I was surprised when I opened up the paper today to the Pacific NW Magazine (Paul Dorpat’s Now & Then is usually my first Sunday morning stop) and saw a couple of faces I recognized on the front page. Turns out they have a big feature on our little neighborhood., including a lot of shots from Chef Brenda Lee’s summer block party on 20th Ave.
They include some interesting stats on how things have changed around here in the last 10 years:
The census numbers say it all. Between 2000 and 2007, the number of children under age 5 in the neighborhood rose by more than 15 percent — about double the increase citywide. In roughly the same period, the number of all family households in the CD grew by 13.6 percent — more than three times the rate in Seattle at large. Along the way, something else changed significantly. Whites became the largest racial group — more than 40 percent — in a community where blacks had outnumbered them by more than 2-to-1 in 1990.
They also include a passing mention of an unnamed “community blog”. Unfortunately they didn’t include a link that we could add to our blogroll….
Also today: Madrona resident Danny Westneat has a column that asks “Who could have saved Quincy Coleman“. He gives some of the story of Quincy’s family and how they tried to keep him on the right track. There’s also a good quote from East Precinct alum John Hayes about the kind of personalized intervention that should be happening with at-risk kids like Quincy:
When he was 13, Quincy bought a gun from a 15-year-old for $100. Police say that moment ought to have clanged alarm bells throughout the system.
“When did anyone come together after that report — a 13-year-old buying a gun — to say: What are we going to do to get this kid back on track?” says John Hayes, director of community relations for the Seattle police. “I’m including my own department in that. Did we have an officer visit the home? That’s the level of work we all need to be doing here.”
Hi Scott,
I did mention the CD news blog by name. I don’t know why it didn’t get mention in the article. Sorry about that.
There is a comment section for the story. So that would be a good place to provide a plug and link to the blog.
Thanks Lynda – nice article btw
Just a comment to everyone of those new parents in the neighborhood, the school district right now has a budget shortfall and school closures is back on list of things to do. Please keep yourselves informed if you are interested in keeping this school opened. TT Minor is a great school with even larger potential.
I am the least race-sensitive black person you will ever meet, BUT prose like you quote above rubs me raw. Here’s how I read it:
More kids– great!
More families– great!
More white people– great!
Guess I’ll just move my sorry black ass down to Rainier Valley . . .
I don’t see any value of good or bad (or great) placed on the data in the quote. It says ‘here are INTERESTING stats on how the CD has changed: blah blah blah.’
While I wish there were more non-whites living in many other neighborhoods in Seattle, it can only be a good thing that CD is becoming more integrated, more people (of all types) are living in CD, etc.
This is a GOOD thing – also, “In roughly the same period, the number of all family households in the CD grew by 13.6 percent — more than three times the rate in Seattle at large.”. So some of these numbers would be due increasing density, rather than simply replacing one resident with another. Density, growth, families, money = GOOD for central district.
Now hopefully the increased density and higher number of children around will result in 23rd ave getting fixed, possibly remade into something sane and usable, rather than a bomb-cratered mini-highway.
Jack: That is how I read it, too and I am white. I did not move here because it was ‘affordable’ and ‘near downtown’. I moved here in the 70’s because there was a room available in a shared house and now it’s the only neighborhood I know and love in Seattle. In fact, 3 years ago there were PLENTY of homes on Beacon Hill, Fremont and elsewhere in the city in my price range.
On my street, many old timers are happy to see homeowners replacing renters whatever the color of their skin. There is just that nagging feeling that the rise in property values and property taxes, along with persistant economic hard times, contributes to displacement of the children of the long time residents…
Narrow right of way but it’s a Major artery. There to move traffic. the only thing that might help is wider sidewalks.
Lots of maps:
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/streetclassmaps.htm
This story and its comments, (and others in CentralDistrictNews)seem to speak of the desire for people in the community to get together — in person. CD News offers the chance for people to write to each other, but also it publicizes opportunities to meet. One such opportunity is tomorrow, Tuesday at the annual African American Business Directory get-together (formerly known as the Black Dollar dinner). It’s a fund raiser, so not free. But the cost, which gets you dinner, is not a lot. Sometimes we lament the challenges in attracting the diversity of the neighborhood population to community council meetings and other such events, but it’s a two-way street. Details of Tuesday’s dinner are posted on the “events” section of CentralDistrictNews