-Good morning everybody,
thank you for being here during Black History Month on a nice,
at least dry, February morning.
This is a very exciting milestone to celebrate.
This morning we're breaking ground on the final piece
of one of the,
I guess one could describe it as one of the most complex puzzles
that our city has faced and that is the redesign
and sort of redevelopment of a world class water front
that is seamlessly connected to our downtown
and this is sort of an event worthy of celebrating
because of the years of planning
and the years of work and indeed excellent implementation.
So this particular project will improve access
for people walking and biking between Belltown
and the 20 acre waterfront.
Creating a more active green and safe space.
Pedestrian friendly, bike friendly.
Part of our efforts in activating this area
and this project will build
on other pedestrian focused improvements
as part of the waterfront project.
A few examples of those
we talked about when we opened up Overlook Walk
and what a success that has been.
The Pioneer Square pedestrian improvements,
we celebrated last December.
The protected bike lanes and pedestrian paths
along Pine and Pike Streets,
between Capitol Hill and the Pike Place Market,
that was indeed a great celebration
and the Marion Street Pedestrian Bridge connected to Colman Dock
and the Union Street Pedestrian Bridge.
That was indeed worthy of celebration.
So this project invests 5.2 million of the 806 million,
invested in the total Waterfront Park project.
Our largest civic project since the Space Needle.
And I've said this before,
but I need to double down on the concept
that the downtown is powered by people.
Their energy, their ideas. And reimagining public space
is core to our downtown activation plan.
So this sort of missing piece of it,
if you will, is vital toward our continued success.
Now the new and improved pedestrian bicycle connections
between Belltown and the waterfront,
is again, critical to help increase foot traffic.
A huge benefit for our local businesses
to create a safer route for cyclists traveling
throughout downtown.
This project will add green space and seating
options to the neighborhood,
a chance for people to socialize
and get to know one another better,
creating a more inviting environment
for our residents and visitors alike.
But most importantly,
this project is a reflection of not just the cities vision,
but the communities vision,
and that's why we're glad that many community members are here.
We talked to nearly 850 residents and people
who call this area home through the design process
and we listened to their feedback
and did our best to incorporate that feedback in our designs.
I want to just sort of level set with a quote
that I've said only one other time before,
so I do apologize if I repeat it.
Cultures and climates differ all over the world,
but people are the same.
They'll gather in public if you give them a good place to do it.
That's from a Danish architect
and urban design consultant, Jan Gehl.
And I believe that in terms of
how were trying to recreate this area
and other parts of the city.
So that's what we're celebrating here today.
Our commitment to create a downtown and a waterfront
that is a good place for residents and visitors
and workers to gather, shop and live.
And again, I have a few speakers in back of me,
but I certainly want to talk about the outstanding people
in our city department,
particularly SDOT in this occasion,
just doing outstanding work.
Really putting their heart and soul into this effort.
Thank you.
I want to again thank our Office of Waterfront and Civic Projects
and you'll hear from Angela in a moment.
Belltown communities partners and all of the people,
the 850 people I mentioned that gave input,
to take the time to protect their areas
and that becomes critical,
that we listen
and you were there to provide us the feedback.
And so we welcome the opportunity
to have that dialogue.
So next you'll hear from Angela Brady,
director of our Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects.
Again, you know I've introduced Angela on other occasions.
She's just doing an outstanding job
and this is a testament to her fine work.
Angela, please share a few words.
-Okay, my hands are frozen solid.
I'm going to be real quick.
Thank you all for joining us today.
Yes, I'm Angie Brady,
I'm the director of the city's
Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects.
We're incredibly excited to break ground
on Bell Street improvements today.
Which is a bittersweet milestone for my waterfront team,
as it's the final project we will begin construction of
as part of the Waterfront Seattle program,
which is really hard to believe.
Based on hundreds of community voices,
our Belltown improvements prioritized pedestrians
and bicyclists, navigating Bell Street between 1st and Elliott.
The project creates a more accessible
and seamless connection from Belltown
to the new 20 acre Waterfront Park,
which will become more active
and greener space in just a few short months.
Thanks to the narrowing of Bell Street down to one lane
we can dedicate more space to people walking and rolling.
Our project improvements include adding a new
two way protected bike lane that provides
convenient bicycle access to the existing Bell Street
greenway behind you, to the east.
And the existing bicycle improvements behind us
along Elliott Way to the west.
