The neighborhood
we see and experience today is not the neighborhood we grew up in.
One of Seattle's beloved
neighborhoods is working to adapt for a new era while preserving its soul.
We want to uplift people that have not been heard a lot.
When local LGBTQ musicians weren't invited to the party, they created their own.
See the spectacle that's playing out in the treetops.
The Great Blue Herons return.
These stories and more next on City Stream.
Yellow.
I'm Dennis pounds and welcome to City Stream from the Chinatown
International District in Seattle.
This is home to a vibrant mix of communities and cultures,
from Chinatown to little Saigon and Japantown to Manila town.
Today, a new generation of business owners is keeping that spirit alive
and adapting it for a new era.
And they're doing it while fighting a tide of gentrification and pandemic woes.
Producers David Albright and Enrique Cerna have the story
The way I would describe International District
is it's a product of three
civil rights era redlining.
A lot of businesses have survived or a lot of businesses have changed
their names and a lot of businesses have been passed down.
Seattle's International District is a bustling mix of old and new.
And Mike Vu's Itsumono restaurant is one of the new wave of businesses
that's keeping the neighborhood a relevant and vital.
A lot of us are trying to preserve all that of what our grandparents
or our parents brought,
but also creating our own identity and saying Yeah, this is our culture.
This is what it means to be an Asian American.
Phnom Pen Noodle House is one of those businesses
that's been passed down. Diane Le and Dawn Ong
are two of the three sisters who have taken it over.
The restaurant was just an integral part of our upbringing.
So we wanted to carry it on.
It means a lot because we've done so much around here.
People know where we are and they know where to come.
Tuyen Than and Ryan Catabay run Drag & Drop
Creative, a multi-disciplinary agency that has helped
infuse the neighborhood with the fresh esthetic.
We specialize in logos, websites, branding.
Did you already say website? We do websites, yeah.
Uh huh.
There's definitely a new energy.
You see more young people, you see more of the same faces.
I really do feel like we have a strong community
and we help each other out.
Despite the energy brought in by these young entrepreneurs, the past couple of years
have been an especially tough period for the International District.
The neighborhood we see and experience today is not the neighborhood
we grew up in or the neighborhood we want to see for the future.
I think the biggest hurdles is the safety.
The start of the pandemic saw a drop in foot traffic
and a rise in anti-Asian violence, and Seattle's ongoing spikes in crime
and homelessness are each having visible effects.
We live on the Little Saigon side, and if you don't know
what the Little Saigon side is, it's after the freeway and,
you know, walking under that freeway is not as fun as it used to be.
International District
is going through a lot of changes, and it's at a crossroads right now.
There's a lot of development, and we're at a point where we're kind of
we're creating what Chinatown looks like right now.
As the neighborhood goes through this period
of rapid growth.
Business owners point to some nonprofit developments as examples
of how growth can occur while respecting the neighborhood character.
Because some of these developments
are run by the neighborhood association like SCIDpda.
And even in this development, like there are certain parameters
that they tried to keep to ensure that there's still some neighborhood identity.
I mean, this is called Thai Binh.
I think they're very intentional with the name of the building.
I think at least they're trying to make some accommodations
to still keep a lot of the identity and the culture
in these neighborhoods and try to preserve some piece of the history.
You know, if we can't keep these old buildings, we should at least try our best
to preserve the history and keep talking about it.
Just to the northeast of the ID
is an example of what the neighborhood is working to avoid.
In the 1970s, Seattle's Central District was 70% Black.
Today, it is less than 20%.
As Seattle gentrified, the historic character
of that neighborhood was largely wiped out.
In the I.D., there are signs that process may be starting to repeat itself.
And that's why these young entrepreneurs work so hard to maintain
the neighborhood's identity as a cultural hub.
Diane and Dawn are also motivated by the memories
of what the neighborhood once was for their family.
We used to walk from Beacon Hill.
That's where we lived and come down to Chinatown
and we would just run all over.
When the sisters had to look for a new location in 2018.
They briefly considered moving out of the neighborhood.
We looked at, like Renton and Kent, but nothing felt right.
And our hearts came back to the neighborhood where we grew up
and where we felt like this was just our neighborhood.
This is where we should be.
Nancy Nomellini agrees.
She opened her Mother Yoga studio during the pandemic
and says the International district bridges many different cultures.
There's not an exclusivity of like, OK, this neighborhood is only for
Chinese people.
This neighborhood thrives on other
neighborhoods and people coming into it to support the local shops.
Mike Vu
says the diversity of cultures is a strength.
