If you have walked around Pioneer Square lately, you will see some small, but positive things have been happening in the neighborhood.

The Pioneer Square Community-funded Mural was just finished last week by local artist, Jeff Jacobson, who “worked closely with the Seattle preservation board and the PSCA to create a mural that would uplift a disenfranchised community and show a pictorial history and feeling of the local area.” To see his blog post on the work in progress when he started back in 2009, click here.

Back in October, SDOT commissioned ArtWorks to design a mural on the construction fence that has been installed around entrance to King Street station. ArtWorks is a great local nonprofit that provides opportunities for youth to create public art. Check out their work in progress:

Another recent addition to Pioneer Square’s “art” streetscape has been an advertisement in an empty retail space, managed by Ewing & Clark. At first, I was entertained by the ad and thought it added a little spice to an empty retail spot. I was quickly reprimanded, however, and told why it was inappropriate.

The City of Seattle does not allow advertisements or billboards that are located where the services are not being sold. Pioneer Square is even more stringent and the Pioneer Square Historic Preservation board has a process for any type of art that goes up in the neighborhood.

You have to first apply for a permit, which takes a max of 28 days to review, which goes to the Architectural Review Committee who provide advice, and finally to the Pioneer Square Historic Preservation Board to make a final decision.

In the case of the 76 sign, it is both an advertisement, and did not have a permit before it went up. I took a picture of the stop work order that appeared quickly on the building, but it has since been taken down and the advertisement has finished being installed. When I talked to Ewing & Clark, who are leasing the building, an agent said that they would prefer not to have anything in the window because it makes it so their leasing signs can’t be seen.

Pinnacle Management, who are the property managers for the building, said that the last tenant in the building was the Phoenix Underground, and in a tough retail market, when they were approached by an advertising agency (not directly by 76), it was a way to break some of their losses for the space.

Pinnacle also said that the advertising agency was in “negotiations” with the historic preservation board regarding the stop work permit, and that the 76 sign may soon be changed. To another advertisement.

The Chief Seattle Club has also added new art to the outside of their buildings (without a permit, I might add), but according to the Historic Preservation Board, they have so many applications to just get art approved to go up, it will take a while before they get to art/murals that are not approved.

Here’s where I think we’re facing a double standard when it comes to Art going up, Ads going up and Boarded up buildings staying the same.

The Metropole Building – what it used to look like

What it looks like now:

To read more about its history, click here. The short summary is that there was an accidental trash can fire in the building almost 3 years ago, and it has been boarded up ever since. The current owners of the building have been fighting their insurance to see if they’ll pay not only for fire damage, but for the costs to retrofit the building to bring it up to code.

I have two problems with this:

1. This is one of the main entrances to Pioneer Square — it’s extremely negative to see a big, boarded up building as you drive to or through the neighborhood
2. The art that they’ve allowed to be added to the exterior is ridiculous and almost worse than just being boarded up (ridiculous ≠ bad art, by the way)

I’m definitely not saying that the art is bad –  it just doesn’t match very well — not with the atmosphere of Pioneer Square, and not with each other. It’s like wearing stripes with polka dots.

The property manager for the building has said that they will be adding more art soon, but I’m nervous about what’s going to be added next and how it will mix with the others. They had 16 pieces of art to choose from originally, and these were the only 2 they liked. Maybe they should have looked to them sitting next to each other before they made their decision.

But the main problem I have with this whole situation and where I feel there is a double standard is that illegal advertisements are acted on so swiftly (the work permit was up within a week of the ad going up), but this building has sat boarded up and a blight on the neighborhood for almost three years — I think that this should be totally unacceptable.

I understand where the advertisement rule came from (city being overwhelmed by billboards and ads), but I feel like they are just as negative as empty buildings with boards and safety fencing.

The burden of responsibility is on both the city and the owners of the building. The city should be able to add more pressure or offer incentives to move this building renovation along, and while I sympathize with the tough economy, the owners should do their part as a piece of the neighborhood.

1.  1 in 4 Seattle residents named downtown as the number one neighborhood where they don’t feel safe. Nearly 40% of downtown residents worry about going out in the evenings because of that same fear.

Surprise! Many of you probably thought it would be Pioneer Square, but I don’t know how many times I have to keep telling you that we’re just as safe as our other friendly neighborhoods (which, I admit, isn’t perceived as very safe, despite low crime numbers).