Constructed as part of our waterfront Seattle program,
which opened to the public in spring of 2023.
We're adding seating to provide moments of pause
on this steep hill.
If you haven't experienced it for yourselves yes,
from this vantage point,
there are stunning views of Elliott Bay,
Mt. Ranier and the new Waterfront Park.
You can just look to my right here.
We're also planting native shrubs and grasses
to add to the beauty of the area
and create a more pleasant pedestrian experience.
Something I know many people in Belltown,
including myself, are particularly excited about,
this city worked with
the Washington State Department of Transportation back in 2019,
to salvage an old sign bridge
that used to be located near Belltown
on the now removed Alaskan Way Viaduct.
We'll be restoring that old sign bridge
and installing it in a prominent location right here in Belltown.
It actually will be installed right here
where we're all standing.
The old sign bridge will be enhanced with lightning
to make it look really cool at night
and will serve as a gateway to the Belltown neighborhood,
while also providing a bit of historic nostalgia
of the old viaduct.
We're really excited about that.
Thank you so much. We love a good sign bridge.
Thank you so much to the community members
and to the Belltown community council who helped shape
and champion this project.
This group of people care very deeply about their community
and it shows
and I know you're going to hear from two of them today.
Thank you to the mayor and to city council,
including Councilmember Kettle,
for their ongoing support of our work
at the Office of the Waterfront.
Many thanks to the enter Waterfront Seattle team,
especially Jessica Murphy,
our beloved construction program manager.
Joey, Akin, Hannah and Jennifer from GG&N.
Jackson and Iris with EnviroIssues,
who all worked really closely with this community
to design that project.
And to Ticson Mach, our project manager for Bell Street,
who will manage this project through construction.
As I mentioned earlier,
the project is part of the city's
larger waterfront program,
which has been under construction since we started
rebuilding the Elliott Bay Sea Wall Project, back in 2013.
Can you believe that?
We've got a lot more to celebrate in 2025,
ahead of the grand opening of the waterfront later this year.
We're opening a new public restroom next month
across from Pier 58, near the Seattle Aquarium.
We are opening the full length of the protected bike lanes
along the Alaskan Way Roadway Promenade.
We're continuing installation of permanent artworks
and cultural
and historic wayfinding to enhance the sense of place
and reflect our city's history on the waterfront.
And we invite you all
to join us in those upcoming celebrations as well.
So thank you again for coming,
we're thrilled to begin construction
of these improvements in Belltown
and we're really excited to come back
and celebrate with you all
again at a ribbon cutting for this very project this summer.
And now I'd like to welcome, Bob Kettle.
Councilmember Bob Kettle.
-Would you like some gloves?
-I would, I would. Thank you. -I grew up near Buffalo,
so I have gloves, so please wear them.
-Thank you.
-Thank you Mr. Mayor, thank you for everyone behind me.
I really appreciate Belltown United,
Belltown Community Council being represented here.
I love having our new downtown community council represented
here, along with the Port of Seattle.
Yes Julia, thank you for being here.
And I'd also like to thank those on the department sides,
you know, with our deputy mayors that are here
and those that have been promoted to include
Angie and others.
I really thank everyone for being here.
And I really have to thank whoever made this,
because this is really a piece of art.
And part of me would hate to put some shovels in it
because it's done so perfectly.
But we shall.
I just wanted to say, I'm very happy to be here.
I'm happy because,
you know, this is about connecting the city to the sea.
You know, to the Salish Sea.
To the Puget Sound, to Elliott Bay.
And as an old retired naval officer,
that makes me happy.
The evergreen trees make me happy.
This is about connecting the city to the sea
and that's so important for us.
It's important for the soul of the city,
but it's not just what we can see here.
Just recently I did the walk from the Market to the MOHAI.
Where we're standing here, yes, give a shout out.
Sabrina, thank you for that.
It's really important to not just connect to the Salish sea,
but also to Lake Union.
And the Market to MOHAI is such a way to do that.
It's again, connecting our city to our water spaces
and it's really important.
And by the way, if you haven't done it,
please do the Market to MOHAI.
You start at the Market,
you come up this street,
look for the yellow signs on the poles
and you'll find yourself at the MOHAI and Lake Union.
So just again, it's a piece that makes me happy.
But the other thing that really makes me happy
to be here this morning is to say thank you Belltown.
Thank you for the engagement, for Belltown United,
Belltown Community Council, Condo Connect.
