Building bride booted from Seattle council meeting
Jul 2, 2012, 2:21 PM | Updated: 3:31 pm
Babylonia Aivaz made headlines when she tied the knot with an abandoned warehouse at 10th and Union to protest its demolition. Now "widowed," she wants to marry Yeslter Terrace. (Image courtesy Facebook)
(Image courtesy Facebook)
The woman who married a Seattle building got herself booted out of a city council meeting Monday when she showed up in a wedding dress and announced yet another engagement.
Babylonia Aivaz made headlines when she tied the knot with an abandoned warehouse at 10th and Union to protest its demolition. But, the building was torn down to make way for condominiums.
Now, a widow on the rebound, Babylonia announced plans to marry the Yesler Terrace neighborhood.
“I’m getting married and I really need your attention. Yesler Terrace needs to be heard,” Aivaz said as she interrupted the regularly scheduled Seattle City Council meeting Monday afternoon.
“And now you’re unfortunately going to have to be removed from the chambers, I apologize,” said Council President Sally Clark after Aivaz placed what appeared to be flowers in front of each council member.
Clark called for a recess while Aivaz was removed by security.
In a statement released Sunday, Aivaz argued against a proposed redevelopment of Yesler Terrace. She called it “ethnic cleansing,” arguing that low-income families would be forced out of the neighborhood.
“Yesler Terrace is one of a kind,” she said in a press release. “This neighborhood is the best example of community, a creative energy with incredible power and a human need many in the United States do not understand or experience.”
The council was scheduled to discuss the Yesler Terrace redevelopment later Monday afternoon.
