- Sarah Lloyd
- Fred Savaglio of Virginia Mason and Sherry Williams of Swedish Medical Center discuss the proposed alignments.
Last night, about 100 people gathered at Seattle Central Community College for the first public meeting about the streetcar that will run from the International District light-rail station to the station on Capitol Hill. The issue, as I write about in this week’s paper, is which streets the new line will take. Arranged as an open house—where free cookies and staggering amounts of coffee lined a back wall—easels of illustrations showing several streetcar routes were set up around the room like a transportation science fair. I had an outstanding oatmeal raisin cookie and checked out the maps.
At the heart of the disagreement: whether the streetcar should primarily serve the hospitals on First Hill or should run along 12th Avenue to aide the strip’s economic development. You can see maps of all the alignments here.
Many people who live along 11th Avenue, one street where the alignment is almost certain to run, were concerned about the noise. And others thought the route should extend past the light-rail station on Broadway, all the way to Aloha Street. “If it doesn’t extend all the way to the end of Broadway,” said concerned transit advocate Shaun Darragh, “you’re encouraging more businesses to move to Pike and Pine, leaving the north end of Broadway to slowly die.”
More routes and a schedule for more free cookies and coffee after the jump.
“I feel like Capitol Hill is one of those neighborhoods that really gives a shit about transit,” said John Jensen, a writer for the Seattle Transit Blog. Others who gave a shit gathered around the displays to express their concerns.
The thickest crowd jammed around the displays of the 12th Avenue, First Hill and Broadway routes (rather than the International District diagrams), manned by SDOT project manager Ethan Melone. Melone said the crowd was relatively split on which alignment they preferred, but he heard no negative comments about the streetcar itself.
Some disliked the 12th Avenue route for its lack of simplicity, splitting between Broadway and 12th, with one end running north and the other going south. Members of the First Hill Improvement Association, who advocate for a route that better serves the hospitals, were also present at the meeting. And others were on the fence.
“I think having a route that’s easy for people to understand, like having it run north and south on the same street just to make it as easy to use as possible… will help leverage ridership opportunities,” said Capitol Hill resident Paul Symington. “I don’t think there’s a silver-bullet right answer, but I think it’s important since this is a long-term, capital investment that’s expensive that we are thoughtful about it, and do it in a manner that’s as forward-thinking and long-term and serves as many people as possible.”
The next two cookie giveaways are as follows:
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
6:00 pm — 8:00 pm
Yesler Community Center
917 E. Yesler Way Seattle, WA 98122
Thursday, December 17, 2009
6:00 pm — 8:00 pm
Union Station
401 S. Jackson Seattle, WA 98104
Posted by news intern Sarah Lloyd.
You got free cookies and coffee?
We never get them at the UW LINK light rail hearings …
If it is hard to understand if it runs in a loop, why not just run a loop with trains in both directions?
Main noise problem with modern streetcars is that they’re so silent they sneak up on you. Any bus is louder. Any car is louder. Bells add a civilized touch to the neighborhood- wish every vehicle was equipped with them. OK to stipulate that the tone be musical. Any sounds streetcars bring with them, I’ll gladly trade for the noise of every diesel going under my window here in Ballard.
Mark Dublin
@ 2: Both the proposed loop routes have some issues with water mains – tracks can go across them or a few feet away from them but not on top of them – making it impossible to go in both directions. Unfortunate!
I hope the new streetcars will have religious symbols on them, celebrating Pastafarianism, instead of those heathen Xmas ones.
You know since I’ve been working downtown, I’ve realized that it’s hard just getting from 1st Avenue to 3rd Avenue because of the steepness of the hills!
What they really need are cable cars running up and down every two blocks East/West.
#6 – I assume you’re being facetious, but I’m sharing this anyway—in my dad’s later years of working downtown, he mastered a lobby-to-concourse-escalator route to avoid walking those hills.
North to Aloha now!!
I thought we were going to call the street car the BUTT
Wish it was going to Fremont or Ballard.
This first hill street car deal-y sounds like its gonna be a lot like the #3 bus… Packed to the gills with sickly crippled hobos who ride the thing one or two stops then take 3 hours to get on and off.
#11 – Yeah, those people, a lot like your mother.
And the guys you do in the alley in Belltown for a pack of cigs.
@10 – It would be rad to have have transpo alternatives to Freemont/Ballard. However, Capitol Hill and First Hill are far more densely populated.
The comment in the story about running the street car up to Aloha makes sense. While this streetcar won’t necessarily go straight downtown, it gets pretty damn close (in some of the options). I’m reminded of the S.L.U.T., going from just outside of one commercial area to another commercial area, with a few apartment/condo buildings along the route…sort of. Had they extended it just a mile or so farther North, it could have landed smack in the middle of a densely populated area that is under-served by transit. Had they gone three miles, then all of Eastlake would have a solid transportation alternative.
Bringing this street car up to Aloha would ensure that there is a solid transpo alternative for the north end of Broadway, and hopefully help keep the area from dying off completely.