Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board rejected a proposal Wednesday to remove ladders and walkways from structures at Gas Works Park, despite parks officials’ warnings that over a dozen people had been injured or died after falling from them since 2008, including a Ballard High School student this summer.

“Not to put too fine a point on it — a 15-year-old boy died out there,” David Graves, an adviser for Seattle’s parks department, told the board. “The city made an emergency declaration and found money in the budget to make this happen. And so that’s what’s before you today.”

Mattheis Johnson died July 10 after plummeting 50 feet from one of the park’s platforms. Johnson’s was at least the third such death since 2012 at the 19-acre park, which was once the site of a major coal gasificat

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