Local news sites/blogs Seattle’s Land Use Code, Publicola and Citytank have been having an ongoing discussion about plans for an upzone in the Roosevelt neighborhood of Seattle. Those commenting have argued over how much density is needed near the light rail station planned for Roosevelt. But — as at least one of those commenting pointed out — how about the stations themselves: Why aren’t more useful things offered at transit hubs? As DJC contributor Clair Enlow noted, the stations could be mobility hubs, where commuters could grab a pre-reserved bike or park one, line up a taxi for the other end of the ride or pick up pre-delivered groceries on the way back. It’s a kind of multi-modal switching platform, where transportation meets information technology, and people can connect with essential goods and services, she writes. What do you think? Could we be doing more with the stations and the parking lots surrounding them?

This rendering provided by Cascadia Center for Regional Development shows a concept for a transit hub at the South Transit Park and Ride. It accommodates shared vehicles and places for pickup of pre-ordered goods. Passengers can transfer from rail to bus and find retail shops. King County Metro's plans to redevelop the park and ride do not include commuter rail. The site is along 108th Avenue Northeast, west of Interstate 405 and north of state Route 520. Image courtesy of Veolia Transport

AvalonBay Communities is building the 204-unit Avalon Queen Anne, an apartment and retail property in Seattle's Uptown neighborhood. Studio 216 rendering, courtesy of AvalonBay Communities

Four years ago, some of us were reminded (again) that the greater Downtown Seattle housing boom isn’t a birthright. Even with apartments and condos somewhat countercyclical, the whole shebang can slow dramatically, or even stop. But wow, if you love to see Seattle growing and filling in, the fun times are back.

From Lower Queen Anne to Broadway to the far side of First Hill and the CBD, something like 2,300 housing units are under construction right now, many of which I walked by in a big loop today, confirming actual starts vs. mere fence and site prep. That’s less than half the peak volume for that area, but a very healthy number, particularly since most started in a short period. More than 2006, these homes tend to be for the middle income ranges.

A couple thousand units isn’t a massive addition for that area in the scheme of things, with around 60,000 residents already here. But it’s part of greater Downtown’s march toward the real citydom. Slowly more neighborhoods have active sidewalks. Some gaps in our smile (parking lots) are getting fixed.

“Real citydom” is a concept whose meaning and desirability are very personal and subjective. For example, some argue, perhaps rightly, that the “real” part takes a decade or two at least, so that the neighborhood and building have had time to grow and adapt beyond their original states. Or maybe it’s about how much varied stuff is within walking distance, preferably including some good takeout pizza. On the flip side, some people prefer surface parking, and “city” is a bad thing. My bias isn’t a simple as “more is better,” but that’s a good start.

The Terrazza “apodment” project on 11th by Seattle U is very impressive, and one of the starts confirmed today. Per a recent DJC article, the 56 units will average 180 square feet, and there will be no elevator or parking. This is a crucial piece of Seattle’s affordability puzzle. While these homes aren’t for everyone, here’s a way people can live in a central neighborhood without subsidy at a low cost. This lets us focus levy funds et al where they’re really needed. Seattle keeps a few more of our bohemians or low-wage workers, a crucial aspect of any city’s success.

On the same walk, it was also fun to see tourist season in full swing. No, seriously! It’s fun for one’s city to be a host, even when people walk slowly four abreast. It’s sort of like being complimented. The waterfront was full of people all the way to the Sculpture Park, even with this week’s new crop of cruise passengers mostly loaded already. At the park, with the temperature pushing 70, several of the loungers clung to tiny havens of shade, apparently moving every 15 minutes…

Another topic for another day: While greater Downtown is growing housing at a good clip, the region isn’t. Does this suggest a low risk of overbuilding?

A New York Times article says that preserving the High Line viaduct in New York as a public park revitalized that

Image courtesy of James Corner Field Operations

that the deluxe apartment buildings and hundreds of art galleries, restaurants and boutiques near the High Line make up for the $115 million the city has spent on the park and the deals it has made to encourage developers to build along the High Line without blocking out the sun.

Do you see any parallels with the High Line and plans for the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle and Seattle’s Central Waterfront?

Photo courtesy of Iwan Baan

Seattle developers are paying more and more attention to bus-rapid transit, so on Saturday I went to check out Metro’s version, RapidRide.

