(The Seattle Times posted the following article by Pamela Sitt on its website on May 20.)
SEATTLE — To Greg Larson, the 3-foot-high concrete barrier that went up behind his manufacturing company last week is not just ugly it could put him out of business.
The Georgetown business owner is among a couple dozen tenants in the South Seattle neighborhood who say they’ve been railroaded by Union Pacific’s plans to erect jersey barriers in an alley west of the train tracks along Airport Way South. A Union Pacific spokesman said the barriers are needed for safety reasons because the railroad will begin using portable-control locomotives, which are unoccupied and controlled remotely.
The alley is Union Pacific property, though business owners have used it for decades.
People in this burgeoning community of artists, restaurateurs and shopkeepers are pushing for alternative solutions that would serve the railroad’s safety concerns without disrupting the businesses.
“If this was the waterfront or Belltown, they wouldn’t be bringing those crappy barriers in,” said John Bennett, a property owner whose tenants would be affected by the barriers. “That’s the whole thing about Georgetown. People are used to walking all over this neighborhood.”
Larson’s company, Raeco, which manufactures cement products for flooring, has operated in Georgetown since the 1930s. He has hired a lawyer to try to negotiate with Union Pacific about the barriers’ placement.
“It would put us out of business,” Larson said. “We need access for trucks to come in and out.”
For others, the barriers are an inconvenience, an eyesore that might block parking or limit access to the alley behind their businesses. But for everyone here, the construction that started Wednesday came noisily and without warning.
“I came in at 8 a.m. to open the restaurant, and they were already setting up jersey barriers,” Lisa Steadmon, owner of Stella Pizza & Ale on Airport Way South, said last week. “I didn’t know what they were doing. That alley is how we get food deliveries and beer trucks and UPS. … If I can’t get my trash Dumpster emptied out, I’m screwed.”
John Bromely, a spokesman for Union Pacific, said the barricades were moved closer to the tracks than originally planned to allow access to the alley. “I don’t know if there will be further resolution or not,” he said.
But railroad representatives have agreed to meet with business owners, who hope the two groups can agree on an alternative to the barriers. The meeting is set for 7 p.m. next Tuesday at Stella Pizza, Bennett said.
Last Thursday night, about 40 neighbors tattoo artists, hairstylists, massage therapists and landlords showed up at Stella Pizza and crowded into a back room to organize opposition to the railroad project.
“A lot of these businesses are taking a risk by opening here,” said Bennett, who led the meeting. “I do think that a lot of this started because of the influx of more people in the area. They’ve had more people parking near the rails.”
Sammy Mar, who owns Helmet Head salon on Corson Avenue South, keeps a sign on her door telling customers not to park on the tracks.
“They can’t believe (the tracks) are active because they’re in such bad shape,” Mar said. “To me, it would be a better safety issue if they cleaned up those tracks.”
Mar suggested posting signs near the tracks or erecting a fence where she could grow ivy, rather than using ugly concrete that might attract graffiti.
“(The railroad) can do whatever they want on their property, but they’re being so arrogant and disrespectful of all these small-business owners,” Mar said. “It seems like this decision was made arbitrarily and very far away without anybody coming down and seeing what they would be doing.”
Last Thursday, Seattle transportation officials told the railroad to remove about 100 feet of barricades placed on city rights of way near the corner of South Lucile Street and Eighth Avenue South.
“They put the jersey barriers on the rights of way without permits,” said David Soule, street-use inspector for the Seattle Department of Transportation. “I showed them where the property lines were.”
Charlie Cornish, who moved his ceramic-tile business from Ballard last summer in search of cheaper rent and more space, said he finds the situation disenchanting.
“We spent countless hours and about $100,000 fixing up the place, so we have invested a lot of time and money into running a business here,” Cornish said. “If the streets are closed, it would definitely mean we would be out of business. They might be solving one problem and creating another one.”