what’s’next’for’first’hillandfhia · pdf file ·...

First Hill Improvement Association

FHIA-CommEngmtReport-20140412-Final.docx

What’s Next for First Hill and FHIA? Feedback from a Community Survey and Meeting April 12, 2014

Summary With funding from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, the First Hill Improvement Association (FHIA) connected with almost 440 people through a community survey and more than 185 people through a community meeting to talk about the future of First Hill. Results of this outreach may inform FHIA’s board of directors and membership as they determine a reinvigorated vision for the organization.

Key Themes Survey respondents describe First Hill as a vibrant, eclectic, historic, urban, safe, quiet, and walkable neighborhood that has potential. First Hill is also described as ‘Pill Hill’, busy, crowded, and congested. First Hill is valued for its convenient location, medical and health care facilities, trees, restaurants and shops, jobs, and good public transportation.

Of concern are increased crime, declining public safety and security, and civility issues; over development and densification (especially of high-rises), noise, affordability, and loss of neighborhood identity; inadequate and costly parking; pending development of major institutions, and encroachment of hospitals; lack of parks and open space; walkability, declining pedestrian safety, increased traffic, and inadequate public transportation, and diversity of retail businesses, including access to local eateries and grocery stores.

The average survey respondent1 is between 25 and 65 years of age, rents a home in First Hill, has no children living at home, works for a major institution or nonprofit in First Hill, and earns between $50,001 and $100,000 a year.

Considerations for FHIA The First Hill Improvement Association has been an advocate, forum for debate, and point of contact for the First Hill community for over 50 years. Recent community feedback suggests that FHIA might consider the following roles in its visioning process:

• Strengthening its voice and visibility as an advocate for pedestrian and public safety enhancement, business retention and economic development, urban design, and transportation.

• Harnessing the energy, interests, and passions of its residents, employers, businesses, major institutions, and other stakeholders to address common issues.

1 Survey findings are not generalizable to the First Hill population--they represent only the 400+ survey respondents. Demographics of the First Hill population are available through census data and City of Seattle departments.



Background & Purpose

The First Hill Improvement Association (FHIA) is a nonprofit organization serving Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood since 1958 as an advocate, forum for debate, and point of contact.

First Hill’s future is lively and complex. Burgeoning development, public safety, traffic, transportation, parking, declining retail services, and inadequate parks and open space impact all residents, businesses, and organizations. First Hill needs a strong united voice to express concerns and support responsible growth without sacrificing quality of life.

FHIA was awarded a 2014 Small and Simple Grant by the City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods to undertake an organizational assessment that would help the FHIA board of directors and membership develop a vision for the organization. A new vision would help enable FHIA better serve the neighborhood and strengthen First Hill’s voice in community affairs.

FHIA’s organizational assessment process included outreach to the community through a survey and meeting to engage residents, employers, employees, city departments and other interested stakeholders of First Hill. The map (to the left) was used as a point of reference to loosely define the area being considered as the First Hill neighborhood for FHIA’s outreach strategies2. FHIA hired BDS – Planning & Urban Design to facilitate its

organizational assessment, community survey and meeting, and visioning work. More than 600 people participated in FHIA’s survey and community meeting.

FHIA has also been awarded a 2014 Only In Seattle Grant from the Office of Economic Development to complete a strategic plan for FHIA following its organizational assessment. Results from the community meeting and survey will also help inform the development of that strategic plan.

This report highlights community meeting and survey results, and identifies key neighborhood issues as inputs for FHIA’s organizational assessment and visioning process.

2 FHIA will confirm its boundaries for First Hill as part of its organizational assessment and strategic planning processes during 2014.



Survey The survey was administered between February 12 and April 7, 2014. Questions were developed by BDS with guidance from FHIA’s board of directors. The survey was designed for the Internet with paper versions also available. The Polyclinic, which is a member of FHIA, donated the use of its corporate SurveyMonkey.com account to allow FHIA to administer the survey online. FHIA members promoted the survey through their social, residential, and professional networks. Survey information was posted on FHIA’s website, the Department of Planning & Development’s First Hill project webpage, DoN’s blog, and through FHIA networks.

