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Board approves Middleway House’s "Wrapped in Love" tree-sweater installation
Summary
The Board of Public Works approved a resolution allowing Middleway House to install decorated tree 'sweaters' and hotline placards on public-right-of-way trees this fall after city legal staff cleared designs and wording as government speech exempt from the city’s art-in-the-right-of-way policy.
The Board of Public Works on Sept. 9 approved Resolution 2025-0266 to allow Middleway House’s annual Wrapped in Love program to install knitted coverings on trees in the public right of way and placards advertising the organization’s crisis hotline.
Holly Warren, assistant director for the arts in the Department of Economic and Sustainable Development, told the board that designs for this year largely repeat earlier years’ artwork and that legal staff reviewed four new designs and found them permissible under city policy. Warren said the installation timeline runs from Sept. 15 through Oct. 2, with a ribbon-cutting scheduled for Oct. 3 at Courtyard Square; the sweaters are planned to remain on trees through Jan. 15, 2026, when they will be removed.
Warren said that, beginning in 2023, the city has treated designs and language on the sweaters and placards as government speech; that treatment means the designs and wording are exempt from the city’s art-in-the-right-of-way policy, according to city legal review described to the board.
Board President Kyla Cox Deckard called for the motion to approve the resolution; in the roll call vote Carone, Roach and Cox Deckard voted Aye and the motion passed.
The board did not receive public comment on the item at the meeting.