There's a lot of groups that I connect with Belltown.
And Belltown's had it's challenges.
You know,
it's kind of caught between downtown and Queen Anne
and places like that.
But it's time to give Belltown its due.
And this is one piece of that.
But another piece is right here to my left and it's Pertle Park.
And I just want to say thank you Mr. Mayor
and everybody from Parks and Justin Farell
whose here somewhere, for your support.
There you are, thank you very much.
Because it's so important
to bring green space to our Belltown.
And you know, to build that neighborhood even more.
So I just wanted to say thank you Mr. Mayor and your team,
for that support.
It's going to kick off this year with survey work
and we look forward to it
as we go through the years to have that set up.
And so, and of course
we'll be looking for a dog park somewhere too.
So keep your eyes open for that.
But again, I just want to say thank you
and this makes me happy for again,
that connection to the sea,
to the waterways and for what we're doing for Belltown,
back Belltown deserves it.
Thank you very much.
And speaking of Belltown, Mr. Belltown, Mr. Tom Graff.
-So I promise that I was only here to introduce Holly Decker.
But you put a microphone in front of Tom Graff,
he's going to say a few more things.
So I'll be brief.
There's just two other things I want to add.
And it's really this entire space.
When the viaduct came down,
we knew we were going to have a lot of space here,
what we didn't know was this stunning view to the Big Wheel,
the stadiums and Mt. Ranier.
It is amazing access point and we have it here,
no urban designer would have picked this
as the public open space for Belltown.
It's what came when the viaduct went away
and it's going to be an amazing room
and it goes from 1st and Battery,
to this point, to Elliott and Blanchard
and we put up this mural,
we being the UN and Andy Sheffer here,
on the side of Elliott Point
with the help of that building owner.
And it helps shape this room and it is the artist,
Audrey Sun, in that picture.
And I can't walk by this space
without enjoying that mural
and Sam Trout did one over here
on the Seattle city light retaining wall.
And these are temporary images,
let you imagine this becoming a wonderful urban space.
That is the neighborhoods vision for this area
and this is another step in that process.
We are at the crossroads from Steinbrueck Park,
Pike Place Market, the new Waterfront Park,
on through the Belltown P-Patch,
to Olympic Sculpture Park, the Ports Centennial Park.
You go this way,
you hit Bell Street Park, the wonderful catenary lighting,
Andy Sheffer pulled off for us
again with the downtown activation plan.
Thank you Andy, for those.
Where are you?
And it goes onto Market to MOHAI, Denny Park.
You go west of here, you hit Bell Street Pier.
All these things were done over the last hundred years
and they connect at this point.
This is where you cross.
And this is just another step in that point.
We worked on Portal Porch, this is the next step.
And we're going to do more
and this is going to be one wonderful piece of open space.
And my second point is simply,
before Councilman Kettle took office,
the community walked the neighborhood.
And we looked at like seven projects in the public sphere.
We stopped here and he said,
"I don't really understand park design,
but this is what I want to support."
And he told his staff,
"You help Belltown make a park happen here."
And he has been incredibly supportive,
rallying SDOT and Parks and Seattle City Light SPU,
to envision this as a park.
And we're working on a change of jurisdiction
for the SDOT to Parks.
We have to do an environmental survey.
Andy required all this money to do a survey here,
and somehow Councilmember Kettle comes up with $150,000
so that we can do this change of jurisdiction.
I am not used to this collaboration
between city council and a neighborhood.
This is very unusual for me.
I've been doing this for 30 years
and I just want to give this amazing gratitude,
this community has to Bob Kettle and his support of this vision.
Thank you Bob.
Now I'm going to introduce Holly Decker!
And I have the pleasure of working in a community
that's primarily made of volunteers.
We've got about 40 people that carry a lot of water.
And Holly used to live in site 17.
She disappeared to sites unknown called Brooklyn,
but she still heads our Portal Park Committee.
And she is one of these many volunteers in this community
that no one's paid anything,
you're herding cats all the time.
Sabrina knows how to herd cats.
And she does it with great direction
and she moves us forward and it's very unglamorous work.
We get to paint out the graffiti that's on Sam Trout's mural.
It's not a lot of fun.
We get to rototill this area to do wild flowers.
I like looking at the wild flowers,
I do not like rototilling on a slope.
And she helps direct us to this,
she's working on the conservations future grant
so we can -- there's one piece of private property
here we're trying to acquire where the cedar trees are.
