One more day to take The Survey – and we’ve been challenged

| Development | Neighborhoods | West Seattle news

That’s the latest bar chart for responses to the neighborhood-plan survey we’ve been talking about – literally a once-in-a-decade chance to have an official say on where growth and planning goes from here. Whether or not you made it to the July 28th meeting to discuss the plans face to face, the city is hoping to get as many people as possible to fill out an online survey asking the same four questions. Yes, we know, it may not seem fair that Ballard/Crown Hill is ahead because it’s all lumped together as one neighborhood, while West Seattle has FIVE (Junction, Admiral, Delridge, Highland Park/Westwood Village, Morgan Junction), but nothing we can do about that now; it’s how things shook out a decade ago. But we’re not even being challenged by Ballard – our fellow online-only neighborhood-news providers at Rainier Valley Post are issuing a challenge to other neighborhoods. Not sure if this will turn into one of those Super Bowl bet deals where we each offer some famous local foodstuff (what IS an iconic West Seattle food, anyway? Husky ice cream, maybe?) – but we’ve up for a challenge. Before 5 pm tomorrow, go here to take the survey. If you don’t live in any of those five neighborhoods, fill it out for one that you frequently visit. The more voices are heard in this process, the better the end result; tell your friends, tell your neighbors, use SHARE THIS below to send this around.

Rainier Valley Post August 11, 2009 (4:53 pm)

Huskey Deli Ice Cream?! You got yourself a deal, WSB! Can’t tell my readers how often I cross the bridge for a little bit of that Huskey heaven…

Sharonn August 11, 2009 (4:56 pm)

I just completed my survey and submitted it. Took me 20 minutes and I had a lot of issues to comment upon! Can’t encourage everyone enough to click on the survey and spend some thoughtful time filling it out. This is public record and it does make a difference.

glendafrench August 11, 2009 (5:06 pm)

Not to discourage anyone from filling this out — I did mine — but am I the only one to notice that the amount of neighborhoods on this seem to overrepresent West Seattle compared to the rest of the city? Sure “Ballard” is kicking our butts, but if you add in Delridge, Admiral, Morgan Junction, Westwood/Highland Park, and the Junction that’s got us over 350+? I mean it’s a good thing – I just wanted to point out we don’t seem to be total lazy slobs in filling this out.

WSB August 11, 2009 (5:20 pm)

No, but that’s still fewer than 1 percent of the population … with 60,000+ people on the peninsula. Thanks to you, to everybody who’s filled one out, and to everybody who will get one in by tomorrow night!
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FWIW there are three main reasons we’ve been pushing this. One is that the neighborhood group leaders and activists whom we cover so frequently have made it clear how important it is for more participation in the process, beyond the great folks who usually show up for meetings etc.
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Two, in covering so many local development stories over the past 2+ years, we often hear the neighborhood plans brought up, and someone invariably saying “Who decided THAT?” etc. because they didn’t know about the original process, or weren’t paying attention, or whatever … so we want to do our part in helping make sure people know there’s another chance to have a say.
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And third, because we are among that group – we’ve lived here for almost two decades now but in the late ’90s, I was so focused on other things (lively toddler, ailing parent, intense job), I paid little attention to what was happening here in WS, but am working to be hyper-attentive now! … TR

Mark August 11, 2009 (5:37 pm)

I’d be glad to fill it out, except it doesn’t completely render for me in either Safari 4.0.3 or Firefox 3.5.2. Radio buttons don’t get filled out, for example, or can’t be selected.

4thGenWestSide August 11, 2009 (5:44 pm)

A very informative .PDF and survey. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, TR.

Mark August 11, 2009 (5:47 pm)

OK, just had to wait a LONG time for it to render completely. survey submitted.

m2 August 11, 2009 (5:53 pm)

Did mine – was relatively quick exercise.

Now, as far as iconic West Seattle foods, I have to go with Sunfish on Alki. Every time my Dad visits us here in WS he has to eat lunch there. Every day.

Or how about steaks at Jacks?

m2 August 11, 2009 (6:00 pm)

Wait – got it – crab cakes from Seattle Fish Company?

Kate K August 11, 2009 (6:24 pm)

Be sure to include things you’d like to see in your neighborhood, such as more P Patch gardens, parks or trees.

Personally, I’d like to see a neighborhood center similar to the Phinney Neighborhood Center. They revitalized an old school and use it for meetings, classes, day care, tool bank, etc.

Survey took me about 15 minutes.

Forest August 11, 2009 (10:09 pm)

As the late and much missed Charlie Chong used to observe when he was Seattle’s top neighborhood activist in the 1990s, the city assigned “urban village” status to five West Seattle neighborhoods that would have to plan for and accomodate substantial increases in the density and development of their commercial areas. In comparison, the city had assigned the entirety of the Magnolia neighborhood exactly ZERO urban villages. It would appear the same exemption from urban density planning will be applied to Magnolia in a new round of neighborhood plan requirements. No offense to Magnolia residents or its small business district, but how come it is exempt from having to plan for a comparable influx of new density and development?

carraig na splinkeen August 12, 2009 (7:36 am)

I know the neighborhood plans are a legacy from when the city worked more at the neighborhood level, but seeing that my neighborhood, Alki, is not included there is little to provide comment on.
If DPD or Planning Commission staff are reading this, please take note that some neighborhoods are not represented equally and that in itself says a lot.
Regardless, Seattle is not a great place to raise a family, and that is a big concern. Read any number of books from the great minds in urban design and they all say that cities need to be for people of all ages, incomes, and backgrounds. democracy with a small d.

glendafrench August 12, 2009 (9:59 am)

The city no longer works at the neighborhood level? It’s not a great place to raise a family? You cite both of these like they are obvious, but both ring totally false to me – especially compared to other cities our size. Can you elaborate?

KSJ August 12, 2009 (10:15 am)

Two in my household filled out the Admiral survey and we sent it to our neighbors who also filled it out. Admiral peeps, get on it — let’s beat the Junction!
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Seriously, we commented on things like adding lighted crosswalks, the need for traffic calming up Admiral Way, better promoting the public parking in Admiral for local businesses, and redrawing the retail district line so that it’s NOT around our residential street. Important stuff!

HighPointDogWalker August 13, 2009 (1:05 pm)

No idea which report to respond to because High Point is not there. Plans? I can’t find on the the .gov site either. Not really sure what to do here so I just picked a neighboring area and went with it.

WSB August 13, 2009 (1:28 pm)

Sorry, we have mentioned this before – these were the five areas designated for plans during the process a decade ago, but people were invited/welcome to fill out the report for any neighborhood where they spend time. So you did the right thing. BTW for anyone who hasn’t seen our newer item, the deadline was abruptly extended to August 21 – so still lots of time to get a survey in … TR

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