As a transit geek, I’d been wanting to go since the A Line between Tukwila and Federal Way opened last fall. I mentioned this in passing to Paula Rees. It turns out her Seattle company, Foreseer, is doing “environmental

communications” consulting on the planned D Line from downtown Seattle to Ballard, so we headed out

People with Orca cards pay before boarding, and people can board or disembark from three doors, speeding up the process. Photo by Marc Stiles

together.

Here’s my take as well as the opinion of a frequent rider, Steve Elling. We chatted him up at the Federal Way Transit Center.

* The diesel-electric coaches did move at a good clip. But it was early and I wondered what the pace would be like during rush hour. A survey of A Line riders found 84 percent are satisfied with the service. Steve concurs: “The A Line is super.”

* I was surprised by how close some of the stops are to one another; doesn’t seem very BRT-y to me.

* The pay-before-you enter system speeds that processes up, and fare enforcement officers make sure people do that. We didn’t see any, but Steve said they’re around and have zero tolerance for scofflaws.

* At major stops on the north-south line there are east-west connections. In-coach signage, however, didn’t seem to indicate where these transfer points are. Plus, the same route signs are reversed. As we headed south, the signs made it look as though the bus was going north confusing for folks who are not familiar with the lay of the land.

* Steve said the east-west bus connections are too few. And those that do exist stop running too early at night.

* I liked the multi-modal character of RapidRide. The transfer from light rail to RapidRide in SeaTac was fairly convenient despite having to cross International Boulevard on a pedestrian bridge and then cross back at street level to catch a south-bound bus. I was impressed that RapidRide’s southern terminus in Federal Way is at a transit center served by different transit agencies. One complaint: it wasn’t clear where in the center you catch the RapidRide heading back north.

* Metro gave RapidRide its own brand. Instead of the regular blue and green and yellow regular Metro coaches, RapidRide buses are red and yellow. We found that scheme cautionary. This combined with the do-this, don’t do that, Hold On! signs was off-putting. “There’s very little customer information and way too much regulatory messaging. I felt like maybe I shouldn’t be here,” Paula said.

* I’ll catch heck from my fellow transit geeks for this, but it seems like Sound Transit and Metro and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn’s expansion plans and dreams overlap. We already have the A Line, so why is a cash-strapped Sound Transit pushing ahead with its plans to extend light rail farther south from SeaTac along the A Line route. And if RapidRide is coming to Ballard and West Seattle, why is McGinn pushing to extend light rail to those areas?

* It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to get from downtown Seattle to Federal Way via light rail and RapidRide. Impressive when you consider that before RapidRide and light rail, the trip would have taken almost forever. If you’re looking for a truly speedy route, take Sound Transit’s express bus from Federal Way. We did on the way back and it took only 25 minutes.

Dan Bertolet of hugeasscity and PubliCola fame has started a new blog called Citytank. Its mission is “to propagate ideas that help fulfill the promise of cities to both expand the human spirit, and sustain a thriving

Courtesy of photobucket.com

A developer is converting former dormitory buildings on Long Island into affordable housing, according to a story in The New York Times. In the project in Hempstead, the Community Development Corporation of Long Island, a nonprofit housing agency, and Conifer, a developer based in Rochester, are repurposing two former off-campus dormitories as 94 affordable rental apartments.

So I’ve been thinking. What would I be willing to take in exchange for supporting the deep bore tunnel? What would it take for me to capitulate and get on board the deep bore bandwagon? Okay, here it is. It’s pretty simple and straightforward: a sensible land use policy. I think it might just be worth the $4.5 billion, the rancor and the power grab by the Seattle City Council if we could get our act together on land use in Seattle. We know compact communities are better for the environment, use less energy, and promote walking, biking, and transit use. So warm up the boring machine but here’s what I want first.

Let’s start with Beacon Hill. About 15 years ago I moved to Beacon Hill and got involved in the neighborhood planning process. It was fun. I learned a lot and the various committees and organizations on the Hill worked hard to develop a vision for Beacon Hill. There was a small, dedicated, and relentless group focused on getting Beacon Hill a station on the new light rail line that would be passing deep under the neighborhood. There was no plan for a Beacon Hill station, or at least there wasn’t any money. But the group persevered, and, amazingly, landed a plan for a station and a commitment for a station shell. They pushed some more. Finally, there was a commitment to build a station—one of the deepest in the world at the time—to serve the neighborhood.

