You should be embarrassed if you’re reading this because you saw the “what you missed” part in the title and you thought “what DID I miss?” But just in case you have a good excuse, here are some photos from First Thursday in Pioneer Square:

The Nord Alley Party VI — people crammed the alley to look at the Green Alley competition entries, enjoy the food, listen to a jazz band, and to see the spot through one of the alley doors where Washington CASH will be setting up their new retail space next month (check them out, they’re an incredible company).

Sally Clark (City Council) announced the winners of the Green Alley competition: LMN won the grand prize and people’s choice. The only thing I remember about their entry is they had grass and called it an “iAlley.” Sadly, I didn’t take pics of the competition entries, so you’ll have to wait until ISI updates their site.

My favorite entry that night wasn’t even an official entry because it was done by the UW Green Futures lab last year. They had 3 months to create submissions for activating alleys in Seattle and had some really great ideas.

Unfortunately, this was only a design competition, and the entries won’t actually be installed in any alleys. That hasn’t stopped Todd Vogel of ISI, however — they have worked tirelessly to find new ways to change how alleys in Pioneer Square are used.

After leaving the alley competition, we walked through Art in the Park to check out the different vendors. I normally take pictures of the art to share, but will instead share photos of these these two gorgeous necklaces that I couldn’t resist.

The first one is by Monika Wysocki, a local artist from Lynnwood who has a booth at First Thursday every month and sells a variety of necklaces and scarves.

The second is from “Jewelry by Joy” and you can find her etsy shop here.

After leaving Occidental, we were on our way to the six19 Western Ave Arts building when I happened to glance over and see that the Delicatus (pronounced del-i-kot-uhs) looked open. I’ve been laughing at their website because it keeps changing from “Coming January 2010!” to “Coming February 2010!” to it’s current: “Coming March 2010!”

After talking with one of the owners (helpfully pointed out below), he said that they are waiting for the overworked health inspector, who should inspect them today. If that happens, they will finally be open mid-week next week.

The even better news is not that they have great seating on their second floor, or that they will have free wifi, or even that if you come in 3 times a day, “it will be a different experience,” but that on Thurs, Fri and Sat, they are planning on staying open until 10pm. Finally! More food options for the residents in the evenings.

We wanted to make it to six19 before the studios started closing, because we didn’t want to miss Jen Vertz’s display of photographs of homeless in Pioneer Square. I also would have taken photos of her event, but it was so incredibly crowded in the building, I don’t think I could have managed to squeeze my camera out of my purse.

Walking around Pioneer Square yesterday helps me forget some of my frustrations about our neighborhood. The square was packed with people who couldn’t wait to explore what our neighborhood has to share. And yet people leave and kind of forget what an incredible experience it was and go back to thinking that it’s unsafe and unpleasant.

I choose to hold on to sights like this image of Occidental Mall that remind me of all of the potential in my neighborhood and to plan for when there are this many people walking around daily, instead of just for special events.

If you haven’t been to a First Thursday in Pioneer Square in a while, this is one that you definitely don’t want to miss.

Art in the Park (Occidental Square Park, 11am – 8pm)
As you walk through the many galleries in downtown Seattle and Pioneer Square, don’t forget to stop through Occidental Square Park to find great deals from undiscovered local artists.

First Thursday Art Walk (Pioneer Square, 6pm – 9pm)
More than 50 art venues in the historic district showcase their latest artistic offerings. For more information on the Art Walk, click here.

Nord Alley Party VI (alley south of Grand Central Bakery building, 5pm – 9pm)
Winners of the Green Alleys competition will be announced promptly at 5pm, so make sure you’re there on time. Drawings of all of the entries will also be displayed in the Nord Alley. Here is a link to the last alley party where they unveiled their “waste not” art installation, and a link to the International Sustainability Institute’s website.

North Lot Community Celebration (FX McRory’s, 419 Occidental Ave S, 5pm-7pm)
You are cordially invited to meet the Development Team for the North Lot project to celebrate the issuance of a Master Use Permit for the North Lot project.Appetizers & non-alcoholic beverages will be served. Hosted by Daniels Development.

