originally published on May 31, 2023
Seattle’s Chinatown International District named one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places – What does that mean for us?
This month, Seattle Chinatown-International District (CID) was included in the list of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in the U.S. compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
We’re grateful for the attention drawn to the historic and ongoing injustices experienced by the CID and our heightened risk of displacement. The cultural permanency of our neighborhood is under threat again due to rampant speculative development sure to follow the latest public infrastructure project located in the CID. While the very question is raised of who gets to live and work here, it is important to remember that we are the social and cultural fabric of the CID, the people who keep the culture alive and rooted in place. Displacement, gentrification, and loss of culture is not inevitable and should not be a foregone conclusion. We have the power to stop it. And the future vitality and expansion of our neighborhood should be driven by our dreams and visions, not a mere afterthought.
One of the most daunting threats the neighborhood faces is the impending Sound Transit station development. The CID Coalition and Puget Sound Sage stand in solidarity with hundreds of community leaders, small businesses, and non-profit organizations supporting station locations North & South of the CID. We demand that our neighborhood voices be at the center of decision making and visioning for the station locations, design and community benefits. We do not support the 4th Ave station option which brings a decade-long construction duration, concerning geotechnical complexities, and lack of opportunity for equitable transit-oriented development that puts the CID at far too great of a risk of displacement than what we already face.
We envision our neighborhood as a vibrant reflection of our culture and heritage with expanded access to affordable housing and deeply held social networks that share in the responsibility of community care and safety. Our vision of the CID is not gentrifiers who sell caricatures of Asian culture in a neighborhood that caters to only wealthy residents and visitors. Instead, we boldly imagine a neighborhood that centers the wellbeing of our current residents and workers; many of whom are poor and working class, Asian migrants, and unhoused. We are the social and cultural fabric of the CID, the people who keep the culture alive and rooted in place. Read More.
Program Updates
The Seattle Social Housing Developer Board has officially been appointed!
Last year, Puget Sound Sage proudly endorsed Initiative 135 put forth by the House Our Neighbors Coalition to create the Seattle Social Housing Developer. The initiative is an opportunity for Seattle to expand our housing solutions in a way that builds permanently affordable, multi-use, community-led and publicly owned housing developments that would serve our BIPOC communities.
Since its passing in February, thirteen Seattle locals representing community, labor, housing and climate have been appointed to oversee and govern the affairs of the Seattle Social Housing Developer and to use their diverse perspectives and expertise to inform its operations. One of the members who was selected by Seattle’s Renters Commission is our very own HR Program Director, Kaileah Baldwin, and has been elected to serve as the Board Chair!
Kaileah (she/her) is a queer Black ciswoman born-and-raised in Seattle currently living in the South Park neighborhood. She is looking forward to building permanently affordable people-centered housing in the city that she loves. Best of luck, Kaileah!
Meet the Social Housing Developer Board.
photo by KUOW
In the News
‘Real people being represented’: Seattle’s social housing board is just getting started. The authority’s board will develop, acquire, and maintain public, affordable units alongside existing housing resources in the city.
Leaders who lobbied Sound Transit honored. Three Asian community leaders organized an appreciation dinner for supporters who lobbied the Sound Transit board to create a north-south option for Chinatown International District’s super hhttps://nwasianweekly.com/2023/05/leaders-who-lobbied-sound-transit-honored/ub station.
Councilmember Morales Hosts the First Gathering of the Seattle Social Housing Developer Board. The new board is tasked with overseeing the social housing developer that was created as a result of Seattle’s vote to approve Initiative 135 earlier this year. Seattle’s social housing developer is one of the first in the country and is meant to create permanently affordable housing throughout the city.
Wing Luke’s ‘Nobody Lives Here’ and ‘Resistance at Home’ Take a Look at Sound Transit and the Future of the CID.“This false assertion that the CID isn’t a residential neighborhood has been used over and over again to justify harmful infrastructure projects being placed there,” says artist Tessa Hulls.