Amplifying the voices of Seattle renters is the spotlight issue on the Admiral Neighborhood Association agenda this Tuesday (7 pm, December 13th). Here’s the announcement from ANA president Larry Wymer:

Zachary DeWolf – a communications, policy, and community-development professional – is both director of communications and education with Pride Foundation, and president of the Capitol Hill Community Council. Following Mayor Murray’s cutting of formal ties with the neighborhood district-council system, contending that they don’t adequately reflect the full diversity of their neighborhoods, Mr. DeWolf (along with Joel Sisolak, who launched the Capitol Hill Renter Initiative and hosted the Capitol Hill Renter Summit) will describe his and Joel’s efforts to lead a citywide effort to initiate a renters’ commission that would help assure that city policymakers considers the effects on renters who typically are younger, less wealthy, less white, and less car-dependent than their home-owning counterparts.

Ultimately, this is about including voices that are all-too-often left out of the critical conversations that are shaping the future of our city.

We will also complete Nominations for Admiral Neighborhood Association officers for 2017, with Elections to follow (hopefully) at this meeting, or a meeting in the near future.

The ANA meets at The Sanctuary at Admiral, at 2656 42nd Ave SW. Our monthly meetings are held the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.

5:59 PM: We have crews at both locations of the city “open house” we’ve been talking about for weeks (our final “guide” to it is here) – first crew at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW) [photo below], second crew at Shelby’s Ice Creamery and Bistro (4752 California SW).

Here’s what you can expect:

-Most of the easels with information and space for feedback are devoted to the HALA rezoning – upzoning “urban villages, and commercial/multifamily property everywhere, to give developers/builders added capacity in exchange for requiring them to build part of their projects as “affordable housing” or pay a certain percentage into a city fund for it to be built somewhere else.

-You’ll also find the maps – two sets showing current zoning (the multicolor maps) and proposed upzoning (these maps are mostly green) on tables.

-At the SDOT/SDCI station, there’s an easel with information about the potential parking-policy changes, and lots of informational sheets about other projects/initiatives – Fauntleroy Boulevard (as previewed), Residential Parking Zone policy changes, West Seattle Greenway (the next “greenway” in our area, with the route yet to be finalized), RapidRide expansion (Delridge, in a few years). Also you can learn about the Department of Construction and Inspections and how you might interact with it even if you’re not a builder (they handle noise complaints, for example).

Lots of conversation under way here in the Youngstown Theater. And a big table with snacks. This is on at both locations until 7:30 pm.

6:04 PM: First report from our crew at Shelby’s – it’s swamped.

(It was originally the only location for this event, though community advocates had warned the city that more room would be needed.) At both locations, you can write your feedback on the HALA rezoning proposals (which also is being accepted via e-mail at halainfo@seattle.gov and the special site hala.consider.it).

At Youngstown, we’ve seen some early feedback too.

More to come. Again, the city promised that what’s available to ask about and comment on is identical at both locations.

6:25 PM: Just talked to Andra Kranzler from Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s office, who is at Youngstown to see how it’s going. Steady stream here, and a continued crowd at Shelby’s in The Junction:

6:54 PM: The buzz of conversation goes on here at Youngstown – and more feedback has appeared on easels:

We listened in as some attendees talked about the Westwood-Highland Park Urban Village map. Some wondered how the future potential annexation of White Center might play into decisions made now.

While SDOT had said the Fauntleroy Boulevard project – recently “re-initiated” – would be featured, we found only an info-sheet. No model, map, or other detailed display.

At Shelby’s, the rezoning maps were on display in booths – like the one where we found Eric Iwamoto, co-chair of the Southwest District Council (which had to cancel its meeting, when the city decided to schedule this on the same night):

We’re headed back over there to see how this wraps up.

7:34 PM: We’ve asked city reps for an attendance count here at Shelby’s – where in the early going it was jampacked, and dozens are still here now.

