With legislation to create a “transfer of development rights” program for the neighborhood oozing its way through the Seattle City Council, Crosscut takes a look at Pike/Pine and finds a cold, gooey mess:
With great density comes great responsibility and as Pike-Pine evolves it approaches some tipping points. One has to do with the changing character of how people live and play there, which is: More people. More of the time. Doing more things. The transformation from moribund to hyper-metropolitan demands more attention from the city. Basic services must scale up to the challenges: upkeep of streets, sidewalks, infrastructure like parking machines; improved garbage collection; innovative ways to ramp up police coverage (a major police precinct sits squarely in the center of the neighborhood); and other ways to strengthen the growing community.
The work needed to create a vibrant neighborhood is substantial; the work needed to sustain it over time is far less sexy but just as important. Along lateral connector streets like 10th and 11th Avenues (which lack alleys in which to park garbage until pick-up), Pike-Pine has developed a “morning-after” problem that lingers through the day. The joint gets grungy — and not in a good way.
CHS mascots enjoy breakfast without Knute Berger around to bug them (Image: CHS)
We’re not certain that the mostly-hobbled TDR program addresses trash hauling. But we do know that there has been lots of talk by the neighborhood’s business leaders and the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce about taking funding provided in part by the Capitol Hill Block Party and putting it toward a neighborhood group like the Broadway Business Improvement Association. The BIA is managed by the Hill’s chamber and provides an array of services specifically to the Broadway business community — including cleaning the place up.
That plan is still talk for now. But if that’s all we have to worry about in Pike/Pine, maybe we should just tidy up the next time Crosscut visits the ‘hood.
For all the money generated in the corridor for the city, you’d think they’d put as much work into keeping it clean as they do every other neighborhood.
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel here. Lots of NYC has the no alley issue. Dumpsters should not be allowed to be stored on the street/sidewalk. If a building doesn’t have an alley or garage to house them, then they should put their garbage (in bags) on the sidewalk afterhours (say after 3am) where it can be picked up before business hours (say 3 to 6 am).
This will require some changes to how cleanscapes does business, Seattle regulations to help enforce the rules and I’m sure the businesses would appreciate those giant two-man NYC garbage bags.
It really isn’t. It’s just during the weekends and the days immediately following them. It’s not our fault that our neighborhood has become Disneyland to everyone in the region. I think people living on the Hill take pride in keeping their community clean. Catch my drift?
I’m not sure this is at all a new problem or in any way correlated with density. From the anecdotal evidence I’ve heard the neighborhood has been a pretty grungy place for a pretty long time. In fact, I was told that 10th and 11th have actually improved dramatically in the last five years or so.
Just saying it may not have to do with any new issues but rather a poor cleaning system in general. Although I’m sure the many bars and restaurants certainly augment the problem.
I worked on 11th & Pike for 5 years, and live in the area as well – this is not a new problem. That area in particular has been a literal dump for as long as I can remember. I’m curious if its partially because of the fact that there are just a few dumpsters for all the businesses right there and the whole apartment building on the corner to share.
If you are walking down the street or waiting at a bus stop and see an empty bag of chips, bottle, can, section of the Stranger/Weekly that has taken flight, pizza box, etc. PICK IT UP and toss it in a trashcan or recycle bin. It’s a small effort with great results.
No, it won’t solve the problems on the Hill (which in my opinion run much deeper than trash and graffiti), but it will collectively make a difference in making this a more inviting and pleasant place to live, work & play. I’m amazed at how many people step over and walk around trash when there’s a bin right in front of them.
Be the change you wish to see the world.
I agree completely. Where there are no alleys, many businesses leave their ugly dumpsters out 24/7 on public property, and this needs to be made illegal. CleanScapes already has a “dumpster-free” program in place, whereby the business purchases bags and puts them out at a designated place for frequent pickup. But I’m not sure this program covers Pike-Pine..it is available along Broadway….however, if not, it could be expanded to cover all the areas serviced by CleanScapes. But it needs to be mandatory, as many businesses choose to stay with the old way of doing things.
