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- The structures with murals memorializing 29 people killed in police confrontations will be demolished soon.
- A vigil is planned for Saturday to remember the 29 and to remind Salt Lake leaders of their commitment to create a new memorial as part of redevelopment plans.
- The land is also to contain affordable housing and public spaces.
SALT LAKE CITY — The walls containing the murals memorializing 29 people killed in incidents involving police will soon be coming down, possibly by the end of the month.
"It's very heart-wrenching, to be honest," said Rae James Duckworth, operating chairperson of Black Lives Matter Utah and cousin to one of the men memorialized on the walls, Bobby Ray Duckworth.
That the buildings off the southwest corner of 300 West and 800 South in Salt Lake City — the Fleet Block — are to be torn down has been public knowledge. But with plans to redevelop the 8.75-acre city-owned parcel edging ahead, demolition and the end of what has served as a gathering spot for families of the 29 men and women looms. The walls and murals could be down by the end of February, Duckworth said, and, as such, a farewell is planned for Saturday at the location at 350 W. 900 South for those who knew the 29, organized by Black Lives Matter Utah.
"The vigil is basically set up to allow the families and the lovely community who supported the families to come and mourn and grieve and just say goodbye to this peaceful space where we've been organizing and grieving," Duckworth said. The vigil, dubbed "Goodbye for now, but not forever," goes from 3-6 p.m.
Apart from giving family the opportunity to see the murals one last time and remember their loved ones, the event is meant as a reminder to Salt Lake leaders of their commitment to include a new memorial at the location as part of the redevelopment initiative. Zoning approved in 2023 allows for a range of development at the location — affordable housing, community resource spaces and public spaces — in buildings measuring up to 125- to 150-feet in height.
She's hoping to hold officials "accountable for their words and their promises for this space and also to remind the city about how important it is to focus in on those impacted by police brutality," Duckworth said.
Preliminary city documents show three redevelopment sites measuring around 5 acres in all and a 3-acre public space at the southeast corner of the parcel, where the new memorial would be located. The four sections would be divided by mid-block streets and walkways.
As with the developable portions of the land, particulars of the public space have yet to be pinpointed. Salt Lake City Public Lands and the Salt Lake City Arts Council will begin "engaging the community" on the memorial area once a consulting team has been picked, said Sofia Jeremias, spokeswoman for the city's community and neighborhood department. Among the expected elements, she went on, will be "public artwork inspired by the social justice significance of the site."
The 29 red and pink murals on the white walls of the facility that once housed the city's fleet of vehicles started appearing following the 2020 killing of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2020. "The faces just started to appear. We don't know who is responsible. We just know that the faces just started to appear after George Floyd and Bernardo Palacios," said Duckworth.
Salt Lake police shot and killed Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal on May 23, 2020, as they chased him following a report of an aggravated robbery. After Floyd and Palacios-Carbajal, artists painted likeness of many others who died in confrontations with police, mostly around Utah. "The hope is to not forget these names but also to remember that there's so many more names out there that aren't even included in this space," said Duckworth, who envisions the public area morphing into "a sacred space for mourning and grieving."
While the Fleet Block once housed vehicles used by the city, it has sat largely unused since autos were moved to another location over a decade ago.
Salt Lake City began the process of rezoning and redeveloping the land in 2019, but efforts were paused as city leaders focused on other issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversations over the block's future restarted in 2022, but the murals complicated the city's planning process, ultimately sparking the idea of turning the block, or at least part of it, into a "healing spot."
The upcoming demolition comes as the city prepares to sell off pieces of the Fleet Block land for new development. The City Council is slated to vote on a budget amendment on Feb. 18, which includes a plan to transfer $3.9 million from different city accounts to facilitate mid-block streets and other public infrastructure within the block.
That money is to come from the "anticipated sale" of an acre of land within the block to an undisclosed buyer, city officials noted in a memo. They added that the sale includes a provision that "family-sized units" and housing priced for those earning 80% of area median income be included in the development as well as commercial space for nonprofits and local businesses.