It's a defining characteristic of both his restaurant and his neighborhood.
For me, I'm I'm half Chinese,
half Vietnamese. My business partner.
He's first generation Japanese.
So that means he immigrated here.
My 5th generation Japanese from Hawaii.
We all see being American
and living in America very differently.
But we all agree that,
you know, we definitely want this place to be a safe place
for everybody to come in to
basically have a taste of our culture.
Even with the challenges, and uncertain future,
the sisters behind Phnom Penh know they're in the right place.
There's no other neighborhood I'd rather be in. Seattle, CID,
Little Saigon. Is it.
Adding to the uncertainty, Sound Transit is proposing a new light
rail stop in the heart of the neighborhood many people fear
it will displace more residents and lead to years of street closures.
While it's been an unusually rainy spring, though, today we're getting a break.
A nearby neighborhood hopes the sun continues to make a strong comeback.
Miller Community Center on Capitol
Hill is now topped with 132 solar panels.
The micro-grid ensures the lights will stay on if a windstorm
or other outage knocks out power to the building.
The project was a collaboration between Seattle City Light,
Seattle Parks and the Washington State Department of Commerce.
Producer Pete Cassam takes a look.
We are gathered here to celebrate the completion
of our community microgrid project at Miller Community Center,
which was done in part by and through a collaboration
between our city partners and the state of Washington.
And we are so honored to have both Mayor Harrell and
Governor Inslee here with us today to help celebrate this as sort of a pilot project.
So this community center is now equipped with solar panels,
a battery storage system, and microgrid controls.
So for Seattle City Light, this is the first of its kind.
This is a solar plus storage microgrid.
We are able to harness the energy from the sun.
And it is the beginning of a revolution where there is a rooftop in the state of Washington,
there is potential free energy.
And it is our job nowto make sure we maximize those rooftops.
To my knowledge, this is the first of what will be hundreds
of community solar powered projects in the state of Washington.
We're doing this for our children.
We're doing this for the next generation.
This neighborhood is benefiting from something that is transformational,
not just here in Seattle, but in our world.
And we get to model that and we're modeling it
while the kids are watching this.
This microgrid will be able to power this community center for about 24 hours.
Clean, reliable electricity to the community center
during a power outage during an emergency.
As the governor said, the yet is still coming in front of us.
The greatness is still coming in from just the beginning.
He called it a revolution.
I call it a movement for this kind of collaboration.
So this is something to be excited about.
And as I say, this is a big deal.
I've asked the utility and parks to look at different rooftops
and figure out our ask to the state in terms of how we can do this.
And so this is a this is replicable.
Clean energy is the future.
Just ahead on CityStream
a group of musicians who say they're being left out.
Take matters into their own hands.
We'll explain next.
Seattle has
a global reputation for producing artists that transform the music industry.
And while it's generally viewed
as an inclusive community, one group feels left out.
So they decided to do something about it.
The first ever music and culture festival known as
So Dreamy is expected to draw hundreds of attendees.
The first weekend of June.
It will highlight many marginalized voices,
including a new wave of LGBTQ and BIPOC artists.
Producer Randy Yang has more
♪ I remember all the
times that they told me
that I was different. ♪
Like,
even though Seattle is
predominantly white,
I feel like its art music scene is not.
And so it's frustrating
to see that not represented enough.
So I was like, well,
I guess we could just
start our own music fest.
We were like, what should we call the festival?
Something about like,
how magical it is
or like how communal it is.
And then we're like, oh well it's
kind of like our dream line up.
And we're like, "it's soooooo dreamy."
And that's just kind of
how it came about.
It's going to be like
a bunch of different genres.
We have like Black Ends,
which is going to be more like
gunk pop punk.
And then we also have like SuperCoze, is
like a more like surf punk, kind of like
Indie band.
We're also going
to have deejays,
we're going to have a ballroom section
even.
We're going to have some techno,
we're going to have
some just regular like indie music.
It's pretty much full genre.
I don't think we're going
have any country, but maybe next fest. [LAUGHS]
I think sometimes
like people will take it for granted
when they see,
like certain things on screen,
they'll be like,
Oh, that's just how the way things are.
And it's like,
But that's not how things have to be
just because you see
a certain
demographic represented over
and over again
doesn't mean that has to be the only one.
And so I feel like
when it comes
to queer musicians and BIPOC musicians,
like we're constantly seeing people
that don't look like us
on screen on the stage,
and it creates this
like idea like, oh, that's not for me,
but it is for us.
We just have to make that space sometimes.
It could bring other career
opportunities for people
that otherwise
would have been looked over.
