Front Porch Forum -- Focus Group Wonders Who Will Gain From Commons
It's a civic project they know they need more information about. But they also just don't see anything in it for themselves.
Most of the eight Seattle residents brought together recently to talk about the Seattle Commons proposal knew little about it. But all quickly came to a firm consensus: The city has too many other issues on the plate to be mapping out a new park and neighborhood at South Lake Union.
"It seems to me this is a piece of cosmetics," said Michael Rush, a computer programmer from Haller Lake. "We're applying some makeup to make it look prettier without solving some of the more basic problems (like education and transportation). And we're spending a lot of money to do it."
A big, new park at South Lake Union? Sounds nice, some said. Thousands of new jobs, too? Even better. But who, they asked, stands to benefit the most and who might get hurt?
Those were just some of the issues raised last week when a citizens panel gathered to talk about the proposed $111 million property-tax levy for the Commons. The group was organized as part of The Front Porch Forum, a joint project sponsored by The Seattle Times and local affiliates of National Public Radio.
Among them were a hospital employee, a homemaker, a retired Boeing manager and a self-employed development consultant. Five have lived in Seattle more than 25 years.
The panel was randomly selected from lists of people who voted in two of the past four elections in King County, with an effort made to achieve geographic and demographic representation.
By chance, though, there were no business executives or managers nor anyone who works downtown - voters Commons supporters are confident will back the property-tax levy.
By the end of the 1 1/2-hour session, all in the focus group said they were against approving a down payment on a 61-acre park and public improvements that would support new homes and businesses at South Lake Union.
One entered the room having decided to vote against the Commons and only two knew more than a little about it.
The group's initial lack of strong opinions could signal plenty of opportunity for supporters to win the Sept. 19 election. Reaching an undecided bloc of voters is far easier than trying to change the minds of those already set against it.
Still, comments by the eight citizens indicate that the supporters' message is missing a lot of voters - and that the sales pitch itself isn't very convincing.
"You know, for $111 million for just that small, little piece of stretch, it seems to me that the money would be better off going into the parks we do have and making them better, more usable," said Carla James, a community-college student who lives in the South End.
She and others were clearly swayed by the opinions of Robert Kirby, a self-employed business-development consultant who lives on Capitol Hill. He attended a public hearing on the Commons at the Seattle Center about six months ago and came away worried that the project was being promoted by "three-piece suits from Bellevue."
"I have a feeling what we're going to get over here is a bunch of condos that pretty much look alike," said Kirby, who moved here from Chicago four years ago. "The big areas get developed by one group of people and, in the meantime, they'll shovel a lot of small businesses out of the community."
For four years, supporters have been working with city officials to design a $312 million project they say will help the city improve the vitality of the downtown area and increase its tax base. The plan, endorsed by Mayor Norm Rice and the City Council, includes a blueprint for unclogging Mercer Street as well as preserving and increasing low-income housing.
If approved, the tax would cost the owner of a $150,000 home an average $48.12 in annual property taxes. (Under the city schedule, the amount would gradually decrease, from $71.30 in 1996 to $26.66 in 2003.)
The nonprofit group promoting it - the Commons Committee - includes civic leaders such as former City Councilwoman Phyllis Lamphere and former U.S. Sen. and Gov. Dan Evans, as well as representatives of Seattle's real-estate community. But citizens in the Front Porch group assumed private developers are leading the movement because they want to make money.
They didn't like the notion of a neighborhood being created with a single plan. Let South Lake Union evolve on its own, they suggested, and move on to other regional priorities. Improving schools and transportation were mentioned repeatedly.
The Front Porch Forum group empathized with the 135 businesses that would have to relocate. When told by Kirby that the city might use its power of eminent domain to nudge out unwilling businesses, several in the group quickly expressed opposition.
"I'd really like to see something in a pamphlet telling me exactly how they're going to help these people," said Bill Boswell, a retired Boeing manager who lives in the Rainier Valley. "We're really losing something when we lose all these small businesses. To me, that makes up the character of the city."
Others were aware that apartment rents are fairly low in South Lake Union, a primarily industrial-commercial area. The city plans to save 1,200 low-income units and hopes to add 1,700 more. (Doing the latter would cost an additional $78.8 million.) But most in the focus group hadn't heard that and were worried people would be displaced.
The potential for a major park covering 20 blocks between Denny Way and the shore of Lake Union didn't ignite much enthusiasm, either. While some said they personally use and enjoy Seattle's parks, they didn't see evidence of public clamoring for another park.
Diane DeWitt, who works in the financial-services department at Group Health and lives in Broadview, dismissed the notion that Seattle could master-plan something similar to New York's Central Park or the Boston Common. DeWitt, a resident of Seattle since 1967, is a native of Boston.
The Boston Common was originally "common land where people used to raise cattle, and it became a lovely park, but it had nothing to do with development around it," she said. "It was truly a common ground, and this does not sound like a common ground. It sounds like a park for the people who are going to live there."
Others lit up when told of the prospects for new investment and jobs. But they cooled to the notion that many of those would be in the high-tech and biotech industries. It's not the kind of work most of those in the group are trained to do.
City officials and Commons supporters argue that if a new, family-oriented neighborhood is built that highlights green space and nearby jobs, people will be more inclined to live in Seattle instead of the suburbs.
Voters in this focus group, however, weren't buying it. Suburban sprawl isn't an issue they especially worry about, or feel they can control.
Where's the plan for new schools and support services at South Lake Union, one asked. How's the city going to pay to revamp public education if it pours all this new money into a park and neighborhood?
And how, DeWitt wondered, is traffic congestion any better if newcomers simply bring their cars from the suburbs into the city? (Supporters envision a neighborhood where people would drive less because their jobs, stores and homes would all be within walking distance.)
"They've got families. What are they going to do without a car?" DeWitt asked. "I don't see how they can live in a city with kids without a car."
Boswell doesn't think many people would want to move to Seattle, regardless of a new South Lake Union neighborhood.
"Most people that live outside Seattle do it for their own personal reason," he said. "They like the wide open spaces. They're not going to move back here because of that park.
"Why don't they just forget that park and fix Mercer?"
--------------------------- WHAT PROPOSITION 1 WOULD DO ---------------------------
-- Authorize additional property taxes to be collected for up to nine years to provide a maximum of $111 million.
-- $100 million of the funds would be used to pay part of the cost of developing about 61 acres into a Commons park, making related transportation improvements and preserving affordable housing in the South Lake Union area.
-- $11 million would be used to build 23 new athletic fields and renovate five existing fields throughout the city.
-------------------------- WHAT IS FRONT PORCH FORUM? --------------------------
The Front Porch Forum is a joint reporting project of The Seattle Times, National Public Radio stations KUOW (94.9 FM) and KPLU (88.5 FM), and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. A goal of the project is to explore and try to address the fraying connections among people, politicians and the media.