Let’s Go North and South CID

Chinatown-International District (CID) in Seattle, recently named one of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is the last Chinatown in the Pacific Northwest. It is a gateway for Asian immigrants, a home to families and elders, a regional cultural anchor, and an economic center for small businesses. It is a dense urban working-class immigrant neighborhood with a rich cultural history that sits immediately adjacent to downtown Seattle and the stadium district.

Over the next decade, the neighborhood is slated for imminent expansion of light rail lines from regional transit authority Sound Transit. The proposed station would dissect the neighborhood and displace current residents, small businesses, and cultural anchors. Left unchecked, transit policies make way for real estate developers to buy up the land in the neighborhoods and develop it into market-rate housing that is unaffordable for working class immigrant elders and families. However, with equitable transit-oriented development planning and investment in affordable, community-owned housing and cultural spaces, we can keep our neighbors rooted and small businesses strong for generations to come. We are working directly with community members and regional transit authority, Sound Transit, to ensure light rail expansion serves the community while not continuing the historic harms of past infrastructure projects. Our goal is to ensure culturally relevant, community owned and controlled equitable transit-oriented development in the Chinatown-International District during light rail expansion.

What are the station location options?

✅ North & South CID Stations

• Best option for the CID, provides the neighborhood with the most benefits & limits harmful impacts.
• CID residents and commuters will have access to all three lines of transit in the neighborhood. The South station will be across the street from Uwajimaya and connect to Line 1. The current CID station will connect to Line 2 & 3. The North station will be 2 blocks north of Hirabayashi Place and connect to all three lines.
• A shorter construction duration located away from the heart of the CID will shield the neighborhood from dust, noise, and traffic congestion harmful to the health of our residents and small businesses.
• The only option that allows for more growth for the neighborhood. Sound Transit policy requires surplus land be given back for community use after construction. Land provided can be used to combat displacement and gentrification risks.

❌ 4th Ave South Station

• Construction estimated to run from 12-15+ years with partial and full closures of 4th Ave S.
• For 5+ years 20,000 vehicles daily will be rerouted through CID’s pedestrian friendly streets putting youth and elderly in harms way and creating havoc for local small businesses.
• Reports from a trusted independent risk assessor hired by Sound Transit states that the 4th Ave build site is a riskier build being further out in the Duwamish tide flats and thus prone to soil liquification.
• Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway owns most of the land along 4th Ave S build site. Community gets nothing back for bearing the brunt of construction impacts. BNSF build moratoriums also adds unforeseen construction duration and cost.

❌ 5th Ave South Station

• The CID community agrees that this is the most disastrous option and has all the negative impacts from 4th Ave in closer proximity to the CID.
• Small businesses along 5th Ave S will be shut down or relocated; surrounding ones throughout the CID will lose business due to traffic congestion for over a decade.
• The staging area for major construction in the heart of the CID will decrease the overall well-being of the neighborhood from construction noise and disruptions.