Save 4Culture “Laptop Rally” (Caffe Vita in the Tashiro Kaplan building, 125 Prefontaine Pl S, 6pm – 8pm)
“4Culture is the arts, culture, and historic preservation arm of King County. It gives grants, it features new local artists in its Pioneer Square gallery every month (the newest lineup here), it commissions public projects, and generally pumps energy in the ecosystem of Washington art and culture. If the bill currently in front of the state legislature doesn’t pass by March 11, then major cuts will start happening in January, and 4Culture will have no sustainable funding source into the future.”

Here’s what you can do—stop by the laptop rally, or just write a quick note from this template on your own. (from the Slog)

Location Animation Showcase (Zeitgeist Coffee, 171 S Jackson, 8pm – 9pm)
Seattle animators are bucking the computer animation trend, using lo-fi techniques to create lovely little films. See for yourself at the (free!) Local Animation Showcase, featuring work by the artists profiled in the March issue of Seattle magazine (Stefan Gruber, Tess Martin, Britta Johnson, Webster Crowell and Clyde Petersen) as well as a few fellow animators.

I think if you play your cards right, you could hit one event after the other, which makes for a very fulfilling evening. See you all there!

NEWS

Pioneer Square Hotel seeks OK for annex (DJC subscription only)
“A long-planned hotel project is back before the Pioneer Square Preservation Board after a two-year hiatus. The project involves adding a four-story annex to the Pioneer Square Hotel on Yesler Way. It would have 30 hotel rooms, 900 square feet of ground-floor retail and 39 parking spaces. The hotel is just north of the annex site.”

Downtown alley leaves dark days behind, welcomes pedestrians (Seattle Times)
Great sketch by the Times’ resident sketcher of Todd Vogel’s Nord Alley. Remember to come to the Nord Alley party at First Thursday this week to hear who won the “Green Alley Competition.”

Galleries and artist lofts reinvent historic spaces in Pioneer Square (Seattle University Spectator)
How art galleries saved many landmark buildings from “being knocked down to extend the downtown business district.”

Pioneer Square stays bookish without Elliott Bay Book Co. (Seattle University Spectator)
“Even in the absence of Elliott Bay, Pioneer Square stands out as Seattle’s most prominent book district; it’s home to a dozen different independent booksellers, and most of them carry used titles that literary lovers can stockpile without breaking their bank.”

Pioneer Square boutiques create unique venue for new and local artists (SUS)
The Seattle U Spectator is really loving them some Pioneer Square. A review of Gems and DELI, two great boutiques in our neighborhood.

Burgess: Put more cops on street, crack down on panhandlers (Seattle PI)
A review of the recommendations from Tim Burgess for how to solve our aggressive panhandling problem

Panhandling Ordinance Raises Questions (NPR)
A further discussion of Burgess’ recommendations.

To read more articles about the panhandling issue and public safety, click here.

Council puts bridge, viaduct work atop priorities (Seattle PI)
The council’s current priorities, including the bridge, viaduct, route for the new First Hill streetcar, social services, etc.

Jazz trumpeter Thomas Marriott charts a successful path in Seattle (Seattle Times)
He started out on the stage at the New Orleans restaurant in Pioneer Square.

BLOGS

Can Seattle Walk the Talk? (VIA Architecture)
A review of Helle Soholt’s “Seattle’s Public Life – Making it the Most Walkable City in America.” To download the presentation or to watch video, click here.

Seattle’s Top 5 Falafels (Seattle Weekly – Voracious)
#1 on the list is Zaina Food, Drink  & Friends, also located in Pioneer Square (1st & Cherry). Go check it out!

DELI Seattle B:Scott pop up store opening (DELI Seattle)
Check out photos from the recent pop up store opening of B:Scott, DELI’s 3 month featured artist.

CRIME

Feb 27th — after being thrown out of a nightclub, one ejected member slapped a female, who had also been thrown out of the club.

Feb 28th — after leaving a nightclub, a man initiated contact with a group of women he had seen in the club. After being told they weren’t interested, he backhanded one woman “for her perceived disrespect” and punched a second woman.