Survey respondents were invited to answer questions about First Hill’s strengths and challenges, and how FHIA might best serve the residents, businesses, community organizations, and major institutions that comprise First Hill. Preliminary survey findings helped inform the design and content of the community meeting held at Town Hall Seattle on March 22, 2014.

Four hundred and thirty nine people completed a survey. About 9 in 10 respondents participated online (88%), while 1 in 10 returned a handwritten response (12%). BDS staff manually entered the handwritten surveys into the online answer database. Outcomes of the survey include composite lists of values, descriptor words, and fears; tabulation of relative importance of key issues; a general sense of what First Hill constituents find compelling; and the ability to see if there was a balanced sample.

About the Respondents About half of the survey respondents live in First Hill (51%). Of these, a little more than 50% rent homes (54%) compared to those who own (46%). Almost 2 in 3 respondents work (71%) compared to those who are retired (28%)—about three quarters of working respondents are employed in First Hill (76%) compared to those who work elsewhere (24%). About two thirds of respondents are between the ages of 25 and 65 (34% are 25-45 and 34% are 46-65), with one-third older than 66 (29%), and 3% aged 19-24. Sixteen per cent of respondents are interested in volunteering with FHIA (68 individuals).

Limitations of the Data As rich as the survey data is and as valuable as it is FHIA, it is not a scientifically valid sample. Survey findings are representative only of the 400+ people who participated—they are not generalizable to the larger population of First Hill (> 11,000 residents). There is limited ability to sub-sample various groups with any reliability (e.g. age group, income level). Some respondents skipped questions. Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100%.



Values

The ‘word cloud3’ below shows the words most commonly used to describe what survey respondents value most about First Hill.

Easy Access Health Care Location

Jobs Neighborhood Proximity Place Public Transportation Quiet Restaurants & Shops

Safety Town Hall Trees Walkable

Survey respondents cited First Hill’s location, easy access, and proximity to Downtown Seattle and other neighborhoods as the most commonly valued group of attributes (45%). Easy access to, and the availability of, premier health care services and facilities in First Hill (17%) were also highly valued. Survey respondents also valued that First Hill is walkable (16%), has a neighborhood and community feel (17%), has trees (5%), has restaurants and shops (4%), has Town Hall (3%), is quiet (2%), is where they work (1%), has good public transportation (1%), and feels safe (1%).

A random selection of responses is highlighted below: • “I love where I work! My co-workers are like family, as are my regular clients. We all look out for one another”. • “Proximity to downtown but neighborhood feel with lovely trees”. • “It’s a safe, friendly area in which to live”. • “It’s an important point that connects several important parts of Seattle to each other, but also retains its own

character and attractions”. • “There’s a growing sense of neighborhood relationship building between diverse community residents, workers,

and visitors”.

3 A word cloud is a visual method to illustrate the frequency of words used by respondents to answer a survey question. The words in the word clouds included in this report are listed in alphabetical order. The size of the letters loosely depicts the frequency in which the words were used--the larger the letters, the more times the words were mentioned.



Single Word Descriptor

Bustling Busy Central Community Congested Convenient Crowded Dense Eclectic Historic History Hospitals Interesting

Location Medical Neighborhood Pill Hill Potential Urban

Vibrant Walkable The words most commonly used to describe First Hill are shown in the word cloud above. Survey respondents described First Hill as hospitals / medical / ’Pill Hill’ (10%), convenient (8%), busy (4%), urban (3%), vibrant (3%), eclectic (2%), congested (2%), historic (2%), crowded (2%), and potential (2%). Other descriptors included community (1.5%), location (1.5%), bustling (1%), central (1%), dense (1%), history (1%), interesting (1%), neighborhood (1%), and walkable (1%).

