Central District Photos and Development

tespia · Dec 26, 2015

The Central District is a close-in neighborhood of Seattle, bordering Capitol Hill and First Hill, which are adjacent to downtown Seattle. For much of its existence, it has been characterized by its minority population. Housing covenants in other parts of Seattle generally did not allow non-whites and non-Christians. Thus, the CD sprung up as first the heart of Seattle's Jewish community, then as part of the city's Japanese community, before becoming the historical center of African Americans in Seattle. In the past twenty years, rising land prices combined with the currents of gentrification have led the African American population to decline from 51% of the neighborhood to less than 20%.

Much of this has taken place without large-scale re-development (i.e. gentrification has occurred primarily in areas with single-family homes). However, since 2010, re-development of vacant or under-utilized lots has seen many new residential units added. Unfortunately, this has led to demonization of development in the neighborhood. New development is being attributed to gentrification and also blamed for causing it. The African American community and their allies are rightfully upset with the gentrification of the Central District. They question why development is occurring now, instead of years ago, which could have helped to ease the pain of rising land values and rent (the CD is one of the closest neighborhoods to the city center).

The future of the neighborhood is either bright or troubling, depending on who you talk to. It is not realistic to think that Seattle will remain unchanged in perpetuity. Yet, I would argue that the character of the CD is one of the few that actually derives from its residents, instead of its built form. That's unusual for Seattle neighborhoods. I personally think that if community groups can get behind the new development and require or trade upzones for some increased percentage of low-income reserved units, then perhaps the heart of Seattle's African American community can be saved. Otherwise, the stream of African Americans to Seattle's Southend and to suburbs even further south will not stop. In itself, the change in the neighborhood is not the real problem, but the disenfranchisement of its residents' community is.

With that, let's get to what's going on: