Community members in the Chinatown-International District (CID) say that a proposed expansion of the Sound Transit Link light rail station could have dramatic and negative impacts on their neighborhood.
They see echoes of the past in the new Sound Transit proposals. The CID has been devastated by megaprojects that were routed through it in the past, including the Interstate 5 corridor, King Dome and streetcar.
The proposed expansion — a new line from West Seattle to Ballard — is expected to begin construction later this decade. It is part of a larger transit package called ST3, which was passed by voters in 2016.
Sound Transit is currently in the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) phase, in which the agency is evaluating the project’s potential impacts to the environment and local communities. The public comment period, which was extended from 45 to 90 days, ended on April 28.
According to a spokesperson for Sound Transit, the final EIS review is scheduled to be published in 2023. The spokesperson says that they are collecting “comments from the public, agency partners and Tribes.”
The agency also says that it is committed to “engaging communities of color and low-income and other vulnerable populations throughout the public involvement process.”
However, many feel that there hasn’t been enough time for input from residents, businesses and community organizations. On April 22, the CID Coalition wrote to Sound Transit to ask for the public comment period to be extended.
Michele Wong, an organizer with the coalition, said in an email to Real Change that a project on such a scale needs “a more nuanced approach in outreach by Sound Transit to center the needs and demands of this neighborhood.”
The transit agency is considering five different proposed station expansions including two proposals on Fourth Avenue, two on Fifth Avenue and one diagonal proposal to the east of Fifth Avenue.
The proposals also vary between a 190-foot-deep and shallower 80-to-90-foot deep stations. Some transit advocates have raised concerns about accessibility with the deep stations, saying that since they would require elevators they would slow down commute times.
Sound Transit estimates the cost of the station expansion to be between $1.2 and $1.8 billion, with the Fourth Avenue options being about half a billion dollars more expensive due to requiring the replacement of the Fourth Avenue viaduct.
Most community advocates prefer the Fourth Avenue proposal due to the potential displacement impact of the Fifth Avenue proposal. If Sound Transit were to build the new station on Fifth Avenue, it would demolish the building which houses popular businesses such as Chung Chun Rice Dog and Seattle Best Tea. The Fifth Avenue proposal would also be closer, bringing street closures and construction noise and pollution near the commercial core of the neighborhood.
Brien Chow, outreach chair of the Chong Wa Benevolent Association, says that the association opposes the Fifth Avenue proposal.
“Fifth Avenue is unacceptable,” Chow said. “If they build on Fifth Avenue, they’ll kill Chinatown within three years.”
Chow is a member of a group called Transit Equity for All, which is advocating for the Fourth Avenue proposal. Over 1,200 people have signed their online petition so far.
Chow is also concerned that the proposed air vent with the Fifth Avenue station could be placed in the heart of the neighborhood, just across the street from the grocery store Uwajimaya.
“So, for a hundred years, the people in the Chinatown neighborhood are gonna have to live with bad air coming out of that tunnel,” Chow said.
Hood Famous Bakeshop, a Filipino bakery and coffee shop located on Fifth Avenue, posted a graphic to Instagram calling to “Save the CID” and “Move forward on 4th.”
Regardless of if the station is sited at Fourth or Fifth Avenue, the station’s construction could create significant disruptions to the community, bringing noise and air pollution due to construction.
The CID Coalition does not prefer any of the station proposals, saying that they would all have “a dramatic, detrimental impact” on the neighborhood.
In the week leading up to the public comment deadline, community members were scrambling to recruit more public input on the Sound Transit proposals.
On April 27, some of these community members held a meeting at Oasis Tea Zone to present the different proposals and their potential impacts and informing attendees on how to submit their comments.
An Huynh, one of the organizers of the meeting, said that she considers the CID her second home. She says that while she supports transit, she is concerned about the impacts of the station expansion proposals.
“I’m a huge supporter of public transportation, I think it makes our communities more accessible, it’s a great way to fight climate change,” said Huynh. “Right now the alternatives that we have, all of them pose a huge risk to the Chinatown-International District, and especially the three options on Fifth.”
“Those [proposals] are so close to the heart of this neighborhood and require a lot of displacement of businesses and demolition of a lot of buildings that I think are really special. My main goal is to minimize harm to the Chinatown-ID,” Huynh said.
Sue Kay, a longtime community member and activist, said she is concerned about the potential impacts of the new station on elderly residents who could be more vulnerable to air pollution and bad air from the new station’s air vent.
“We’re really concerned about pollution, the loss of sunlight, the disruption of construction, with all of our seniors who move with walkers through the area and are vulnerable to bad air,” said Kay.
Guy Oron is the staff reporter for Real Change. Find them on Twitter, @GuyOron.
Read more of the May 4-10, 2022 issue.