Here’s what happened when the District 1 Community Network – representatives of various groups and organizations around the area – met this week for the first time this year, with Deb Barker of the Morgan Community Association facilitating.
WEST SEATTLE LIGHT RAIL: D1CN’s first guests were from Sound Transit, recapping the newest information presented regarding the West Seattle light-rail extension – early station designs. ST is still on track to publish the West Seattle project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement “the middle of this year,” Leda Chahim said – the board (which is getting some new members) will vote after that on final routing and station locations. The presentation went through the station-planning info shown at recent meetings including the West Seattle Transportation Coalition in November (WSB coverage here) and October’s “open house” in The Junction (WSB coverage here). ST’s station-planning lead Sloan Dawson headed up the recap, showing what were largely the same station design outlines presented at WSTC (with a few extra notations about bus access), starting with the Delridge station, northwest of the Delridge/Andover intersection.
Questions included how many buses the stop zone at the station would hold simultaneously – answer, three. Also: How is Metro involved in planning? Dawson said they’re “closely coordinating.”
The Avalon station is where the line starts going underground, with a “retained cut” station and then the tunnel leading into The Junction.
This station “straddles” 35th SW, with an entrance on each side of that street. Barker noted that Metro will be visiting the WSTC this year, so watch for that if you have questions about how bus service will interface with light rail. Dawson said that among other things, they’re working on street cross-sections to show more clearly how the station areas are supposed to work..
The Junction station will be “cut and cover,” spanning 41st SW.
Buses from California, Alaska, and Fauntleroy would converge on the station. There would be a new signalized intersection at 41st/Alaska. Jefferson Square would be “acquired and demolished.” That led to one commenter voicing concerns about how business tenants would be compensated compared to property owners; Chahim said it’s a complex conversation and that they haven’t discussed specific dollar amounts with specific businesses yet.
Time ran too short for detailed discussion but ST reps also noted “concepts” for projects to enhance walking and biking access to the stations. Next up in the process – they’re analyzing more than 2,000 responses to the station-planning survey that closed just before Christmas. They also promised another “engagement” event in West Seattle in the months ahead.
‘NO-BUILD ALTERNATIVE’: Another light-rail-related agenda item later in the meeting – Marty Westerman spoke on behalf of the Rethink The Link group advocating for this alternative to Sound Transit light rail. They contend that the light-rail extension “will make West Seattle to downtown rider experience worse” and that the massive expense and construction-related pollution, among other aspects, are not worth it. They say ST only projects 400 fewer car trips as a result and contend that beefing up bus service would “make more sense.” One attendee asked how the ST3 vote could be “undone” to allow this. Westerman said that’s not necessary, as the ST Board has the power to “ignore the voters” and do whatever they think is right, for example.
TRIBAL ART UNDER THE BRIDGE: Here’s our previous coverage about this. Facilitator Barker recapped how she found out about this by reading a City Council agenda back in November. The new City Council will have to make a final decision on the matter, which involves $133,000 for the Muckleshoot and Suquamish tribes to create art on columns under the west end of the West Seattle Bridge. The Duwamish Tribe – whose longhouse is barely a mile away from the site – was not consulted, though the city said a different art project would involve the Duwamish. Barker invited Ken Workman of the Duwamish Tribe to the meeting. He said that “to our shock, this proposal was going through” on the “last Duwamish Village site in Seattle.” He said the two tribes involved “are good people” and do have some Duwamish ancestry, adding that his tribe supports native art, but “this place is home for us and for somebody else to come in and say they’re going to establish their territory (here) … doesn’t sit well with us.” He said they were grateful to Barker for bringing it to their attention. He was asked how the fight for federal recognition is going; “we continue this fight … our attorneys are pushing forward for an acknowledgment, a summary judgment that (the Duwamish) would be recognized … My fear is that if we as a Duwamish people fail to get our names on the registry of recognized tribes, we will go the way of the Aztec and Inca and people will say they have ‘ancestry’ but there won’t be an actual Duwamish people any more.” Back to the art matter, city reps said at the time of the bridge proposal that they would work with the Duwamish on a separate public-art project; Workman said that will involve sidewalk art. No date set yet for the council’s next consideration of the project with the Suquamish and Muckleshoot, Council Bill 120726; the Transportation Committee shelved it on December 5th and will have to vote before it could go to the full council.
CITY COUNCIL VACANCY: This is now open to applicants as noted in our coverage Tuesday of the council’s first meeting – but you have to apply by end-of-day Tuesday (January 9). Barker noted that a public forum will be held as part of the process and wondered if D1CN participants might be interested in sending in questions. When a similar forum was held in 2019, it was noted, 18 groups asked questions.
COMMUNITY NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Kay Kirkpatrick from HPAC said they’re excited about the construction of the permanent signal at Highland Park Way and Holden … Facilitator Barker said her organization, Morgan Community Association, will have a hybrid meeting at 7 pm January 17th, at Westside Unitarian Universalist (7141 California SW) … The Fauntleroy Community Association expects a guest from Parks at its 7 pm meeting Tuesday (January 9) to talk about the Lincoln Park pickleball-court plan. That’ll be at The Hall at Fauntleroy (9131 California SW).
D1CN’S NEXT MEETING: 7 pm Wednesday, March 6, in-person, location TBA.
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