U District event canceled, but some businesses deny having been opposed

A block party planned for this Saturday that would've closed University Way Northeast to cars was canceled after the city of Seattle denied organizers a permit just eight days before it was to occur, citing opposition from nearly 80 local businesses.

Some of those businesses, however, say they never objected to the event, and are unsure why they're on a petition that led to the city's denial, or were told that in signing their names, they were objecting to a permanent closure of the road.

The Ave, as the famed street running near the University of Washington is known, isn't as iconic as Pike Place Market. But the experiment to ban cars there, much like what's happening at Pike Place, even if just for two days, has inflamed some business owners enough to take matters into their own hands – and rally their peers in a way that has rankled in return.

Lois Ko and Emily Scully, who own businesses in the University District, led the effort against the event, which would've closed the street for one block, between Northeast 42nd and 43rd streets, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on two consecutive Saturdays. The placemaking pilot" proposed by U District Advocates was intended to show what a street that "always prioritized cars over the people who make it worth visiting ... looks like when people come first," according to the event's website.

Ko and Scully, who personally asked numerous business owners and managers to add their names to the petition, said the group behind The Ave for All planned the two-day street closure as a trial to permanently close the road.

"None of this is true, what they're saying," said Scully, who owns Shultzy's Bar & Grill. "Is this about a two-day event? Or is this about what the organization is saying it's about, which is permanent closure?"

The organizers, Harrison Jerome and Cory Crocker, don't deny this is a long-term aspiration, at least on a portion of the road. But they said this summer's events were simply meant to test how people and businesses reacted to a quiet street – with space to sit and stroll – without anything else going on, like the marquee U District Street Fair or Seattle Boba Fest.

Despite opposition from many businesses to a fully pedestrianized stretch of University Way, Jerome and Crocker said they have a lot of support behind their event and were stunned to hear that the city's Special Events Committee denied the permit, following months of planning, the outlay of $7,000 and the approval of other necessary permits from government agencies, including the fire department, King County Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation.

"It's more ideological than operational," Crocker said of arguments against his event, who added they've appealed the denial. "That's a hard opinion to fight."

To sign or not to sign

A letter from the city explaining the denial said the organizers had met the permit's requirements – including neighborhood communication and notification, and "operational planning for the street use."

But the denial came after the city heard "significant response in opposition to the event as planned," which came from the petition with four pages of signatures.

Ko, who owns Sweet Alchemy Ice Creamery and Elixir cafe and bar, brushed aside questions about whether she gathered signatures against the "event as planned" or against what she believed to be the long-term goal of its planners.

"I know these guys and they have been pushing this for a long time. No cars," she said. "We don't have the infrastructure to handle a pedestrianized street."

Ko said she was spurred to action after getting a flier in the mail about the event. She went up and down the avenue asking fellow business owners what they thought, and most either hadn't gotten the flier or hadn't read it.

She started a petition. Ko insists she told business owners the petition was against the two-day event, but that the end goal of its organizers was a permanent street closure.

Peter Johnson, who owns Finn MacCool's Pub at the Dub, said he never signed a petition, but his name is on it as an electronic signature.

"I never talked to anybody," he said, adding that he filled out a survey from the U District Partnership, the neighborhood's de facto chamber of commerce, which he guessed was what led to his inclusion on the list. Both Ko and Scully sit on the partnership's board of directors.

"I wasn't opposed. I just had some questions about it," Johnson said. "I wouldn't mind it. It'd be nice to see more foot traffic down here, if it's done right. A sunny day like this, people wandering around, drinking a beer. It'd be great."

Pilhee Koo, who owns Café on the Ave and whose name is on the petition, said he would oppose any event that closes the street on a weekday. But the two-day event, and the occasional Saturday with no traffic, "it's no problem."

Other businesses said they were included on the petition without their knowledge, including Pink Gorilla and Snooze cafe, which still has the publicity poster taped to their counter.

Japhet Oram, manager of the Woolly Mammoth shoe store, said she wasn't aware the petition was specific to a two-day event, but signed it after Ko told her it would stop cars from being permanently banned, which "none of the businesses want."

Eric Moss, spokesperson for the city's Office of Economic Development and the Special Events Committee, did not confirm if the signatures were verified, but said the "outreach to the city came from a group of businesses who liaised with other members of the business community regarding the event."

Still, the city said it would "fast track" permits for a future event, as long as it includes "authentic and advance collaboration with the business community" that includes "issuing notification letters in multiple languages based on the communication needs" of the district's many immigrant-owned businesses.

Dissenting opinions

Making University Way pedestrian-only isn't a new idea, and was more fully explored in 2018 with a mobility plan as the neighborhood prepared for the arrival of light rail in 2021.

That plan, which Crocker helped write, described "overwhelming public support" for a long-term vision of closing the street to cars between 42nd and 45th. That characterization was flagged by the U District Partnership as not accurately reflecting dissenting opinions, according to a letter attached as an appendix to the plan. The partnership asked for the phrase to be changed, but it wasn't.

The Seattle City Council approved of the plan in a non-binding resolution in 2019.

Even with that approval, Jerome and Crocker are unsure what's next. They were awarded a $5,000 grant from the city's Department of Neighborhoods, and raised $2,000 from donors. The money's spent, but they're worried they'll have to return it, now that the event is canceled.

Both are a bit confused by the opposition from business owners – even if it may not be exactly as it seemed.

"We don't want to be anybody's enemy," Jerome said. "We want to help them."

It's a sentiment that, at once, is both rejected and echoed by Ko and Scully.

"We have this advocacy group that's telling us we don't know what's good for us," Scully said. "We are not anti-closure. We want to work with them.

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