November 2008 Archives

There are new positions open on the Seattle Planning Commission. I had briefly considered applying, for about 30 seconds, then admitted to myself that I am involved in too much already. After attending a monthly Futurewise TOD brown-bag forum today and hearing repeatedly how our land use codes inhibit or prohibit outright the types of development that would add amenity and quality of life to our neighborhoods, I am reconsidering. We badly need code reform.

 

But that's not the only issue. We have long-established single-family neighborhoods where people seem to have opposing goals. We have people saying that they want more parking, but less traffic. More neighborhood retail, but not more density to support it. More sidewalks, infrastructure, parks, amenities - but still have the detached house surrounded by what is essentially a private park that creates distance from transit and the amenities that everyone wants in their own neighborhood. The point, as Jim Mueller, a local developer, stated very well today, is that density is not something bad, density is not just something that "people have to take in their neighborhoods" as someone else had stated, but that density provides amenity, is an amenity, is the means to having the amenities that everyone says that they want in their neighborhood.

 

Other discussion was around new neighborhood development being project driven rather than place driven. Development comes at a faster pace than the supporting infrastructure and amenities that should come along with it. I think part of the fault is in our neighborhood planning process. From what I've seen of the neighborhood plans, while many are thoughtful, comprehensive and well written, they are really not much more than wish lists. There is no defined path to implementation. We can say that we want to go to Timbuktu, but if we don't know how to get there, it's not likely that we will. An implementable neighborhood plan would have some recognition of what changes might take place - where are the development opportunity sites, what and how much might go there; what zoning codes are barriers to desirable development; where are the opportunity sites for neighborhood amenities. Change the codes; match projected development and amenity opportunities over a set time period, and require that new development contribute its share to the pool for future amenities, along with publicly funded contributions and the potential funding source.

 

The next question has to do with retail. What is required to get, keep and support neighborhood retail? Is it more parking? More density of people to provide trade? Cheaper rents? If neighborhood retail is an amenity, should it have more incentives, subsidies? Something perhaps like our Public Market? Of course the Market is in a very high density neighborhood, by my rough calculation around 70 dwelling units per acre just in the historic district. It also gets 10 million tourists a year. Yet even in this packed-with-pedestrians Market, the merchants are sure they can't survive without plenty of convenient, cheap parking.

 

It seems to be part of the larger cultural shift that we may just have to grow out of generationally, if we can afford the time. One woman at the forum forthrightly admitted that there had to be parking because she is never going to ride the bus; it just isn't going to happen. She was on the earlier side of the baby boom generation; that generation (which I am at the very tail end of) will not be making many more decisions for the future. It's already out of their (I'm not quite ready to say our) hands, as the recent election has shown. And there are other options. When street parking is closer to market rate, and it becomes even more inconvenient to drive to and park at your destination, you can take a taxi, as people do all over Manhattan.I don't favor taxis because they are single-occupant vehicles, but they are an option - and more cabbies are driving hybrid cars. There are also options for people staying in single-family homes and neighborhoods, but adding "invisible" density that doesn't rapidly change the neighborhood character, such as dividing a house to take boarders, or adding an accessory dwelling unit, if room allows. These are already legal options.

We lost one of our more beloved strangers recently. Ed McMichael, the Tuba Man, was a well known and liked busker who played the tuba for tips outside of the sports venues before, during and after games. A lifelong native, he didn't quite fit any mold, but fit very well in Seattle regardless. 1,500 people attended his memorial. Not being a sports fan, I only encountered him once, outside of Key Arena when the Sonics were still in town. He was quoted in an article in the New York Times (he made the national news, it seems) as having a favorite saying, enticing tips for tunes, that being "Want to be a part of it tonight?" It's a wonderful thing about being in the city, in the middle of many thousands of strangers most of whom you will probably never get to know, but still feeling connected, a part of something larger than yourself. Evidently the Tuba Man got it, and did his best to share it. He was beaten to death by youths who didn't know him. They were not true strangers; you might think of them as estranged, outside the fold. Wasn't it John Donne who said that the loss of one diminishes us all?

