Good news for Graham Street light rail station after decades of delays

After a 30-year roller coaster of approvals, deferrals, approvals, rejections and finally approval, the Graham Street light rail station is once again on track to serve Rainier Valley.

At a Sound Transit board meeting in late May, the infill station was saved from the chopping block after a coalition of community organizations fought once again for its inclusion. Their efforts were championed by board members Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda in supporting the station.

The Graham station update was largely overshadowed by the decision to deem the extension to Ballard "unaffordable," but for residents of South Seattle, the fate of the Graham Street Station is huge news. The future of the station has been symbolic of the struggles and tensions of the area as a whole, an area that has faced disinvestment, displacement and gentrification for decades.

Wilson said in a statement before the board decision, "We're done with broken promises. South Seattle communities have waited far too long for the Graham Street Station. This amendment is about finally delivering the equitable transit access that Rainier Valley residents deserve and continue to lobby for."

And lobby they have.

Violet Lavatai, the executive director of Tenant Organizers & Advocates, or TOA, is a veteran of the long campaign for the Graham Street Station. She said when community members got wind that the station was again to be deferred, they refused to be treated as an afterthought and decided to take action.

"We're not going to wait another 30 years," she said. "I can tell you this: Had we not organized, had we not demonstrated and called this out, we would be on the deferred plans again."

A coalition of groups quickly mobilized to call on elected officials to fulfill their promises and hustled to pull together a demonstration to ensure their voices would not be ignored.

She said "once again the disinvestment in underserved communities for so long was the same story, and we were not going to stand by and take it."

But getting the station slated for the next phase of rail expansion is just the start. Groups advocating for equitable development for communities of color and other marginalized communities in South Seattle also have to worry about preventing displacement once the station is built. They want to ensure that the groups who have fought for the station are still around to use it. Sound Transit said it estimates the $214 million station will open in 2031.

In 2019, the Graham Street Community Action Team, made up of cultural organizations, small businesses and grassroots community leaders, created a visioning document that "placed existing stakeholders at the center of planning for a new station."

They wrote that as the new station takes shape, it's imperative that the neighborhood preserve "small businesses, religious and cultural institutions, creative strategies for resiliency, and affordability."

Howard Greenwich, the research director for Puget Sound Sage, which has worked with organizations leading the effort for equitable transit-oriented development near the new station, said it's about centering equity in decision making.

"That includes making sure that the people who live here now live here in 10 years or 20 years, because transit service does nobody any good if they've been forced to move to the suburbs out of their community," he said, "And so our electeds need to make a real commitment to helping communities thrive in place, and that means helping communities get land, having policies around affordable housing around stations."

Equity also means that communities are able to navigate their neighborhoods safely.

As I wrote in 2022, the vast majority of accidents between the light rail and pedestrians and cars have occurred in Rainier Valley. Unlike in other parts of the 1 Line system, surface-level trains zip through busy residential and commercial areas and a confusing array of busy walkways and signage makes accidentally stepping in front of a train a regular threat. The community has long asked for substantive safety measures to be put in place, such as pedestrian and car gates or barriers, to no avail.

Notably, the new 2 Line Judkins Park Station has pedestrian safety gates already, as does the new BelRed Station on the Eastside.

Sound Transit said the existing Rainier Valley stations - Columbia City, Othello and Rainier Beach - are targeted to add pedestrian gates in 2030, though as the Graham Street experience has shown, timelines can be slippery.

As for gates at the Graham station, Sound Transit said the current plan includes the potential for pedestrian gates, but a final decision would be determined by community and stakeholder engagement and coordination with the city of Seattle.

Even with the Graham station on the upcoming expansion list, advocates are going to stay vigilant, to make sure the long-awaited station actually comes to fruition.

"We're going to hold them accountable to their word," Lavatai said. "Many who have advocated - who are elderly right now - who want to see Graham station, they were upfront, saying we might never see it, but we're still going to fight for it."

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