And I again, speak for the entire community,
it is gratitude to lead a committee this long
and the end is not in sight yet.
And she is hanging in there and just know the gratitude
the community has for your work, Holly.
-Thank you. Good morning everybody.
So the benefit of going last
is that you get to hear all these beautiful remarks
from everybody behind me.
The downside is, it's freezing.
So if you haven't moved in a bit,
I just want to encourage folks to shake it up,
move the legs, move the hands, stay warm.
I should be able to wrap this up in about three minutes.
My names Holly Decker,
I moved to Belltown in 2010
when I first took a job at the Port of Seattle,
so hello to some of my formal colleagues in the audience.
What a beautiful day for all of us to gather.
We are celebrating a transformative public work
that will reshape how we experience Belltown.
This enhancement or this investment enhances
how people move between Belltown and the waterfront,
creating a safer
and more integrated experience for everyone.
On behalf of the community, on behalf of Belltown United,
I will take just a moment to thank the many individuals
who made today's groundbreaking a reality.
First, I want to acknowledge the unwavering support
of our city leadership, Marshall Foster's not here,
but I want to let you know
that you're dedication to this neighborhood
has been truly invaluable.
Thank you for your advocacy on the restoration
of the sign bridge. Your partnership is appreciated.
Angela, thank you.
The planned lighting on the bridge will be a beacon
and invite people to this neighborhood.
Thank you for championing
that important element to this project.
Councilmember Kettle, your trust for this community
and your support has been crucial.
Like I said to you this morning,
I remember a year ago Tom
and I sat I your office discussing this project
and your willingness to listen to the laundry list
of needs from this community was evident from the start.
So thank you.
Your commitment to this district has been exemplary.
Mayor Harrell,
for a long time you have led this city
with vision and resilience.
You understand the importance of empowering our city's artists,
advocates, and activists.
Your unwavering support for public space,
for initiatives like the Belltown Mural Festival,
the Downtown Activation Plan.
It speaks volumes about your commitment
to revitalize our neighborhoods and inspire our cities.
Thank you mayor.
Speaking of inspiration,
I want to touch on just one other exciting opportunity
just to my left, the future Portal Park.
It's been mentioned by several folks this morning,
but this two acre green space represents the next jewel
in the crown of Seattle's public spaces,
creating an emerald mile stretching
from Pike Place Market to the Seattle Space Needle.
The momentum behind the Portal Park is palpable
and with the continued partnership of the city,
Seattle Parks Foundation and this community,
I'm confident we can make this vision a reality also.
But today is not only about the past and gratitude
or even looking ahead at future projects.
It's also about embracing the present
and the lessons we've learned.
The last few years have presented us
with formidable challenges,
but all of us here have persisted.
Through our persistence,
we've discovered incredible, incredible opportunities.
Opportunities to reimagine our city
and reimagine the public realm.
We've discovered opportunities to amplify the voices
of our residents
and the opportunities to innovate hand in hand.
At present, we press on.
We stayed focused on the opportunities we've uncovered.
Let's continue to be a city
that says yes to connected green space.
That says yes to public art and creative expression.
Yes to community driven development.
We press on for a city that connection, creativity,
and community thrive together, building a more equitable
and sustainable future for all of us.
Let this groundbreaking for this project,
be a continue symbol of our commitment to that vision.
Thank you to everyone here today.
I appreciate everyone's effort and time to make this possible.
-Thank you Holly.
I do just want to recognize a few folks I didn't
in my remarks before we break ground.
That would be Deputy Mayor Justin Ferrell is here,
SDOT Director Adiam Emery is here.
Joy Shigaki from the Friends at Waterfront,
thank you for being here.
And I want to thank all of you
have coming to the Bob Kettle Fan Club experience.
I too am a member.
But I must say that his description of a dog park here
is non-binding,
but it gets us excited.
I haven't been briefed on that
but, we get caught up in the moment
but I think there's discussions.
And so we see a beautiful dog here that's a constituent.
So we hear you.
Okay, I don't know if I'm going to, Jane,
if I'm going to take questions now
or are we going to break ground?
Should we do a -- we're going to break ground
and take some pictures.
So let's pick up a shovel.
Alright.
Let's get this SDOT work.
Are we going to count? Wait, wait, wait.
Let's do this. There we go.
Okay, Angie, count us down Angie.
-Three, two, one.
-Alright.