SDOT announced this week that they will be adding 20 on-street parking spaces to Pioneer Square. The parking spaces will be in two locations:  on the north side of South Main Street between 1^st Avenue South and 2^nd Avenue South and on the north side of South Main Street between 4^th Avenue South and 5^th Avenue South.

Pioneer Square currently has ~700 on-street parking spots, shown in the map below:

(click here to view the full sized pdf)

SDOT’s press release says that the addition of parking is “in response to a recommendation from the recent Pioneer Square Revitalization Project, a city-community partnership, to free up parking spaces for shopping and visitor use.” When I read that, I went to check the report that came from the city-community partnership because I didn’t remember parking being a part of the conversation.

Sure enough, it says that the City will “Effectively Manage Parking Supply and Demand,” which includes reviewing the quantity and location of on-street parking spaces.

But it begs the question — is there enough parking in Pioneer Square and do we need more?

I did some checking (contacting developers, parking garage owners, and even counting open lot spaces in google earth) and came up with the following map of private parking in Pioneer Square:

(click the map or here to view the larger PDF version)

I was shocked when I tallied the number of parking spots:

5,233 private
+
700 on-street
+
20 new on-street
=
5,953

Ever since we moved into the neighborhood, I’ve wanted to count and map out the parking, but have been reticent to do the leg work for it. When I finally started to research this, I never thought that we would be close to 6,000 parking spots in our small neighborhood. But is it enough?

There seems to be a perception that parking is hard to come by in Pioneer Square. Peter Aaron, the owner of Elliott Bay Book Co, has stated multiple times that parking was one of the reasons that they had poor sales. Commenters on Pioneer Square articles frequently mention a parking problem.

Pioneer Square has worked to change the misperception of parking, including offering free parking at First Thursday with a Parking for Peanuts program. The new Saturday Market partnered with Diamond Parking to offer free parking to vendors, as well as with the Merrill Place Parking Garage to provide free parking for market volunteers, and shoppers. It seems to be successful, with the parking garage being utilized at every event.

Mayor McGinn’s proposal to increase the parking tax and to add a $20 car tab fee has been controversial, and people are beginning to question if such actions will hurt downtown Seattle and possibly lead to more people and businesses to Bellevue (where, for example, you can find free parking at Bellevue Square and many other businesses).

But if you look at just the Pioneer Square neighborhood, it really is  “one of the city’s most accessible neighborhoods.” (link) If you look on the private parking map above, you can see all of the different transit methods individuals can use to get to the neighborhood — Pioneer Square has light rail, the bus tunnel (in the free bus zone), many bus lines, the West Seattle water taxi, ferries, a connection to the waterfront (including the free Waterfront “Streetcar” Bus) and is within biking and walking distance to other downtown neighborhoods. Not to mention that it will soon be services by the First Hill Streetcar.

So I would question those of you who live, work, or visit Pioneer Square — is it that we don’t have enough parking spaces, that people want free (or cheap) parking spaces and can’t find them, or is it that not enough people are utilizing public transit?

Mayor Mike McGinn invites residents to apply for three open positions (one architect, one attorney and one retail owner in Pioneer Square) on the Pioneer Square Preservation Board. Individuals who have an interest in the historical preservation of the district are encouraged to apply.

The 10-member Pioneer Square Preservation Board reviews land use, new construction, changes of use, façade alterations, signs, and street improvements within the Pioneer Square Preservation District. Members serve a term of three years and are eligible for reappointment. Applicants must reside within the city of Seattle and should send a letter of interest and resume by July 30, 2010.

The goals of the board are to preserve, protect and enhance the historic character of the Pioneer Square Historic District. The board is composed of two district property owners, two architects and one of the following – retail business owner, attorney, historian/ architectural historian, human services representative, member-at-large, and a young adult appointed through the Get Engaged Boards and Commissions program.

Board meetings are held 9:00 a.m. on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. In addition, board members may be asked to serve on an additional committee, which also meets twice a month. Electronic submissions are preferred, if possible.

Please email your letter and resume to: Genna.Nashem@seattle.gov

(please reference Pioneer Square Preservation Board in the subject line).

To submit a paper copy, please address to: Genna Nashem, Pioneer Square Preservation Board Coordinator, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, PO Box 94649, Seattle, WA 98124-4649.

Governor Chris Gregoire and other elected officials are participating in a groundbreaking tomorrow (Tuesday, June 29th) from 2pm – 3pm to kick off major construction for the S. Holgate Street to S. King Street viaduct replacement. The goal of this project is to remove half of the “seismically vulnerable” viaduct.

Alaskan Way Viaduct south end replacement groundbreaking
2 to 3 p.m.
Tuesday, June 29
Just north of 1051 First Avenue S., Seattle

Project information is available at www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR99/HolgateToKing/. For more about the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program, visit www.alaskanwayviaduct.org.

Image Credit: Oran Viriyincy

Popular blogs Orphan Road and Human Transit have been discussing the Seattle Waterfront Streetcar this week and debating whether or not it will (or should) come back.

Orphan Road argues that local cruise ships bring over 800,000 passengers a year to Seattle and that the waterfront streetcar would be a perfect mode of transportation, even if it becomes clogged (and therefore not useful to locals), and subsidizes bus operations as a result.

