Seattle Central used the top of its massive Harvard Ave parking garage as the setting for its pandemic-era graduation ceremonies — a new plan hopes to activate the garage’s top level space

Catenary lights above Nagle (Image: @blitzurbanism)

As community representatives and city officials hope to make strides in addressing public safety worries around Capitol Hill’s Pike/Pine and Broadway core and its popular Cal Anderson Park, an organization with deep neighborhood roots is helping to reshape streets and design in the area.

The Capitol Hill EcoDistrict has been working to increase sustainability and equity in the neighborhood for over a decade but its latest projects come as part of a large puzzle with some dire stakes.

“We have a bond to this neighborhood. We’re very deliberate in our work and specific to Capitol Hill,” said Donna Moodie, executive director of the EcoDistrict.

CHS reported here on the challenges facing Capitol Hill around Broadway between Union and Pine where the city says street crime and deadly drug use overlap at some of its highest levels. City officials are weighing initiatives for these areas that will include increased policing and prosecution as well as possible creation of a neighborhood ambassador program.

There are deadly consequences. The most recent example? 23-year-old Kenji Spurgeon, gunned down in an E Pine parking lot amid Pride weekend nightlife crowds.

Changing the way these streets look and feel is part of a longer –and hopefully more complete — path to making Capitol Hill safer.

The EcoDistrict is in the midst of a street activation project at Nagle Place just west of Cal Anderson designed to increase traffic calming and pedestrian use, turning the area into a space for community. EcoDistrict and their partners are planning on adding a tree canopy and installing art, places to sit, and increased lighting to add life to the street and lessen car use.

On Broadway, the group is in partnership with Seattle Central College hoping to make the college “more outward-facing to the community and revitalizing how the Nangle Place strip feels”, said Moodie. Other partners in this project include the city’s Office of Economic Development and the Seattle Birds Connect group.

“We want to create spaces that are inviting, inclusive, and exciting, spaces that reflect the diversity and vibrancy of the neighborhood,” Moodie says.

In an effort to hear directly from the community, EcoDistrict has hosted forums where attendees can share “what they like about Capitol Hill, what they see is missing, what needs aren’t being served,” thus informing the organization’s priorities, said Moodie.

“It’s amazing to see how much change is possible, just by holding space and listening to the community, and working together to better the neighborhood,” said Kamar Yusuf of the Urban League which Moodie and the EcoDistrict effort joined up with in 2023.

EcoDistrict was founded a decade earlier and was in-part a response to the announcement of the light rail station coming to Capitol Hill. Forecasting that gentrification and displacement in the area would accelerate, EcoDistrict hoped to get ahead of such issues by advocating for increased affordable housing and amenities for the community.

EcoDistrict was formerly housed as a department of Community Roots Housing and was transferred last fall, joining forces with the Urban League in September 2023. Moodie also serves as the Chief Impact Officer at Urban League.

EcoDistrict has been powered by partnership since its inception, allowing their projects to come to fruition, leading to increased community connection and a creating network of resources along the way. Even if you aren’t familiar with the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict, it’s likely you’ve seen the impact of their work.

One of their current projects is the REVIVAL Street Market, a series of pop-up outdoor markets designed to support BIPOC small business owners. The most recent market was a Juneteenth celebration in Midtown Square.

In 2023, EcoDistrict received a grant to partner with COurban and participate in their Masterclass in Copenhagen. According to Scan Design Foundations, the organization responsible for funding the Masterclass, the program focused on “creating a comprehensive framework that would result in the development and innovation of public life and space design improvements in Capitol Hill’s EcoDistrict.”

An impactful feature of the Masterclass is to “bring people together across sectors and create a shared experience and dialogue for the development in the neighborhood moving forward,” said Bettina Werner, co-founder and director of COurban.

One of the Masterclass participants was a representative from Seattle Central, and they are now working with EcoDistrict on an outdoor community center at Harvard Parking Garage where they hope to increase lighting, clean up some of the graffiti, add art/greenery, and increase ADA accessibility to change the atmosphere of the garage.

They are planning on transforming the roof of the garage into an outdoor community space, with outdoor play and rest areas, community gardens, and pop-ups. They’re starting off with another REVIVAL Market that is in the works, to bring foot traffic and community to the Harvard Garage.

Someday, the college hopes to redevelop the massive garage as affordable housing.

Joining Urban League has allowed for further connection and partnerships, as well as the resources to potentially expand the work of Capitol Hill EcoDistrict to other neighborhoods in Seattle, connecting with organizers in those areas.

“We are poised to finish projects in Capitol Hill and use them as prototypes in other neighborhoods both in Seattle and regionally,” said Moodie.

This work isn’t done, projects are continuous and kept alive by community stewardship. “It’s comforting to know that there are people in this neighborhood who are passionate and will continue to work together to make an impact,” said Yusuf.

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE THIS SPRING
 
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.

Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support