Month: March 2023

Coalition of CID partners celebrates approval of north and south stations as preferred alternative, reducing risk of community displacement

WHAT: The Sound Transit board has approved the north and south stations for the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions (WSBLE) project that Coalition of CID partners have advocated for.

Chinatown International District, Seattle, King County –

After a long and difficult fight to choose a preferred alternative, the Chinatown International District (CID) Coalition, Puget Sound Sage and InterImCDA are celebrating a major victory for securing the future growth and development of the CID neighborhood to be equitable, affordable, and a sustainable place for immigrants and working-class communities of color to live and thrive for generations to come.

The coalition’s fight for a station location is rooted in the vision to maximize opportunity for equitable transit-oriented development, provide great transit options, stop the acceleration of gentrification, and for the survival of a community that has struggled for decades from racist policies and land grabbing encroachment. This decision is a critical step in acknowledging and repairing past harms.

“We extend our sincere appreciation to the Sound Transit board and staff, including Mayor Harrell, Executive Constantine and Council President Juarez for supporting north and south. We want to especially thank Councilmember Tammy Morales, for hearing our voices and concerns and being a vocal advocate against displacement and for inclusive transit-oriented development,” said Christina Shimizu, Executive Director of Puget Sound Sage. “We are grateful for their willingness to listen and recognize the importance of our long-standing history and the need for access to regionally connected transit, affordable housing, and opportunities for culturally relevant equitable transit-oriented development (eTOD) that do not accelerate gentrification pressures in the neighborhood.”

The CID Coalition, InterIm CDA, and Puget Sound Sage are committed to fighting speculative corporate development and displacement, and to ensuring that communities of color are centered in decision-making around transit and land use. “Good planning means something different for different communities,” Shimizu added. “A truly equitable and inclusive urbanism, and density done right, requires policymakers to listen to communities of color and trust that we know what is best for our neighborhoods.”

“InterIm CDA has been a community-based organization serving the needs of the CID for 53 years,” said InterIm CDA Executive Director Pradeepta Upadhyay. “We endorsed the north and south station locations option after weighing the significant impacts on the CID and its property owners, businesses, community organizations, and residents. Based on our values, we believe this is the best option for the community. We thank the Sound Transit board for making the right choice, and look forward to working with the community and Sound Transit to make these options the best they can be for the CID.”

While the CID Coalition, Puget Sound Sage and InterIm CDA are celebrating this victory, they are also aware that their work is not done. The coalition plans to stay engaged and organized to ensure that the community benefits the most from the station: pedestrian improvements for walking and rolling, lighting, and wayfinding among other community benefits and mitigation connected to the light rail line as well as righting past harms. They will also advocate for a platform to connect Sounder to the South of CID station, expanded greenspace and protections for City Hall Park, and access to culturally relevant, community based eTOD to provide much-needed affordable housing for the neighborhood.

“This win is only one step to repairing the harm and distrust in our communities, and the destruction that previous infrastructure projects have wrought on the CID,” said Monyee Chau of the CID Coalition. “The copious amount of labor that organizers have put in to protect our neighborhood is a testament to how deeply we all care for this community, and I have so much gratitude for everyone who helped us fight for this win. May we continue to make these conversations more accessible and inclusive of all the people that they affect, and move forward with collaboration and a commitment to ensuring that the Chinatown International District community remains a vibrant and thriving part of Seattle.”

About the CID Coalition:

The Chinatown International District Coalition is a grassroots, multiracial, multiethnic and multigenerational organization that works to promote social, economic, and environmental justice for low-income communities of color in the CID and Greater Seattle. They fight against displacement, gentrification, and the erasure of community history and culture.

About Puget Sound Sage:

Puget Sound Sage charts a path to a living economy in the South Salish Sea and Duwamish River Valley (greater Seattle) regions by developing community power to influence, lead, and govern.  We ground our policies in grassroots organizing & community-based research with people directly impacted by systems of oppression and organizations serving BIPOC workers, their families and communities.  Through the power of grassroots organizing, policy and advocacy strategies, and leveraging the influence of coalitions centering impacted communities, we have organized for and passed some of our region’s most exciting policies that promote climate justice, good jobs and equitable development in low-wage and people of color communities. Our campaigns and theory of change are rooted in intersectional economic & racial justice, which for us means organizing historically disenfranchised people and bringing them together to build power as a vehicle for social change.