In 2009, the City (Seattle Public Utilities) instituted the “Clear Alleys Program,” which mandates use of bags for all businesses in the Downtown, Belltown, and Pioneer Square neighborhoods…see http://www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Garbage/CommercialGarba There was a tentative plan to expand this to include Capitol Hill, but this never happened…unfortunately. Perhaps groups like the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce could pressure the City to get this plan in place for our neighborhood, and to mandate “dumpster-free” not only for alleys but for sidewalks/planting strips as well. It would help alot.
Thank you!…a great suggestion, but unlikely to be followed by all the Pike-Pine hipsters. If a majority of pedestrians just picked up one or two pieces of trash every day, the cumulative effort would make a difference in the cleanliness of our neighborhood.
A significant part of the problem are the piles of illegally dumped trash/furniture/etc, usually near dumpsters but also at random in other locations (Do those who do this think that somehow, magically, this stuff will jump into the dumpster?). But you can take action to deal with this! Just go online to: http://www2.seattle.gov/util/forms/illegalDumping/illegalDum and report what you see, or call 206-684-7587. SPU will pick up the material….sometimes takes them a few days or week to get to it, but they will eventually get there.
CleanScapes will (understandably) not clean up material outside of the dumpsters…this would take alot of extra time and manpower.
I managed an apartment building between pike and pine for 2 years. Every morning i picked up bottles, cigarettes, discarded shoes, underwear, food wrappers, and everything in between. baseball cards, whatever. You name it, it was dumped overnight. Inevitably, by dinner time there was more for me to pick up.
Unfortunately, that problem was caused mostly by the homeless and drunk kids walking to their cars from the bars. These people probably aren’t very interested in helping out, unfortunately.
People on the Hill are not superhuman idealistic citizens of the city. Dumpster divers routinely fuck up my dumpster.
I don’t know about you S7, but I don’t really want to have to drive down to my facility at 3:00 a.m. just to throw bags of garbage out onto the sidewalk. I would much prefer an extension of the “Clear Alleys Program” to the Hill that Calhoun mentions, particularly since my entire building shares one garbage and one recycling dumpster, which often as not are filled up by other building tenants on the same day they’re emptied, before I can even get up to my facility in the afternoon (we keep evening hours, and we’re an all volunteer organization, so we don’t have paid staff hanging around during the day to do this).
Additionally, I’d like to see much more aggressive prosecution of posterers, who, not content to plaster their advertisements all over every telephone pole in the neighborhood, also seem to be under the mistaken impression that dumpsters, and even the sides of buildings themselves, are their personal free-speech canvases.
And finally, to all you dog owners along Pike/Pine: PICK UP YER DAMNED DOG’S POOP ALREADY!!!
Comte, I hear you. One of the main contributors to an unkempt neighborhood are overflowing dumpsters, and they in turn are often the result of a landlord choosing to save money by not providing adequate trash/recycle services for his/her tenants. It is unacceptable for you to not be able to utilize the dumpsters because they are always full. Either larger dumpsters are needed and/or more frequent pickup by CleanScapes. Please talk to your landlord about making some changes. If he/she is uncooperative, you can contact Seattle Public Utilities and request an inspection of the situation at your building, and the inspector can then require the landlord to make the necessary changes. Of course, we both would like to see a “Clear`Alleys” program instituted on Capitol Hill (I’m going to work on this), as opposed to even more dumpsters on our streets, but in the meantime you have every right to demand better accessibility from your landlord….it’s part of your rent!
I too would like to see the City (SDOT)enforce the postering regulations….at a minimum, they could come down on the several postering businesses which profit as they mess up our streets with illegal postering. But, realistically, enforcement would be very difficult, because there are literally hundreds of clubs/organizations/etc which put up posters, and it would be impossible for SDOT to contact all of them to stop the illegal postering, and almost all of it is illegal in one way or the other (see: SDOT “Director’s Rule” 02-02 published 9-26-02). This is why I am in favor of re-instituting the poster ban, which would…. read more be possible because the final ruling on this issue, by the Washington State Supreme Court, said that utility poles are NOT a “traditional public forum” and therefore can be regulated by municipalities, including a ban. But this, unfortunately, is not going to happen, because of the power of the “nightlife lobby” in Seattle.