Crossroads

The Crossroads neighborhood has an illustrative history as the vibrant cultural center of our city. From Japanese farmers in the mid 20th century to modern workers coming from around the world, the neighborhood has nearly always served as a nexus of our community’s diversity while connecting residents to employment centers and neighboring cities. And this diversity is reflected in the statistics – of all Bellevue neighborhoods, Crossroads has: 

  • the highest percentage of non-white population of all Bellevue neighborhoods (66%).
  • the highest percentage of people born outside the United States (57%).
  • the highest percentage of people who speak a language other than English at home (61%).

However, there are also figures that show how the neighborhood deserves extra attention from city leaders to ensure residents can share in our city’s prosperity:

  • 25% of residents speak English less than “Very well” (highest)
  • 15% of households with <$25,000 income (2nd highest)
  • 81% renters (2nd highest)
  • 24% commute by transit (highest)
  • Lowest mean household income
156th Ave NE is currently a 5-lane arterial with narrow sidewalks and no dedicated bicycle or transit lanes. CSB seeks to engage the local community and ask if road designs like this best serve the community’s needs. (Twitter)

Because communities of color have historically been left out of the planning process, it’s essential that city staff and advocacy groups reach out to neighbors and organizations in these areas to ask questions and receive feedback. Complete Streets Bellevue, in our mission to make Bellevue more walkable, bikeable, and transitable for all, wants to share organic conversations and ask how we can assist our Crossroads neighbors in making their community better. We aim to accomplish this through the following goals:

  1. Reach out to businesses, non-profits, neighborhood associations, and other organizations based in Crossroads to provide assistance as the communities they serve navigate through COVID-19.
  2. Engage these partners and ask how their customers, clients, residents, etc. are getting around in a COVID-19 world & what their transportation concerns are. 
  3. Prioritize conversations with the Crossroads community before others to gauge their interest as we seek to implement other CSB initiatives (e.g. community art crosswalks, rapid build bike infrastructure, etc).
  4. Partner with these communities to echo their concerns as they engage city staff in planning their neighborhood (e.g. Great Neighborhoods program, Mobility Implementation Plan, etc).

Header photo by Seattle Times

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