I feel like it
all encompasses
like a really big goal of like,
we want to uplift people
that have not been like heard
a lot.
And now I feel like,
like banging on the door is being like,
we don't even want like a seat
at the table, like,
we want to make our own table.
And that's been really great for me.
It's like really like a confidence boost.
And once again, the first ever So Dreamy Music
Festival is planned for June 4th and 5th on Capitol Hill.
For more information on the lineup of artists, go to this website.
SoDreamyFest.com
Next on CityStream what's all the racket in the skies over Ballard?
Great blue herons
that's what, and the popular Burke Gilman Trail rolls on.
But how does it come about?
We'll explain as CityStream continues.
We clear it out.
That's right.
Our One Seattle Day of Service is a day of service
and activities all over the city.
Follow your lead.
We have over 125 events occurring today
with almost 4000 volunteers.
From helping to clean graffiti,
to some weeding and laying down beauty bark.
Or there were murals that had aged and some of the painted had faded.
It brightens things up and makes it a happier little city.
And today we had a large group of volunteers
that were able to go and help build the tiny homes that we need to help
get people off the street and into transitional housing.
A number of the food banks were able to open up to allow us to come in
and help sort of food and be able to get that out to those in need.
It's about giving back and being part of community and meeting new people.
One day, let's all come together.
Helping the community is all of our responsibility.
We're going to take a walk. We're going to enjoy our city.
Seattle!
We had support from organizations
all over the city who all pitched in
to make sure that this day could be as successful as it could be.
It's a reminder that how much work needs to be done.
Because I love Seattle
and I want to see it cleaned up, and I've got to be part of the solution.
It validates what we know, and that is people will help
when you give them the opportunity.
And that's what's going to help us get our city back.
This is going to be how we change the narrative.
It comes with energy and love and optimism and faith and commitment
and all the good things you want in a city.
There's no place like home.
We're all here for a short period of time.
Make it better.
This is really a restart, this is an opportunity
for all of us to come together and help put us back on the right track.
It's about the spirit that makes us one Seattle.
It's about the community.
It's about what what binds us, what brings us together.
As one Seattle, as one collective community,
we're working together to move this region forward.
One Seattle!
And that's what we're building One Seattle.
Remember One Seattle.
Springtime is always associated with new life in the animal world.
And just a few miles from here, a noisy spectacle is playing out as great blue
herons begin nesting in the treetops above the Ballard locks.
Producer David Albright takes a look
(bird calls)
♪♪
[MARLA MASTER] The herons love the Locks because there's easy feeding around.
So they can easily go down and fish.
You're also close to Discovery Park, which is also a very important
feeding ground for them.
That is a brand new nest and it's just a couple weeks old.
So it's cool to see that it once only had like three or four sticks in it.
I think herons are cool because they're
they look like dinosaurs. (laughter)
When they're so large,
you can really see their almost personalities.
[CAROL TOFLE] Sometimes, the heron will land
too close to another herons nest, and there's
maybe a little bit of a squabble
to make sure that that heron backs away.
(Great Blue Heron squawks)
Just telling it you're in the wrong place,
go away.
Today we're monitoring the colony.
Most of what I saw today is incubation.
We monitor behaviors that relate to the productivity of the colony.
So things like is there an adult standing on or near the nest?
Are there a pair exchanging sticks to build up the nest
or to take turns incubating?
By the beginning of May,
you'll at least hear the chicks calling.
You might not see them very well.
When they first hatch, they're really kind of adorable when they're this little.
Their feet are really big and they grow into their feet.
[MARLA MASTER] By June, they're quite big and they're screaming for food all the time.
So if you do come to the colony, it's
this crazy amount of noise, they're nonstop chattering.
In July, they'll be practicing flapping their wings.
By August-September, almost all the chicks will have fledged the nest.
And by September, you'll come here and there
won't be any herons at all.
It does seem to be a fair, fairly stable population.
The monitoring is important to be able to observe what's happening
over the span of time.
[MIKE MARSH] I find it remarkable
that the colony has increased
in spite of all of the human traffic that
occurs below.
(warning bell rings)
[MARLA MASTER] It's very,
I think, rare to find a whole colony of wildlife right in the city.
So I think that's what's really important,
because if people don't protect them, then they may not be here forever.
♪♪
Those herons are nesting, a stone's throw from a popular pathway
that always attracts a crowd once the weather warms up. From Ballard
to Kenmore and beyond, the Gilman Trail provides enjoyment
and exercise for thousands of walkers, joggers, and bicyclists.