How can you not love reading about these?

UPCOMING EVENTS

3/4: Nord Alley Party — Green Alley winner announced. Click here for more info.

3/4: North Lot Community Celebration – Come and meet the development team for the North Lot project and celebrate the issuance of a MUP for their project.

3/5: City Inside/Out (Seattle Channel) – Future of Pioneer Square (link)

Visit the events calendar for more information on these events.

I have to be honest — when I initially saw this advertised, my first reaction was negative. Over the past 8 months, I have heard a lot of feedback from Pioneer Square residents that they are tired of church organizations and people with good intentions coming to our neighborhood to feed the homeless. Oftentimes, they leave our parks full of trash, and when confronted about picking it up, they get angry and don’t feel like it’s their responsibility. It also brings more and more homeless to our neighborhood — people ask why they don’t advertise that they’ll feed them in their neighborhood.

After talking to the Marketing + Communications Director for the Bread of Life, however, their event is different.

“The Bread of Life’s intent is not to be a band-aid,” she said. “When someone comes here for a meal, they realize that there is a transitional opportunity and there is a program and a way to step out of this cycle of homelessness. When we are in the park, we are also marketing that opportunity to the people on the streets.”

The have done this three times already– usually the third Saturday of the month, and plan to keep up the program. In January, a homeless person talked to someone in BOLM’s Life Change program about how he changed his life. He later came down and signed up for their program. They also see it as a way for the men in their Life Change program to give back.

They send out runners to the train station, occidental park, places they know there are homeless — telling them where the food is, with the goal of spreading the word about getting off the streets and changing their lives.

In that way, they are different than many of the other groups that come to our neighborhood. Plus, they have their own trash receptacles and make sure to clean up after each event.

When: Saturday, February 27th from 1 – 4pm (volunteers meet at 12:45 for a safety/info briefing)

Where: Meet at the Bread of Life Mission (1st + Main)

One group will set up by the courthouse park, and a second team will go out in a van to a few spots in Seattle where homeless usually gather (under an overpass or by the West Seattle Bridge, I-5 and Pike Place Market)

For more information, click here to email our volunteer coordinator or visit their website.

Guest Post by Kate Howe, Urban Planner for VIA Architecture

[Editor's Note: Pioneer Square was featured in a lot of the presentation, which is great news. A copy of the presentation, which features a streetcar coming down 1st avenue next to J&M Cafe, should be posted here tomorrow -- stay tuned. To read other coverage of the talk, see the International Sustainability Institute's Press link]

Much of our combined city planning energy has been focused on traffic; how to plan for it, how to make space for it, and how to keep people from getting in its way.

However, the methodologies championed by Danish urban expert Jan Gehl and his team at Gehl Architects are finally giving neighborhoods and community advocates the facts they need to compete in a world dominated by traffic demand models, population forecasting, and abstract regulations that do not value public realm.

As of today, Copenhagen is the ONLY city in the world with a Department of Public Life. This is not a Traffic Department, or a Building Department, but a city agency that is consistently engaged with the everyday users of a city, its pedestrians, its residents and its commuters.

For our struggles in Seattle, Gehl Architect’s Founding Partner, Helle Soholt presented last night a first glimpse into our own Public Life Study (due out in full in March). It confirms what many of us who work downtown already know:

• that the office core is lifeless throughout the day
• that one has to walk to the edges, or the Pike Place market to find a nice place to sit and have lunch
• that you don’t linger unless you are waiting for a bus.

They know this because they had 43 graduate students at the University of Washington standing at street corners through out the downtown counting people. They did this in all seasons, days, nights and weekends. Observing and marking down what people are doing; i.e. are they sitting, standing, for how long?, walking, talking, shopping? The Study will also show how these activities rank up versus other cities of our size such as Melbourne and Sydney Australia. (Hint, not so good)

While I could go on to discuss Gehl’s projects and this Study at length, you can instead watch nearly the whole presentation here. (You can also watch the introduction to the presentation by Todd Vogel, Sally Clark and Mayor McGinn by clicking here.)

