The Current Situation

In Spring 2025, wealthy residents of the Denny-Blaine neighborhood, who have incidentally also cited dropping property values, sued the city under the claim that Denny Blaine Park had become a public nuisance. They cited incidents of sex, masturbation, and drug use and argued that the city ignored complaints and failed to act.

On July 14, King County Court Judge Samuel Chung ordered the City of Seattle to develop a plan to abate the reported bad behavior at Denny Blaine Park within 2 weeks.

The decision made by Judge Chung on July 14 is not the final outcome of the lawsuit. It's called a preliminary injunction, which is a temporary court order meant to address an issue before the full trial happens in April 2026.

Notably, the judge agreed that “nudity as constituted” contributed to the nuisance and ordered the city to take action within two weeks.

What’s Next

The City must submit an abatement plan that will satisfactorily address the judge's concerns. The Friends of Denny Blaine group strongly believes that this plan can address the root of the nuisance claims without impeding on parkgoers freedom to preserve their expression of nudity or infringe on the park's historic and current usage by the LGBTQ+ community.

While the situation is not ideal, we are attempting to propose a realistic, community-informed plan in the hopes that the city adopts it as opposed to some less desirable options on the table such as closing the park entirely or eliminating nudity from the beach.

Please feel free to read through the email template and send it to your representatives if you feel aligned in helping to propose this plan which we believe reduces harm in relation to potential alternatives. Also, you can support us by following us on instagram @friendsofdennyblaine