Fears

Affordability Buses Crime & Safety

Food Gentrification Hospitals Light Rail

Neighborhood Loss Older Buildings Overcrowding

Over Development / High-Rises Parking Safety Traffic

The most commonly described fears for First Hill are increased crime and declining public safety (18%), over development/high-rises (18%), inadequate and costly parking (15%), loss of neighborhood feel, identity, history, or sense of place (13%), increased traffic (7%), affordability of rent for middle and lower income residents (6%), hospitals eclipsing culture and encroaching on the community (5%), loss of bus service (4%), gentrification (3%), overcrowding (3%), lack of light rail (1%), and availability of food options from cafes and restaurants to grocery stores (1%).

A random selection of responses is highlighted below: • “Overcrowding particularly with plans for tall residential buildings with little attention by developers on open space

access to and availability of local stores and cafes to create a friendly attractive neighborhood”.

• “Increase in crime, lack of activity at night, traffic congestion, will not attract desirable restaurants, markets, retail outside of Broadway”.

• “That it will turn into only hospitals and residential side of things will be over looked. That the random restaurants will be driven out by chains. That it will continue its slide to no personality”.

• “Build up of many large residential towers with very little park area and few neighborhood businesses”.



• “I wouldn’t like First Hill to become barren and impersonal. I would like to see the historical value preserved, green spaces taken care of, noise kept to a minimum. I like the large old trees, the walkability, the small coffee shops, the old town feel, and the grandeur of the old mansions”.

• “My biggest fear is being priced out of the area. As condos are going up and people are looking to this area as affordable I think its going to be harder for people in my income bracket to stay”.

Issues

FHIA asked survey respondents to rate 11 identified topics in terms of their importance to First Hill’s future. The rating choices were ‘very important’, ‘somewhat important’, or ‘not important’. Chart 1 shows the ranking of ‘very important” issues in First Hill, in descending order:

• Repairing sidewalks to improve walkability and increase pedestrian safety. • More bus service to and from First Hill. • Development of additional parks and open space. • Stop locations and future operation of Bus Rapid Transit along Madison Avenue. • Zoning and design issues related to residential high-rise development and increased density. • Near term and future development of major institutions such as Harborview, Swedish, Virginia

Mason, and Seattle University. • More parking. • More retail businesses serving First Hill. • Construction issues and future operation of the First Hill Streetcar. • More restaurants in First Hill. • Minimizing noise.

Respondents also had the option of identifying other issues, which included: civility, public safety and security; trash and cleanliness; continued operation of the Methadone clinic; need for dog parks; and affordability.

Walkability Bus Service Parks & Open Space

Bus Rapid Transit

High Rise Develop-

ment

Major Institutions Parking Retail Streetcar Restaurant

s Noise

Very Important 76% 66% 61% 60% 60% 57% 54% 52% 52% 46% 35%

Somewhat Important 22% 26% 30% 29% 31% 36% 28% 38% 34% 36% 45%

Not Important 2% 8% 9% 11% 9% 7% 18% 10% 14% 18% 20%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

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Chart 1: Issues of Importance to First Hill's Future



A random selection of responses is highlighted below:

• “The lack of care and pride in the neighborhood. We come from the Midwest & the litter of food scraps and cigarette butts and litter plus lack of upkeep of buildings and property plantings is pathetic. Does anyone care about their part of the place, the street, the patch of greenery or the old trees?”

• “Parks and open spaces – yes! Although I understand the parking issue – it is tough to find street parking in our area – I’d rather use the space we have in First Hill to create some parks, green spaces, community spaces or additional restaurants/destinations than pave it over to make parking spots. There are many lots to choose from. They might be expensive, but owning a car in the city is expensive, period”.

• “Methadone clinic clients increasing in number, leaving Madison a pig sty on weekends and evenings. Who is responsible to cleanup?”

• “All of those issues carry equal weight and are very important to the future growth, health, attractiveness of First Hill”.

• “First Hill is dirty. My children do not like visiting me at my office due to drug users, dirty streets and public intoxication”.

