Hang Dang has heard the promises of economic
benefits that will accompany the new light-rail commuter train
running
down the middle of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South
in front of her hair and nail salon.
What she fears the train
will deliver is something else: Noise, safety hazards and obstacles
for customers. She worries
the disruption will wreck the business she built
from scratch six years ago.
"I don't want it in front of my spot, going up and down every four or five minutes. I just don't want it," she said.
Instead of feeling included
in the planning for the $1.9 billion public works project that
will transform her neighborhood,
she feels left out. Sound Transit, the regional
agency that will build the system, hasn't even distributed a
Vietnamese-language summary of the details to Dang
and other Southeast Asian business owners.
Dang belongs to Save Our
Valley, a group waging a last-minute battle to get the light-rail
tracks placed underground -
just as they will be in the more affluent, largely
white neighborhoods north of downtown.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency, charged with monitoring federally funded projects for fairness to minority and poor communities has also thrown up a red flag, complaining that the project's downsides are concentrated in Rainier Valley.
Save Our Valley's opposition
illustrates how many in Southeast Seattle believe resources and
amenities are being
divided unfairly in the light-rail project that
will run from North Seattle to Sea-Tac airport.
The controversy also shows how neighborhood planning can bypass or ignore some communities, even if well-intentioned planners and activists show up at every public meeting. Critics find their best ammunition in Sound Transit's own study, the draft environmental-impact statement released in December. It presents the worst-case effects of running a train through city neighborhoods and suburbs:
-- The average travel time
for motorists on or near that stretch of MLK Way would jump by
as much as a half a
minute at dozens of intersections. Forty intersections
on the 4.6-mile train route on MLK Way would be closed to left
turns.
-- Noise and visual barriers
could become a problem for businesses and homes along or near
the MLK route. By
contrast, such problems will be "low"
north of downtown, according to the impact statement.
-- To make way for the train
and other amenities, Sound Transit would have to buy up all or
part of more than 300
properties in Southeast Seattle. That includes 73
homes and apartments, 69 commercial or industrial sites and four
public parcels or churches. In the northern stretch,
which goes from downtown through Capitol Hill to the University
District and possibly Northgate, Sound Transit would only have
to purchase all or part of 49 properties because much of the route
would be underground.
-- Sound Transit would spend roughly $154 million per mile from downtown to Northgate, but just $47 million per mile on MLK Way. Many in Southeast Seattle say those numbers paint an all-too familiar picture. Residents describe their community as forgotten or frequently dumped on.
Paul Bay, who heads the light-rail project for Sound Transit, said, "They've been promised stuff from the city and county and state that were never delivered. I don't blame them for being resentful. On the other hand, I don't want to carry the burden of 50 years of resentment when we're just starting out."
Bay said the project will
bring Southeast Seattle benefits: Travel time will drop by a half
on the new system for riders
from Rainier Valley, where more residents rely on
public transportation than anywhere else. And he said Sound Transit
will create a "wonderful urban boulevard"
to replace what now seems like an expressway.
In response to community concerns, Sound Transit is now proposing to shrink the width of the proposed train route by as much as 14 feet - reducing the numbers of homes and businesses that would have to be demolished. A tunnel is still under consideration, but Bay believes the $400 to $500 million additional cost makes it an unrealistic option.
Surface route preferred?
Until recently, planners thought a street-level train along MLK Way was what residents wanted. A decade ago, the initial proposals called for skipping Southeast Seattle, following a less congested route along the Duwamish River.
In 1992, the city persuaded planners to put the line through the Rainier Valley. Planners first discussed a subway through Southeast Seattle, but Johnathon Jackson, a Sound Transit manager for community relations, said local residents supported surface or elevated tracks to spur development.
Those were the two options included when the transit plan was approved by voters in 1996. In 1997, Jackson said community groups and residents pushed to get the elevated-track option eliminated. Rainier Avenue business owners got the route shifted to the wider and less developed MLK Way.
Several Southeast Seattle
residents went on tours to Portland and Vancouver to see light-rail
systems, for example.
