3 (projects) in 1 (update)

| Development | Gatewood | West Seattle parks

-Guess who’s surfaced in the growing push to keep Charlestown Cafe from being replaced by a standalone Petco store: Former City Councilman Charlie Chong. His letter to the current council members is in one of the latest posts on the Our Town/West Seattle group site, as it moves to organize the fight.

-Also stepping up their fight: The Morgan Junction/Gatewood neighbors who say the construction across the street from Gatewood Baptist shouldn’t have sneaked through the permit process as a group of small projects instead of the one semi-big project it really is. One neighbor has just posted a new comment on this WSB page, contending the project is clearly illegal, and also wants everyone to know project updates are on the ORCA site.

-And one last reminder regarding a (so far as we know) noncontroversial project: As we mentioned Sunday, tonight’s the third and final public meeting to talk about what’s going to be done to transform the “Ercolini property” (photo below) into a park.

chet_desmond February 14, 2007 (8:19 am)

Well, I hope something can be done to save the cafe but looking at how development is green lighted by the city, I am not holding my breath. I want to save the cafe/stop tearing down houses and businesses for condos and apartments… not have input on where a trellis is placed.

MW February 14, 2007 (9:10 am)

Ok, this is a little bit of a rant.
I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll say it again – I’m not antidevelopment. In fact, I’m all for good new development.
Here’s the deal. There is a real, actual housing crisis in Seattle. People who want and need to rent can’t find a good place to live in the City. I’m not even talking about the affordability thing – there’s an overall general shortage of housing.
When I moved to Seattle 9 years ago, I (we) rented an apartment and then a house for about three years before we bought a house. There are a ton of people just like me who have moved or are moving to Seattle for the same reasons I did – I found a good job in a wonderful place to live. When I moved here, I had some good options for rental housing.
There literally aren’t enough affordable housing options for people in the City of Seattle.
So we need to create more dense, multifamily housing (rental or condos) in the right places that is near stores and services and transit. We need to do this so that people, just like me 9 years ago, can come to Seattle, find a place to live, and enjoy the same wonders we enjoy.
And yes, there are challenges that come with that, like transportation and other things, but, in the long run, more people will make better mass transit MORE feasible than less.
What WON’T make things better is refusing to provide affordable housing options in the City, resulting in more people living further and further away and having to drive to work and services and shopping.
If you (and that’s the broad, “if you’re reading this” you) own your own single-family home in a lovely neighborhood, I bet there was a time in your life when you needed an affordable rental home. Our communities are better off with a mix of different people with different means and different experiences, and one way we get this is through a variety of living options.
Ok, I’m done now.

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