But overall, my conclusion is simply that the time has arrived! I hope that we can learn to pay attention to the map Gehl Architects has begun to provide. As Helle noted:

• “We need to give something to the city in order to get something from the city.”
• “Every person in the city is a part of the city’s culture.”
• “Most importantly the function of public space is that it is democratic, open and accessible to all.”

In sum, their five recommendations for Seattle:

1. Connect between Pike Place Market, the Waterfront and Westlake Center
These are the areas with the most active life now, how can we pull some of the activity from Pike Place towards the rest of our downtown? What can we do about the parking lots and junky urban design here? What are we saying at eye level invitations to the waterfront?

2. Complete the Bicycle Network
While pictures of Copenhagen’s famous cycle tracks are sure to make any cyclist drool, the recent changes in New York City are a great US precedent. Give us a safe – separated cycle track downtown so that even grannies feel like taking their bikes out. Please, and thank you.

3. Prioritize a First Avenue Pilot Project
Gehl Architect’s study shows First Avenue as the primary connector between languishing Pioneer Square and the Pike Place Market, by far our most vital walking environment downtown. They suggest we treat it that way. While retail owners may be nervous about losing traffic volumes and parking spaces, more hard data continues to show (such as in the recent PLANYC) increased walking traffic can be correlated with more retail sales. And we have a LOT of room for growth on First Avenue if we designed it for better connections and walkability.

4. Green our Alleys
Our streets are broad in Seattle, with one way fast moving traffic. Like Melbourne we have an opportunity to green our narrower and intimate alleys, remove the dumpsters and make new smaller scaled streets and places. These can be the places to stay. They also recommend simply greening the east-west connectors with sitting benches and places, street trees to make the incredible topography less challenging.

5. Make new facades where none exist
Hallelujah. Helle mentioned, first that we have something like 75,000 parking spaces in the downtown; we can sacrifice a few at the street level to make new storefronts and facades. What is the city doing to make this happen?

If this is the first time you’re seeing this, you’re probably too late. But it’s still exciting and the awards will be announced next Thursday at the First Thursday Alley Party (which is always a blast) in Nord Alley, Pioneer Square.

The competition:

Seattle’s alleys offer intimate, small-scale spaces that, properly staged, invite people to walk and promise a host of sustainability benefits. Introducing greenery to Seattle’s forgotten spaces can create a small ecological system of its own by filtering city runoff before it hits the Puget Sound.

How green is your alley? The City of Seattle, Great City, the International Sustainability Institute, People for Puget Sound, and the AIA Seattle are sponsoring a contest on how to green our alleys. An all-star cast of designers, planners, residents and other alley-lovers will judge the entries for their originality, cost-effectiveness and practical implementation. Join us in a unique design competition to green Seattle’s alleys!

For more information send an email to: green_alleys-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, OR email darby.watson@seattle.gov

Here is a link to a PDF document containing project info, submission requirements and maps of the project area: Green_Alleys_info.pdf (836 KB)

Check out Great City’s website for more information!

The Schedule:

Week of January 11: Release schedule, regulations, and base information on Yahoo Groups
February 22: Entries due to ISI offices by 5 pm PST (314 1st Avenue South, 206-381-1630)
February 24: Judging panel reviews and selects winners
March 4: First Thursday Alley party, all entries displayed and winners announced in the Nord Alley

Guiding Principles:

Alleys are a key resource in Seattle. Traditionally restricted to service uses, the Clear Alleys Program has opened up opportunities to use alleys in different ways. This design competition is focused on potential new uses that in combination could add functionality to our transportation and ecological systems as well as improving the aesthetic and community-building elements of our City. Below are some guiding principles to help you in your design of Seattle’s best Green Alley:

Green alleys should:

• Welcome pedestrians, both as walkways and places to visit
• Incorporate green stormwater infrastructure in both functional and aesthetic aspects
• Encourage building design to provide doors, windows, and other elements that support non-service uses
• Continue to provide access for service vehicles

Judging Criteria

1. Design innovation and quality: 40%
2. Thoughtful integration of green stormwater infrastructure: 20%
3. Response to culture, community, and context: 20%
4. Transferability of ideas and approach to other alleys: 20%

Sounds like a big job, I know, but someone’s gotta do it.

