Mayor Durkin.
We want to bring something extremely important to your attention that needs addressing immediately please:
One of our tenants at the Emerald Landing building located at 2157 N. Northlake Way in Seattle had witnessed a pedestrian who had to walk along Northlake Way as a result of the adjacent sidewalk being obstructed by the RVs personal contents and garbage. This pedestrian stumbled which resulted in nearly being hit by a semi-truck passing by.
This sidewalk has continually been blocked by the RVs who have established residency along this road. The city’s lack of enforcement of the 72-hour parking rule is exacerbating this problem.
Our firm (along with other owners of buildings and businesses along Northlake Way ) has continually called in over 50 reports in the past year with very little if any results to address safety concerns. This continued unsafe corridor will eventually result in someone (or more) losing and/or risking their lives. The tents, RVs, campers are constantly creating waste and blockage. Drug use and the selling of drugs, and the littered paraphernalia are constantly within eyesight. Employees in our business’ feel safety is completely compromised given this ongoing condition.
Is death what it will take to get the City to act accordingly? To keep us safe and our businesses running?
Below is the account of the incident:
A man and woman, probably in their 60’s, were walking on the north side of N. Northlake Way in front of the cars parked along that side of the street. The sidewalk behind the cars that pedestrians would typically use is blocked in several places by the motorhomes and all their junk, and is heavily littered with trash. While walking on the street-side of the cars the woman briefly stumbled along the uneven road surface and was nearly hit by a semi truck driving along N. Northlake Way. The semi missed the woman by only a few inches. The semi was not driving fast and the woman was not being careless or not paying attention. It was 100% a situation where the environment is almost certainly creating these types of situations and will ultimately lead to severe if not catastrophic injury.