• “We need to encourage diversity on First Hill, not just of people, but of industries, retail, residential, and architectural elements”.

• “Businesses not staying open late enough for First Hill residents and not just for the hospital employees”. • “I would love tree lined streets and pedestrian walkways with no automobiles…places where birds and butterflies

would also congregate…birdsong beats the sound of traffic any day”.

Retail

Survey respondents suggested a variety of retail businesses they would like to see more of in First Hill. Chart 2 shows the retail types in ascending order. The most wanted retail in First Hill are grocery stores and food markets (54%), and eating establishments (restaurants, cafes, diners) (27%). Other retail includes clothing stores (6%), hardware stores (6%), pharmacies (4%), bakeries (2%), beauty shops (1%), and a gym (1%).

54%

23%

6%

6%

4%

2%

1%

1%

Grocery Stores/Markets

Eating establishments

Clothing Stores

Hardware Stores

Pharmacies

Bakeries

Beauty Shops

Gym

Chart 2: Retail Wanted



Frequency of Use

FHIA asked survey respondents to indicate how often they participated in 6 identified activities in First Hill. The rating choices were ‘weekly’, ‘monthly’, ‘seldom’, or ‘never’. Chart 3 shows the frequency of weekly activities:

• More than half of survey respondents shop in First Hill. • About 1 in 10 visit arts and cultural attractions in First Hill, such as Frye Museum, Town Hall

Seattle, historic landmarks, and schools.

• About 1 in 10 visit arts and cultural attractions outside of First Hill, such as museums, galleries, and theaters.

• Almost 40% visit medical institutions in First Hill, including Harborview, Swedish, Virginia Mason, and The Polyclinic.

• About 30% visit parks and open space in First Hill. • More than 40% dine or eat out.

Additional Survey Respondent Demographics

• 58% of respondents, who work in First Hill, work for a major institution, 23% for a nonprofit, 4% for a large business (>51 employees), 4.5% for retail, and 4.5% for a small business (<50 employees).

• 46% of respondents have an annual household income between $50,001 and $100,000, with 36% having more than $100,001, and 17% having less than $50,000.

• 84% of respondents do not have children living in their households, with 9% having 1 child, 5% having 2 children, 1% having 3 children, and 0.2% having 4 or more children living in their households.

• 40% of respondents have 2 working adults living in their households, with 30% having 1 working adult, 26% having none, 3% having 3 working adults, and 1% having more than 4 working adults living in their households.

• 67% of respondents have no retirees living in their households, with 19% having 1 retiree, 11% having 2 retirees, and 2% having 4 or more retirees living in their households.

Shop in First Hill Dine/eat out Visit Medical Institutions in First Hill

Visit Parks and Open Space in First Hill

Visit Arts/Cultural Attractions outside First

Hill

Visit Arts/Cultural Attractions in First Hill

Weekly 51% 42% 39% 28% 13% 11%

Monthly 14% 32% 27% 23% 47% 35%

Seldom 29% 23% 27% 35% 33% 44%

Never 6% 3% 7% 14% 7% 10%

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Chart 3: Frequency of Participation



Town Hall Meeting FHIA held a community meeting at Town Hall Seattle on March 22, 2014 from 9 a.m. to Noon. The event was free and open to the public. More than 185 people attended on a sunny Saturday morning. The goal was to share information about some of the new things coming to First Hill and for participants to tell FHIA what they think about those upcoming changes.

More than 15 information tables were set up as part of an ‘open house’ that preceded and followed the speakers and facilitated community discussion. Representatives of various projects provided information and updates about:

• Yesler Terrace – Parks & Future Development • Public Realm Action Plans for First Hill & Madison Bus Rapid Transit • First Hill Streetcar & Stations • Know Your Seattle Police Department • First Hill Improvement Association - Join Us! • Freeway Park Association Programs • Harborview Hall Renovation • Historic Seattle - Book Coming Soon • Laconia Rising at 802 Seneca • League of Women Voters – Rallying Against Metro Service Cuts • Metro – Proposed Service Cuts & Investment Priorities • Move King County – Proposition 1 • Visit Stockbox First Hill Grocery • Swedish Medical Center Master Plan • Town Hall Seattle - Plans & Programs • Virginia Mason Master Plan

