From Othello neighbor Jenna Egusa Walden:
Yesterday, HB 1490 and SB 5687 died on the state congressional floor. This bill couldn’t have come at a better (or worse) time. Worse because it addresses a hypothetical rapid development scenario while the economy is shrinking; better because it forced the community to think about how transit-oriented development (“TOD”) should evolve in our community right when Neighborhood Planning in Rainier Valley is kicking-off.
As the first neighborhood in the state to receive light rail service, we will be greatly impacted by this investment in many ways. Land is acquired and developed, zoning is upgraded, construction comes (and stays). All of these Phase I changes are tremendous initially. But then the heavy lifting has to come.
But how do we know what to lift, and what to leave alone? Purposeful direction is needed to address our Rainier Valley concerns (public safety, jobs, education opportunities, transportation and environment). But we also have places that should be sustained and nurtured as-is, and which lay the ground-work to build on our own unique identity. Some residents would point to the quirky pea patches under the utility lines, the single-family neighborhoods or the Farmer’s Market, for example.
We need to respect both the common-ground values of progress and sustainability by understanding the correct approach towards achieving our neighborhood’s goals. Only the local population can truly understand how to make this neighborhood work; if only we got together! Which, by the way, is what Neighborhood Planning is for (a quick plug for the Othello Neighborhood Planning workshop, Sat. 3/14, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Miracle Temple of God – 7100 42nd Av S).
But this is why HB 1490 and SB 5687 were not welcome bills to many residents (evident from the many debates held around the community). These bills attempted to formula-ize TOD planning standards and mandate its own priorities on over 40 neighborhoods around the state. Priorities of density, affordable housing and broad environmental objectives subordinated all others and did not provide a meaningful way for local governments to guarantee their vision rose to the top. In addition, this bill was stuffed with too many individual moving parts, which resulted in the net value being LESS than the sum of the parts.
Proponents for the bill argued that this prepared the least-prepared communities (ahem, not us obviously!) for TOD planning. And that this will actually stop sprawl in un-managed growth areas around the state by increasing density around light rail stations in neighborhoods like ours, all within a required 1/2-mile radius invisible boundary designating where the higher-density development will be placed over time. They cited encouragement to walk more and bike more, and eliminate driving. In addition, this bill would make our neighborhoods more attractive, walkable and livable.
Livable? That is a loaded word. You hear it thrown around a lot, but what does it mean? Does anyone know how to get there? Can anyone execute “livability” well?
I don’t think Futurewise, or Transportation Choices or Representative Nelson (as drafters, lobbyists and sponsors of the bills) actually know either, and I suspect that light rail isn’t the ‘silver bullet’ either. We do have great hopes for light rail, however it cannot stand alone.
The promise of a light rail station is to enhance and augment an existing neighborhood, not to wipe it all out with a Sauron-focused eye on density. Remember, in Rainier Valley, existing commercial corridors have been up-zoned (increased heights) and expanded in size several times over the past decade already. Our single-family homes will sit tight, and likely, slowly be encroached upon until they become hold-out pockets between TOD buildings.
And hey, that’s OK. Because as a neighborhood matures and architecture spanning decades sits juxtaposed to each other; rather than in a unified, gentrified, all-built-within-fifteen-years-of-each-other neighborhood, and as our neighborhood goes from being 70 years old to 150 years old; we will have eventually achieved that “livability” we can call our own, and on our own terms. There is a difference between lovingly and slowly wearing in your favorite pair of denims, and buying pre-washed, pre-worn and pre-ripped jeans.
HB 1490 / SB 5687 is like American Idol; it looks and sounds appealing on the surface, but when you look real close, you realize it has no soul to it. These bills do not have any meaningful ways and guarantees to achieve its broad state-wide goals, and especially the goals of local communities. That leaves this bill in goal-purgatory.
No doubt there will be a sister version of it out soon and my hope is that is has a laser-like focus on its highest priority: to prepare communities for embracing and integrating TOD planning around light rail stations. But it needs to leave alone the ones who have already stepped up to the plate (ahem), and it should spend some thought on how to ramp up and educate the communities who are new to “new urbanism” principals and “transit-oriented development” design standards so that they can develop their own.
Related:
{ 7 comments }
Who to know, where to eat & what to do in one of America’s most diverse zip codes!
