City Hall: Why not clear Seattle's torn-up streets as holiday gift to citizens?

Never-ending construction and disruption at 23rd Avenue and East Union Street. Never-ending construction and disruption at 23rd Avenue and East Union Street. Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close City Hall: Why not clear Seattle's torn-up streets as holiday gift to citizens? 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

During a half-century of Seattle protests, from the Vietnam War to the present, demonstrators have taken up a cry as they've marched: "The streets belong to the people."

Not in Seattle, they don't. The marchers can block traffic for a few minutes, but the city's main obstructions to movement are never-ending building construction and ripped-up streets. Bicyclists, motorists, bus riders ... we all groan about it.

What follows is a modest suggestion: Why not try to clear Seattle streets for the holidays, so people can shop and dine in the city, and simply enjoy the decorations and the lights and the music of the season?

The reprieve would be well earned. Seattle has voted for every tax increase requested by the political class, from the gargantuan $930 million Move Seattle levy last year to the even more gargantuan Sound Transit 3 tax-and-light rail package on last Tuesday's ballot.

The Seattle Department of Transportation owes us as well. The ongoing, unending 23rd Avenue mess hurt the heartland of minority-owned small businesses. The Roosevelt Avenue project has businesses such as Cafe Racer scrambling. The relentless drive to eliminate street parking and put arterials on "road diets" has threatened business districts with financial anemia.

The hazards caused by construction can be viewed just a couple blocks north of City Hall. Traffic on Fifth Avenue is forced right by a building going up at Madison Street, then forced left by another project a block later.

Similarly, Seventh Avenue is bicyclists' best access to Dexter Avenue, which is the best bike route for Fremont- and Ballard-bound commuters. The administration of former Mayor Mike McGinn delivered on a very good road diet to make Seventh a bike-friendly route.

Now, however, contractors' menials have been allowed to rip up both sides of Seventh, clogging traffic and forcing an intermingling of cars and bicycles.

Where does Seattle city government get off allowing one-way-then-the-other driving and pedaling? The drivers, bikers and pedestrians using Fifth and Seventh -- hell, Second Avenue as well -- live and work and pay taxes here. If contractors won't allow them to move safely, they should not be allowed to build.

Rant complete. Back to the season of Christmas, New Year's, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. It's a season of giving. Why can't City Hall give back, not only downtown but out in the neighborhoods?

Allow people to drive Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue without having to veer one way and then the other. If a construction project gets held up, so what? If Seattle is such a desirable place to live, the builders can respect the people who live here.

We're approaching a point where the bumps and blocked lanes around 23rd & Union have lasted as long as it took to build the Alaska Highway. With northbound access on 23rd blocked, there's the problem of getting in and out of Uncle Ike's marijuana emporium, and problems waiting behind those taking daring left turns.

Cities can be enchanting places during the holidays. Malls are utilitarian places.

Downtown Seattle has been a magnet ever since this writer was a little kid growing up in Bellingham. Then and now, Seattle businesses have depended on its pull for a substantial portion of the year's income.

What's suggested, then, is a downsizing of street disruptions -- not protests, construction -- for a month of the year. A season of giving is a time to give back ... by the politicians hiking our property taxes, the builders who stand to make oodles of money from new residential high-rises, and the Seattle Department of Transportation as its "diets" disrupt neighborhoods.

Come January, the multiple messes can be reimposed with a vengeance.