City reps say they won’t be able to put the count together until tomorrow. Meantime, though the official end time has passed, conversations and comments continue:

7:45 PM: We’re in the Parks/Greenways room at Shelby’s. One line item notes that a 34th SW greenway will connect people to Walt Hundley Playfield in 2017, with “bike ramps/bike racks (to) conect to existing paths and High Point Community Center.” Looks like this is close to a wrap, so we’re leaving and will be following up tomorrow.

We’ve been talking about this for weeks – and now it’s one day away. Here are the final toplines for tomorrow night’s big city open house – offering info and taking comments on several major initiatives.

WHEN
5:30-7:30 pm Wednesday, December 7th

WHERE
Two locations that the city tells us will BOTH have the same departments, initiatives, programs represented, so you can choose either one:

Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW in North Delridge)
Shelby’s Bistro and Ice Creamery (4752 California SW in The Junction)

FORMAT
Drop in when you can, for two minutes or two hours. No presentations – you’ll find maps, screens, easels, city employees

WHAT TOPICS YOU’LL BE ABLE TO ASK ABOUT/COMMENT ON
*The marquee project – the draft rezoning proposals for the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda‘s Mandatory Housing Affordability component (here’s our coverage of last week’s community-organized workshop) ADDED: Here are “simplified” versions of the rezoning maps for this area, showing only what’s being proposed

Also, as reported here previously (the links go either to recent WSB stories or city webpages):

*The “re-initiated” Fauntleroy Boulevard project
*City parking policy
*Seattle Parks Development Plan, Gap Analysis (is there enough park space near your home?), acquisition strategy
*Greenways, including the future West Seattle Greenway with planning tied to 35th Avenue SW Phase II
*RapidRide – Delridge is scheduled to get the next one in West Seattle

This is as close to an all-inclusive list as we’ve been able to get, but there could be more, so we highly encourage you to go or at least send a representative of your neighborhood to share comments and report back. Many of these programs also have ways to comment online but nothing says you care like showing up in person.

As we’ve been discussing, the multi-department city “open house” Wednesday night in West Seattle is offering discussion and comment opportunities on more than the biggest topic, the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda rezoning. (And we have just learned a NEW venue is being added – more on that at the end of this story.)

One of those topics is city parking policy.

We photographed that easel on Saturday at the Bitter Lake Community Center, during the north-end version of the same type of “open house” that’s set to happen here Wednesday night. We went to get an idea of how information will be presented and how comments will be taken. The parking-policy info was on a lone board set up by the Department of Construction and Inspections and is related to this page on the department’s website. It’s been broadened to “residential transportation options,” including this:

We are working with SDOT staff to consider improvements for managing on-street parking. Our effort also includes clarifying the rules that relate to parking and frequent transit service availability in Urban Centers and Urban Villages. …

…Our recommendations will:

Provide integrated and accessible transportation choices that are readily available for Seattle’s growing population – such as ORCA passes, car and bike sharing and shared parking.

Support Comprehensive Plan goals to encourage growth in Urban Centers.

Retain and enhance Seattle neighborhoods’ walkable and livable urban qualities, which are essential and preferable to automobile‐oriented public places and buildings.

Prioritize housing affordability to preserve and enhance the ability of persons of all economic means to be able to live in Seattle. Parking is a significant cost factor for developers.

Help ensure that racial and socio‐economic equity is a key consideration in setting parking policies.

Manage on‐ and off‐street parking most efficiently.

Promote designs for better quality, more secure, and more comfortable bicycle storage facilities.

Achieve local and regional environmental objectives through sound choices to achieve air quality, climate change, and natural environmental protection goals.

It’s been four years now since a city “director’s rule” lessened the requirements for offstreet parking in new apartment projects, and the number of buildings without it has continued to rise citywide, according to a Seattle Times story published this weekend. So if this topic interests you, be ready to offer feedback on Wednesday.

