Seattle Forward

Tent Encampments Are Here to Stay Unless . . .

The tents, dilapidated vehicles, and piles of trash you see in almost every Seattle neighborhood have become an enduring fixture. So has the human suffering.

We should quickly prioritize addressing these tent encampments and follow the lead of other cities that have successfully tackled this issue. Since 2015, when the mayor declared a homelessness emergency, we have spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars — and there are success stories to tell — but, tragically, there is no comprehensive plan to remove these illegal encampments or to help those living in them. Not now. Not any time this year or next. Not in five years. They are essentially permanent.

That’s because the City Council’s preferred approach has been one of tolerance and accommodation, evidenced by their elimination last fall, despite Mayor Jenny Durkan’s strong objection, of the Navigation Teams — outreach workers paired with police officers — that successfully nudged people in encampments to accept shelter and social services.

The City Council’s laissez faire approach furthers the terrible damage of substance abuse and mental health disorders for the majority of encampment dwellers. It’s also an approach that denies the public access to

Seattle Needs A Vision Reset . . . Quickly

Seattle needs a vision reset.

The mayor is not seeking re-election. The school superintendent has resigned. The police chief was pushed aside by the city council. The coronavirus pandemic has left us isolated. Downtown is desolate. Where and how we work is being transformed. Many essential workers are struggling mightily to keep up and pay the bills. Our infrastructure systems are inadequately maintained. First responders are overloaded and stretched thin. Campers have taken over many of our parks, greenspaces and sidewalks, preventing others from accessing them safely. Ideological and political divides are pushing us further and further into our dogmatic corners. Herein, opportunity presents itself.  

The urban theorist Richard Florida argues cities and surrounding regions will thrive as we move beyond the pandemic, just as they have following previous calamities: “Covid-19 is a once-in-a-century catastrophe, but it also hands us a once-in-a-century opportunity to rebuild communities to be

Lowrise Multifamily Code Updates: Balancing Design and Density

Legislation a Council committee discussed earlier this week has been characterized by one side as a dramatic giveaway to developers and, by the other side, an unnecessary and dangerous downzone. Both characterizations are false.

The Council’s land use committee considered code adjustments to the city’s Lowrise residential zones. The multifamily Lowrise zoning category, which makes up about 10% of city land, is designed for a range of moderately dense housing types, from townhouses and rowhouses to apartment buildings.

Even though many Lowrise zones contain older single family houses, these zones are designed to be denser multifamily—not single family—zones.

Lowrise zones are often found in the City’s Urban Centers and Urban Villages, where we focus our efforts to concentrate density. Concentrating density is good for the environment, good for the economy, and good for our communities. When people live closer to work and have easier access to mass transit systems, it creates a better city for all of us. It also allows us to protect the character of single family zoned neighborhoods.

Council Vote on Seattle Parks District

For the last several weeks, the City Council has deliberated on a proposal to create a Seattle Parks District. Under state law, the city government can ask the voters to approve this new, dedicated and sustainable funding source for our parks.

The Council will meet this afternoon to make a final decision about placing this measure before voters in August.

The Council received a proposal from the Mayor that placed a strong and much needed emphasis on major maintenance and regular upkeep of our parks system. The Council is looking at a final funding package that increases the focus on maintenance while advancing a modest reduction from the Mayor’s proposal overall.

Civic Cocktail: A Family-Friendly Downtown

Earlier this week I sat on a panel for the Seattle Channel's program Civic Cocktail to discuss strategies that make for a family-friendly downtown. The first half of the video below is a one-on-one discussion between host Joni Balter and Mayor Murray; the second half is the panel discussion.

Bertha Arrives Today

Bertha, the world's largest tunnel machine, will arrive in Elliott Bay today after cruising 5,000 miles from its construction site in Japan. After the ship carrying Bertha docks, it will take several days to unload the various parts of the machine. The State Department of Transportation is preparing for Bertha's arrival by digging an 80-foot launch pit in which it will be reassembled. After the reassembly and further testing, the tunneling will begin later this year. You can follow Bertha's progress here.

The deep bore tunnel is only one element of the massive effort underway to transform our central waterfront and reconnect it to the rest of the city by replacing the seawall, tearing down the viaduct and creating attractive public open spaces. Read more about the creation of a Waterfront for All.

Designing a Family-Friendly Downtown

AIA Seattle is hosting a one-day conference at City Hall on April 11 to explore design elements and policies that make for a family-friendly downtown. As we attract more residents to our downtown neighborhoods, it is increasingly important that we make the area welcoming for people of all ages. Sometimes it is the little things that signal we're serious to having families downtown, like designing a play area for children at Westlake Park. Sometimes it is the bigger things, like making sure zoning codes in South Lake Union provide incentives for a new elementary school in that area.

If you are in the urban design field or studying to be, you might enjoy the discussion at this event. Event details and registration are here.

The event is co-presented by the Downtown Seattle Association, the Seattle Planning Commission and the Department of Planning and Development.

The Future of Seattle Center (and Key Arena too)

In its 50^th year, Seattle Center is one of our city’s greatest treasures. And it has suddenly captured a lot of renewed attention because of Chris Hansen’s proposed new sports and entertainment arena in SODO. This attention is a good thing. It focuses the City on the challenges and opportunities we currently face at Seattle Center.

Seattle Center is a place visited by millions of people every year, a mixing place for all ages, cultures, races and interests.

The Next Fifty and Free Opera

The Next Fifty celebration at the Seattle Center kicked off last Saturday with great fanfare. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair and lately there has been a lot of interesting chatter about the history and future of our city. (Check out this letter from the 1962 City Council to the “2,012” City Council.)

The celebrations will continue the next six months and many arts organizations that make their home at the Seattle Center are taking part. On Saturday, May 5, the Seattle Opera is hosting a free HD simulcast in Key Arena for the opening night McCaw Hall performance of Madama Butterfly, the final show of its season. Up to 8,000 tickets are available for what is expected to be the largest live opera audience in Seattle history. Don’t think opera is for you? Read these opera myths debunked on the Seattle Opera Web site.

Keeping Downtown Neighborhoods Attractive and Strong

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a quiet little celebration that highlighted the new residents and new jobs that have sprung up and transformed the South Lake Union neighborhood. About a hundred neighborhood activists, representatives of the area's mega-developer Vulcan, business owners, urban planners, and others reflected on the ten-year conversion of a sleepy, somewhat run down area adjacent to downtown into a thriving, upbeat area with thousands of new residents and jobs.

Danny Westneat wrote about South Lake Union's success in last Sunday's Seattle Times, giving appropriate credit to former Mayor Greg Nickels for his vision and persistence in pushing forward the redevelopment of the area.  David Brewster posted an interesting historical perspective at Crosscut.com last Monday.  (Here's a link to the report that both Westneat and Brewster cite that summarizes what's happened in South Lake Union.)

Brewster, in his Crosscut piece, raises an interesting question about how the success of South Lake Union will impact the downtown core of Seattle.  Frankly, we would do well to accept Brewster's commentary as more of a challenge than a question. We dare not become complacent about our downtown, an area of multiple neighborhoods stretching from Lower Queen Anne to the International District and Pioneer Square and from South Lake Union to First Hill and the Central Waterfront.

An attractive and strong city center doesn't flourish on its own.  It takes determined work and a constant focus on things that matter, like the attractiveness of the pedestrian environment, crime and street disorder, quick and efficient transportation options, and strong businesses. (Continue after the jump for a list of key steps to maintaining an attractive and strong downtown . . .)