Tim Burgess tried to spin that concern around to talk about his issue of aggressive panhandling. In a survey by DSA last year, 66% of the respondents said they felt that aggressive solicitation was out of control and the city wasn’t doing enough.

Those are not the top 2 concerns, however. In a Publicola article yesterday, they report that 75% of the respondents were most concerned about drug dealing and 69% were concerned about dangerous drunken behavior (both ranking higher than panhandling.. although they are all serious problems)

2. We need to add more police officers and police beats to our Seattle neighborhoods.

As part of the aggressive panhandling proposal Burgess is making to City Council, he is suggesting that they fund adding more police officers to the streets (21 in 2011 and 21 in 2012). Click here to see the article in the Seattle Times.

Dan Satterburg, KC Prosecuting Attorney added that a visible police presence is very important – it makes tourists, residents, and the work force feel safe.

3. We need to be proactive regarding open air drug markets

“It’s not just about arresting people – by the time they get to my office or Pete’s office (Seattle City Attorney), the damage has already been done to the city’s reputation of being unsafe,” said Satterburg.

There are some interesting programs that the city is working on right now, including the “drug market initiative.” The pilot neighborhood for this was 23^rd & Union, where residents have felt unsafe for decades. SPD spent months doing undercover buys and videotaping drug deals. They then sent a letter to 18 of these individuals, requesting that they and a guardian (parent, teach, coach, youth leader) come to a meeting.

At the meeting, they were told that they either stop what they’re doing, or they will file the case against them and send them to prison. “The impact wasn’t necessarily on the individual,” Satterburg said. “It was on the neighborhood.”

“If you do it only once, it will dissipate, so it needs to continue as a strategy and to occur in other neighborhoods.”

4.  We need to be proactive regarding the youth in our communities and schools

After Kate Joncas of DSA asked a question about what to do regarding youth issues  (i.e. like Westlake who had one group of youth last summer that intimidated everyone else out), and if creating a community center downtown would help, you could have heard a pin drop.

Burgess did make a good point, however, when he said that “usually the young people that are at Westlake park, for example, or causing problems on the street, are typically not the kids who are going to our community centers or involved in our sports programs.” He continued saying “it’s very complicated. I don’t have a good answer.”

Satterbug added that 3 out of 4 prison inmates in the state dropped out of high school, so it’s a big red flag. They are doing a similar proactive program to the drug issue of inviting students in who miss too many classes (with a guardian) and talk about why they are unable to make it to class and work to make accommodations so that they will attend.

“We’re making an effort because we know how important it is.”

5. Fantastic walking cities don’t combine their “showcase area” with where they provide social services

Dan Satterberg, King County Prosecuting Attorney, made a statement that I applaud whole-heartedly:

“When you go to any great city, fantastic walking cities invite you to get out and just explore on their streets. In none of those cities is the showcase area also the area where we provide social services. In those cities, those services are somewhere else. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have the same complicated problems that we have in Seattle, here, we just tend to overlap the two.”

Thank you for saying out loud what I’ve been trying to write for months (without being jumped all over). And just to be clear: it’s not opposing social/human services. It’s opposing where they’re located and how concentrated they are. Although someone mentioned after the forum that every neighborhood feels like they have too many social services. There just needs to be a balance.

6. There needs to be a middle ground between night life businesses that want to stay in business, and residents that want to sleep

Pete Holmes, Seattle City Attorney, said that they are crafting a comprehensive framework for regulating the nightlife industry to make sure that it’s both vibrant and safe. They are also looking at staggering last call, something that will really help the police department.

Satterburg added that “the problem is not what happens inside the club, it’s the closing time, in the parking lot when the bartender says you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here, and that’s where we need a visible police presence – robberies, assaults, gangs that come in to find a drunken, vulnerable person, ridiculous gun fights over insults – all of that will dissipate if there’s a visible police presence.”

The city is also looking at staggering last call, something that will really help the police department. There is evidence in other cities, like Birmingham, Alabama, where they let the market establish when and where bars will close, and that has worked very effectively.

7.  The creation of a 24/7 shelter with onsite services = housing

There are concerns about 24 hour shelters and new day centers to address a lot of the problems the city is facing with homelessness.

“The cost of opening an emergency shelter versus the cost of creating housing… it really makes sense to invest in housing,” Bill Block said. “We have managed to stabilize thousands of lives for people. Recognize that this works and continue those investments.”

