It’s been a month since we first reported on County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda standing before the Sound Transit Board and asking them to put West Seattle light rail on a Delridge route that could bypass and potentially save local businesses. Those local businesses also have been taking their case to the board, while making contingency plans; we talked with Erin Rubin of Mode Music Studios (WSB sponsor) and Mode Music and Performing Arts in this report. Now another business in the project’s path, West Seattle Health Club, is asking its members for support. Several readers have forwarded us this message sent to WSHC members by club management today:
We have been informed of the recent decision by Sound Transit to alter its initial plan for the West Seattle Light Rail. Rather than running it around the West Seattle Health Club, the preferred route would require placing a pillar through our pool. We have been working diligently, alongside local businesses and King County Councilmember, Teresa Mosqueda, to ensure that our concerns are heard by the Sound Transit board. Specifically, we have requested a refinement of the plan to place the pillar 20 feet west of the club or over the top. The board has acknowledged our request, and a final decision will be made in June.
We are advocating for a change in the decision, which, while not immediately impacting the gym, would, over time, have significant ramifications. The removal of the West Seattle Health Club would not only result in the loss of a gym but also the displacement of a community. We believe that the decision-makers on the board may not fully appreciate the gym’s value to our community. Some of you have been members since the early 2000s when the gym was known as Allstar Fitness. You have shown remarkable loyalty and dedication to the club and its community, even during challenging times of poor management and financial struggles. We are aware that you have expressed concerns about the proposed changes because you do not wish to lose a community staple that has become so important to you. Some of you have made lifelong friends at the West Seattle Health Club, formerly known as Allstar Fitness, and have been members for over two decades. We are not merely a gym. We are an all-inclusive community that provides a sense of belonging and support. While there may be several other gym options in the area, none can match the feeling of walking through the doors of the West Seattle Health Club.
We support Sound Transit’s efforts to bring the Light Rail to the West Seattle community. However, the removal of our gym will have a profound impact, not only on our community of over 6200 members but also on over 100 employees who travel to West Seattle and support the businesses in the area. We implore you to support us in our efforts to communicate to the Sound Transit board that placing a pillar through the pool of the West Seattle Health Club is not merely a matter of relocating another business. It would have far-reaching consequences.
If you wish to voice your opinion, please contact Cali Knight at CKnight@kingcounty.gov and Shannon Braddock at Shannon.Braddock@kingcounty.gov.
Shannon Braddock, a West Seattleite, is deputy county executive for County Executive Dow Constantine, also a West Seattleite, who is on the Sound Transit Board. Calli Knight is also on the executive’s staff, as infrastructure initiatives director. The board has not yet made a decision about final routing but is expected to vote in the second half of this year, after the final Environmental Impact Statement is released (no date for that yet beyond “midyear”).
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