Marlon Meyer
Northwest Asia Weekly
From left: Nicholas Trout, Andy Zhao, Taiken Ho, Hilton Zhao, Rhyse Nguyen, Christina Shimizu and Olivia Duong outside Union Station, where the Sound Transit board of directors meets. (Source: Puget Sound Sage)
For herself, Nora Chan isn’t worried about the new Sound Transit (ST) station.
“Our generation will not use light rail,” said Chen, founder of Action for Seniors. Chan was unable to attend the ST board meeting on July 28, so Betty Lau read her comments.
Nora Chan (left) leads a group of seniors to the Sound Transit committee
July 21 meeting. (Photo by Assunta Ng)
“We want our children and grandchildren to take the light rail to Chinatown. But if you build on Fifth Avenue, there will be no Chinatown.”
Such sentiments were heard at the board meeting, including a stronger plea to not build at all in the Chinatown International District (CID), where a motion (2022-57) was passed to provide further research for the board, which is estimated to take six months.
Petitioners have filed more than 2,000 signatures against the construction on Fifth Avenue, which they say will destroy CID and its appeal as a regional and international tourist attraction.
Others said destroying dozens of small businesses in any building scheme would “destroy” the community. Such devastation has never been done to another community, they said.
They describe CID as a place for young Asian Americans to learn job skills and provide support for their families. Others describe it as a unique community where marginalized people are forced to come together but survive.
In a discussion following public comment, King County Councilman Joe McDermott clarified that the somewhat vague motion means ST retains an option to not build a station in the area at all.
Travel Sweepstakes
Brien Chow and Betty Lau in the front row look at the camera. (Photo by Assunta Ng)
Brien Chow of Transit Equity for All (TEA) filed 1,954 signatures and a petition signed by more than 260 people against the construction of Fifth Avenue.
“These signatures prove that CID’s three neighborhoods are attractive for local, regional and international tourism,” said TEA co-founder Liu, who said many of the reviews came from China and around the world.
small companies
CID supporters inside a Sound Transit board meeting (Photo by Assunta Ng)
Junior Rhyse Nguyen from Cleveland High School and seven friends came to the meeting.
“My peers and I don’t support the choice of Fourth Avenue or Fifth Avenue,” he said. “Please invest in no-build alternatives.
He said CID offers entry-level jobs for young people from Asian backgrounds who might otherwise struggle to enter the workforce.
“Many high school students are employed by some of the small businesses in the area, and they are able to build skills, relationships and general grit that can lead to success later in life,” he said.
Mike Vu, one of the owners of family-run Japanese gastropub Itsumono, responded: “One of the things we’re going to lose is culture, and we can’t bring it back. By destroying more than 20 businesses in the area, it’s going to destroy the area. .”
obliterate
Richard Saguin said his Filipino and black-owned businesses were still limping through three months of construction in 2016.
“A decade of construction on this scale will have an exponentially devastating impact on our community,” he said. “Small business is how many of us survive; the harm hurts us directly.”
Aretha Basu, political director of advocacy group Puget Sound Sage, said “small businesses won’t survive” such a long construction period. “We can’t support fourth or fifth. We want a build-less alternative.”
Others compared the inevitable devastation to past injuries that still exist.
“The impact can now be seen in Seattle’s own Japantown, which has yet to recover from Japanese internment camps even though it was once the largest Japanese-American center in the United States,” Nguyen said, referring to the Japanese Incarceration of Americans in concentration camps during World War II.
A business owner in the old building in Jackson said ST “needs to find other alternatives.”
being displaced
Many protesters cited recent findings from the city of Seattle that the CID is already one of the areas with the highest risk of displacement.
“Even if there were no new stations in the CID, which would be ideal, building a new line nearby would still be a massive disruption. Building a new station in this neighborhood is continuing the foundation of racism at the expense of low-income people of color A legacy of facilities projects,” Melanie Mandry said.
One protester suggested that McDermott clearly supports exploring a no-build option in the CID.
“Senior, young and small business owners care about these four options,” he said, referring to the Fourth and Fifth Avenue options. “based on [Draft Environmental Impact Statement], I believe that all proposed alternatives will lead to irreversible replacement and destruction of CIDs. “
Chrissy Shimizu, co-executive director of Puget Sound Sage, declined all station options in CID.
