Image: Signal to Noise
In April, we told you about Holding Patterns, the Seattle Design Commission’s call for ideas to put the city’s empty urban spaces to use, and nine Capitol Hill empty lots ready for a creative overhaul. The Hill’s ‘most notorious’ empty space, the People’s Parking Lot at Belmont and Pine, will be filled with Capitol Hill Garage Sale Day activities this weekend but will return to emptiness soon after. Signal to Noise Design has submitted its plan to create a Holding Patterns project in the empty lot, according to the People’s Parking Lot blog. Here’s the proposal:
Keith Harris, the guy behind PPL, says he has been in contact with the design commission about working to make the plan a reality in the lot. The Seattle Design Commission hasn’t said much about what it will do with the proposals beyond presenting them at an upcoming forum. Here’s hoping there’s energy — and maybe a little money left — to make some of the ideas happen. You can ask Keith more about that at Garage Sale Day on Saturday.
i’m sure there are a thousand stupid reasons why that won’t ever happen, but it would be a great lot for street food island.
Being an artist, I hate to be a downer on a public art project, but realistically, those are just going to be giant canvasses for graffiti. Then the bums and drunks will cover them with garbage and filth, and no one will hang out there except dealers and hoboes. Unpainted chipboard/plywood will soak up the rain and be pretty soggy seats.
I have a bias towards gardens… but with the 3 year wait due to a shortage of P-Patches, wouldn’t this be a prime spot for a giant Capitol Hill community garden / urban farm? Or perhaps split it in half and make it half P-Patch, half recreational park? Give people more reason to come there than just “someplace to sit around” since we already have a great place to do that – Cal Anderson.
An awkward park on such a prominent corner is a horrible, horrible idea — though obviously, not quite as bad as leveling a thriving city block for no reason.
Those plywood things look awful comfy for our local bums and drunks to sleep on, though.
I think one of the positive aspects of this proposal is that it allows for more community events by providing a scaffold for them. Yes, street food could be provided there, and people could sit and enjoy it. So what if the objects get covered in graffiti. The poster wall and utility poles are what give the Pike/Pine character its edgy artistic character. This is in a messy part of the city, but this proposal provides a space for both organized and impromptu events. I imagine myself reading there on a sunny day.
This is slightly off-topic, but I wish the developer (or owner, or bank that holds the lien, etc…) would be paying not only the property tax on this land (based on the previous building’s tenants) but also the lost B&O and sales taxes from the successful businesses that were evicted for this stupid failed exercise in greed. Throw in any unemployment the state paid out for good measure.
No, I’m not over it yet – and I don’t intend to “get over it”. The property owners should be taxed until they bleed for what they did to this block.
…but unsure what I think of the proposal. I like the concept, but I have concerns about the short-term durability and maintenance of seating like this, especially if it’s mobile. I would like to see some GREEN on this lot. Wild flowers or other natives that can form a blanket to beautify and add color to the lot in the duration is welcome. I like the idea of providing for usable space, however. How about some combination of both??
How about the derelict house at the Northeast corner of Belmont Ave. E. and E. Republican? It had a fire about 2 years ago, and since then, its been used for various vagrants as a bathroom and shooting gallery. There is limited amount that the police say they can do as the owner of property won’t allow them on the property unless a crime is reported. I’m not going to go behind that garage and get assaulted, but this property has got to be one of the worst on the hill. I’m just sick and tired of it, and I hope something will change.
That’s all I need. Even more weekend drinkers using the car port as a bathroom before passing out between the cars.
Why did they get rid of the paid managed parking? It was used all the time before. Now with the new parking zones, I think it would be full all the time. If they drew the lines better this time of course.
However, I’m guessing someone wasn’t making enough money or had a fine so they pulled the contract.
the property isn’t zoned for parking.
The best antidote for use of a space by unpleasant characters is to use the space ourselves. The idea that this design is flexible enough to allow multiple uses is sharp: why didn’t someone think of it before? Materials are durable, structures would be hard to move inappropriately (e.g. stolen), and while big gardens are nice, they don’t maximize uses of the space and aren’t nearly as flexible… and someone has to maintain them. I like that trees are included in the design, certainly flowers can be put at the bases of trees, and you have small gardens? Graffiti is art nowadays, I’m thinking let the graffiti artists pay for painting them, and we benefit. And if we don’t like the layout, we change it (Maybe even add raised P-patches as a border later). “Bitchin'” as one of my friends said of the idea.
well said.