental poles being made by the Salish and other Puget Sound region tribes. But, she says, they’ve been used to advertise Seattle for more than a century.

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“It’s time to talk about these art pieces and to figure out what are the new pieces we can support that will confront these old histories or bring beautiful, new, opportunities for Salish artists into communities,” Bunn-Marcuse said.

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