Easier doesn't come easily

I want convenient shopping.

I also want green space and less traffic. I want to protect small businesses and nurture unique cultural enclaves. I want to create good-paying jobs and keep prices low. I want solid property values and I support low-cost housing.

The conflicts in my mind are playing out in differences over a development planned for the Goodwill property north of Dearborn Street and west of Rainier Avenue South.

A few people may see good vs. evil in this struggle. For most folks, it is more of the choices and compromises that life is made of.

Goodwill would get a new store and training facility. Developers, in exchange, would get land for a mall.

That's good for both, but what about the neighbors?

The property is on the edge of Little Saigon, near the Chinatown International District, about where they bump into the Central Area. It's just downhill from Beacon Hill and a couple of minutes from Rainier Valley.

It is in just the right spot to benefit some people and trouble others.

The development would include a general-merchandise store, probably Target; a grocery; lots of other shops; and housing, including some for low-income people. There might also be a Lowe's Home Improvement Center.

Last Saturday, representatives of a coalition of groups marched from 12th Avenue and Yesler Way to the Goodwill parking lot for a rally at which they expressed concerns about the plan.

Vietnamese business owners worry the project will drive up rents and traffic.

Some marchers asked for more affordable housing.

The scale — 600,000 square feet of retail space and housing — concerned everyone.

I live in Rainier Valley and I've been looking forward to a Target coming to the spot.

I could stop on the way home from work and buy a pair of socks. I wouldn't have to drive to Renton or Southcenter or downtown for little things I can't get nearby.

I admitted that to one of the demonstrators and we both laughed. Even some of the marchers think convenient shopping would be nice.

Most of the speakers said they weren't against development, they just wanted it to be neighborhood-friendly.

The coalition and other community members have been discussing their worries with the developers for months.

The developers agreed to a subsidy for small businesses and offered a list of compromises contingent on support from the coalition.

The compromises are mostly about support for businesses in Little Saigon and a few small businesses within the project.

People need to have their concerns heard and addressed, so far as that's possible.

But we're still talking about a mall, not a social-service agency.

It's kind of nice that it will include Goodwill, so people can drop off their old stuff and head into Target to buy new goodies without re-parking. That's a consumer society at its most efficient.

It's time to start building.

I'm looking forward to avoiding a trip to the suburbs. I want to save some gas.

Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com.