 

There are others who have been forcibly estranged and would like to be back in the fold with everyone else. There was a large peaceful protest on Saturday against the passage of Proposition 8 in California which removed a briefly recognized right for gay people to wed. It was an exercise in civility, requesting recognition of the right for civil union. 3,000 to 6,000 people (depending on who makes the count) marched from Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill to Westlake Plaza. Public demonstration is one of the great and frequent uses of this downtown public space. If the Market is the soul of the city, this is probably the heart.

The day after my last entry, the Alaskan Way viaduct was all over the news again. WSDOT (Washington Department of Transportation) has been exploring eight different options for replacing the existing elevated highway, including surface road options, tunnel, lidded trench, and another elevated barrier wall. The viaduct lovers got new ammunition when WSDOT determined that all of the options, except a new elevated, would add as much as 10 minutes to drive times through downtown during peak hours. What an awful burden.

Last week was a big week; a somewhat smaller event on the Monday before the elections was the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Honor Awards for Washington state. The theme this year was "Perform/Transform", and the jurors were looking for more than just buildings that look great in glossy photographs. Among other comments, they admonished submitters and the audience to give contextual information on their projects, photos or images that show how they fit in with their neighbors and surrounding environment.

Some of us are more interested in the spaces between the buildings than the buildings themselves; the buildings should inform, define, and serve the public space, the arteries and veins that feed our urban environment. William Whyte spoke of this in The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, as did Jan Gehl in Life Between Buildings. Gehl Architects has been preparing a Public Places Public Life study for Seattle. They have been using local university students to count pedestrians and cyclists and to interview them for surveys (I was interviewed in July). One tidbit they released has to do with how underutilized our waterfront is. Since the 1950s, our waterfront has been walled off from our downtown by a double-decker elevated highway structure. As a result, on a good summer day we might get 16,000 pedestrians on the waterfront, whereas San Francisco will get 90,000. Many people love driving on the viaduct because there are fantastic views of Elliott Bay and the Olympic mountains. I think there might be other ways to enjoy the view besides from a car window. For those of us who live here, the viaduct is a blight in many respects. It was damaged in the Nisqually quake and will have to come down but there is no final decision on what will replace it.

 

Another thing that Gehl Architects (or someone they quote who did a study with brain scans) has determined is that our brains need a new impression every 4 seconds in order to keep our interest, or to keep our conscious mind engaged. That translates to a new impression every 10 meters or 33 feet, at a pedestrian pace (seems brisk - I'm not sure I walk that fast). It's a good rule of thumb for modulating facades, differentiating shop windows, placing entryways, street trees and furnishings, etc. This is what we have to do, in modern times - recreate the vernacular wisdom of the ages, which we seem to have lost with the coming of the car, through scientific proofs.

Last week was a very big week; I have not written anything because it is difficult to get my mind back on topic - but perhaps our historic election is part of the topic, is relevant, and we should be thinking systemically in all areas. Everything is connected, now more than ever. I went to my local polling place to vote, as usual, not realizing that it was the last opportunity I would have to do so in my city of Seattle. King County, in which Seattle is located, will only be taking mail-in ballots from now on. I was very, very disappointed to hear that, and felt a sort of bitter poignancy in wearing the sticker handed out at the voting place, which usually just states "I Voted", but which this time also read, "farewell to polls".

 

Voting in person, with your fellow citizens, seems such an essential, civil act of citizenship. It's good to see your neighbors at the polls, see all the different people you might not see under daily circumstances, and receive that little sticker as a verification of civic participation. I will definitely miss it, and am keeping a hope that we will still be allowed the option.

Our streets were put to good use last Tuesday night, with throngs coming out to celebrate in mass, in person. The police were cooperative, closing streets to traffic and letting the happy celebrations go on, unimpeded. There were also planned post-election parties, of course. The euphoria was palpable.