16 Sep First Hill Streetcar may not come into Pioneer Square

Although I shouldn’t have been surprised when I started hearing rumors that the First Hill Streetcar may not come into our neighborhood as planned, I still couldn’t really believe it as I talked with city staff to verify that it will possibly now stop at 5th and Jackson, instead of coming into Pioneer Square.

David Hiller of the Mayor’s office has been calling a few Pioneer Square stakeholders to let them know about the situation they are currently in. Part of their contractual obligations with Sound Transit included a scheduled streetcar coming by a stop every 10 minutes (called headway). Right now, it is timed for about 12 minutes, which is apparently most easily solved by stopping at 5th & Jackson. Although that is where the streetcar originally planned to stop, the neighborhood celebrated when the decision was made to bring it down Jackson and to loop back up Main Street.

In a blog post back in February of 2010, I included a list of benefits to the neighborhood from having the streetcar come through, including the following:

• Will be completed before the viaduct removal begins making our neighborhood more accessible during construction
• New connection helps with economic development in the neighborhood
• Adds to the marketing draw for residential and office development alike
• Allows commuters to safely navigate the intersection at 4th and Jackson
• Brings users closer to the Waterfront, creating a more walkable area
• Project is fully funded by the ST2 mass transit system
• Elegant transportation connection to the east from a convenient location in our Pioneer Square neighborhood
• Creates another leg to the transportation hub at King Street Station
• Helps eliminate the need for parking, especially during stadium events
• Environmentally beneficial as it should reduce the need for vehicles for many uses
• Crosses the ‘gateway’ into Pioneer Square

Hiller says that there are a number of factors that lead into this decision, including the lack of funding to purchase more than 4 streetcars. When meeting with Sound Transit to discuss the issue of potentially being unable to meet the 10 minute headway requirement, Sound Transit expressed a desire to find other alternatives so that the 10 min mark would still be met, even if it meant that the streetcar would no longer come through Pioneer Square.

The city is waiting to hear back on actual costs for the streetcars, and will know by mid-October what will happen. According to Hiller, however, they are very short on options. And although he says there is nothing that the community could do to affect the decision, I still urge you to write to the following people, to show them how important the streetcar is to this neighborhood, and that we’re tired of the city breaking its promises (i.e. waterfront streetcar):

Mayor Michael McGinn’s staff person, David Hiller, david.hiller@seattle.gov

County Executive Dow Constantine, Dow.Constantine@kingcounty.gov

King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, joe.mcdermott@kingcounty.gov