Mary Ellen Hudgins, President of FHIA, welcomed participants. King County Councilmember Joe McDermott and City of Seattle Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim offered greetings and remarks. Mary Ellen Hudgins gave a brief introduction to FHIA. Riisa Conklin spoke for a few minutes about the Freeway Park Association. Susan McLaughlin from the City’s Department of Planning and Development introduced the First Hill Public Realm Action Plan. Brian D. Scott of BDS - Planning & Urban Design facilitated a community discussion about First Hill priorities. Mary Ellen Hudgins thanked everyone for participating, and awarded the two door prizes donated by the Sorrento Hotel ($100 in gift certificates to The Hunt Club), and Stockbox Grocery ($50 in gift certificates).

Participants who signed up to become a new member of FHIA were given a thank you gift ($5 Starbucks gift card). Starbucks donated coffee. Stockbox Grocery provided free bananas and oranges. Horizon House donated sandwiches, potato chips, petits fours, and bottled water.



Issues and Options The facilitated discussion explored several themes emerging from the survey results to that point. Highlights from the discussion follow:

• Pedestrian Environment: o Green space, First Hill park o Amenities o Pedestrian safety, crosswalks, lighting, 8th Ave pedestrian environment o Slow down traffic, more stop signs o Safe open space, open space (south of Madison) o Clutter (signs, paper boxes, etc.) o Safety in Freeway Park at night o Pioneer Square potential o Planners should use bus

• Development/Zoning/Density o Set backs o Save older houses for homeless o Height bonuses for low income housing o More restaurants, bistros and stores, especially grocery o High-rise residents and development add vitality o Mixed income is good o Nice mix of high-rise and quiet o View corridors

• Major Institutions o Jobs o Affordable care o Employee benefits o Give back to employees and community o Communicate with community and keep promises o A great resource!

• Parking/traffic/crime o Bus stops! o Don’t lose transit to BRT pass through! o Transit! Especially for shift work o First Hill is destination but not a pass through o Drug use, break-ins o Scooter parking o Methadone Clinic expansion

• Other o Social services o More kids! o Community services o Community center?

FHIA encouraged open house participants to write their thoughts on a post-it note and stick them on a poster-sized map of First Hill. They could also use red, green, or yellow colored dots and stick them at specific locations on the map to highlight an issue, area of concern, or a favorite area/attribute. About a dozen people left notes or colored dots on the map.



A summary of the notes and dots is included below: • At Bellevue Avenue & Union (and along Union to Broadway) – Sidewalks need leveling as they are too broken

and irregular for walkers and persons with canes. • At University Street & Boren Avenue – Why does a pedestrian have to push the button to get a walk signal when

the light turns green for University St. when a car approaching, just gets to go through on the GREEN. • Along Seneca Street at 8th Avenue, Terry Avenue & Summit Avenue -- Keep Route #2 on Seneca. Connecting to

downtown, Queen Anne & Central Area. • At Terry Avenue & Seneca Street – #2 Changes – DON’T. • At Broadway & Union – Keep good bus access to QFC & Bartell. • At Madison Avenue & 8th Avenue – Need for a BRT Madison stop @ 8th. • Import of BRT on retail and on service for First Hill residents and workers. • #2 should remain on Seneca & connect with Madrona, Central Area, Downtown Transit Tunnel & Queen Anne. • Why is Methadone clinic here? • Bus service on First Hill • Keep Freeway Park beautiful • Is BRT the best investment for Madison/Seneca corner? • Madison’s connections are not good at 3rd. • Walk light at 8th & James much too short & button inconsistent. • How will emergency & traffic be managed – already using Madison? • Planning for 8th Avenue “freeway” corridor linking Harbor View Park & Freeway Park.



Wall Graphic

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