The City of Seattle is reaching out to anyone who wants to add input on what qualities the next Police Chief should have. It’s tempting to let other people do the job, but if you have an opinion, speak out. Otherwise, it’s the way everything else goes: the complainers are the loudest and the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Or if you’re at the airport, sometimes the squeaky wheel gets escorted out of the airport (as I witnessed yesterday). I think that’s the way it should be every where else people spend time complaining (like Pioneer Square public safety meetings).

But I digress.

Here are the questions the Mayor’s Police Chief search committee is asking of interested citizens:

1. What qualities are you looking for in a new Police Chief?
2. What is the most important public safety issue in Seattle?
3. What does the Seattle Police Department do well?
4. What changes would you like to see?

Wednesday, Feb. 17, 5:30 p.m. ‐ 7:30 p.m., Franklin High School
3013 Mount Baker S, Seattle WA 98144

Friday, Feb. 26, 5:30 p.m. ‐ 8:30 p.m. New Holly Gathering Center,
7054 32nd Ave S , Seattle, WA 98108

On a serious note — it’s great that the city has set up meetings to get input from the community and people should really take advantage of the opportunity to answer these questions as it pertains to your neighborhood. If you think you know what the most important public safety issue is and how you’d like to see the police change what they’re doing, don’t just complain online (like in the comment section) — go and give constructive ideas at these meetings.

Your input is also welcomed at the Police Chief Search forum at www.IdeasforSeattle.org or by calling the City at 206-684-CITY (206-684-2489).

On a less serious note (and since we’re sending people to my favorite site): If you’re interested in reading some outrageous comments by ignorant people who “know” why Pioneer Square has problems, you’ll definitely enjoy this link. And how could you not be interested in that? People are even using words like “yuppie” and “flocking” and “gastronomic.”

[sorry for the lack of posts...I think I was hit with some major food poisoning...]

People were buzzing on twitter yesterday with news that film crews were down in Pioneer Square…

According to the Seattle PI — the feature film is “Late Autumn,” and has been filming in various locations around Seattle. Check out @moniguzman’s post on the Seattle PI regarding filming.

Also, there seems to be a lot going on in Pioneer Square tomorrow — don’t forget to check out the Events Calendar when you’re making your plans for the weekend. Here are tweets of a few events coming up:

Great City, PSCA, and AIA Seattle sponsored a brownbag discussion of the Viaduct’s South Portal and the potential impacts on Pioneer Square. At least that’s what it was supposed to be about.

The presentation by SDOT/WSDOT was great and informative (view the video of the presentation here). The panel brought up important issues for the neighborhood and asked the questions that really needed to be asked. When it was turned over to the Q&A, however, people were asking generic tunnel questions (like why is it a freeway, and why do we have to pay overages, and on and on). At one point, one of the SDOT/WSDOT representatives commented that they were only presenting the information that they thought people were there to hear about: How the south portal will affect Pioneer Square.

We needed a moderator to make sure that people were working through the issues of the new placement and presenting other possible issues for the neighborhood. To see a video of the questions/issues posed by the panel, as well as the Q&A, click here.

Panel:

Cary Moon, Director and Cofounder of People’s Waterfront Coalition
Bradley Khouri, AIA, Principal and Founder of b9 architects, lecturer at UW
Adam Hasson, Board President of PSCA, and Samis Land Company, Central Waterfront planning working group
Lisa Dixon, Program Director at PSCA, P² rep on south portal working group

Questions, issues, and risks posed by the panel:

Cary:

