Marlon Meyer
Northwest Asia Weekly
Photo by Marlon Meyer
After months of long and contentious protests by community members against Sound Transit’s (ST) various plans to build a transit hub in the Chinatown-International District (CID), the agency appears to have embarked on a charm offensive. new CEO.
At the Open House on October 13, ST staff sought individual consultations from community members about the station layout, and almost anyone could lean against a table with a giant photo of the community and share idea.
An assistant would then write down ideas in small dots in English on a white piece of paper, next to a large sign that said “Other Ideas” in English and Chinese.
Outspoken community leaders representing the official organisation strongly praised the transport agency’s efforts, calling the night “a huge success” and saying it bodes well for active participation in the future. However, some reticent community members still seem hesitant to engage directly with transportation experts.
“A huge success”
Photo by Marlon Meyer
There is little sign that ST has gone out of its way to host an accessibility event.
There are “stations” around the lobby – other large pictures of CIDs on other tables with possible changes marked in English and Chinese. There were even brown greasy-packed flat onion cake boxes that ST staff were handing out and community members were munching on in the back of the conference room.
Phrases repeated by ST staff in brief speeches seemed to promise openness.
“All options are on the table,” a phrase used by nearly every ST employee in her speech, from interim CEO and agency chief of staff Brooke Bellman to incoming CEO Julie Tim , to other employees, and in private conversations, she was referring to the new transportation hub.
As a member of several organisations that ST has been working with for several months, Betty Lau raved about the event.
“Sound Transit Open Days have been a huge success; anyone can see how engaged participants are, especially older residents with limited English proficiency. It shows what culturally appropriate communication can do for engagement and gathering input, ‘ she later said in an email. “This open day bodes well for future engagement efforts, especially since we’ve already started talking about mitigation.”
Controversy over?
Nonetheless, some community members seem to prefer to share opinions with each other rather than approaching the official form set up for communicating with ST staff.
A few listened to Cantonese interpreters provided by the agency, but did not utilize individual interpreters to express their opinions.
In the end, if ST Open House achieves anything, it appears to have at least temporarily softened the atmosphere of protests, accusations of institutional racism, and community-wide disdain and outrage over the agency’s plan to dismantle part of the CID, and potentially put the community in a decade’s time. Basically unusable, if not destroying it, dozens of businesses closed, main streets blocked for construction or truck traffic almost constant.
However, ST staff privately said that the expansion of the system is inevitable and unavoidable.
Voters in the region have approved ST expansion three times, most recently in 2016, when 54 percent of city voters supported the $54 billion expansion plan.
Grab the grievance?
At the same time, there are signs that even after months of painstaking community engagement, including more than 5,000 comments sent and collated by ST staff, the agency’s leaders may not yet fully grasp the significance of the agency’s allegations of racism. Agencies and cities by community advocates.
Bettie Luke, sister of Wing Luke, the first person of color elected to Seattle City Council, and many other community advocates, speak to CID on racist exclusion, vandalism, forced evictions, and redlining precisely because it is used by Asians and Asians American occupation.
Perhaps inadvertently, interim CEO and agency chief of staff Brooke Bellman conflated the history of CID’s injuries with that of Pioneer Square, even though she described the neighborhood as a “cultural hub” vital to the city and the region.
“We have a responsibility to understand the impact of past decisions in order to make the right decisions,” she said in a brief remark. “I would like to acknowledge that CID and the Pioneer Square community have gone through multiple infrastructure projects, many of which have not resulted in The same benefits that these communities suffer.”
While Pioneer Square has been devastated by development, its history does not show the outright wave of racism that plagued the CID. In fact, according to Seattle City Council history, Pioneer Square was built by “imported” Chinese laborers. In the course of CID’s history, residents were forced to leave their homes in 1886. The current CID is the community’s third location. Additionally, just as the current CID was bisected by I-5, an earlier site was destroyed by a road built through it, resulting in the worst air quality in the city.
community silence
Meanwhile, community members who are not among the most outspoken advocates seem reluctant to share their thoughts.
After an initial group of community advocates filled the main table where ST Executive Corridor Director Cathal Ridge was sitting, at least some community residents hesitated in the conference room after being briefed by Seattle Deputy Mayor Greg Wong and ST staff. decision.
Community residents gathered in a circle to share ideas on where the transit agency should operate the new hub. But when asked multiple times why they didn’t go to the main table and share their thoughts there, they vaguely agreed they were thinking about it and would probably do so “for some time,” according to one.
When the reporter later emerged from the conference room, none of those community members seemed to approach Ridge’s table to share their thoughts.
Longtime advocates such as Liu say the entire campaign can serve as a role model.
“This is what should have been done from the start,” she said. “So I want all government entities to focus on their own community outreach efforts.”
Mahlon can reach info@nwasianweekly.com.
