CALL TO ACTION

1.     Sign this petition!!

2.     Send letters to your local and Sound Transit representatives through both these links:

a.     https://transitequityforall.org/email-sound-transit

b.     https://actionnetwork.org/letters/buildcidbuildmidtown

3.     Send a comment to Sound Transit: emailtheboard@soundtransit.org 

4.     Tell your friends and family!!

Petition Updates

Hello Friends,

It looks like Sound Transit is going to drop the proposed 5th Avenue Station option from consideration, pending a final vote later this year. However, Sound Transit is now breaking its promises:

1. Instead of building a new Station on 4th Ave. S., Sound Transit wants to by-pass that site to put the station at James Street, near the Jail, almost a mile away from other transit connections in and by CID,
2. Sound Transit wants to drop the Midtown Station, where the connection to hospitals and health clinics would be, and
3. Sound Transit also plans to cut back service at the current CID Transit Tunnel Station for people coming from the south. Future trains from the south will skip CID in the new plan.
4. Future riders from the eastside trying to travel south will have to travel the wrong way for an extra stop and spend an extra 5-10 minutes to transfer to travel south.

5.  Sound Transit re-branding of N&S of CID names to hide injustice and inequity of bypassing the CID.  

• North of CID: rebranded as Midtown James Street Station (aka Jail Station); hides scuttling of original Midtown Station for easy access to health clinics and hospitals on First Hill.
• South of CID: rebranded as Dearborn Street Station (aka Dearborn I-90 Station). Dearborn Street Station is especially deceptive because it is the entrance--the station platform is  about a half mile farther south at I-90. 

What does this mean? Longer walks and travel times!

In the future, trains from Pierce, South King County, the airport, Rainier Valley, Beacon Hill will go into a different tunnel starting just north of the SoDo station and end up at the proposed Jail Station, skipping CID. 

Sound Transit isn't doing this to northend neighborhoods, only to those in the south and Eastside.

The plan violates principles of equity and racial and social justice. It harms BIPOC the most, especially immigrants, refugees, and those with disabilities. Skipping the 4th Avenue Station option for a James Street Jail Station continues the long, painful history of discrimination and disinvestment in communities of color living in the CID, Rainier Valley, Beacon Hill, Skyway, areas farther south and the Eastside.

Tell Sound Transit to Move Forward on 4th & Midtown                                                                      by signing this petition!

******************************************************************

“Another major project is harming the Seattle Chinatown International District (Chinatown, Japantown, Little Saigon): Sound Transit wants to take 3 blocks from the National Register Chinatown Historic District again.

Sound Transit Move Forward on Fourth Letter/Phone Campaign

Sound Transit says it has the choice of building on 4th Avenue or 5th Avenue and have yet to decide. However, their actions show they prefer 5th because of:

• Blocking a community member from being in the CID Community Advisory Group
• Sending agents to 5th Avenue and King Street business owners to offer moving money
• Emphasizing 5th Avenue is a better route than 4th Avenue in presentations through selective criteria, e.g. resident displacement 120 for 4th Avenue, 0 for 5th Avenue
• Not explaining “full closure of King Street or Weller Street”
• Not explaining how many businesses on King Street, Weller Street will be permanently moved, disruptions to community life, residents, 1200 elderly and 300 businesses
• Incomplete plans presented for 4th Avenue options
• Concluding that demolition and construction “will not impact neighborhood cohesion” aka, community life

Construction on 5th Avenue in Chinatown to Japantown means:

1. Full closure of King Street, S. Weller and 5th Avenue for several years
2. Re-routing cars, buses, to 6th, Maynard, 7th, 8th, 10th & 12th
3. Gas, water, electrical shut offs to businesses, non-profits and residents
4. Traffic detours throughout Chinatown, Japantown, Little Saigon
5. Daily dump trucks, cement trucks, cranes, supply trucks, delivery vehicles
6. Construction workers taking parking from businesses
7. Increased noise & air pollution, dust, dirt, vibrations
8. Taking property from owners of color for demolition and resale after construction
9. Endangering lives of 1,200 elderly by blocking access/egress for emergency vehicles with street/sidewalk closures and detours
10. Permanent changes to National Register Seattle Chinatown Historic District—loss of 3 blocks in addition to prior loss of 3 blocks for Transit Tunnel
11. A ventilation building in the middle of residences and businesses pumping out dirty tunnel air 24/7 for 100 years!

Severe disruptions to:

• 300 businesses already battered by the pandemic, higher than ever anti-Asian hate crimes, criminal violence
• 30 immigrant businesses permanently closed or forced to move
• Schools, daycares, programs serving thousands of children and youth
• Programs, classes, recreation for 1,200 elderly non-English speakers

How to Write Your Email:

1. Begin with: To Sound Transit Board Members and Seattle City Council Members

2. Choose 2 or 3 impacts or peoples or activities to mention from bulleted lists above.

3. Conclusion: tell Sound Transit to take 5th Ave. off the table. Fourth NOT Fifth!

To Sound Transit Board:  emailtheboard@soundtransit.org

& Seattle City Council:  council@seattle.gov

Cc: Seattle Equity Team Lead:   Nicole.kistler@seattle.gov

Go to “Move Forward on 4th” Petition and sign at: Share this petition: https://chng.it/5qMfLLBD

Thank you

Transit Equity for All (TEA) 

TEA Website  -  transitequityforall.org

4th Ave Tunnel Station avoids 5th Ave impacts while North and South options extend travel times and complicate transfers and not without adverse impacts of their own!