Slog

Last night, in the foyer of the Seattle Aquarium, with a wall of fish on one side and the viaduct on the other, the Seattle Design Commission—which reviews public buildings and open spaces—celebrated its 40th anniversary. A slide show shuffled through a hilarious retrospective of the commission’s greatest public works. The 1968-to-1977 segment started to the tune of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady,” and up popped a picture of the Kingdome.

Ooh, foxy lady. Despite a few more duds, such as Medgar Evars Pool and Freeway Park, attendees insisted that time has been good to Seattle and its Design Commission. In more recent years, the commission has influenced a wave of new parks, libraries, and fire stations that are, indeed, downright foxy.

The Ballard Library, via.

“This crowd of architects and designers—everyone in here—has stunningly good eyewear,” said Sally Clark, chair of the city council’s land-use committee. She added: “Most folks have no idea what the design commission does.”
Current challenges for the commission include light-rail stations and the waterfront.

Cary Moon, head of the People’s Waterfront Coalition and the leading advocate for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a surface/transit option, worked the room. Among the crowd was newly hired city planner Ray Gastil. Recently plucked from his post as head of the Manhattan planning department, Gastil transformed the vision for the New York waterfront.

However, the future of Seattle’s waterfront hinges—not on Seattle planners—but on decisions from city, county, and state transportation departments. But, says Moon, “If [the design commissioners] stood up with nonprofits and non-governmental organizations and said, ‘We won’t accept any less,’ they could set a high level for what gets done eventually on the waterfront.”