Have you ever been out for a walk in the neighborhood and wished for a place to just rest for a few minutes? A chair to sit in to take it all in? Thanks to a clever effort by VIEWS (Visualizing Increased Engagement in West Seattle) people will have exactly that. It’s kind of social experiment put on by the organization using colorful chairs to see if people will visit the VIEWS website and tell their story. Their exact location is not being publicized, they are meant to be discovered.

Organizer Pete Spalding said, “We are not chaining them down at all. If they sprout legs and walk it will just be part of our social experiment.
 We are leaving them in one location for no more than two weeks.”

While five are out there now, in three locations, they will move either individually or in groups to new spots.
Pending approval from Seattle Parks you may well see chairs in a park setting. They came from donations or garage sales and were all made secure and painted for the purpose.

"We're always looking for ways to engage the community," said Spalding," and we just want people to have a seat and then tell us what they thought about while they were there." The idea, a group effort according to Spalding, was inspired by similar efforts made by groups in other cities.

The chairs say:

“Your story and your identity are unique. You are sitting here for a purpose. You have a place here in West Seattle.

Have a seat
Rest. Belong. Linger.

You have a place in this story. Look around and dream of what could be. Help to build this community. Scan here to share your story with us or visit us at http://wsgathering.org

The sign has a QR code you can scan with your smart phone to go to the site.

VIEWS is a non-partisan community organization comprised of local citizens creating programming to educate, engage & mobilize West Seattle citizens to sustain & improve the quality of life & services available across the peninsula.