Homeowner releases statement on Seacliff memorial wall in Aptos

A week after an Aptos property owner filed a vandalism report over a controversial wall that has morphed into a public memorial over the years, the Richardson family issued a statement to the media Monday.

In the statement, first emailed to Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend, the family said:

“The homeowners have been working with the State Park officials for well over a year trying to find a site in the park to re-locate the memorial wall.

The State Parks department will not allow the memorials to be moved onto state or park property even though the homeowner has offered to build a wall within the park to facilitate the memorials. In meetings with the State Park officials, the Sheriff’s Office and Zach Friend, it was collectively agreed that it would be greatly appreciated if the owners of the items put on the wall would remove their items promptly.

If people do not retrieve their items, as a courtesy, the owners offered to try to have items removed intact and held for pick up, but neither the parks department nor the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Aptos Service Station, will hold the items for people to pick up and will not allow any items to be left on State Park or County land or in State Park or any Sheriff’s offices.”

Friend said he has never actually “met” face to face with the homeowners, but instead had two phone conversations, one of which included representatives from State Parks and the Sheriff’s Office.

The memorial wall was set to be taken down Labor Day weekend, but community members worked to gather enough signatures on a petition to prevent the wall from being torn down.

California State Parks officials took a step back last week, calling it a private property issue. Even the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said it is an emotionally-charged issue and would like to remain neutral.

This wall has been up for years and has become a community landmark.

“I look at the wall and I think it’s a work of art. It’s a freedom of expression. She may own the wall, but nobody is on that side of the wall. They’re only on this side, so it seems kind of silly,” said Aptos resident Patrick Gruetzmacher.