Youth engaged in planning, education, and leadership at Yesler Terrace.The Yesler 2014 summer teen team hit it big at their "Yes for the Best & Nothing Less!" community charette event! Held at the Yesler Terrace Community Center on August 13th, the 8-teen team activated their training, experience, and committment to do their best at the event.
Seattle Housing Authority provided the food, fruit, and water...(no high frutose, soda, or cookies allowed). And a range of city partners on the project provided interactive information tables from their respective departments.
Seattle Department of Transportation Director Grace Crunican surprised the teens and staff with working the SDOT booth herself handing out bike maps, safety info, coloring books, crayons, and advise on the upcoming Seattle streetcar project.
Mark Troxel from Planning and Development answered Center City questions and introduced kids to green building and design process. It is a hard topic to translate into fun but Mark made it fun, entertaining at times, and added his wit to the event. Vince Lyons from the Design Review Program showed up also and was excited about the impact of the program. Martha got grilled on design process and she shot back with "How can we influence how the redevelopment looks on the outside? What about signage?"
Attendance was good with about 35 youth under 10 years old and about 15 teens between 13 and 19. It was thought that events in the future should have more "entertainment" with local performers covering topics like social, economic, and environmental equity and equality. The pizza was great, but some of the more costier "draws" for teens could not happen this time. Yesler 2014 teens are preparing for a food summit event in October and are planning to make sure they have more "Bang"!
A report of their findings and design suggestions will be submitted to the SHA Board of Commimssioners and SHA/CollinsWoerman staff in October for inclusion in any public record opinion on the upcoming redevelopment.
The teens did an exemplary job and their plans and ideas helped to make this event a success!