But then they learned the Seattle trains would be
twice as long as the ones in Portland - as long as a football
field.
"We were led to believe
it was going to be much quieter than it was," said Bill Wippel,
who runs the Union Gospel
Mission in Holly Park. "When we understood
how long the trains would be, that they might have to put up sound
barriers, that just blew us away."
And the once smooth planning process took an unexpected turn.
MLK Way is changing
Along MLK Way is a small but growing number of Vietnamese businesses, part of a revitalization that is changing Southeast Seattle. A collection of small, family-owned restaurants, cleaners, electronic shops and grocery stores lure Southeast Asians from as far away as Olympia and Everett.
The Vietnamese community didn't mobilize until December, when Sound Transit sent letters to property owners and businesses, warning that they might be displaced by a train route. As those like Dang listen to reports and rumors about the transit plan, fear and distrust is growing.
"The Vietnamese, the residents and business owners on MLK, are really getting shafted on this," said Huy La, a corporate attorney who is volunteering to work with the Vietnamese businesses. La twice asked Sound Transit to distribute a Vietnamese translation of the study to the businesses. The agency hasn't done so.
Jackson said he has the translation, but it hasn't been double-checked for accuracy. He believes the agency has conducted an exemplary outreach effort, but concedes it needs to do better work among those who don't speak English. The city only added Vietnamese-speaking liaisons six months ago; Sound Transit didn't hire someone who speaks Vietnamese until November.
Bay acknowledges that property owners and business owners most affected by the MLK route received notice late.
"The decision to send that out late was to ensure that we had the most accurate list of the potential properties affected. We didn't want to send it out to people and get them all excited if they weren't affected," Bay said. To qualify for federal funding, Sound Transit must demonstrate to the Federal Transit Administration that it has provided a "fair and equitable" planning process. So far, FTA officials believe it has.
Environmental officials, though, see room for improvement. While Sound Transit reached out to established neighborhood groups, it missed the people who, because of language and cultural differences, are not part of those organizations, said Joyce Kelly, director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Civil Rights.
The EPA recommends that Sound Transit begin publishing brochures and documents in Vietnamese. It also urges the agency to reconsider all options for Southeast Seattle, including a tunnel. "A key principle of environmental justice," says Kelly, "is early and meaningful involvement."
A decade of change
Southeast Seattle is a much different place than it was in 1989, when the process of planning for a light-rail system began. Crime is down, business is growing and property values are climbing. More middle-class and white-collar professionals have moved in, and so have QFC and Eagle Hardware. Safeway and Hollywood Video are doing brisk business at the Rainier Valley Square, and Columbia City just got its first gourmet Italian restaurant.
"We are rebuilding this community block by block, and if this isn't done right, it could kill it," said Mark Capestany, president of Save Our Valley. As part of their campaign, the group has hired consultant Blair Butterworth, a political adviser to Gov. Gary Locke, to help fight the plan.
Others still favor the street-level system and are pleased by Sound Transit's promise of a $50 million community investment fund for Rainier Valley.
"We have the commitment to use the monies for improvements that we've been wanting for a long time. And it doesn't require a hole in the ground," said longtime Southeast Seattle resident and activist Ethel Boyar.
City and Sound Transit planners will make their pitch for the MLK route to the Sound Transit board tomorrow in Everett. They are likely to face a packed and hostile crowd at a hearing at the Filipino Community Center in Southeast Seattle tomorrow night.
Seattle Mayor Paul Schell and City Council members Richard McIver and Margaret Pageler, meanwhile, are drafting their own recommendation. They declined to talk about it until it is released next week. Schell spokeswoman Vivian Phillips said the mayor ". . . has no desire to see a community split down the middle.
"He has no desire to see South Seattle residents forsake safety or take on a high level of noise and disruption. He wants those things to be minimized, but he also wants those individuals to be served (by transit) and to have ongoing benefits from it."
Seattle Times staff reporter
Tan Vinh contributed to this report.