Lost in the hoo-hah over the opening of light rail this weekend, was a bit of tangentially transit related news that will have a huge impact on the quality of life for thousands of South Seattle residents: Safeway’s reversal of plans to shutter their aging Othello ST store, and instead invest $3 million in a long needed remodel.
In a saga that has long been chronicled on the Rainier Valley Post, Safeway had not only planned to close the store, but had put the property up for sale with a deed restriction that would have prevented future owners from bringing in a grocer, pharmacy or gas station. This was not only a cynical and self-serving effort to push customers to Safeway’s two other, much newer and much larger South Seattle locations, it would have been a devastating blow to a community whose redevelopment had focused on making it a walkable neighborhood.
The Othello Safeway is part of a retail complex located at the NW corner of MLK Jr. Way and S. Othello ST, just across the street from Link’s Othello ST Station. It is also conveniently nestled at the foot of the hill leading up Othello to the New Holly development, and just to the north of the not yet completed Othello Station residential development along MLK Jr. Way. This makes the Othello ST Safeway not just the only supermarket within walking distance of thousands of new, mixed income houses, townhouses and apartments, but also the closest supermarket to any of the stations on Sound Transit’s new Link light rail. And with proximity to a full-service grocery store one the most crucial factors in determining the ability of low income households to maintain a healthy diet, Safeway’s remodel, including expanded meat, seafood, produce and organics sections, will prove a boon to the entire community.
Safeway shows off remodel plans at Othello street fair
To its credit, Safeway apparently heard community complaints, and set up a booth at Saturday’s Othello street fair to trumpet the remodel to the crowds showing up to celebrate the opening of light rail. The $3 million refurbishment is perhaps less than Safeway has invested in other neighborhoods, and the store will still remain one of the chain’s smaller and more cramped local outlets in this age of modern megastores (certainly compared to its roomy, Rainier Ave. cousins), but it is welcome nonetheless. Whatever the motives and economics (such as the two, large developments planned for the Eastern side of the intersection, which might have included a competitor’s store had Safeway moved out), Safeway’s remodel can only be considered an act of responsible corporate citizenship, whereas its prior plans to sell the property with a deed restriction would have epitomized the opposite.
Those who judge light rail by mere ridership numbers miss the point; rather than just getting commuters from home to work and back, the goal is ultimately to help create a more walkable city where residents drive less, not because they have to, but because they are simply less dependent on their cars. And no neighborhood is truly walkable without easy access to healthy and affordable fresh groceries and produce.
Critics of mass transit, and light rail in particular, always complain that it costs too much.
But if residents could give up their car (or at least one car), any added tax burden would be significantly less than the savings accrued from the purchase cost, interest expense, taxes and licenses of a vehicle.
But one of the problems with mass transit in general is that unless you have access to a Park & Ride close by your stop, you run into the immediate problem of how to pick up your children at day care, or run by the store for needed groceries, and get them all home while on foot.
I tried it for a while (about three months) when my kids were young and my wife was working 2nd shift. I took the bus to about a half-mile from my kids day care, walked to the day care, picked up my kids, stopped by the local Safeway in the event we needed milk, etc., and then walked home (about another mile). In September it was a somewhat pleasant stroll, even though I was pushing an umbrella stroller with my one-year-old strapped inside, trying to keep my three-year old walking (she wanted to be piggy-backed), and carrying a gallon of milk and a briefcase at the same time. But when October came and I was trying to do the same in the dark and rain, I gave up and we purchased a second car.
So the point is – if you want to create a walkable neighborhood where cars aren’t needed, you need to have grocery stores, daycare, etc. within a short distance of the transit stop, but you also have to convert to the more “international” model of picking up small quantities of fresh groceries every day on the way home from work. Buying groceries in the American fashion – by the trunk or SUV full – isn’t going to work.
Way to go Safeway, figured they would announce it sooner or later. My mother(she retired a few years ago) worked at that store for a few decades, so I am a little familiar with it. It used to bigger than some other stores. In fact, my mother once told me of working in a Safeway Store that used to be in Georgetown that was in the flightpath of Boeing Field. I don’t want to give away too much, but this happened when Boeing was testing their latest product, a revolutionary jumbo jet, the 747. The Georgetown store was smaller than than the Othello St store, about 2 checkstands. Not sure from her descriptions, the Genessee St. Walgreens might have been bigger than it.
http://www.ejnet.org/rachel/rehw439.htm
Let’s not forget why we do not have decent public transportation. The auto did not come to dominate American transportation by chance or by public choice: It happened as part of a plan by automakers to buy-up and destroy mass transit companies.
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This is great news. I have volunteered at the community center near bye for the last 4 yrs and this store has always been an embarrassment to walk into. Run down and about 10yrs overdue. With all the new development in the area it seems a no brainer for Safeway.
Cynical?
If this is cynical, isn’t a lot of the zoning in the city, and for that matter, the land-use laws – in the same category? The city says we want low-cost housing and higher density, but how much grief and sorrow would I have to go through to turn my garage into a nice little low-cost cottage with a sewer hook-up and a separate electrical and water account for the tenants? Safeway’s just being forthright in trying to prevent their property from being used competitively against them. Imagine if Costco put a store/gas depot in there!
My husband & I live in Greenwood without a car. We couldn’t do it without a grocery store nearby. Groceries are important!
re 5: I thought that the free market ideology relishes competition. Guess not.
How does Goldy get to and from Drinking Liberally?
How does Greg Nickels get to work?
Good for Rainier Valley. Maybe they’ll finish putting in sidewalks someday.
The lightrail is just going to make it easier for black people to steal from safeway, the real reason Safeway was going to close down.
Look at the historical theft incidents in the area
http://www.seattle.gov/police/crime/historical.htm
rhp6033:
What about all the lost gas tax revenue?
How cute.
Steve has a sockpuppet.
How cute. Marvin’s making shit up again.
You know, Marvin, there is an admitted sockpuppeteer posting @12. He also likes to call gays “fags” and “queers”, as well as ignoring blatant racism. But seeing as you’re a hypocrite and he’s a fellow batshit-crazy wingnut, we’ll see no condemnation out of you.
Stupid Steve, Puddy sockpuppeted no one fool. Man do you understand what a sockpuppet is?
[Deleted — see HA Comment Policy]
@3 you may want to read up on the Public Utilities Holding Act of 1935(?) which required the electric utilities to divest themselves of the other businesses mainly their streetcars businesses and the subsequent 1946 Supreme Court decision upholding that act before you put the blame on the auto companies. Congress had a big hand in all this mess.
By they way we should have a free market, but don’t. If we did we might have private bus companies, jitneys and ride sharing cabs that picked you up at door and delivered to the next door. Unfortunately there are few new idea in the transit marketplace because of the government regulation and more often than not the poor and low income people in our cities are the ones hurt.