78% of its students qualified for free or reduced-cost lunches …

Seattle Public School’s school reports provide a glimpse of the socio-economic, ethnic, and immigration characteristics of each school’s neighborhoods. The elementary school serving the east side of Aurora In the Bitter Lake Urban Village is Northgate Elementary. As of October 2016 78% of its students qualified for free or reduced-cost lunches. 81% were children of color. 42% were English language learners.

The elementary school serving the west side of Aurora in the same area is Broadview-Thomson K-8. 58% of its elementary students qualified for free or reduced-cost lunches. 68% were children of color. 29% were English language learners.

Those students, predominantly disadvantaged, must risk their way across and along one of the most dangerous streets in Seattle to and from school, shopping, activities, and home – a major arterial that for the most part has no sidewalks.

Do you need to walk or bike between the Bitter Lake and Licton Springs Urban Villages?

Many middle school students who live in Bitter Lake or Haller Lake do need to walk bike, or bus to and from Robert Eagle Staff Middle School on N. 90th Street in the Aurora-Licton Springs Urban Village. Aurora is the only connection the three quarters of a mile between Meridian and Fremont Avenues.

They have a choice: Walk or bike in the mud along the west side of Aurora.

Or walk or bike along the east side of Aurora and squeeze between the overgrown hedge, the power poles, the curb, and busses scurrying by at 30 miles per hour in the bus lane an elbow-width away.

Main Street in the Aurora-Licton Springs Urban Village

Aurora is a repellent gash through what should be the heart of the Aurora Licton Springs Residential Urban Village. It is a barrier separating adjacent neighborhoods. The city’s neglect forces people away from what could be a vibrant Main Street. Like many neglected back alleys, Aurora breeds deterioration and attracts crime. Out of sight, out of mind.

Compare with Lake City Way, near N 125th Street. Like Aurora, Lake City Way is a state highway. It carries more traffic than Aurora carries through the Aurora-Licton Springs Urban Village. It was retrofitted to better serve the people who live, work, and shop along it with some of the money transferred from the Aurora Corridor project that was cancelled in 2008. This area of Seattle’s Lake City is now thriving with a mix of new residential and pre-existing and new neighborhood retail.

Or compare Aurora in north Seattle with Aurora in Shoreline. In 2008, when Seattle cancelled its Aurora project, Shoreline proceeded with theirs. Shoreline’s Aurora is now a thriving and successful mix of residential, retail, and pre-existing auto-oriented commercial along a much safer and more pleasant Main Street.

Importantly, Seattle’s neglect of Aurora is not merely a transportation issue.

It is too important to be left solely to transportation planners. It is a safety issue for all who use Aurora. It is an equity issue for those underserved who must risk walking on its shoulders. And it is a city planning issue affecting all who live, work, go to school, or pass through Aurora’s neighborhoods. Out of sight, out of mind.

The neglect of Aurora deteriorates surrounding neighborhoods and makes them less livable. With vision Aurora could be a key opportunity in developing additional affordable housing along the busiest Rapid–Ride bus route in the City. The city’s neglect of Aurora is fundamentally a city planning and city vision issue. It will take vision and imagination to tackle it.

An abdication of fundamental city planning .

Seattle’s repeated neglect of civic investment in Aurora is an abdication of fundamental city planning. And it is an abysmal failure of transportation and safety planning. The past 10 years of lost opportunities are a denial of Seattle 2035 growth strategy, equity, and the city’s comprehensive plan.

Improvement won’t happen unless we decide to make it happen.

It will take a coordinated investment by citizens, businesses, the City, and the State requiring:

Proactive c ity planning and Design Guidelines



Economic development planning



Transportation and road planning

It’s time for Seattle to stop its willful neglect of Aurora. It’s time for Seattle to regain the opportunities that north Seattle’s Main Street presents.

Lee Bruch is a retired architect and project manager. In the mid 1970’s he was an architect involved in the City of Vancouver, BC’s Phase 1 False Creek Development, which demonstrated how a few people’s visions can turn a neglected area into one of the prides of the city. Since moving to Seattle’s Green Lake area 30 years ago he has watched much of Aurora languish unchanged amidst its lost opportunities.