Ravenna, Let’s Do Our Part

Rebecca Lavigne lives at the border of the Roosevelt and Ravenna neighborhoods in Seattle, within the Ravenna-Cowen Historic District, and serves on the Steering Committee of House Our Neighbors. The opinions expressed here are her own, and not meant to reflect her employer or anyone else.

Ravenna, Let’s Do Our Part

Rebecca Lavigne lives at the border of the Roosevelt and Ravenna neighborhoods in Seattle, within the Ravenna-Cowen Historic District, and serves on the Steering Committee of House Our Neighbors. The opinions expressed here are her own, and not meant to reflect her employer or anyone else.

The TL;DR version:

Right now, Seattle has a one-in-a-decade chance to create a more affordable, equitable future through the Comprehensive Plan Update. The City’s proposed One Seattle Plan could open up Northeast Seattle neighborhoods like Ravenna for more homes and more housing options. This would create opportunities for new residents as Seattle continues to grow while reducing the risk of displacing low-income communities and communities of color from the city. Unfortunately, Councilmember Rivera has introduced amendments to the plan that would prevent us from doing our part.

Action Alert: Tell the Seattle City Council to vote:  

• NO on CB 120985 Amendment 40 shrinking the size of the Ravenna Neighborhood Center by removing the area that is included in the Ravenna-Cowen Historic District.

• NO on CB 120993 Amendment 81 adding burdensome aesthetic requirements to new housing in historic districts.

If you live in the affected areas of Ravenna, Ravenna-Bryant, or Roosevelt, add your name to our neighborhood sign-on letter here.

The Backstory

The Problem

Seattle is increasingly unaffordable for families, seniors, and essential workers. Exclusionary laws have made it difficult to build enough homes, driving up rents and home prices. 

We must act with urgency to address our housing shortage and open more neighborhoods to more people. Furthermore, zoning has limited most new housing to areas that were historically redlined — exacerbating displacement — located on dangerous arterial streets, or near polluted highways. 

Roosevelt, located directly west of Ravenna, has added many new homes in the last 15 years near the light rail station that opened in 2021. This is a welcome contribution toward the need for 112,000+ new homes citywide over the next 20 years. 

New residents benefit from living in a walkable neighborhood with excellent access to transit. A grocery store, produce stand, tree-filled parks, a public high school, and one of the city’s most beloved bookstores are all located within a few blocks of home. The growing neighborhood brings more local customers to existing small businesses, along with new opportunities. Unfortunately, the majority of new homes in Roosevelt are located within 0.2 miles of Interstate 5, limited by zoning to a small area and exposing residents to elevated noise and air pollution.

This is partly because an honorary national historic district, the Ravenna-Cowen North National Historic District, was established in 2018 to halt a proposed upzone for the area directly southeast of the light rail station, under the guise of celebrating a neighborhood that is “intact and rich in history.” This “honorary” designation continues to be used by Friends of Ravenna-Cowen to block land use policy changes that would enable more people of all backgrounds and income levels to access housing in the area. Crucially, this denies potential future residents the opportunity to live in a neighborhood where they can walk to excellent transit, iconic parks, quality schools, and vibrant local businesses.

The Deeper History

Ravenna-Cowen’s honorary historic designation recognizes the area’s residential architecture and residents of the period from 1906 to 1969. This coincides with Seattle’s most notorious period of racial segregation, established through discriminatory housing policies, that effectively created a Whites-only neighborhood. Most Black, Asian, Indigenous, and People of Color were excluded from living in the neighborhood during this period. This historic district designation promotes a whitewashed version of history that erases this important aspect of our past and its continuing impact. This includes Seattle’s persistent racial wealth gap for Black and Native American residents, and a segregated school system resulting from where students live. Roosevelt High School, located just outside the district, is as racially segregated today as it was 50 years ago.

Over the last 10 years, new honorary national historic district designations have been used in predominantly white North Seattle neighborhoods to restrict housing near new light rail stations and in high opportunity neighborhoods, not just in Ravenna-Cowen, but also Montlake and Wallingford.

The Solution

Right now, we have a once-in-a-decade chance to create a more affordable, equitable future for Ravenna, Roosevelt, Northeast Seattle, and our city as a whole. We can allow more homes to be built, and a greater variety of housing types to suit the range of needs we all have, in high opportunity areas that are at low risk for displacement like Ravenna-Cowen. 

Take action to help build this future!

• If you live in the affected areas of Ravenna, Ravenna-Bryant, or Roosevelt, please sign the neighborhood letter.

• If you live elsewhere in Seattle, you can email the entire City Council at [email protected].

• Please consider joining us in person on September 12, if you’re able – we know many are not – at City Hall. Rally at 1:00 PM with the Complete Communities Coalition and House Our Neighbors, then sign up to testify during the Comprehensive Plan Public Hearing at 3:00 PM; sign up will be open from 2:30-6:30 PM.