After that statement, Burgess added that “it’s increasinbly apparent to me that we need another [day center]. People come out of shelters, and don’t have a place to go, so they go to the library or on to the streets. Most often, not causing problems for us, but they do need a place to go.”

8. The easiest way to stop aggressive panhandling? Just stop giving them money

Block said that he’s met with cities across the nation to talk about how they deal with aggressive panhandling and “the only thing that actually seems to work is to have people stop giving.”

Instead, he said, people should give money to the social service agencies, or to the real change vendors. “All the laws in the world don’t have nearly the effect of giving to social services agencies rather than the person on the street.”

9.  A clean, safe environment is conducive to a vibrant tourist industry and vibrant residential downtown: Remember 3-1-1

Holmes’ parting advice on the one thing you can do to make a difference is to call 3-1-1 to report broken windows, illegal graffiti – any non-emergency situation that will make a different in your neighborhood.

He says that we should insist on a clean, safe environment where you live and work.

10. Stay engaged

Each panel member listed one piece of advice for how individuals can make a difference.

In addition to requesting that we stay engaged, Burgess added another way we can help, which drew laughter from the crowd. “Let the other council members know that you support my initiative.”

Holmes hit the nail on the head, however, when he said that “underlying all of these discussions is a resource question – if you really want to address these problems, address the fundamental funding problem in the state.”

Satterburg finished it off by adding that “there is no substitute for professional law enforcement. We’d all love to build housing rather than hire police officers, but we don’t have to do one or the other, we can do both.”

Go to DSA’s website to add your thoughts/opinions – make your voice heard, and stay engaged.

To watch video of the entire forum, click here.

[The following is a letter from PSCA -- if you want to get involved and help Pioneer Square have a better future, please follow one of the action items listed at the bottom. It will take 10 minutes at the most and will be a really good thing for the neighborhood.]

Dear Pioneer Square Stakeholders, Business Owners, Residents and Friends:

As you know, much is taking place that will greatly impact the future of Pioneer Square, including South End Construction, the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program, and the plans for the North Lot.  Many of these issues will be a couple of years off, but one immediate issue we need your input on is the First Hill Streetcar Line.  Please take a few minutes and let our city council know how important it is to bring the First Hill Streetcar into Pioneer Square.

Please help us convey the need for greater transit connections in the City of Seattle.

Background:
The First Hill Streetcar Line was included in the November 2008 voter-approved Sound Transit 2 (ST2) mass transit system.  The development of the First Hill Streetcar Line creates a new multi-modal connection for transit riders via the Sounder commuter rail and Link light rail, as well as enhances connection to public transit sysems including Metro buses and Sound Transit commuter buses.

The City of Seattle, Department of Transportation (SDOT) plans to begin construction in Fall of 2011.  More information about the project at: http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/.

How Does this affect Pioneer Square?
SDOT is currently analyzing several route alternatives for the First Hill line.  A full overview of all the alternatives and additional information is available at: http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/firsthill.asp.

The portion of the project that impacts our neighborhood is the South Terminus Turnback Loop.  The project is fully funded, but will choose one of two alternatives: a Weller Street Loop or a Pioneer Square Loop. (image below is what we’re pushing for)

This project is designed to connect several of Seattle’s most established neighborhoods including Capitol Hill, First Hill, Yesler Terrace, Chinatown/International District, and with the approval of the loop, Pioneer Square.  We need your voice so that historic Pioneer Square is not left unconnected.

Benefits to the neighborhood of choosing the Pioneer Square Loop alternative:

• Will be completed before the viaduct removal begins making our neighborhood more accessible during construction
• New connection helps with economic development in the neighborhood
• Adds to the marketing draw for residential and office development alike
• Allows commuters to safely navigate the intersection at 4th and Jackson
• Brings users closer to the Waterfront, creating a more walkable area
• Project is fully funded by the ST2 mass transit system
• Elegant transportation connection to the east from a convenient location in our Pioneer Square neighborhood
• Creates another leg to the transportation hub at King Street Station
• Helps eliminate the need for parking, especially during stadium events
• Environmentally beneficial as it should reduce the need for vehicles for many uses
• Crosses the ‘gateway’ into Pioneer Square

Action Requested:
You can give your feedback to Seattle City Council members several different ways:

