West Seattle versus Columbia City

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  • #605290

    Sonoma
    Participant

    Keep in mind that I love West Seattle and wouldn’t live anywhere else. However, a comment I overheard the other day made me think a little more about my beloved neighborhood. A woman was saying she thought the Junction shopping district looked “crappy,” while she preferred Columbia City.

    Now, I don’t agree with her for the most part, but I see things about Columbia City that are more attractive than West Seattle.

    True, Columbia City is smaller and less congested than West Seattle, but one of its charms is the lack of cookie-cutter, sunlight-blocking high-rises. It has more of a historic feel. West Seattle is, for better or worse, more commercial and developed.

    The challenge is how to keep whatever charm we have left, but still accommodate growth. We’ve already lost a lot of what makes West Seattle special. Any thoughts?

    #774938

    shihtzu
    Participant

    Well, it is kind of true. Ballard used to be charming too, but now is just blocks and blocks of high-rise apts.

    Fremont seemed able to keep a little charm. Their design reviews must have been painful!

    West seattle is much bigger than CC though, so it’s never going to be as cute.

    #774939

    kgdlg
    Participant

    So we moved to west Seattle from Columbia city. We primarily did this because of the real lack of shopping and dining options in south Seattle. We often found ourselves leaving the neighborhood to do any daily kind of shopping other than groceries. This was annoying. While their biz district is cute and historic, it is very small and limited. Most folks in the south end go either to Renton or west Seattle for things like mcclendons, target and clothing store options. Also colmbia city is on rainier ave, which is hostile to pedestrians.

    West Seattle, onthe other hand, is much larger with an abundance of shopping and dining options. On weekends we feel like we can stay here and get everything we need locally, mostly at small businesses.

    And, I hate to tell you this, but this is precisely because of density. More people equals more shoppers and the junction has been thriving over the last ten years while all these new customers have moved here. Personally, I like this. It creates options like a petco for when my neighborhood pet store is closed. Or more grocery options like the new TJs and qfc. This would not be happening without density.

    Now we just need a monorail…oh wait, nevermind.

    #774940

    Sonoma
    Participant

    Yes, true — I do appreciate all the conveniences such as the grocery store options, as well as the smaller businesses (though I’m not sure all of the latter are flourishing, despite West Seattle’s burgeoning population). And certainly we are fortunate to have beautiful places like Lincoln Park and Alki right in our midst. But, oh, those big hulking high-rises! Whatever happened to thoughtful design that reflects a sense of place? And doesn’t block out our limited sunlight? Oh, well.

    Thanks for all your feedback. Good stuff!

    #774941

    kgdlg
    Participant

    It is true that many of the new big buildings are just underwhelming design. This I believe is as much code as design. But, 6 stories does not a high rise make!

    I may have been too optimistic in my assessment. I consider any small biz that was able to weather the recent recession a success. We don’t have a lot of empty storefronts here and I think that is a sign of health right now. Now, are they making money hand over fist, probably not. But they aren’t closing up shop either and I believe this has a lot to do with our population and success as an urban village. I know a lot of folks that come over the bridge from e south end for what we have.

    #774942

    ghar72
    Participant

    Back in September, the SW District Council invited someone from Columbia City to chat about how they were able to keep their historic buildings and “charm.” Here’s the link for your perusal. https://westseattleblog.com/2012/09/how-best-to-protect-west-seattles-character-southwest-district-council-mulls-historic-preservation-possibilities

    #774943

    kootchman
    Member

    Rack em’ and stack em’ is how you build density. We have an expanding base of fast food, coffee shops. bars… ok.. but for urbanization to work.. ya have to have density. Having 20 coffee shops is not a great achievement. When you don’t have to drive to get shoes, jeans, computer gear, office supplies, you have a successful urban model. The downside? W. I like some of the new designs along California, north of Genesee.. they have a more aesthetic fit… the post Stalinist monoliths like those surrounding Safeway, QFC look ugly now and will look uglier in 20 years. We should expand the commercial zone to allow for 10 -20 residential units to allow for a larger base. 100 units monoliths look like what they are.. not much different than 60’s era public housing high rises. The Junction architecture never has been a good design center. They are flat, square, boxes, some with decorative facade. Is there anything uglier than the old Petco? Who would want to preserve it? Or the entire block across the street? Our multi-family zoning should expand. If we are going to force 20,000 people to live in an 8 block wide commercial zone… canyon construction.

    #774944

    WorldCitizen
    Participant

    I’ve always wondered why everybody seems to enjoy going to Europe with its narrow streets and five-story tall apartment buildings lining them densely for miles, But when they come home this kind of density is appalling. Now, I understand that the architecture of these old parts of town in Europe is much more striking than anything we have around here. However, with minor changes to the aesthetic, our design can be just as interesting.

    Why is it okay in Europe, but not in West Seattle?

    #774945

    shihtzu
    Participant

    Subways and separated bike lanes make density much much more appealing to me.

    Good question though. I think aesthetics is one of the biggest factors too.

    #774946

    WorldCitizen
    Participant

    Yes, without a doubt, subways are a must with the advent of density.

    #774947

    kgdlg
    Participant

    Worldcitizen, I think because on balance those buildings are tall but on super small lots, so they allow for a greater diversity and granularity in the built environment. The block long Seattle 5 over 1 is tiresome and at street level, incredibly bland. Whereas in Europe that block would have ten buildings on it, all with different little shops on the bottom.

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