Background: This development will be the largest retail center between Southcenter and Northgate and will be two-thirds the size of Northgate Mall. Over 80 percent of the retail space will be for big box stores and national chains. The center will have 2,300 parking spaces and is expected to double traffic on Rainier Avenue.

After a city-funded mediator worked with community members and developers, a few of the community’s requests were addressed — the developer agreed to make more of the housing units at the project affordable, but only half of those 200 units are reserved for very low-income seniors, the other half can be affordable for people making less than median income. That’s about $52,000 for a single person and $74,000 for a family of four. The developer also offered a modest amount to subsidize rents for a few Little Saigon neighborhood businesses, reducing rent from an expected $40 per square foot to $28. Currently, rents are about $15 per square foot.

Last year, we started the job of ensuring that Seattle’s exploding growth benefits everyone, not just wealthy developers, by increasing the affordable housing bonus with the Downtown for All campaign. Maintaining responsible growth beyond the downtown core is equally important, especially since those are the neighborhoods where our families live, where local businesses still thrive, and where our communities’ racial and ethnic diversity still exists. The coalition wants to ensure that the final project:

• Better fits the character and scale of this neighborhood, and isn’t just a cookie-cutter suburban-like mall;

• Creates quality jobs and affordable housing for local residents and prevents gentrification;

• Preserves the businesses and character of Little Saigon;

• Doesn’t worsen traffic and the environment by being auto-centric;

• Expands opportunities for small, local business; and

• Is environmentally sustainable.

To move forward, the developer needs major land use changes granted by the City Council, including the largest street vacation ever — essentially a privatization of our streets. In exchange for giving up the public right-of-way, the City requires a public benefits package. The question now is, will the City Council require a package that truly benefits all citizens, or will it approve the project as it is?

There’s no question that the developers and big business interests are pushing for approval with the limited benefits they’ve offered, and that just like during the downtown density campaign, they’ve got a lot of access and power. It’s time for the community to step up its efforts to counter that power and tell the City Council — and the project developers — that we want better for our communities. It’s time to take it to the streets.

Action: Join the Save our Neighborhoods march and rally this Sat., April 21, at 1 p.m. Gather at 12th Ave. and Yesler Way (near Bailey Gatzert School) to march to Goodwill Industries at Rainier Ave. and Dearborn St. For more information, visit www.seattlegoodjobs.org or call Elana at (206)441-0499 x23.