People’s Wall Is About To Fall Graffiti-Laced Landmark Torn Down Today

Goodbye, Tupac Shakur. Goodbye, Carl Maxey.

Goodbye, Donald Hutchings. Goodbye, people’s wall.

Today it’s coming down. After more than 20 years of memorializing everyone from rap singers to activists, the graffiti wall overlooking the Monroe Street Bridge will be demolished.

Officials from Metropolitan Mortgage and Securities Co. announced late Friday night that the site will be replaced with a proposed 88-acre commercial and residential development.

“The Summit Project has moved up to the front burner,” said Metropolitan spokesman Erik Skaggs. “We are preparing the site for the next phase of development,” which includes a proposal for expanding convention center space.

“It’s a part of progress for our city,” Skaggs said.

Over the years, the wall has become a Spokane icon, delivering messages from marriage proposals to angry pronouncements.

The wall moved an entire city in 1994 after the murder of 22-year-old Felicia Reese. Loved ones painted an emotional plea on the wall to keep her memory alive: “Don’t forget Felicia.”

That sign inspired Spokane singer Beth Ann Long to write “Daughter of the City” in Reese’s memory.

The $250,000 project will take about two months, Skaggs said. Four unused buildings on Monroe will be removed along with the wall, which is actually a railroad bridge footing.

But leaving the wall is not possible.

“We have some serious concerns regarding liability,” he said. “If someone was to fall off the wall … it would be pretty serious.”

Skaggs would not comment on what Metropolitan’s plans are for the site on the north bank of the Spokane River, but said no formal development is in place.

“By preparing the site it increases the marketability,” he said.

For Beatrice Lackaff, the wall has been a source of beauty and memories during the years she’s lived on Bridge Street.

She and a friend once painted her son a birthday card on the wall.

“I see it all the time,” Lackaff said. “I love the chronicle of emotion.”

News of the demolition and construction left her speechless.

“I’m just stunned,” Lackaff said. “If they can’t understand how important it is to the community as a form of expression, I don’t know what to say.

“Apparently it has no value.”

The wall will come down today along with its final message: “Happy 18th Birthday Vanessa.”

, DataTimes