nwasianweekly.com
June 20, 2008

Little Saigon’s new public spaces presented; activists encourage more community input

By James Tabafunda

Northwest Asian Weekly

A special Vietnamese design may replace the white straight lines commonly used to mark Seattle’s crosswalks.

This and other proposed changes were presented at the Little Saigon Urban Form Community Meeting, held June 11 at the Nisei Veterans Hall. The 40 people in attendance primarily live and work in Little Saigon.

The meeting comes after a public workshop held last October between community members and Dieter Grau of the German landscape architecture firm Atelier Dreiseitl.

“Seattle, in general, and Little Saigon are changing,” said meeting co-host Robert Scully, an urban designer at Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD). “The reason we’re doing this is that we want to find ways to just guide this change as much as possible so that the results will have a positive effect on the community.” Because of Little Saigon’s accessible location from the Central District and downtown Seattle, city planning officials say its growth is likely to occur within the next 10 to 20 years.

With DPD’s land use and zoning recommendations expected to be voted on by the Seattle City Council sometime between late 2008 and early 2009, several Little Saigon community activists expressed their concerns over the city’s limited outreach efforts in getting more public input.

Scully admitted, “Right now, we haven’t accomplished a very comprehensive outreach process, and that’s something that we see developing over time in the future as we keep doing this work.”

“We want to have a conversation with the entire community. We want to get people more involved in what’s about to come down the road for our community,” said meeting co-host Quang Nguyen, executive director of the Washington Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce.

Susan McLain, a senior urban planner at DPD working on the city’s comprehensive Livable South Downtown project, added, “We’re asking for feedback on our draft land-use recommendations by the end of this month, and there are copies of the report here, and there are copies online as well.”

Current recommendations call for more small-business opportunities and buildings — ranging from 65 to 125 feet in height — for shoppers and businesses. She introduced Nancy Yamamoto of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development as the city official working with Little Saigon business owners.

New housing units will be placed above street-level stores in several buildings. “There’s some interest in more people living in and around the Little Saigon neighborhood. There’s interest in continuing to respect and honor the cultural character of Little Saigon,” said McLain.

Using a PowerPoint presentation entitled, “Public Realm Vision Report,” Grau first talked about why his company is uniquely qualified to work on the urban design of this Vietnamese community. Displaying a world map with several red dots, he said his company’s projects in both the East and the West have allowed it to look at several cultures. This close-up look helps the company consider a culture’s “specialty” when creating urban designs that, he describes, have a “connection over the cultures.”

He then discussed several proposed improvements to Little Saigon’s open spaces. Building a pedestrian-friendly environment with redesigned passages and new cross-block connections, according to Grau, will create a more unique walking experience. At present, Little Saigon has long rectangular city blocks with no pedestrian thoroughfares.

He displayed several drawings emphasizing the neighborhood’s cultural identity, ones inspired by Vietnamese architecture and art. Some at the meeting gave a favorable reaction to a drawing of a terraced community garden. Grau says it features integrated stormwater management, a way of connecting Little Saigon to its surrounding natural landscape.

“Little Saigon” refers to the neighborhood in downtown Seattle whose boundaries are located east of Interstate 5, south of South Washington Street, west of Rainier Avenue South and north of South Lane Street. Its center is located at the intersection of 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street.

Tam Nguyen stood up after Grau’s presentation and made a request to those who are leading Little Saigon’s redevelopment. A resident of the neighborhood since 1983, he said, “From my experiences, we have a lot of problems. We are one of the most neglected neighborhoods.

“We want to be a part of the city,” continued Nguyen. “This is our home, so please help us.”

For more information about the concept designs for Little Saigon, go to www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/South_Downtown/UrbanDesign/default.asp.

James Tabafunda can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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