Home Community Canton Alley in ID re-paved and reopened

Canton Alley in ID re-paved and reopened

SCIDpda and CHAP has worked for the Alley reactivation project for five years. They envisioned street pavers running down the middle of the alley, with lanterns hanging from the adjacent buildings. The community’s long term goal is to bring business back into the vacant storefronts to help draw more foot traffic. (Photo and image were retrived from SDOT website.)

By Misa Murohashi

On June 8th, Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced that the repaving construction to reactivate Canton Alley in the International District has been completed. The construction started in April this year, with city and state funding.

The project is part of the City’s historic Alley reactivation project, and similar repaving constructions are currently taking places in Pioneer Square’s Nord and Pioneer Passage alleys. The Canton Alley project has been led by SCIDpda in collaboration with the Chinatown Historic Alley Partnership (CHAP), a group of community stakeholders. SDOT explains “what had been just another urban alley, primarily used for deliveries and garbage, is now a public space easily activated for community events,” in its announcement.

Historically, Canton Alley has served as a hub of commercial, residential, and community based activities in the Chinatown/International District. As part of the alley reactivation effort, CHAP worked closely with local property and business owners and the BIA (business improvement area) to implement the City’s Clear Alley Program, removing dumpsters from the public alleys. Jamie Lee, SCIDpda Program Manager told NAP that they are “currently working on the lighting and signage of the alley and hope to have it installed later this year.”

The opening celebration inviting Chinese American author Dale Hom will be held on Thursday June 15th 5:00 – 7:00 pm. Hom will do signing for his book: “Walk Don’t Run: Growing Up Asian in Seattle” at the event.

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Misa Murohashi is Editor-in-chief of The North American Post and general manager of North American Post Publishing Inc. Born and raised in Japan, she moved the Seattle area in 2005. She earned a master's degree in Urban Planning from the University of Washington in 2016 and has been at the current position since 2017. She often writes about urban issues and Japanese American early immigration history in the Seattle Area.