At the time the neighborhood was also planning where to put the library and how to take advantage of the lid going in at the reservoir in Jefferson Park. All of these things were challenging (sometimes controversial) and took a lot of energy from neighbors. But the station seemed to be an unqualified and big win. We’d finally get that core to the neighborhood conceived of in the planning process. The neighborhood could finally grow up with mixed use buildings and retail. We’d exchange the squat and decaying buildings for transit oriented development. Again, not without controversy, but why not take advantage of the rail line to create a compact downtown for Beacon Hill centered on transit.

Well, what does downtown Beacon Hill look like today?

All photos are by Roger Valdez.

I moved to Capitol Hill some time ago. But a recent trip to Beacon Hill made me wonder “what happened.” Then I thought about the City Council falling all over themselves to dig the tunnel on the water front. Why that big project and not Beacon Hill?  Fifteen years after I moved there, Beacon Hill does not have thriving transit oriented development. Instead the station looks like the stump of a felled tree. And that’s about how it feels.

So dig your tunnel City Council. But I’d like to see the rezones on my desk for transit oriented development on Beacon Hill by the end the day. That shouldn’t be to hard, just dust off the plans we worked so hard on. We’d also have a chance to consider things like district energy, affordability, and LEED requirements as part if the legislation. And rezones are free! Write up that resolution for Monday, pass it with a unanimous vote (sure they’ll be a few whiners in the audience but that shouldn’t slow you down. You’re the “get it done gang,” after all).  How exciting! Maybe one day we’ll be able to stand up and say we’re like Redmond. Here’s what they built near their park and ride.

And what the heck, once the rezones are signed, sealed and delivered, I’ll bet we can talk Mayor McGinn into taking a trip out of town so Richard Conlin can do the honors and sign them into law. I’ll even loan him a pen.

Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is offering six free van tours of the city’s P-Patch community gardens from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturdays this month and next. They depart from DoN’s Neighborhood Service Centers.

They will be hosted by DoN’s P-Patch Community Gardening staff and volunteers, and offer opportunities to meet the gardeners.

They tours are:

SOUTHEAST TOUR: September 18, 1-3 p.m.
Cascade P-Patch. Courtesy Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

Meet at Southeast Neighborhood Service Center, 3815 S. Othello St.
Tour includes: New Holly, Thistle, Hillman City, Colman & Bradner P-Patches

Picardo Farm P-Patch. Photo courtesy of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

SOUTHWEST TOUR: September 25, 1-3 p.m.
Meet at Delridge Neighborhood Service Center, 5405 Delridge Way SW
Tour includes: High Point, Delridge, West Genesee, Roxhill and Lincoln Park P-Patches

LAKE UNION AREA TOUR: October 2, 1-3 p.m.
Meet at Fremont Neighborhood Service Center, 908 N. 34th St.
Tour includes: Cascade, Belltown, Queen Pea, Interbay and Eastlake P-Patches

CENTRAL TOUR: October 9, 1-3 p.m.
Meet at Central Neighborhood Service Center, 2301 S. Jackson St.
Tour includes: Judkins, Hawkins, Spring St., Squire Park and Howell P-Patches

NORTHEAST TOUR: October 16, 1-3 p.m.
Meet at University Neighborhood Service Center, 4534 University Way NE

Cascade P-Patch. Photo courtesy of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

NORTHWEST TOUR: October 23, 1-3 p.m.
Meet at Greenwood Neighborhood Service Center, 8515 Greenwood Ave. N
Tour includes: Good Shepherd, Fremont, Hazel Heights, Greg’s, and Ballard P-Patches

Space is limited and reservations are required.  To register, go seattle.gov/neighborhoods/ppatch/tour.htm, or call (206) 386-4123.

The P-Patch Community Gardening Program, in conjunction with the P-Patch Trust, a nonprofit organization, oversees 73 P-Patches distributed throughout the city, according to the Department of Neighborhoods.  Neighbors plan, plant and maintain the gardens.  Much of the produce harvested is donated to local food banks and feeding programs.  In 2009 alone, gardeners contributed over 18,500 hours and donated about 12.4 tons of food, according to the department.

How you view homes – as a luxury good or a staple – should affect your perception of where where you think

Photobucket.com.