Leadership for Great Neighborhoods

Last year, Jessie Clawson and I re-launched Leadership for Great Neighborhoods (LGN). At its heart, LGN is an advocacy organization committed to creating vibrant urban communities that provide the essential components of livability for the greatest number of people. With this in mind, we advocate for the creation of diverse, complete neighborhoods that maximize public infrastructure investments such as light rail, streetcars, and rapid ride transit.

In a City Tank post, we said, “The question is how will LGN do it? To paraphrase Mary Elizabeth Lease, we are going to write fewer white papers and raise more hell.” We succeeded in raising expectations around land use and even some heights. LGN had two significant achievements last year.

• We raised the profile and the outcome of the Roosevelt Rezone. It was our letter that helped spur the Mayor and Council to propose more appropriate zoning around the future light rail station in Roosevelt.
• The LGN Housing Committee joined forces with Doris Koo and other community leaders to form Seattle Living. Seattle Living is a group of civic advocates dedicated to ensuring that all of Seattle’s neighborhoods provide a diverse and accessible supply of housing. More about this coming soon.

In addition, we supported neighborhood zoning efforts in Northgate, South Downtown, South Lake Union, Uptown Triangle, and Yesler Terrace.

We made a significant impact in Seattle’s approach to planning and land use in our neighborhoods. YOUR help will allow us to do even more in 2012.

Mike Kent, the incoming chair for LGN, will let you know what LGN will be doing in 2012.

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