1. Come to the City Council Transportation Committee:
   1. Join us Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 9:30am
   2. Council Chambers, Seattle City Hall, Floor 2, 600 Fourth Avenue, Seattle
   3. The public comment period is first thing, so please send me an email and join us to communicate the need for the Pioneer Square Loop on the First Hill streetcar line.
   4. Fill out the comment page on the website:
   5. http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/firsthill.asp
2. Send an email (or mail a letter):
   1. Open a new e-mail message and insert “First Hill Streetcar and the Pioneer Square Loop”
   2. Address your  letters or emails to the Seattle City Council, but send copies to each individual council member (both current and newly elected).
   3. Email to: sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov; tim.burgess@seattle.gov; richard.conlin@seattle.gov; sally.clark@seattle.gov; jean.godden@seattle.gov; bruce.harrell@seattle.gov; nick.licata@seattle.gov; michael.obrien@seattle.gov; tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov.  Also copy ethan.malone@seattle.gov.
   4. Or Send to: City Council Mailing Address: Seattle City Council, P.O. Box 34025, Seattle, WA 98124-4025
   5. In your message, it is important to convey the positive impacts of choosing the Pioneer Square Loop for this project.  If you are a small business owners, include how this can impact your business.  Your advocacy matters!

Your voice is important and we need your input on this issue.

If you’re wondering what reason this might be (because there are so many I could list: reference), it’s because of all of the boundaries we have in our neighborhood. I’m sure that most of you that just have one boundary are feeling pretty jealous right about now.

Check it out:

In case you can’t read the key:
Red Historic District
Blue Business Improvement Area
Green Urban Village
Yellow Metropolitan Improvement District (For more info on the MID, click here.)

Just to clarify why this might be a problem:

The businesses within the BIA incur an additional tax that other Pioneer Square businesses aren’t subject to (although they can sign up if they’re interested). The ordinance is for retail level sales and then a percentage of sq ft for upper level businesses). The money from this tax is supposed to pay for programs to be implemented that would support the community. One of the problems is that it’s difficult to implement a program just within the BIA, and not on the surrounding blocks, which are still considered part of the Pioneer Square neighborhood.

Here’s an example at how it can be confusing to people: the holiday program only included businesses within the BIA; some businesses were frustrated that they couldn’t be a part of the program. People trying to shop down in Pioneer Square were confused which businesses were actually included in the program when they assumed all Pioneer Square businesses would be.

Right now, programs are only able to be implemented outside of the BIA if they receive additional funding, which is only gained through fundraising (which isn’t too easy to get nowadays). The lamppost banners were only allowed to be installed throughout what people consider “Pioneer Square” because they received private funding from ING.

PSCA also can’t receive money (aka employee salaries) from just the BIA because they operate programs and work to better the neighborhood outside of the small area. And see the note above regarding fundraising.

The city needs to reevaluate what area should actually be included in the BIA so that the rest of the neighborhood can benefit from all of the programs that the BIA tax contributes to. Although it’s not beneficial to include blocks that only include parking, it would only seem logical to me to have the boundary fit what people consider “Pioneer Square.”

Until then, you may continue being jealous of all of the colors of the maps that our neighborhood contains.

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.”

It is tough to dispute the fact that the North Lot development will be a great thing for Pioneer Square — most revitalization conversations include statements like “…when the North Lot is finally built” and “just wait until we get the North Lot, then things will be better.” Well, the North Lot has taken another step towards someday being built. A new 15-year Master Use Permit (MUP) was just published for the North Lot this week. Under the new MUP, the North Lot will include:

One residential building (668 units) distributed among three towers (10, 20 and 25-stories)
Ground level retail (21,784 sq. ft.)
399 above grade parking stalls (which will be hidden)

One, 20-story 424,061 sq. ft. office building
ground level retail (11,762 sq. ft.)
502 above grade parking stalls (491 stalls are replacement parking for Qwest Field)

Although construction may still be far away because of lending problems and the state of the economy, there’s another main concern surrounding the development when it comes to Pioneer Square. With just under 1,000 condos + apartments in our neighborhood, almost 70 percent are already dedicated to low-income housing. (link)

The requirement for Daniels Development Co to add affordable housing is a condition from the county as part of the purchase and sale agreement. As it stands, DDC needs to build 100 affordable units. The question right now is whether or not those units are incorporated into the North Lot or are put in the International District. And just to be clear: ID wants them.

“They have tried for years to get affordable housing,” Kevin Daniels said. “They want them.”

International District has been interested in working with DDC to get more development in their neighborhood. If the county continues on their current path, however, they may be required to incorporate them into the North Lot. As part of the Revitalization Committee, one of the comments by Donovan Rypkema is that Pioneer Square needs a lot more market rate housing, and definitely not more affordable housing.

