Larry Matsuda
by Larry Matsuda
I oppose two Sound Transit proposals for the Chinatown-International District (CID). The bottom line is that light rail planners need to develop viable non-CID options. Remember, we are clients, not planners.
To that end, the question is: have you recently paid for a license? I did it for my 2018 car. My total license fee is $437.25. $30 for permit registration, $5 for park donations, and the largest category is the RTA or Regional Transit Authority or Sound Transit at $249. In other words, this year I contributed $249 to have light rail planners develop a plan to destroy or destroy the historic character of the CID.
As customers, we should all demand quality service and products. At a cursory glance, I’ve identified several staging options other than CID that would work. I’ll discuss a new option as well as several options I’ve talked about in more detail earlier.
The first (new) option is south of the CID and east of the stadium. This is a Metro Transit bus parking lot. It’s flat and big, and it’s full of parked buses. If there’s a light rail stop there, it’s a little inconvenient for bus employees to walk an extra block from the office to the bus parking lot. If planners don’t choose this or any other option to use city, county, or Metro land, that means in their view, the two options for destroying the CID are better than using Metro or other public land.
The root of this mentality is why there is a Chinatown/Japan Town. The reason is simple – racism. The same racist ideas created red-line real estate deeds, limiting where Asians could live in Seattle until the 1960s. To make matters worse, the I-5 freeway cuts right through and splits the CID. I grew up on Lane Street near the Japanese Presbyterian Church, now buried under the Dearborn exit on I-5. The same idea brought the kingdom.
If Sound Transit chooses not to opt for the Metro bus parking lot, there is a lot of space nearby. Or better yet, planners could consider the northern parking lot at Lumen Field. They could build a terminal there and put 10 floors of parking on top. Now, it’s a vast and relatively empty space.
But that choice would go against the sports business world. In this situation, what is the planner’s best option? Inconvenience the sports world, will they end up with a free 10-story car park, or will they destroy part of the CID?
Union Station is another option. It is underutilized and could be linked to the Lumen Field North Parking Lot proposal via a tram like SeaTac or some other system. Union Station and the old immigration center may be landmarks, but what does that mean for destroying part of a conservation area like CID? Sound Transit’s plans in this case lean toward demolition rather than preservation. What happened to the idea that CIDs are protected areas?
Whatever this input/planning process is, the main directive of CID conservation advocates must be – we are customers and we must demand to be treated as such. If you have any doubts, please check your license label fees for this year.
Lastly, I would urge the Sound Transit planners to put some skins in the game and bring options to the project to utilize metro, city, county or non-CID land. I think it’s time for the light rail force to stop making CID small business owners fear the future. Also, they should stop pitting CID merchants against each other, as many are struggling financially. CID businessmen should be able to live and work in peace and contentment. It’s enough to withstand the anti-Asian hate attacks from the city and the CID. The additional ghost being bullied by Sound Transit (a public entity) is shameful and offensive.