About InterIm CDA:

InterIm CDA was created in 1969 and is a nonprofit affordable housing and community development organization based in Seattle’s Chinatown/International District (CID). Since 1969 InterIm CDA (ICDA) provides multilingual, culturally competent housing and community building services to those disenfranchised due to lack of English, low acculturation and poverty. Though historically ICDA’s focus was on the API community living in the CID, they currently serve about 5,000 unduplicated low-income limited English-speaking individuals from Asia, Africa and America throughout the greater Puget Sound.

Engage with Puget Sound Sage: March 2023 Newsletter

originally published on Mar. 23, 2023

Go North/South, not 4th Avenue!

Puget Sound Sage stands with over 300 non-profit organizations, community leaders, elders, and small businesses that demand that Sound Transit move its proposed new Chinatown International District (CID) station on the West Seattle Ballard Link Extension just north and/or south of the neighborhood.

Addressing some of the most frequently asked questions about Sound Transit’s North and South light rail alternatives:

“Doesn’t most of the CID community want 4th Ave?” No community is a monolith, and ours is no exception. More than 300 residents, workers, small businesses, organizations, and long time leaders have signed onto our letter supporting the North South alternative. Our vision and values are for a CID where everyone in our community has access to housing, transit, and real safety, not just property owners, housed residents, and those aligned with capital and commerce. Many of those who support 4th also support sweeps, increased policing and criminalization, and the gentrification of the CID.

“Why would 4th Ave cause displacement but North and South would not?” Construction along 4th Ave is projected to be a decade or more due to additional risks of building on liquefaction prone soil. 4th Ave is also a main arterial road with high capacity, meaning many more cars would need to be diverted with not many places to go except through the CID. It is also a main thoroughfare for Metro, and buses would have to be rerouted through the core of our neighborhood. In addition to the construction duration and traffic rerouting concerns, there is no opportunity for equitable transit oriented development. This is one very important avenue we have to ensure affordable housing is built in our neighborhood. We do not believe that the threats the 4th Ave hub poses can be addressed through mitigation. Whereas, supporting the North South options project a shorter construction duration by nearly half the time and have traffic rerouting and construction hauling paths that lessen disruption to the CID core.

“What are the traffic impacts on 4th Ave?” Per Sound Transit studies, at peak hour, 2,300 vehicles are expected to pass through 4th Ave. 50% is expected to be diverted. This is 1,150 vehicles each hour. Sound Transit modeling indicates the CID neighborhood can absorb up to 160-180 diverted vehicles per hour in the historic CID core. Where will the remaining 970 vehicles per hour be diverted? This means the neighborhood will experience gridlock every weekday during peak hours for 9 to 11 years and this doesn’t even consider game and event days.

Another significant concern is disruption to bus service with traffic congestion, rerouting and bus service disruption during the 6-year partial closure of 4th Ave and the 4 years of a full closure of 4th and Jackson during which no buses will be able to move through there at all and will be rerouted to 5th Ave. These transit delays will not only impact CID residents but service to the Rainier Valley as well, as cited in the racial equity toolkit. BIPOC workers and seniors in the CID who use metro as their predominant mode of transportation will be significantly impacted.

“What about the Midtown Station?” The North CID would serve Midtown. It would be connected to the Rapid Ride G. It would also provide Midtown connectivity to all three lines of transit. There were major issues with the previous Midtown proposal, it was a deep station and only connected to the Ballard to Tacoma line – Midtown riders would’ve had to make a transfer. The North station is also in closer proximity to Harborview.

Opinion Pieces co-written with Chinatown-International District Community Leaders

On the left, CID organizer Sue Kay sits at a Sound Transit board meeting in Union Station wearing a shirt that reads ''DISPLACEMENT IS DESTRUCTION.'' COURTESY OF PUGET SOUND SAGE

The 4th Ave Station Is a Train Wreck for the CID and Seattle Must Avoid It

With the north and south option, our families and communities can savor a sense of belonging, knowing that preservation of our histories was intentional, and not merely an afterthought. Read more.

 

Opinion: Sound Transit must recommend north and south CID light rail options

Sound Transit cannot let our treasured Chinatown International District become collateral damage for yet another regional infrastructure project, when there is a better alternative. But that’s just what will happen if 4th Ave and Jackson is torn up for a decade – or more – to build a new CID station on the Ballard to West Seattle light rail extension. Read more.