But it's not for a determined group of residents.
The popular trail never would have been approved.
Feliks Banel has the story
The Burke Gilman Trail.
It can feel like the popular route for pedestrians, bikers
and joggers has always been a part of Seattle.
From Ballard to Kenmore and beyond.
It's one of the city's best known
public parks for people powered transportation.
So, we're standing within two blocks of most of the people
who worked on the Burke Gilman Trail in the beginning.
The trail is well known
the story of how people power made it possible.
Not so much.
I'm Merrill Hille, and I live down the street one block
and Jim Todd, who was the first one to speak with Mayor
Uhlman in his office live right here on the corner.
This is a really become a very important part of Seattle.
Oh, yeah.
50 years ago, Merrill Hille and Jim Todd were neighbors in North Seattle.
They lived near Matthews Beach, but in between the neighborhood and the park
where some seldom used railroad tracks that dated to the 19th century.
A single track railroad which ran about once every two or three weeks,
maybe a one or two car train would chug through here for many years.
We lived right within vision of the train,
and our kids ran to the window to see it every time it went by.
It was 1970,
and a TV program about civic activism inspired Jim, Merrill, and a group of like
minded neighbors to take on a project with changes ahead for the railroad.
There was no question what the project should be.
Because we knew that the railroad was getting ready to abandon the right of way.
And it seemed to us such a natural that it become a hiking and biking trail.
The neighbors formally organized and began an old school grassroots campaign,
printing a brochure and spreading the word person to person.
We made contacts with the mayor and the county executive
and tried to get interest from the local governments
in doing this, which they would didn't jump into it
immediately took a little ongoing conversation and encouragement
until it became something that they were very interested in.
The neighbors found an ally and champion in Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman.
It was the Boeing bust and times were tough, but that didn't matter.
As Uhlman explained to KIRO radio in 2017.
The city was broke.
We were laying off fire.
Police personnel and so there some of the process
were saying we need what little money there is, Mr.
Mayor, to be for important things instead of trails
But I felt very strongly that this was almost kind of a once in a lifetime
opportunity
to have a trail go through the middle of Seattle.
I was meeting with the mayor frequently since I was the only one
who had a flexible job and a flexible baby sitter.
So, I met with him frequently to talk about our progress,
and one day he told me I had to make a hike in.
The hike in was a rally on September 12th 1971
that helped galvanize public support
But the city still needed to make a deal with Burlington
Northern for the real estate before the old tracks could become a trail.
Jim Todd knew the history of the 19th century
rail line that was originally called the Seattle Lakeshore and Easter.
When this railroad was first formed, it was donated land
from residents of Seattle, donated to the railroad because we wanted
to be residents of Seattle or wanted to be connected to
interstate commerce across the country.
And originally our pitch was
that the railroads should now donated back to the citizens of Seattle.
And it was a history book that inspired the group to name the Trail
for Railroad founders Daniel Gilman and Judge Thomas Burke.
We were reading a book called Judge Burke.
He built Seattle, and a number of us had read that book.
And we were up at a astell-burt togs when we all three of us share.
All of this is going to be the Burke Gilman Trail.
And it became that and stuck.
Finally, a deal was struck.
The tracks would be replaced with a trail.
It would take a few years to fully pave.
But for Merrill Hille and Jim Todd and other families in their neighborhood,
one benefit was almost immediate.
Well, this was the access for everyone on the other side of Sandpoint way.
This was the access to Matthew's Beach Park.
And no one really thought to I don't think too much about it,
but that's just how you got to Matthew's Beach.
You walked across this bridge which was a railroad bridge at the time.
Well, there was no railing.
So, we had our kids walk between the tracks so they wouldn't fall over.
They just ran ahead. They were happy.
Well, Jim, it's really nice to be back to the park.
But helping create the Burke
Gilman Trail was never just about helping themselves.
It was about creating a one of a kind public space for fun or for getting to work.
It was about laying the foundation for what's become
a priceless network of trails for everybody.
It is very gratifying.
It just makes you feel good that there's a trail for them to be riding on.
I'm very proud.
I am, too.
This is probably the crowning achievement of my life.
Yeah, same for me.
The more crowded it is, the happier I am.
The Burke Gilman trail is considered a national model
for converting rails to trails, and it's inspired countless
community groups around the country to organize similar projects.
We'll be right back.
That wraps
up this episode of CityStream from the Chinatown International District.
If you'd like to watch more outstanding Seattle Channel programs, visit
our website, SeattleChannel.org and click on feature shows.
I'm Dennis Bounds. Thanks for watching.