The Chinatown-International District (CID) Coalition, along with Hirabayashi Place tenants and community partners, protested development of KODA Condos in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District this morning. Protestors disrupted KODA’s groundbreaking ceremony, held at 450 S Main St, 10:00AM-12:00PM, by surrounding the fenced-in lot where the event was being held. Elders, organizers and allies chanted, booed, and held up resistance signs. From the CID (aka Humbows Not Hotels) call to action:
Koda represents large-scale, profit-driven luxury development at of the expense of the existing community, which triggers demographic change, rising rents & property taxes, and displacement of longtime residents, mom & pop businesses, cultural institutions and community organizations.
The KODA luxury condo development will not provide affordable housing or commercial space, and it has not committed to supporting small community-serving businesses or agencies. Resident community has not felt heard or seen by developers or the city, contributing to legitimate concerns about rapid overall gentrification taking place in Seattle’s I.D. Grateful to organizers and our elders for leading this charge!!! #HumbowsNotHotels
Read more:
- 17-story condo project will move forward in Japantown next to Hirabayashi Place
- Why I’m against Koda Condos: historic racism, not historic preservation
- Worries of gentrification as first ever luxury high-rise breaks ground in Chinatown-International District