 

Displacement is Destruction GraphicCOMMENTARY: Destroying the CID is not a justifiable when there is a better alternative

10 years of construction will likely result in permanent displacement of businesses, residents, and community spaces. We don’t want to be like the many Chinatowns across the U.S. that have disappeared over the last 50 years because of racism, redevelopment, and infrastructure projects. Read more.

 

 

 

A pedestrian crosses the street on 5th Avenue South in Seattle in the Chinatown-International District in May. (Daniel Kim / The Seattle Times)Two light-rail station options would better serve, protect Chinatown International District

We refuse the notion that it is justifiable or acceptable for the CID to be collateral damage yet again for an infrastructure project that mostly benefits other communities — especially when there is a better alternative. Read more.

Program Updates

Tweet by House Our Neighbors: We need your help! The state legislature has a budget proviso for just under $900k to support the operational costs of SSHD for the first 18 months! Help us put pressure on them to approve this by filling out the action form here:

Quick 30-second action to support I-135 Social Housing today

Submit a letter in support of a budget proviso to get Social Housing off the ground!

Help secure a budget proviso proposed by Representative Frank Chopp and Senators Joe Nguyen and Rebecca Saldaña. The proposed ~$900,000 will help cover start-up costs for the Seattle Social Housing Developer.

House Our Neighbors has created a template letter that can be sent to all 18 state legislators that represent Seattle. Please take 30 seconds to send a letter now! Send a letter today.

Now Accepting Applications for the Community Leadership Institute. Application Deadline for King and Pierce Counties is May 1, 2023

Applications for the next Community Leadership Institute Fellowship (King and Pierce County) are now open!

Open to all applicants in King and Pierce Counties or can attend in person in Seattle, WA

Our Community Leadership Institute (CLI) is a fellowship program that resources, trains, and places emerging leaders from communities of color and low-income communities to serve on strategic municipal boards and commissions.

Launched in 2015, the six-month fellowship trains emerging leaders in issues such as housing, land use, transit, climate, and economic development. Graduates learn the nuts and bolts of local government processes, such as municipal budgeting, parliamentary procedures, and lawmaking, as well as advocacy, storytelling, and communication skills.

After graduation, the fellows apply for and are placed on strategic boards, commissions, and task forces at the city and county level. Through participation, CLI alums have the opportunity to move forward a racial equity agenda at a government level by asking critical questions about who benefits and who is burdened by policy decisions and offering solutions that integrate community participation and perspectives as part of the decision-making process. Read more and apply here.

Attend an online Information Session to learn more about the fellowship:

In the News

Graphic of a hand holding up a gavel wrapped in leaves

What Seattle’s Green New Deal reveals about creating inclusive, regenerative, just communities. The green revolution will not be won by presidential proclamation or congressional decree. It will be won city by city, neighborhood by neighborhood, day by day.

Washington holds first carbon auction, determining price of $48.50 per ton. Puget Sound Sage, argued that cap-and-trade policies are a poor way to measure the human cost of climate change. Worse, that they’re ultimately a boon for corporations, creating a new financial product to resell and allowing polluters to continue polluting.

What It Really Costs When Walmart Comes to Town. An analysis conducted by Puget Sound Sage in 2012 asserts that each new Walmart store decreases the local community’s economic output over 20 years by an estimated $13 million.

Advocates call for shutdown of King County jail after mounting death toll in facility. “We are here because last April, one of those deaths was Michael Rowland,” Aretha Basu, Sage’s Political Director, said. “Sixty-three years old, he was Black, disabled, unhoused and killed within half an hour of arriving at the jail.”

Placement of future CID light rail station sparks heated debate, strains relations. “We have been working with, in coalition and in partnership, with our transit orgs and we want to see them make good on their promise that they would center communities of color in decision making, prioritize affordable housing and maximize opportunity for equitable transit oriented development opportunity,” Shimizu said. “And right now we’re seeing a lot of those transit orgs fall back on their promise to be accountable to communities of color, and we’re really disappointed.”

Debate over proposed CID light rail station heats up. “We believe that the Fourth Avenue option is just too risky, and that it would be a disaster for the Chinatown International District,” said Christina Shimizu, executive director for Puget Sound Sage and a member of the CID Coalition. “Ten years of construction would be a disaster for the Chinatown International District, and we know that disasters are perfect opportunities for gentrification.”

Councilmember Morales Declares Support for North & South CID Station Placement alongside Neighborhood Leaders. “Comprehensive planning must take into account many factors including opportunities for equitable transit-oriented development and affordable housing, cultural and historical preservation, the economic precarity of proposed station locations, and racial equity.”