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- Salt Lake City has started demolition of the city-owned Fleet Block buildings, which contain murals representing people killed in police interactions
- The sister of a man depicted on the walls feels "defeated," though the city plans artwork or a memorial of some sort at the space when redeveloped.
- The city has long been planning to replace the vacant Fleet Block buildings with mixed-use development.
SALT LAKE CITY — City structures painted with the murals of numerous people killed in interactions with police are coming down as the planned redevelopment of the site where the buildings sit edges forward.
The demolition had been planned, and the work to bulldoze the buildings started March 18, said Sofia Jeremias, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City Department of Community and Neighborhoods. "All of the buildings should be down by the end of next week, but it may take a few months to clear all of the debris from the site," she said.
The 8.75-acre city-owned parcel containing the vacant white buildings off the southwest corner of 300 West and 800 South, known as the Fleet Block, once served as a base for the city's fleet of vehicles. Following the 2020 killing of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, a mural of Floyd was painted on one of the walls and more followed of others killed in dealings with police. All told, 29 murals were painted on the walls of the five buildings, and the site became a memorial to them and a symbol against "racial injustice," reads a city sign posted at the location.
As such, news of actual demolition, which will cost the city $1.2 million, is tough for Ruby Mercado. Her brother Jovany Mercado, killed in a 2019 confrontation with Ogden police, is one of 29 people depicted in red and pink paint on the walls.
"I think everyone is feeling defeated with the whole demolition happening," she said. The space had become a "second home" and a place to connect with the family members of the others on the walls.
All along, though, the city had planned to redevelop the site, and those efforts move forward. Somehow removing the murals would have been "prohibitively expensive," Jeremias said. Instead, the city commissioned professional photos of the murals, which were shared with family members, and also posted three-dimensional imagery of the buildings prior to demolition, online. Moreover, a three-acre section of the parcel is to be set aside for public space, where a memorial or artwork is to be placed.
Rae James Duckworth, cousin to one of the men memorialized on the walls, Bobby Ray Duckworth, said families of those on the walls didn't receive word ahead of time that demolition was to start last Tuesday. Some, he said, would have liked to have been present.
"It's disappointing the city missed an opportunity to listen and support us. We hope they don't fail when they provide us with the new space and memorial," said Duckworth, who is also the operating chairman of Black Lives Matter Utah. Jeremias said city officials had provided families with a general timeline of the demolition process but did not provide word of the exact date of the work because timelines can shift unexpectedly.
Looking ahead, the city will issue a request for qualifications from companies interested in handling the mixed-use development envisioned at the space sometime later this spring. Parallel to that city officials will soon reach out to the public in crafting plans for the public space, which is to reflect "the social justice history and significance of the site," Jeremias said.
Mercado isn't sure what sort of memorial is to come but doesn't think it will match the murals. "I just feel it will never be as powerful as the murals were," she said.
Meantime, the memories of the 29 live on in their families, Duckworth said.
"We memorialize our loved ones through every part of us ... We share their stories daily," she said.