“We have long supported public transport to help people get around [Black, Indigenous, and people of color],” she said. “But according to the city’s fair analysis, CIDs are already at the highest risk of displacement. “
pursuit of fairness
Bettie Luke speaks before the Sound Transit committee. (Photo by Assunta Ng)
Thanks to the board members who visited the area, Bettie Luke spoke enthusiastically about CID’s “eight years of growth and damage”. ST’s material suggests that this disruption will only continue and get worse.
“If other stations don’t lose 21 businesses, please don’t do this to us. If other stations don’t demolish important historic buildings, please don’t do this to us. Bad air where we work, please don’t do this to us. Injustice and damage must end,” she said.
One protester, a fifth-generation Japanese-American, said his grandfather was red-lined into the neighborhood after serving in military intelligence during World War II. Afterwards, federal infrastructure projects touted as promoting equality ended up only seriously exacerbating racial disparities.
“We were prevented from living elsewhere in Seattle, and now, through no fault of our own, we are forced to hold on to our own lives as infrastructure projects threaten to displace us — like the big white planes from inner city to suburbs are made by The highway subsidized by the Federal Housing Act of 1954 that allowed these families to drive back to the city was subsidized by the Federal Highway Act of 1956, and we were buried overhead under the eight-lane highway,” he said.
“Which generation can finally have the breathing space to live a life without collateral for white-centric convenience?”
Some objected to the danger to the community.
“I’m here to expose the Fourth and Fifth Avenue options. I want to see ST move toward a no-build option that doesn’t destroy the community and meaningfully mitigate any damage to our community,” Sarkin said.
final stand
Joël Barraquiel Tan, executive director of the Wing Luke Museum, in front of the Sound Transit board. (Photo by Assunta Ng)
Joel Barraquiel Tan, executive director of the Wing Luke Museum, said: “In the face of racism, our community is where we belong and where our ancestors were born.”
Describing CID as Seattle’s “last ethnic community,” Gei Chan said, “Please join us in finding another location, not fourth or fifth.”
She added that the area is battling crime and homeless camps.
“If any of you want to stay and walk the neighborhood with me after the meeting, we’re not going to have just one homeless zone and it’s all over,” she said.
Another protester said the community has been bearing the brunt of those in power.
The protester said CID has the lowest median income in Seattle, the least tree canopy, little green space, and the highest concentration of pollution because it is already used as a public transit corridor. Couldn’t immediately decipher from the record.
“People pass by but don’t see the community,” he said. “As a non-community of color, my community has a lot of issues that aren’t accidental but come from rulings and policies that are voted on by people in power, like you’re on like this board.”
He asked ST to choose neither Fifth Avenue nor Fourth Avenue, but instead “locate the station in other locations such as the stadium area.”
Question ST
Some have criticized ST’s outreach as biased and inadequate. One protester in support of the “no-build option” said disaggregated outreach data should include residents and small businesses, not just homeowners.
Others reiterated complaints that ST defrauded CID.
“In the comments ST received, many said they preferred the ‘shallow’ 4th Avenue. But many of these people didn’t know they could turn down all options! ST presents these alignments in such a way that it is misleading Most people think they have to choose the lesser of two evils,” Mandry said. “Forcing us to pick our poison through vague, misleading language shows ST’s disdain for true community engagement. I hope ST demonstrates their commitment to this community by investing in other sites beyond CID.”
“It’s time for ST to think outside the box it created,” community leader Frank Irigon said in remote comments.
McDermott said of the motion after the public comment ended and the board started discussing, “I want to make sure this includes the no-build option in the CID.”
Such a clarification seems plausible. The motion passed unanimously and contained repeated and seemingly meandering language. It is read into the record as follows:
“Confirm or revise the preferred light rail route and station locations for the final environmental impact statement of the West Seattle and Ballard connection expansion and require further research in certain areas to inform possible future Board action to confirm or revise the preferred alternative Program.”
In response to McDermott’s clarification, ST’s Executive Corridor Director, Cathal Ridge’s response seemed like a bit of an indirection.
“Yes, as I mentioned before, the language in the motion is intended to provide an opportunity to look at superficial options, and other concepts like you mentioned. You know, there are ideas beyond fourth and fifth. And what you described,” he said.
Mahlon can reach info@nwasianweekly.com.