THIRD VENUE: Just as we prepared to publish this, we got word from the city that they are adding a third concurrent venue on Wednesday night – Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. To recap, the city originally set the open house for an 80-capacity space at Shelby’s in The Junction (4752 California SW), despite community advocates warning the city that a bigger venue would be needed. Last week, the city added Uptown Espresso across the street from Shelby’s. And today, comes news they are also adding Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW). We’re working to clarify whether all the same initiatives will be showcased at each of these venues during the drop-in “open house” time slot, 5:30-7:30 pm on Wednesday, December 7th – more later! (11:38 AM UPDATE: Now there’s word that Uptown is scratched, and Shelby’s and Youngstown are the official venues.)

P.S. If you missed our earlier reports on other topics that will be included – the best list we have so far is here (with further details on the Fauntleroy Boulevard component here).

The most-important agenda at the quarterly Morgan Community Association meeting this past Wednesday was the briefing on the then-impending release of the draft rezoning maps for Morgan Junction and West Seattle’s three other “urban villages.” We covered that part of the meeting in this report on Thursday, when the four maps went public for Morgan, Admiral, Westwood-Highland Park, and The Junction. So today, we’re publishing the rest of the toplines from the MoCA meeting, which touched on many other topics, with updates that might interest you even if you don’t live/work in Morgan:

LOWMAN BEACH SEAWALL, WITH A SURVEY FOR YOU

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Two months after Mayor Murray announced his plan to end city support for the 13 Neighborhood District Councils in Seattle and invent a new “engagement” strategy, a City Council committee will get a related briefing tomorrow.

This news comes tonight from the office of City Councilmember Lisa Herbold. She had requested the briefing, and, her office says, they just discovered it at the end of tomorrow’s seven-pages-long agenda for the Affordable Housing, Neighborhoods, and Finance Committee, of which she is vice chair. (The meeting is set to start at 9:30 am; this item is expected around 11:30 am.)

The briefing, to be led by Department of Neighborhoods director Kathy Nyland, is specifically about her department’s response to the council’s request last year that the DoN review how the new City Council districts would interact with the longstanding 13 neighborhood districts. The mayor didn’t wait for the report to come out in mid-July (WSB coverage here) before making his surprise announcement about ending support for the Neighborhood District Councils.

His announcement set a September 26th deadline – less than a week away – to “develop a proposed City Council resolution with mayoral concurrence that memorializes the community outreach and engagement principles outlined in” (the mayor’s announcement), and that would officially cut off city support ($500/year for each all-volunteer district council’s expenses, plus some city staff time). The agenda for the committee meeting doesn’t include any such document, so we don’t know its status.

Later tomorrow, by the way, the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council – whose members are from community councils and other organizations in eastern West Seattle – will have its monthly meeting (7 pm, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way SW), and the district councils’ future was already on the agenda, as previewed here. Along with Councilmember Herbold, Councilmembers Tim Burgess – who chairs the committee that’s hosting tomorrow’s briefing – Lorena González, and Mike O’Brien are likely to be there. You’re invited, too.

P.S. The district council for western West Seattle, Southwest DC, already had its September meeting (WSB coverage here), and voted to continue on as an organization even if city support is formally severed.

From last night’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting:

SDOT’S ADMIRAL WAY PROJECT UPDATE: SDOT’s Dawn Schellenberg and Sam Woods returned with an update, less than two weeks before the restriping of Admiral Way is set to start. Schellenberg reiterated the goals – to lower speeds, reduce collisions, make it “comfortable” for people to ride bicycles – and that the project has been a year and a half in the making. She recapped the final version of the plan, announced via e-mail in July, including where the center turn lane will be kept and where it will not. Another mailer is going out soon, she said, before pausing for Q & A.

“Why did the city spend money repainting parts of that corridor” before the current striping is set to be changed? asked ANA’s Mark Jacobs. “That seems like such a waste of money – literally within the past month they’ve been out repainting.”

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