Forget Ramp, Judkins-Rejected Says -- Lingering I-90 Proposal Still Alive Despite Neighborhood Opposition

Here in the Judkins-Rejected neighborhood, on a hill above Rainier Valley, sprawling vacant lots and the distrust of government are emblematic of a 25-year battle over the Interstate 90 freeway.

Until recently, residents say, government never seemed to abide by what they wanted or needed.

But this time, this year, they hope government will listen.

Five years after the idea was first denounced, opponents are trying to kill a lingering proposal to install a ramp on 23rd Avenue South, saying it would endanger children at the new Colman Elementary School and threaten a proposed recreation area.

At a recent public hearing, more than 200 people delivered a stern, unwavering message to officials from the state Department of Transportation.

"Hopefully," longtime resident Dolores Bradley said wryly, "they understand the answer is NO."

The I-90 ramp to 23rd Avenue South remains one of four suggestions for improving freeway access in the Central Area and in South Seattle and is, undoubtedly, the most controversial.

State transportation officials are considering the proposed ramps as part of a $1.4 billion freeway project.

Nowhere has the impact of that project been debated and felt more profoundly than in the Judkins-Rejected neighborhood, where streets were sliced up to make way for the six-lane freeway.

Some residents in the Central Area and lakeside communities have clamored for new exits to make up for those lost at Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and 35th Avenue South when the new I-90 tunnel went through.

But many say they prefer alternative proposals to the 23rd Avenue South ramp, including:

-- Expanding I-90 entrances from Rainier Avenue South.

-- Keeping a northbound I-5 off-ramp to South Dearborn Street near Rainier Avenue South. That ramp is temporary and scheduled for demolition.

As the most vociferous opponents, Judkins-Rejected residents contend an exit at 23rd Avenue South would hamper their efforts to restore the neighborhood.

It even augmented its name in the early 1970s, residents say, to reflect how shunned they felt by city and state government.

"The city and state governments have just let this neighborhood sit without any monies, interaction, nothing," said Rosie Taylor, president of of the Judkins-Rejected Community Council.

"But now we're bringing the neighborhood back. People are moving back in and taking pride in home ownership."

To the chagrin of Taylor and others, the 23rd Avenue South proposal just won't go away.

Two years ago, they came out to oppose the idea, and an independent study panel declared it inefficient and unsafe. However, the proposal was revived this year after state Rep. John O'Brien, D-Seattle, persuaded the department to finish its environmental report before making a final decision.

According to those who attended the Oct. 3 meeting, however, only three people spoke in favor of the 23rd Avenue South ramp.

The DOT is expected to make a formal recommendation when an environmental-impact report is completed next spring.

Transportation officials, who have held 404 public hearings on the entire I-90 project, aren't willing to say the proposal is officially dead yet. But as DOT spokesman Bill Southern put it: "We're not interested in getting beaten up" by trying to recommend something the community doesn't want.

Ultimately, he said, the decision will be up to the federal government, which would be asked to pay for 90 percent of the costs.

Still, neighborhood residents are leery.

"I don't see why it takes four or five years to make a decision," said John Frantzen, who is among the newcomers moving in. "Either they've got the money or they don't."

For years, the Judkins-Rejected neighborhood has been haunted by freeway-expansion plans, and it has the scars to show for it.

Jewish, Asian and Italian immigrants settled there first, and for some it was known as part of the old "Garlic Gulch" neighborhood.

But in the early 1960s, with planning for a major north-south freeway, known as the R.H. Thomson Expressway, through the Central Area and northeast Seattle, many families moved away, longtime residents say. Others sold their homes to the state to make room for the I-90 expansion.

Some houses were never needed for the freeway and have been neglected over the years. The instability, some say, made the neighborhood disenfranchised and unsafe.

Alfred Bianchi, 69, is among those who has stayed. He still lives in the remodeled 1890 home where he grew up on South Judkins Street and remains bitter about the upheaval.

"The Department of Transportation desecrated and decimated the neighborhood," he said. "The homes (taken over the state) just got run down, and they put low-income people in there, and didn't care about them."

He and others are buoyed by a growing sense of community in the neighborhood. And they don't want to lose it.

The Colman Elementary School, which houses the new African-American Academy, just opened this fall. More and more young families are moving in.

Down the street from Bianchi's home, Vanessa Henry, co-owner of the Judkins Street Grocery, greets children and area residents like old friends.

Last year, the city assumed ownership of 22 homes and some vacant lots from the state and, through a rehabilitation program, plans to sell them to current renters and interested homeowners.

And next year, the city plans to begin building 20 acres of new recreational facilities, including a soccer field and tennis and basketball courts.

In the meantime, Seattle and state officials say they are trying to get back on good terms with Judkins-Rejected residents.

"The city, the Department of Transportation and the neighborhoods have got to start trusting one another," said Councilman George Benson, chairman of the council's Transportation Committee. "I think we've learned a lot in this whole process of, but it's taken a long time." --------------------------------

I-90 AND I-5 RAMP PROPOSALS

The State Department of Transportation is considering three sites for new access ramps between I-90 and the Central Area and the South End. Transportation officials must also decide whether to keep or remove and existing off-ramp from I-5 to South Dearborn Street.

ALTERNATIVE A: A westbound off-ramp from I-90 to 23rd Avenue South. As the most controversial proposal, it would allow left and right runs onto 23rd Avenue South and south Judkins Street. Cost: about $1.9 million.

ALTERNATIVE B: A westbound I-90 on-ramp from Rainier Avenue South. One design would allow access only from the southbound direction of Rainier Avenue South, while another design would from a T-intersection, giving access from both directions. Cost: $2.9 million.

ALTERNATIVE C: An eastbound I-90 off-ramp to Rainier Avenue South. One proposal would allow left and right turns onto Rainier Avenue South, while another would permit right tuns only. Cost: about $5 million.

ALTERNATIVE D: A northbound I-90 off-ramp to South Dearborn Street. This proposal would make the existing temporary ramp permanent and cost about $120,000 for improvements.

SOURCE: State Department of Transportation

Ed Walker / Seattle Times