According to Kevin Daniels, the reason that this requirement has been put into place is because a long time ago, Ron Sims looked at our neighborhood and said “we need housing down there and we’re going to get 100 affordable housing units.” In the meantime, we’ve gained more than our fair share of affordable housing, not to mention human services. Some critics say that the North Lot developers are just trying to pass the buck — they get to build higher buildings and then place affordable housing in a different neighborhood. This is a situation where the city needs to take a step back, however, and look at what our neighborhood needs and what the International District is asking for.

So while (most of us) are extremely excited for the North Lot development, our neighborhood needs to send a message to the city and the county: No more affordable housing units in Pioneer Square.

To see more info on the North Lot and to see renderings of what P2 will look like, click here. *Note that the renderings and model are just to give you an idea of size — the design has not yet been completed so we won’t know what they will actually look like until much further down the road.

See how many of these questions you know: (no cheating)

1. The number of Senators in Washington
2. The number of Representatives in the WA House of Reps
3. The number of legislative districts with low-income people
4. The name of your Senator and two reps?
5. The state gem

(answers listed at the end of the post)

These are just a few of the things that we learned at the “Beyond the One Night Count” workshop hosted by SKCCH and Catholic Community Services. Almost 1,000 individuals showed up in the hours of 2-5 in the morning to count homeless out on the streets of Seattle.

For those who were interested in doing more than a few hours of service, BONC was set up to teach people about how they can become advocates for homelessness. After detailing a few bills coming up for vote, including the Housing Trust Fund, and the Disability Lifeline, we were lucky to hear from the main speaker, Nancy Amidei. Amidei has been called a “relentless advocate for changing public policy to better serve the most vulnerable populations.”

She kept the audience laughing while teaching us how to become advocates – and not just for homelessness, but general tips for how to get more involved. One of the problems with our system is that the people who are going down to advocate seem to fit a certain stereotype: they have money (+ can afford to be down there often), they’re retired, and are usually white. This is a problem for the bills that need to be passed regarding human services and affordable housing – there simply aren’t the right type of people there that can advocate for them.

She listed five things that you can do anytime, anywhere and said that they all come from one simple fact: Advocacy just means speaking up.

1. Be sure you’re signed up for a good legislative alert group that can monitor your issues
2. Communicate – write, call, visit “The most effective is the one you will use.”
3. Empower others – bills need a lot of votes
4. Advertise your issue
5. TALK! Think of opportunities wherever you are

As a retired teacher, Amidei gave us a lengthier quiz than listed at the beginning of this post, but let’s see how you did:

1. 49
2. 98
3. all of them
4. http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
5. petrified wood

If you’re interested in getting involved and possibly taking a trip down to Olympia to meet your Senator and/or Representatives, Amidei said she’d be happy to be your personal guide.

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.

Link to Part 1, Social
Link to Part 2, Economic
Link to Part 3, Political
Link to Part 4, Physical

The Revitalization Committee for Pioneer Square is meeting again tomorrow morning (open to the public)  to continue the discussion about revitalizing our neighborhood. I’ve been posting clips from the presentation, but if you’d like to see the whole 60 min presentation, click here.

Realities and Observations

1. There is a sense among Pioneer Square stakeholders that the commercial district is suffering.
2. Declining rents, vacancies and deferral of major reinvestment projects support this premise.
3. However these characteristics are true of commercial districts all over America, and the primary forces creating these consequences are national in scope and beyond the ability of one city, state or region to quickly overcome them.
4. But even in its current condition, Pioneer Square is one of the great historic commercial districts in the country.
5. The quality level of the retailers in Pioneer Square is very high, and a vast majority of them are independent, locally owned businesses.
6. There seems to be an inadequate recognition by Pioneer Square stakeholders of how extraordinary this commercial district is.
7. The number and quality of great historic buildings in Pioneer Square is certainly the major defining characteristic and strength of the district. At the same time the “edginess” and concentration of locally owned businesses is also an asset. But both “edginess” and independent merchants are fragile assets. In economic downturns, many independent merchants struggle to simply survive. In economic boom times the “edginess” can often be lost in a wave of cash and investment from national chains who prefer a more antiseptic environment.



