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Neighbors Demand Better Service from Mayor Schell
Maple Leaf and Haller Lake Community Council members told Mayor Paul Schell of their struggles with developers and city agencies to make their neighborhoods more livable at a meeting in the AS #1 auditorium last week. |
Residents told Schell they are ignored by the Department of Design, Construction and Land Use (DCLU), the comprehensive plan has been trampled and transit is not serving neighborhoods. They said citizen groups have to file lawsuits to get the city to pay attention.
"My job is to balance competing interests," The mayor told the group, "and it'll be easier to hear you if you can speak with one voice."
"I'm surprised and pleased you are coming out into the firing zone," Ron Pierce told the mayor. Pierce and others charged that city officials, especially DCLU, rubberstamp developers' plans and pay little attention to neighborhood groups. "When Northgate Mall wanted to expand into the south parking lot, DCLU forgot all about our comprehensive plan.
"We had to fight tooth and nail to get DCLU to force Sam's Club to move their compressors when they were broadcasting 90 decibel noise over the residential neighborhood," Pierce said.
"Why isn't DCLU more supportive instead of working against us?" asked Janice Camp.
Mike Thompson continued, "It's a real big problem. There wasn't very good public process when Northgate announced their expansion plans. DCLU ignored citizen groups and sided with developer."
Northgate Mall's expansion plans for the south parking lot were blocked in the courts after several citizen groups successfully appealed the city permit granting process and filed lawsuits to block the mall expansion. "We bankrupted our treasury for that one little victory," Thompson said.
The mayor told the group that developers complained that DCLU bent over backward to accommodate neighborhood needs and complaints. But he promised to "encourage DCLU to give careful consideration to the issues you are raising tonight."
Schell promised, "I'll look into that," when several people mentioned the need for a left turn signal at Northeast 130th Street and First Avenue Northeast.
The need for circulator or cross-town buses to help people to move east and west was also raised. The Mayor agreed, saying, "We need to stop this idea that every bus has to go downtown."
Don MacFarlane announced the Maple Leaf Community Council's support for the Bon Tire's 5th Avenue Northeast property as the best site for a new library and community center scheduled for the Northgate area. He expressed a fear that Northgate Mall's south parking lot, which is for sale at a reported $25 million, would be tied up in litigation for years to come.
Schell replied that the city doesn't have the money to buy the south parking lot, but he acknowledged that "density must be offset by open space."
The mayor asked the group, "Should new open space be north or south of Northgate Way?" "Both! Both!" about two dozen people shouted out in chorus.
The Mayor also called for "much bigger use of van pools. Maybe if there were 1,000 van pools there would be 3,000 fewer cars." Schell also said he likes the idea of neighborhood parking garages, "like the one we didn't get in Admiral. I want to change city reluctance on parking garages."
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