Without a doubt, tipsters are invaluable to the Dori Monson Show. That story – told to us by someone associated with the downtown Seattle Art Museum – is positive evidence. Here’s what our tipster wants you to know:
“I doubt you’ve heard of the fire a homeless tramp broke out in a bathroom in SAM (last week). They used matches to break the lightbulb in a sprinkler head in this toilet. But luckily the two smoke detectors in that toilet both activated which activated the sprinkler pre-action system for the mezzanine and set off the fire alarms which we think scared the person off before they could pop their head. This prevented the floor from being flooded with nasty, oily sprinkler water.
“But can we stop and ask why we let homeless tramps into a museum full of irreplaceable works of art, with the potential to destroy everything? What if the fire alarms were offline for testing or service purposes? Then there would have been no notification and the water would have flowed continuously at about 150 gallons per minute until someone discovered the problem. Would that do the five o’clock news? Would the Seattle Crimes pick up on this story? I seriously doubt it. . . It would be buried like any relevant news item highlighting the dire plight of our city, our county, our state, and our nation. “
Despite SAM’s $ 29 adult ticket price, tramps seem to be able to use the restrooms for free in this 30-year-old world-class place of 25,000+ irreplaceable works of art.
When our exhibit reached out to SAM for more details, spokeswoman Rachel Eggers emailed this response: “There was a fire alarm at the Seattle Art Museum yesterday. The protocols for such incidents were followed, and staff and visitors were able to return to the building within an hour. ”
Ironically, less than two months ago, The Stranger reported on a boycott organized by a group of museum staff and community allies called “Decolonize SAM”. This group condemned SAM’s attempts to provide shelter for patrons, staff, volunteers, and SAM’s priceless collections, exhibits, and art libraries.
They put up bollards to prevent tramps from camping “hostile architecture” outside the museum. They also criticized SAM’s move to hire a private security company to patrol the exterior of the building.
Putting this kind of social justice activism above common sense is completely a mystery to me.
If only Hammering Man could have caught last week’s vandal / arsonist.
Listen to the Dori Monson Show on weekday afternoons from 12pm to 3pm on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
Dori: Homeless vagrant vandalizes Seattle Art Museum, starts fire