Yesler Terrace

It was a beautiful day for a walk and our 4.5 mile jaunt through the Yesler Terrace Neighborhood was going well until I tripped on an uneven sidewalk. A kind young man sitting in a tent behind this mannequin came out to ask if I were okay. This scene says a lot about this neighborhood in transition.

We passed through the Yesler Terrace Housing Development





which, according to Wikipedia, was the state's first public housing development and the first racially integrated public housing development in the United States and is Seattle's only remaining large housing development which has not been converted to mixed-income. Unlike most public housing, housing is two-story and residents have private yards - we noted a few which were planted with vegetables.


There is currently a controversy over plans to convert Yesler Terrace to mixed-income housing including high rises.

We passed older homes

directly across the street from large new developments.

We walked through Horiuchi Park and noted a sign that a P-Patch was coming. We also noted that it appeared to be a place where homeless people might be sleeping (we saw a few such locations on this walk).

We passed land use action signs proposing to convert the old Yesler Terrace Steam Plant into a community education/training building and another proposing to replace a small building with a 26-story building with 329 residences and parking for 230 vehicles.

This area is home to Harborview Medical Center (which can be seen here behind the beautiful old Fire House Number 3 building built in 1904 when fire trucks were horse drawn),

the Japanese Baptist Church,

Childhaven,

the Yesler Community Center,

dead end streets, staircases,

Hilltop House (senior housing), St. Francis House (providing services for the homeless and needy), a building that houses the Yesler Terrace Community Council, Catholic Community Services (youth tutoring) and the Seattle Housing Authority (job resources center). The neighborhood was a real mix and appears to be in transition but some residents seem to be able to make the best of what they have and even make imaginative repairs.