September 11, 2007
Is "Single Family" Really "Character"?
"Neighbors fear development" has become the Seattle equivalent of "dog bites man." Of course neighbors fear development. That's what they do.
The latest brouhaha: Wedgwood is getting a four-story condo/retail complex in the middle of their one-story residential neighborhood. Hands are being wrung, meetings are being called, nimbyism is being denied, blogs are being written.
We wouldn't have it any other way, really. It's Seattle. Neighbors fret. Since we left Wedgwood, we don't really have a dog in this fight.
But we were struck by one comment in the PI article. Responding to charges that Wedgwood doesn't have character, Dennis Saxman says "Wedgwood does have character -- single family."
"Single family"? That's character? In Seattle, a city that's over 70% zoned for single-family housing? Being "single family" doesn't distinguish you at all in Seattle. It's easier to single out the non-single-family neighborhoods in Seattle than to count the single-family areas.
If this were Baskin-Robbins, the claim wouldn't even be as distinctive as calling yourself "vanilla" -- it's more like pointing out you're special because you're ice cream.
Seattlest spent a couple of years in Wedgwood. And we confess, we found it kind of dull compared to the wild-and-crazy urban ways of Wallingford. It's such a quiet neighborhood that we're always surprised when it turns up in drop-down menus on Seattle-focused websites. Early in our stay, spurred by all the Republican bumper stickers we noticed, we described it as a piece of the east side dropped into Seattle city limits, and nothing much happened to change that opinion.
But come on, even we think you can do better than claiming "single family" as a hallmark of the neighborhood. How about "one of the three centers of Seattle's Jewish community"? Home of a really big rock? Named after a fine china company? Former ginseng farm? Pretty close to a Top Pot and Seattle's busiest branch library?
Any claim to distinction has to beat "we're a single-family neighborhood" in this town.
(PS: We miss you, Cafe Javasti.)
Photo from the Seattlest Flickr pool, shared by the Wedgwood Blog.
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I'm a believer that the people who live in the neighborhood define it's character and not it's variety of trendy restaurants and bars. Wedgwood is slower-paced little 'hood with a great mix of older original residents who settled here after returning from WW2 and young families looking for relatively affordable houses and good schools. Most folks own their homes and this type of permanence makes the people put in an extra effort to know their neighbors (when we moved in we we're swarmed by casserole dishes and offers to help us unpack which we never have had happen to us in other parts of Seattle we've lived or in Austin).
I think the shops we have here are kind of a reflection of the community. We don't have any place that serves "Tapas" or Asian Fusion but we've got some cool little coffee shops, an awesome bakery, and a couple of comfortable neighborhood pubs. (that said it would be nice to have a sushi place and a non-dominoes pizza joint)
If an "exciting" place to live with "character" = yuppie-swarmed condo canyons Fremont and Wallingford (which we're once much cooler places) I'll take boring ol' Wedgwood anyday.
Eric
http://wedgwoodblog.spaces.live.com
"Republican bumper stickers.... piece of the east side..." WTF? I've lived in Wedgwood for 8 years, it's as solidly Democratic as any other area neighborhood, and just what exactly gives it an Eastside vibe in your opinion?
Eric: As I said in the post, I don't have a strong opinion about whether or not the proposed condo should go into Wedgwood. And it's great that you've got friendly neighbors -- I certainly wouldn't argue that Wedgwood isn't friendly. Then again, so was Wallingford when we lived there, and so is Rainier Beach now.
But what makes Wedgwood all that different from Crown Hill, or Bitter Lake, or Beacon Hill, or Mount Baker, or West Seattle, or any number of other single-family neighborhoods that have some cool little coffee shops, bakeries, and neighborhood pubs? Obviously, it's your neighborhood, but for people in other neighborhoods to get worked up about what's going on, it might help to emphasize why Wedgwood is special rather than nondescript.
Guest: I counted Republican bumper stickers when I took a walk one day. I got to 8 within a three block radius. But I'm not virulently anti-Republican (some of my favorite family members are red!), so I didn't realize this was some kind of slam on the neighborhood rather than a demographical quirk.
I'm not sure I'm following you. I think what Wedgwood has in common with those other neighborhoods you mentioned is why folks should care about unchecked development and bad city planning here. This month it is out-of-scale condos in Wedgwood, next month it will be a big box store in West Seattle etc. You seem to be implying that only neighborhoods with unique architecture or specific nationalities are worth protecting - not that Wedgwood lacks either.
Short sighted planning, lack of investment in neighborhood infrastructure, potential environmental damages and any development that causes economic hardship to residents (like the homes in Wedgwood that will be eclipsed in the shadow of the proposed condos) should be something that all Seattlites care about.
Eric
http://wedgwoodblog.spaces.live.com
Here's the thing: I don't really care about the condos. My post isn't about the condo issue. I back neither side. I can understand why developers want to put up a condo there, and I can understand why neighbors don't care for the idea.
My post is a response to a particular argument made in the PI article: that Wedgwood's character is "single family." That's it. That's the entire argument for Wedgwood having a neighborhood character. That's not a distinction, it's a minimal description. And it's not enough to distinguish it from most other neighborhoods in Seattle.
What is Wedgwood's character? Does it have one? What makes Wedgwood uniquely Wedgwood, rather than Crown Hill, Bitter Lake, Beacon Hill, etc., etc.?