1. With the new alignment, risk assessment hasn’t been done; it’s closer to the water now and there are still tricky water table issues
2. Will boring, vibrations and ground settlement affect the sea wall?
3. If there’s ground settlement and vibrations, will those affect the foundations of P²’s historic buildings?
4. “This is probably the worst possible place in the whole city to put a tunnel portal. It’s the historic district, it’s next to the water, we have climate changing, rising sea levels, we have a very tricky water table, and we have the worst possible soil.”
5. As we look at all of the risks involved, “We really have to keep asking: is it really worth it?”
6. It is a project that doesn’t really serve access in and out of downtown Seattle
7. Great diagrams for getting people in and out of the portal, but don’t really know what it’s going to feel like.
8. Expecting 59,000 car trips a day with the new portal — it’s a lot of additional cars trying to drive through the historic district, streets, and waterfront to try and get to the portal. What are you going to do to make these streets handle the additional traffic, especially given the pedestrian nature of the streets?
9. Need to be careful that these great goals are actually things that the project can follow through on
10. If the tunnel cost should go up, all of these things are at risk for getting their budget cut — we have to make sure that it’s going to get done and its budget is protected

Bradley:

1. This tunnel needs to help us have a really great waterfront
2. The success or lack of success of each portal placement has a big impact on the success of the waterfront
3. What impact will it have on the environment of the water’s edge?
4. Great opportunity for Pioneer Square to be connected right to the waterfront once the viaduct is gone
5. Trying to enhance the waterfront environment and make sure that whatever solution with the tunnel contributes to that
6. Information from SDOT, WSDOT needs to be really transparent — people need to know what it’s going to look and feel like
7. How will you manage 50,000+ vehicles AND create a really great place for people to walk?
8. Traffic along waterfront and shoreline is an issue of great concern — is this the place to be doing this? Can we create a portal that is further south and distributes the traffic earlier so that by the time we reach the waterfront, we don’t have all of the car issues to deal with
9. Request that transit stays because the tunnel will not handle all of the traffic needs
10. P² has the highest walkscore. “It’s considered a walkers paradise, and we want it to stay that way.”

Adam:

1. Pioneer Square is a national historic district and we need to treat it with the care that it needs — it is a pedestrian oriented neighborhood — if we increase car and bus trips, how is that going to interact w/ pedestrians
2. If tolling is implemented, what’s the impact on our neighborhood going to be -- how many people are going to divert through P², the earliest opportunity’s going to be first avenue, and people are going to be just jammed on that street.
3. The mitigation during construction — is there funds available, how hard do we have to fight for it — are they open to discussing, providing marketing money, telling people P² is still open, showing people it’s still a good place to visit and do business
4. The goal is to move cars, but where are these cars going — the reality is that lots of people park under the viaduct — if you take away all of that significant amt of parking, where are the tourists and visitors and people in the workforce, where are they going to park?? There needs to be some consideration if you’re bringing cards here, they have to go somewhere

Lisa:

1. Moving the tunnel closer to the waterfront was significant — thrilled to hear that
2. Managing through the construction phase — making sure that office workers can get to their jobs and tourists can get to places they want to see
3. Making sure small businesses don’t go out of business because of the construction over the next 10 – 15 years
4. Displacement of some of the homeless people that live under the ramps — how handled so they’re not just pushed to another area
5. What are the changes to 1st ave going to look like and how are we protecting that area so that it still maintains its historic character?

This was a fantastic group and they posed some serious questions in relation to Pioneer Square. There are so many issues and concerns in regards to a project of this magnitude. One can only hope is that neighborhoods won’t get lost under the beast that is the Viaduct.

Almost 1,000 volunteers showed up this year to participate in SKCHH’s One Night Count of homeless in King County.

Here are the stats from this year’s count (to see the pdf report, click here):

There was a 5% decrease from last year — from 2,827 in 2009 to 2,759 in 2010. SKCHH attributes this to an increase in awareness of homelessness, as well as an increase in available services. To celebrate, it looks like their website got an upgrade — go check it out.

The unsheltered number released this morning does not include the estimated 5,800 people staying in emergency shelter and transitional housing overnight.

Here are the results from the 2009 ONC (which showed a 2% increase from 2008):

As a reminder, don’t miss out on a follow up free event called “Beyond the One Night Count.” Details are in this post, or you can go directly to their site to register.