Ideas for Seattle

I'm surprised there aren't more comments about how high the rents are in Pioneer Square. They are high all over the city, but I think Pioneer Square, they are out of line, and is one of the reasons it is being left to the derelicts. I always get suspicious that the developers have some devious plan afoot when I see a lot of empty offices, but no one is interested in lowering their rents. If they lowered their rents, small, local businesses would flock there. I suspect one of the issues is the location of those two super-sized, out-of-scale sports arenas. They jack the price up for everyone else. I don't know if the Pioneer Square we all knew will ever recover from putting up those two stadiums. I suspect the developers are hoping to let Pioneer Square deteriorate until the neighbors give in and say, "Enough! Do what you want". That's what they did with the U District, with Capital Hill, and what they are currently trying to do with Ballard.

Pioneer Square and the International District, the cultural and gastronomic heart of the city, with treelined pedestrian/bike friendly streets, and glorious historic architecture.

Can this area be yuppified into a eco-mecca, complete with a natural foods flagship store, alternative and Oriental health purveyors, and trendy brick residences fronting on the shimmering blue Puget Sound (sans decrepit Viaduct)? Yes we can!!!

Will we displace the homeless population and drug culture? Yes we will, but note, this population is overwhelmingly black males -- says something about the exclusionary economy that still prevails.

Pioneer Square has a lot to offer as a neighborhood! I am not just talking about the all the vital homeless services, or the plentiful section 8 housing, or all the cheap drugs, (enjoyed by most of the people in section 8 housing. You know who you are!). Nope it isn’t even the cornucopia of wonderful smells of human waste wafting out of almost every doorway and alley.

No the real beauty of Pioneer Square is in it history! It is in its architecture, its rich artist community as well as long list of respectable restaurants. However, I would have been remiss if I didn’t save the best for last… Yes, let us not forget about the abundance of bars and nightclubs!

Why Pioneer Square is a den of hedonistic delights.... I moved here years ago after reading some of Charles Bukowski finer work. Thinking, “if Bukowski came to drink in Seattle today, where would he drink?” My answer. Pioneer Square of course! The Double Header on 2nd and Yesler to be more precise. Oh yes, the oldest gay club on the west coast with some of Seattle’s better drag moments has history alright. But as if that pedigree was not enough, it is now home to some of Seattle’s sleaziest drug dealers, hookers, and other fallen souls. Ahhhh.. It make me so proud as a relatively up standing citizen of Pioneer Square knowing that I can get blasted up close with such sordid, filthy and dilapidated old souls. Well, of course I can’t drink there anymore after being 86’d in true Bukowski fashion, however that another story! Pioneer Square has a rich tradition of filthy cocksuckers making there way through Pioneer Square, why just read Sons of Profits and you’ll get a good idea of what I am talking about. You can get it at the gift shop after a nice walk through Seattle’s underbelly. There are plenty of watering holes waiting for you to have a drink as you read all about Seattle’s dynamic history of reprobates.

All that being said; as a tax paying relatively upstanding member of the Pioneer Square community interested in enjoying everything my neighborhood has to offer (well mostly). I have notice that things are a bit worse then usual. My fellow citizens nothing, and I mean NOTHING will change until you get out into the public and engage in your neighborhood. That isn’t just going to safety meeting, writing blogs or writing letters to the editor. Not even calling 911 will help. Nope! You have to get out and engage. Yep, fight with the drug dealers, talk to the hookers, curse at the morally depraved asshole leaving a smelly shit in your doorway! Good Luck! I am pulling for you, because I live here too.

Yesterday i heard that plans are underway to use the Square to max out its valuable development potential...ie the public sold out once again (HUD and contractor ties) While in email this morning "UN General Assembly proclaims 2012 the International Year of Co-operatives ". Connecting the dots – I say lets jump the line and buy a building. fashionRIP Project needs a multidisciplinary space with workshops, gallery , relevant retail and this combo will generate the auxiliary biz that is the next level
This would be a community and tourist destination. The media development core is relevant to local eco sanity. This can be an inclusive uprising I know people who work with and advocate for homeless folks and i volunteered at Sanctuary myself. There are brilliant kids on the streets and it is part of the national shame we appear to justify and that's just wrong. Anyway this all blends well into a sustainable retrofit and can offset the developer’s madness!
PS I use fashionRIP as the generator because it is working on many levels and needs a home. I am vested, motivated and willing to act on it, but I can’t do it alone…idea rich, $ poor

I have to say, I think there is a great list of suggestions growing about this topic of revitalizing Pioneer Square. I especially like the sentiment that this is first and foremost a 'neighborhood.' I think there is a lot of merit in utilizing commerce/retail to lend vitality and boost the image of the neighborhood and I do think there needs to be a healthy balance of policing to jump-start an atmosphere of safety.

That being said, I think the one thing that this argument lacks is a matter of compassion for the homeless. Now, before you start jumping all over me, let me make it clear that I don't think there should be as high of a concentration of homeless shelters localized in Pioneer Square but at the same time, this area carries with it a sort of 'mark' or maybe you could call it character. In other words, I'm saying that the issue of homelessness is already engrained in Pioneer Square whether we like it or not. So in our efforts to revitalize the neighborhood, why not incorporate this engrained character rather than trying to pretend the issue does not exist? Why not try to encourage businesses like Fair Start and others who have found a way to provide some functional relief for the homeless? I'd suggest instituting a community gardening program that can reintroduce homeless residents (because they are residents and not all druggies) as functional individuals in society? This could serve as not only a way to give back family friend green/open space but also as a tool for rallying the neighborhood behind a cause, thereby strengthening their sense of ownership and pride. I think Pioneer Square has the opportunity to use its character to its benefit while simultaneously acting as a leader in the issue of improving homelessness in Seattle. My vote is on Pioneer Square but even more upon the neighbors that comprise it...including the homeless ones.

It's also important to not just attract ANY kind of business. You need LOCAL support. Big chain restaurants attract transient, non neighborhood people. Make it a center for LOCAL commerce. Don't make it a Times Square tourist joyride that every local avoids like the plague. Smaller restaurants, art galleries, creative businesses combined with a park for KIDS and adults (as mentioned above). The meatpacking district was a trouble spot in NYC but it was resurrected with all of the above and now it is THRIVING. We can do the same here!

help Pioneer Square in Seattle by offering incentives/grants or other help for co-op workshop, gallery, store, multi discipline use spaces where green retrofit experiments can retool the buildings and sociocratic decision making processes can be applied among members. A multi learning, multi purpose experiment for the future.
After all we know that Biz as usual is a death sentence so what the hey....take a leap of faith and recreate the system from the street and grassroots up.
Fighting what we fear takes energy from building what we want.
http://fashionrip.blogspot.com
….give fashionRIP Project a grant to start the process!)