Boxed in on Dearborn Street

Across the country, large blocks of land in low-income communities that edge dense urban areas have been prime targets for big-box malls. Seattle's 10-acre Goodwill Industries site, near Dearborn Street and Rainier Avenue South, is now the focus of a $300 million project that will include a Target, a Lowe's and much more. The planned project lies in the heart of low-income cultural communities like Little Saigon, the Chinatown International District and Rainier Valley.

Commuters, traveling daily from downtown to residential neighborhoods beyond, might like having a huge, low-cost shopping mall on their way home. But what many don't realize is that there's a connection between big-box shopping and poverty. While this mall might save shoppers a few dollars, it will have a harmful impact on the people in surrounding communities and even on the lives of the workers employed there.

If this big-box mall gets built, the developer will make a hefty profit. The builder will profit and the national corporate retail chains will continually profit. Corporate shareholders will profit and they'll stimulate the building of high-end condos nearby. All this isn't necessarily bad.

However, under the current project proposal, big-box employers, who are known to pay only slightly over the minimum wage, will employ most of the Dearborn mall's estimated 1,200 new retail workers. Because the majority will only be offered part-time work, they won't qualify for health-care benefits and will have to rely on Medicaid or hospital emergency rooms for costly care paid for by taxpayers. They won't get a pension or paid sick leave, holiday pay or vacations.

Low wage means they won't be able to afford to save for retirement, to afford good health-care insurance, to put their kids through college or even to save for a rainy day. They will join the growing ranks of working Americans who live one paycheck from disaster.

And, when their shifts are done, they'll take the long bus ride home because they can't afford to live in the neighborhood. None of the proposed 100 units of what are called "work force" housing in the project will actually be affordable to those retail workers. Other housing options in the neighborhood are already beyond their means.

While the mall might bring convenient shopping to surrounding neighborhoods, that's not all it will bring. Because this is a car-oriented shopping mall with acres of parking (2,300 parking stalls), traffic, pollution and toxic runoff will all increase. Traffic on Rainier Avenue, already backing up on a daily basis, will get more congested. Commuters, trying to avoid the traffic, will cut through the neighborhoods — more disruption.

These are some of the reasons why 27 diverse neighborhood organizations have formed the Dearborn Street Coalition for a Livable Neighborhood (DSCLN). We're concerned about the project's impact on local businesses and on the cultural centers of these vibrant Asian communities. Together, we're fighting to stop poverty now, right here in the neighborhood.

We're not opposed to development. We simply believe the Dearborn Street Project needs to be held accountable to the communities it dramatically affects. That's why we're asking Seattle's mayor and City Council to support our efforts toward a community-benefits agreement with the developer. That agreement would mitigate the project's detrimental impact on surrounding small businesses; on traffic congestion; and on the availability of livable-wage jobs, low-income housing and open space.

We don't want a shopping mall that will forever change the face of a vibrant community that has thrived here for decades. And, we certainly don't want a mall that drives up poverty. We want Seattle to strike a tangible balance between convenient shopping and the needs of our neighbors.

David West is executive director for Puget Sound Sage, an advocacy group for responsible development. Mai Nguyen is a member of the Dearborn Street Coalition for a Livable Neighborhood and a board member of the Minority Executive Directors Coalition.