Yes, this is important: Neighborhood Plan Status Update Meeting Recap

When I hustled down to the South Lake Union Armory Monday evening, I wasn't expecting much from the Neighborhood Plan Status Update Open House. After ten years of the City largely ignoring the neighborhood plans and with a mayor that sides with developers over residents ten times out of ten, it's hard to have high hopes about the Neighborhood Plan Update process.

See 9 strategies to drive what comes next on Capitol Hill for details on the status reports and to download PDFs

Things didn't start out terribly well. The PowerPoint presentation the DPD put together as an introduction felt condescending ("...so we're asking you, the experts") in its tone and content. I suppose the City couldn't get out of doing an extensive re-introduction of the history and process of the Neighborhood Plans. But they could have done it in such a manner that acknowledged that all the people in the room that night had the experience of savvy neighborhood activists. If someone knew enough about the plans to show up to that meeting, they really are experts.

Once we split up into neighborhood groups (Cap Hill, Pike/Pine - why separate?, First Hill, Eastlake - why are they grouped with us? where's the Central District?, and Queen Anne), the tone and the content of the meeting improved significantly. At the Cap Hill table there was representation from the Capitol Hill Community Council, Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, Capitol Hill Neighborhood Plan Stewardship Council, and the Polish Home Association, along with a few residents who were just interested in the process. The Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee (NPAC) members assigned to our table did a fine job of guiding discussing and eliciting opinions, and I think they got a pretty good picture of what has changed in the neighborhood since the plans were made and what needs to be accomplished in the Status Report Updates. Topics of discussion:  

+ Key Strategies of the old Neighborhood Plan 
   - Completed:
      ~ lidding of Lincoln Reservoir (aka the creation of Cal Anderson Park)
      ~ creation of a light rail station on Broadway (in process) 
      ~ creation of a cultural/business hub at North Broadway (sort of happened by itself)
   - Not Completed:
      ~ efforts to further define Cap Hill's 3 commercial corridors (Olive Way, 15th, Broadway, hey what about 12th?)
      ~ put something in place that would help preserve neighborhood character (PPUNC is trying at Pike/Pine)
      ~ increase neighborhood housing diversity and affordability (CHHIP is doing what it can, it needs more help) 
      ~ leverage investments in Seattle Central Community College (???)
      ~ assure adequate parking for visitors on Broadway

+ The City is too focused on automobiles - the Neighborhood Plan should pay more attention to pedestrian and bike traffic as well as public transit. Parking can't be ignored, but the fact that you can only fit so many cars on the Hill has to be acknowledged.  

+ The best thing the City can do is ensure that the goals of the present Neighborhood Plan are actualized. Very few of the concerns and hopes of the Capitol Hill Neighborhood Plan were ever addressed by the city.  

+ East Capitol Hill (Broadway to 23rd) has very different needs than West Capitol Hill (Broadway to I5), and strategies that work well for one side of the Hill may be useless to the other.  

+ Capitol Hill residents love their green space, and according to the City's own documents, they need more of it.

So what happens next? There are more meetings to come (time and place TBA) and a lot of organizing to do if our neighborhood voice is to be heard. The Chamber of Commerce and the Capitol Hill Stewardship Council are committed to being involved in the Update process. From what I hear of the Cap Hill Community Council candidates, CHCC will be on that bandwagon as well once their elections are over. Stay tuned to CHS for more updates on the Updates.