8. The clients of Pioneer Square social service providers (who are readily apparent in the district) are seen as a significant adverse factor on both commercial activity and more market rate residential development in the district.
   1. There is a concentration of social service providers (and, therefore, their clients) in Pioneer Square.
   2. Many of these service providers predate any of the existing businesses in Pioneer Square. Further, many own their own buildings and are not going elsewhere.
   3. There seems to be a significant difference among social service providers their sense of responsibility for their clients once they leave their facilities.
   4. The congregation of unemployed and often homeless persons in a relatively small commercial district does create a sense of uneasiness among many customer and stakeholder groups.
   5. The criminal predators – drug dealers and others – exacerbate the sense of unsafety and frequently target the homeless and their not-infrequent addictions and physical and mental health conditions.
   6. The reality is that people who may have a bed but neither a job nor a daytime residence have to be somewhere. And until there is a day center for them to go, they will be on the street.
   7. While there is a role for police in addressing these issues, it is not solely a police function.
   8. While being homeless is not a crime there should be an expectation of civility in an urban context, and many of the actions of some of the homeless far cross the civility threshold.
   9. At the same time there is a political position among some advocacy groups that the expectation of civil and hygienic behavior is a violation of some imaginary “right”. The concept of rights without responsibilities violates the basic principles which functioning urban life requires.
9. This concept of rights but not responsibilities is not limited to some homeless or their advocacy organizations, however. There are numerous examples in Pioneer Square of property owners leaving properties vacant, unmaintained, or suffering demolition by neglect. This is defended by the argument “It’s my property and I have the right to do with it as I will.” But this ignores the property responsibility side of the equation that recognizes that a deteriorating and vacant property is essentially stealing value from adjacent properties. The concept of property rights should not be extended to allow one property owner the right to diminish the property values of his neighbors.
10. The Pioneer Square Community Association as lost considerable effectiveness and credibility in recent years.
11. The Pioneer Square Community Association needs to be a comprehensive economic development organization, not just the “voice of the neighborhood” or a promotional organization. Currently it is neither staffed nor funded to serve in that role.

Here are the final recommendations from Rypkema (commercial revitalization expert):

1. Establish an entity that is a comprehensive economic development organization. This could be a new organization, a reconstituted Pioneer Square Community Association, or a subset of another organization.
2. Systematically assemble and evaluate reliable economic data for the Pioneer Square for the last 5 to 8 years.
3. Create and then implement a communications strategy targeting both Pioneer Square stakeholders and the larger Seattle community regarding the organization and its role and the economic facts (as opposed to anecdotes) of the Pioneer Square economy.
4. Actively recruit and involve the growth sector business segments in Pioneer Square beyond retailing and food and beverage.
5. Incorporate these and other priorities into a comprehensive strategy for Pioneer Square.

“Far from being a commercial district in its last gasp, Pioneer Square is a commercial district of both relative economic health and extraordinary economic opportunity. The physical fabric of the neighborhood, the considerable but largely invisible growth of knowledge based businesses, and the proximity to both Seattle and international markets that the district provides would be envied by almost any other commercial district in the country.

But those opportunities will be foregone if stakeholders in Pioneer Square don’t approach economic development comprehensively, continue to make decisions based on anecdote rather than data, and fail to include and capture the currently untapped human and financial resources that could be available.”

Donovan Rypkema
PlaceEconomics
Washington, DC
December 20, 2009

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There’s a brown bag information session today from 12 – 1:30 regarding the Viaduct South Portal. The south entrance has different proposed locations, one of which would essentially turn 1st Ave into a freeway with major traffic.

I’ve heard that Pioneer Square has not been very well represented at these meetings by business owners and residents, so if you’re able, please try to make it there so that we can voice our concerns.

From Publicola:

“In short, the tunnel project is creating serious fears about its negative impact to Pioneer Square. The session tomorrow is a discussion on how much the project will effect the landscape of the neighborhood. It includes presentations by Bob Powers, deputy director of SDOT, and Ron Paananen, administrator for the viaduct replacement program.

There’s also a panel discussion featuring Cary Moon of the People’s Waterfront Coalition (who called the state of south-portal planning “dreadful” in an editorial last month), Bradley Khouri of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and Lisa Dixon and Adam Hasson of the Pioneer Square Neighborhood Association. The event is sponsored by Great City, the AIA, and the Pioneer Square Community Association.”

Fore more information on the presenters, see AIA’s website here.

Thursday (today) from noon to 1:30 pm, at the Klondike Gold Rush Museum, 319 2nd Ave S.