The city asked for ideas, and the people have responded.

The first phase of the Your Voice, Your Choice program wrapped up in February, and brought in 894 ideas about how to spend $2 million across the city on smaller infrastructure projects – those with a budget of $90,000 or less. About 11% of the ideas came out of City Council District 3, centered on Capitol Hill and the Central District. Tuesday night, the penultimate effort to winnow that list down to a manageable eight projects gathered in the Central District at the Douglas Truth Library. Here are some of the District 3 safe streets and open space ideas they were wrangling.

The largest single category on Capitol Hill and the Central District seemed to do with either making it easier for people to cross streets, or forcing cars to slow down.

A nest of ideas come along Olive Way/John Street between I-5 and 12th Avenue, where people have asked for improvements to cross the street at almost every intersection. Some simply call for adding crosswalks, while one person asked for the bulk of Olive to be reconfigured, noting:

“The upper portion of Olive is a confusing street environment that is variously one-lane, two-lanes, bus stops, unsafe and unmarked pedestrian crossings, and random patches of on-street parking. The result is cars weaving around stopped cars waiting to make left turns, cars suddenly merging due to parked cars, and an unpredictable and unsafe environment for people crossing the street either behind the wheel or on foot.”

While a fairly accurate description, the idea of reconfiguring the street (the suggestor thinks it would only take some paint) is likely outside the $90,000 budget, and has been deemed not feasible by the city. There may be some relief on the way, however, as part of a plan to increase reliability of the 8 bus.

Another group of ideas for improvements called for street crossing improvements along 15th Avenue East between Madison and John streets.

At least two people brought up the closed walkway near Lowell Elementary School, though their ideas were rejected as either not feasible, or not a physical infrastructure project.

One person is unhappy about the look of the light rail station, wonders why there’s a big empty area there and thinks the parking area (which isn’t actually a parking area) should be open to the public. Apparently, they haven’t been paying attention for the past 10 years.

Other ideas focused on cars, such as someone nothing the dangerous intersection or Roy and Belmont, where the arterial curves, and some drivers zip around that curve, not realizing that some people still might want to go straight.  They suggest a yield sign to slow drivers down.

People living along Federal Ave E. and Delmar Drive E., near Seattle Prep, asked for speed bumps, noting cut-through traffic trying to avoid lights on 10th.

Potholes or general road maintenance came up in a couple locations, including Union between 12th and 14th avenues, and 14th Avenue between Aloha and Prospect streets. In both cases, the ideas have been referred to street maintenance.

A few ideas were presented for improving neighborhood parks. Someone called for a dog park at Volunteer Park, while someone else wanted better lighting near the play area there (both were rejected because, as a landmark park, such improvements would require community input). Someone wants to put a roof over the basketball courts at Cal Anderson Park (also rejected because it would require community input).

Two people noted that the 12th Avenue Square Park needs work. One called it “unfun” and asked for a swing set. Another noted that promised amenities like movable furniture haven’t yet been installed, and the large piece of artwork, which was supposed to be illuminated, is not illuminated.

Another person wants to re-paint the lines on tennis courts (any tennis courts) to allow pickleball to be played on them. It was rejected as not feasible, but why not keep trying, it worked for bike polo.

One person asked for a trash can at the Pine and Bellevue bus stop. The idea was rejected because that would fall under Metro’s purview, not SDOT or Seattle Parks.

Some ideas were a bit more fanciful, such as a Madrona resident who suggested that a duck crossing sign be placed near Denny Blaine Park. The city rejected the idea, citing the fact that ducks are fickle creatures. “SDOT does not sign for duck crossings due to unpredictable nature of their habitat locations.”

These ideas represent only the first part of a four-phase program. Now that the ideas are in, groups from each of the City Council districts will meet to discuss and prioritize the projects within their district. If you’re interested in joining the District 3 group, go here.

Those meetings are taking place over this month and next month. In June, district-by-district voting will happen to help further refine community priorities. Finally, the top projects (we get about $285,000 worth of across the whole district) will be presented to the City Council for possible inclusion in next year’s budget. The most likely scenario: a couple crosswalks, speed bumps and road signs will go up in 2018. You can keep track of it all at seattle.gov.