5-18-2023 10:40am

Latest on bus proposed bus lane

Chris Clasen Editor

Neighbors and Advocates,
It has been a busy week in the media for Lake Forest Park. There have been two articles written. The first article is in the Seattle Times, by Mike Lindblom, who attended our Wall Ordinance Meeting: Lake Forest Park neighbors denounce bus-lane plan that removes trees.

See: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/lake-forest-park-neighbors-denounce-bus-lane-plan-that-removes-trees/BTW: we had a great turnout at the Hearing for the Wall Ordinance. Many people wrote letters, spoke at the hearing and attended. We got their attention. Thanks for contributing your time and energy to make LFP better!
The second article is in The Urbanist, by Stephen Fesler: Stride Bus Projects Fall Further Behind Schedule, Controversy Brews in Lake Forest Park.See: https://www.theurbanist.org/2023/05/16/stride-bus-projects-fall-further-behind-schedule/

Also, Sound Transit posted an update from the recent community meetings, including the March 15th, LFP Community Drop In Open House: stating that most citizens are excited to see the ST3 construction begin. Apparently they received 320 survey responses in total and 168 letters from Lake Forest Park citizens (which they don’t mention, all requesting queue jumps and a lighter touch in LFP). It hardly seems that most respondents are excited for the program to move into construction.
See: https://www.soundtransit.org/sites/default/files/documents/stride-spring-2023-engagement-summary.pdf?utm_campaign=pu-strides3line-20230517&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdeliverySee excerpt below:Sound Transit hosted an online open house from Feb. 22 to April 28, 2023, to share 60% design program updates and gather community input. Sound Transit also held inperson drop-in sessions on March 15 in Lake Forest Park, March 22 in Shoreline, March 28 in Kenmore, and April 25 in Bothell. Sound Transit received more than 320 survey responses during the online open house and at the in-person drop-in sessions, including two responses in Spanish and one in Simplified Chinese. Feedback was mixed, with most respondents excited for the program to move into construction. Many shared concerns about the design, including the amount of tree removals, retaining wall height, and station sizes.

Two more themes from comments across the surveys were concerns about pedestrian safety and access to neighborhoods during construction.
In response to The Urbanist article, I decided to write a reply. While I appreciate Stephen Fesler including Lake Forest Park in his article, I found some of the assumptions and images misleading. The images below, provided by Sound Transit, inspired me to write this reply. In a comparison of images, of how it is now and the proposed ST3 changes, the article shows an image that precludes showing the extensive walls in LFP, implying that there is little change to our community, not much difference noted in the images. In reality, this is not so. Also, while we support queue jumps, no one claims that 490 trees will not be removed. Many trees will be removed, probably half or more of the 490 count. In response to all of this, I wrote Stephen a letter which I am sharing with you, including a page of “Pros and Cons,” for ST3 in LFP. Let’s get our concerns correctly noted.
I thank you for your consideration and for reading my letter to The Urbanist. Lastly, If your property is impacted by ST3, or you have concerns, we are holding a community meeting at the Sheridan Market, this Thursday, May 18th, beginning at 7pm. Come join us.

Regards,Vicki
Excerpted from The Urbanist: