Please post a comment (that means you!) by clicking on the title of this post and scrolling down--to let us know if you can make it, and to go ahead and start praying (that's right--we're putting words to our prayers starting here, on this blog). The info below is just to help inform us about the neighborhood a bit. If you have any trouble at all leaving a comment, you can email it to Molly and she'll be happy to post it for you. No problem at all.
We'll incorporate the prayers written here into the service. So, even if you can't be there, you can be a part of it by joining us in prayer for the neighborhood of South Lake Union, and giving us a way to give voice to your prayer in a Real Life community setting.
People
* South Lake Union is now one of Seattle's designated Urban Centers. The population roughly doubled between 2000-2007, and by 2024 more than 10,000 people are expected to live in SLU.
* In the 2000 Census, 2,231 people lived in Cascade. The median household income was $21,605 and 26% of residents made less than $10,000 a year. (For comparison, in 2000 the median income for Wedgwood was $62,784.)
* Vulcan, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's investment company, owns about 60 acres of SLU, which is about 30% of the total private property.
* Vulcan developments include high-end condos (Rollin St, Veer) and apartments (Alcyone, Alley24) but also the Borealis Apartments for those earning less than 80% of the King County median household income.
* Additional new low-income housing in SLU includes Denny Park Apartments, Lakeview Apartments, and Cascade Senior Housing which have much lower income limits (for example, Lakeview's limit is 40% of median income).
* Many of the older apartment buildings in SLU are owned by non-profits such as the Low-Income Housing Institute, Housing Resources Group, and Capitol Hill Housing.
Jobs
* In 2007, there were about 22,000 jobs in SLU. Seattle is projecting 16,000 additional jobs by 2024, including Amazon.com's new campus.
History
* Coast Salish Native Americans had recently lived south of Lake Union when a lumber company built a sawmill near where the Armory is now. Workers settled nearby and soon after Denny Park (1883) and Denny School (1884) were built.
* In 1957, Seattle removed residential zoning from SLU and tore out about 7 square blocks of buildings to construct I-5 along Eastlake Ave and access ramps along Mercer.
