A new vision for walkable, bikeable Aurora Avenue North (Seattle: houses, neighborhoods)

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

I really don't anticipate the interest in "walkability" in that area. Should that get done, it's likely to remain pretty empty except for maybe the current "walkers".

Roundabouts and even speed bumps do not defer traffic as they were designed to. In fact, it can make it worse for the residents, as people take advantage of the opportunity to zoom around or get a little air. We have a road we call "speed bump hill" that I used some times just for fun, and when the main road was under construction it became the detour. Since then it has more traffic than the main road, people discovered it and now a quiet little residential road is a major arterial despite being steep with deer crossings, and 5 speed bumps. No one goes 15MPH.

I kind of disagree, the neighborhoods that flank Aurora Ave N (Greenwood in particular and Licton Springs) have many who would appreciate the ability to stroll down to shops, cafes. They've done lesser versions of this in Shoreline and Lake City Way. Some mature trees, slow down techniques, public art, lights at night can really start to change the vibe of an area. Is it going to cause bottleneck? Absolutely. Will it be nicer looking and will people come out? Sure.

[pnwguy2]

6pm last summer at Holiday Inn near NE 145th. Looking out my window a total prostitution area with several “campaigning”. I saw it first hand from my hotel room. More interesting than cable tv but disgusting. When I went to go to dinner a few actually came up to my car wanting to know if I could use their services. This is how cities decline.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

6pm last summer at Holiday Inn near NE 145th. Looking out my window a total prostitution area with several “campaigning”. I saw it first hand from my hotel room. More interesting than cable tv but disgusting. When I went to go to dinner a few actually came up to my car wanting to know if I could use their services. This is how cities decline.

Don’t know if this area is declining, it’s been like that as long as I can remember. That’s why I think this plan might have some promise, in particular from 80th to Northgate Way.

[pnwguy2]

I guess I just remember my hometown as almost perfect. That is laughable today. Any big city will grapple with these type of problems today. I guess residents need to accept it at some level, but my 18 year old self never will. Coming up on 64 this year.. Saddened.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

I guess I just remember my hometown as almost perfect. That is laughable today. Any big city will grapple with these type of problems today. I guess residents need to accept it at some level, but my 18 year old self never will. Coming up on 64 this year.. Saddened.

I hear you man, been here 33 years. It’s funny though, it just takes one walk through Seward or Discovery Park, or nice drive out Hwy 2 to explore rivers to make you realize there’s a lot of beauty that hasn’t changed.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

I guess I just remember my hometown as almost perfect. That is laughable today. Any big city will grapple with these type of problems today. I guess residents need to accept it at some level, but my 18 year old self never will. Coming up on 64 this year.. Saddened.

Parts of Aurora have been seedy for a very long time: 40 years, at least. And before that, downtown Seattle and Pioneer Square were full of seedy areas. Are you sure it's Seattle you're remembering?

[Transmition]

It's just the rose-tinted spectacles that people use to remember the past. Crime has been steadily dropping since the 50s, but people get the impression from the media that it has never been higher. But that needs to be couched with the fact that there has been a more recent uptick in crime since covid hit - it's currently the highest in 15 years in Seattle, which is obviously bad but it means that it was higher 15 years ago. Aurora has been the hotspot for prostitutes for decades, SPD has intentionally been not moving them on much since the budget cuts were threatened - visible crime always gets people pushing more money for the police and it's fairly innocuous compared to gang fights.

[pnwguy2]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Parts of Aurora have been seedy for a very long time: 40 years, at least. And before that, downtown Seattle and Pioneer Square were full of seedy areas. Are you sure it's Seattle you're remembering?

Yes I know Aurora has been bad for decades. What surprised me was how far north it has spread.

[mayfair]

Originally Posted by margaretBartle

The city's Urban Village designation was a dirty trick played on people who thought they were buying into a quiet neighborhood. We watched as every house was taken down, the trees and landscaping removed, and replaced by lot-line to lot-line devlopment. The end of song birds, the end of a leafy neighborhood. I can't host my family any more for holidays because there's no place for my guests to park, since the new rules for urban villages doesn't require parking.

So sad. This is unfortunately what happens when many urban villages (often called other things but same idea) manifest in reality. The vision of mixed use, stores, shops, homes of varying types and offices within walking distance gets altered into lots of apartments crammed in with no parking and then the developers meet the "business" requirement by adding things like self storage or get the business requirement removed and just add more apartments.

The idea that there will be offices and restaurants gets lost along the way. A few of them work out, but so many just make developers rich.

[Transmition]

Just happened on the new park'n'ride in Snohomish county. The developers said there would be stores in the ground floors of the apartments, so the local public approved it since there were no stores for miles and it would be a benefit to them. Now they are being built, but the stores have been removed from the plan, it's just apartment blocks, so everyone feels cheated. It would never have been approved without the stores and the locals have to deal with the extra traffic and oversubscribed stores they currently have.

There needs to be consequences.