(The Port of Seattle estimates that in 2010, they will receive 223 cruise ship visits and an estimated 858,000 passengers. One can only assume these numbers will be higher in 2018 – when a waterfront streetcar – if it happened – would be built.)

His further argument is that the city should not only have legacy bakeries and bookstores, but also “legacy transit.”

Human Transit blogger Jarrett argued back that the streetcar would be “largely useless to people who just want to get where they’re going” and to instead seek a better transit solution. He continues, however, that “if it had been a great tourism amenity or if it garnered broad enthusiasm as a recreational service and as a statement of Seattle’s embrace of its own history, then sure, it would have been great.”

During Pioneer Square Alaskan Way Viaduct meetings, WSDOT officials have answered any streetcar concerns by saying that the options are still there for reviving the waterfront streetcar, but that it won’t even be looked at for quite a few years.

Central Waterfront Coordinator, David Goldberg, said that until you actually get into construction of the new waterfront, a lot of options remain up in the air. “The goal is to have a robust planning process,” he said. “We don’t want to cut any ideas yet.”

And that seemed to be the opinion of everyone that I talked to — no idea is totally off the boards.

Steve Pierce at SDOT said that part of the original tunnel proposal included a 1st Ave streetcar, and not a waterfront streetcar. A few of the stated benefits of the 1st Ave streetcar over the waterfront streetcar are the following:

• It would serve a similar market more effectively
• Better connections to key destinations
• Higher ridership

Additionally, Pierce said that “because the waterfront street is playing a big role in the bored tunnel program, due to the volume of traffic predicted at the street level, it would be difficult to run the streetcar in mixed flow.” Basically, you would need an independent right of way for the waterfront streetcar, which would take up (valuable) public space.

SDOT would be less likely to commit resources to a parallel streetcar (i.e. both the 1st Ave AND the waterfront), but they are now taking a look at the broader set up issues with the 1st Avenue streetcar under the new transit master plan from the mayor.

“The bottom line is, nothing’s decided yet.”

Although it was estimated that anywhere from 5,000 – 8,000 people would attend the immigration rally in Occidental Square Park last Saturday, police estimated that there were more like 3,000 people that showed up. Over 70 buses brought people in from all across Washington State.

According to the Seattle Times, “the group is trying to counter negative stereotypes about the typical immigrant as ‘a bad Mexican immigrant coming across the border, who’s potentially also a terrorist.’” To read more about the rally, check out the Seattle Times article, or this post on New American Media.

A Pioneer Square resident and blogger also sent me a video that he made from the rally, including a few key moments from Rep McDermott and an interview with one of the attendees. Check it out:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaEdLEh3wsM[/youtube]

The City of Seattle is expecting anywhere from 5,000 – 8,000 people to crowd Occidental Park this Saturday, April 10th,  to participate in a national day of action in support of comprehensive immigration reform.

They will not be closing streets ahead of time but SDOT/SPD will close streets if it becomes necessary during the event. Prepare for traffic, a huge crowd, and lots of buses parked throughout the neighborhood and in parking lots.

According to We Are One America’s website, the “gates” will open at 11am and the program begins at noon. Confirmed speakers include:

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Washington
Dow Constantine, King County Executive
Pramila Jayapal, Executive Director, OneAmerica
Cecile Hansen, Duwamish Tribal Chair
Mike Gempler, Washington Growers’ League
Sergio Salinas, SEIU Local 6
Carlos Padilla, DREAM Act student and activist

And don’t leave before the entertainment:

Master Mak Fung Kung Fu Club & Lion Dance Group
Children’s Choir, led by Kent Stevenson

Tomorrow, the city council will take public comment on Councilmember Tim Burgess’ Public Safety proposal. The public safety plan includes restrictions on aggressive solicitation near ATMs and parking pay stations, an increase in the number of police officers and a return to dedicated foot patrols Downtown. It is very important that residents, employees and visitors to Downtown speak up in support of this proposal. (source)

You can help in two ways.
1. Attend the hearing on March 17th and testify.
2. Email city leaders by clicking the following link.

Together we can make Downtown a safer place for everyone.

For more information on the ordinance, click here, or to check out Tim Burgess’ City Councilmember home page, click here.

There will most likely be a lot of people interesting in commenting at the meeting, so it’s probably a good idea to show up early.

I never miss an opportunity to plug the “Revitalize Pioneer Square” suggestion on Mayor McGinn’s Ideas for Seattle site (go add your vote — I still want to beat the nude beaches suggestion).

It has held on to it’s #5 position for a while (since the Pioneer Square community took it from a mere 5 votes to over 600 votes), and it seems like the Mayor is listening to what the people have to say.

He will be coming down to Pioneer Square and Chinatown/International District to do a walking tour later this week. Deputy Mayors Fuji and Smith may also be joining the party, along with several City department representatives.

While the overarching theme of this event will focus on public safety issues, the tour is an opportunity for our community to highlight all the amazing efforts that are taking place related to revitalization, development, and preservation.

I have the opportunity to walk with him on the most difficult street in the neighborhood (which also happens to be the street I live on).

I (laughingly) hope that my friendly street loiterers will do me a favor and make sure they are out in numbers during the tour so that he can see how bad it gets.

I’ve been trying to brainstorm the best way to get my message across to the Mayor in just 2 short blocks regarding some of the neighborhoods problems.

Any suggestions? What do you think the key messages are that we should be taking to the Mayor?

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.