By The North American Post Staff
With Beacon Hill changing so fast, community voices are necessary to impact the neighborhood’s future. A survey was conducted this June to determine what Beacon Hill residents want for their neighborhood. 1,142 surveys have been recorded to date with a final count to be completed by July 6.
Beacon Hill community members are invited to the North Beacon Hill Council (NBHC) community meeting to learn about the results of the survey and give their input. The meeting will be on July 12 at 7 p.m. at the Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Avenue South.
What prompted the survey was the Mayor’s proposal in the 2035 Seattle Comprehensive Plan to double the size of the urban village in Beacon Hill. The NBHC felt that the community should have a strong say on the matter. As you may know, the Beacon Hill neighborhood is extremely diverse and complex. It has low and median income residents, 78.3% people of color residents (mostly Asians), and 44.4% of the residents are born outside the United States.
To conduct the survey, NBHC partnered with six other organizations namely: Beacon Hill Merchants Association, El Centro de La Raza, Friends of Lewis Park, International Drop In Center, International Examiner and Jefferson Community Center. Besides asking for community input on the proposed expansion of the urban village, the survey also asked for input on the elements of the 2010 Beacon Hill Neighborhood Plan as well as other emerging issues such as safety, transportation and air quality.
To reach the diverse limited English speaking neighborhood population, the collaboration used funding from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods to: translate the survey to Chinese, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese; mail the multilingual surveys to 12,592 households in Beacon Hill; and hold eight community events in various languages to increase survey awareness and participation. The multilingual survey was also made available online.
The results of the survey and community input from the July 12 meeting will be shared with Mayor Ed Murray and the City Council by mid-July to inform their decision before the City Council casts their votes on sections of the 2035 Comprehensive Plan affecting Beacon Hill.
