Tag Archives: CID

News

After Recent Hate Crime at Wing Luke Museum, True Repair to the CID Requires More Investment

by Luna Reyna

The Wing Luke Museum was open late on Sept. 14 for an after-hours event for Tsuru for Solidarity, a Japanese American organizing group that supports immigrant and refugee communities “targeted by racist, inhumane, immigration policies.”

The plan was to tour the “Resisters: A Legacy of Movement From the Japanese American Incarceration” exhibit and examine the legacy and learnings of how communities organized around issues of detention and incarceration.

During the introduction of the tour, Wing Luke exhibit developer and program manager for Wing Luke’s youth camp Blake Nakatsu and others began hearing banging noises and then glass shattering.

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Arts & Culture

mam’s books Is the Chinatown-International District’s First Asian American-Owned Bookstore

by Jenn Ngeth

Seattle’s first independent Asian American bookstore has arrived in the Chinatown-International District (CID). At mam’s books, the focus is to provide written works by Asian American authors and writers to the Seattle community — uplifting voices that are historically underrepresented.

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News

CID Announced as One of 11 Endangered National Historic Places

by Alexa Strabuk 譚文曠

(This article was originally published on the International Examiner and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID) has been named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2023 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, a coalition of organizations and community stakeholders announced May 9 during a press conference at Hing Hay Park. It is the first time a Washington State site has made the list since it was started in 1988. 

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News

Placement of Future CID Light Rail Station Sparks Heated Debate, Strains Relations

by Guy Oron

(This article was originally published on Real Change and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

Speculation over the location of a new light rail station in the Chinatown-International District (CID) neighborhood ignited a fierce debate over accessible transportation, displacement, and equity in regional government planning and decision-making. Some community advocates say that divisive online discourse about the various proposals may have caused lasting harm to progressive movements, with traditionally allied groups backing different sides of the increasingly polarized issue.

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News

As Deadline to Decide on CID Light Rail Station Approaches, Community Groups Speak Out

by Alison Jean Smith

For community activists in the Chinatown-International District (CID), the date of March 9 looms large. That’s when Sound Transit will make a recommendation to its powerful board of directors on the location for the new CID light rail station, an anchor for the future line connecting West Seattle and Ballard. On March 23, the board will then pick its “preferred alternative” of four current options, which Sound Transit will write up in its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). As Paul Wu, an architect and cofounder of Transit Equity for All (TEA), says, once the EIS happens, “the train has left the station.” 

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Community

With Contentious Shelter Plans Canceled, CID Residents Organize Their Own Safety Solutions

by Amanda Ong

In September, King County announced plans to build a new shelter for the unhoused in SoDo, near the CID. The plan was highly controversial as there had been little to no outreach from the County to the CID about the proposal before the plan was announced. The County even seemed to avoid community input by scheduling public hearings during weekday work hours, preventing attendance from many working residents. 

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Voices

OPINION | King County’s Lack of Outreach on CID/SoDo Shelter Complex Is Systemic Racism

by Tanya Woo

Residents and business owners of the Chinatown-International District (CID) are just now hearing about a $66.5 million, 6.8-acre project to expand and enhance a shelter that will house over 500 people with support for 50 RVs and a 50-home tiny house village. It was approved by the King County Council in partnership with Seattle and the King County Regional Homeless Authority. For a complex that opens this fall, these decisions were made without any meaningful community outreach or engagement. This follows a long history of policies that have been forced on the CID with no engagement or outreach. This is systemic racism.

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Voices

OPINION: Mayor Bruce Harrell Starts His Own Legacy of Stop-and-Frisk Policing in Seattle

by Johnny Mao

For many in today’s Little Saigon and Chinatown-International District (CID) — if you are hanging out in front of a building, sitting on benches, or at a bus stop — the police can stop and search you with a “stop and frisk.” 

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Community

Former INS Building, Now Largest Seattle Artist Enclave, at Risk of Redevelopment

by Amanda Ong

The former Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) Building in the CID has lived many lives: It was built in 1932 to detain and deport Chinese immigrants during the Chinese Exclusion Act era. It held Japanese American men before they were sent to local incarceration camps during World War II. It deported thousands of immigrants and refugees throughout the 20th century, and naturalized others. And after it was vacated as an INS building in 2004, it lived again as the home of Inscape Arts. With over 125 tenants, Inscape offers the largest working arts and creative space in Seattle. 

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