Columbia City & Hillman City Street-Level Survey

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Originally planned only for Columbia City, the community decided to include its neighbor to the south, Hillman City in its street-level survey held on April 1st, 2006. Currently, most people do not walk from Hillman City to Columbia City, but linking the two neighborhoods, connected by Rainier Avenue S makes sense in the long term for a more pedestrian friendly community.

Please take a five minute survey, linked at the bottom of this page and let us know what you think of the findings from the Columbia City & Hillman City street-level survey!

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Map of Streets Surveyed in Columbia City & Hillman City

Click on any map for a larger view

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As indicated in the maps above, the Columbia City & Hillman City survey areas followed Rainier Avenue S from S Alaska Street, at the beginning of the main commercial district of Columbia City to S Juneau Street at the end of the main commercial district of Hillman City. People walk in each of the two business districts, but tend to drive between the two areas. Why? Most likely because the area between the two, roughly S Hudson St to S Lucile St are not destination points nor very "walkable"- they are filled with graffiti, illegal dumping, abandoned lots, and litter. By including this corridor in this survey, we can begin to have a record of what it looks like today but hopefully, what it could become- a more walkable area that connects two neighborhood business districts.

Findings of the April 1, 2006 street-level survey:

Community members collected assets & opportunities (what they liked and what they wanted) and deficits & concerns (what they didn't like and what they thought were problems) along Rainier Avenue S from Columbia City to Hillman City to document the positive and negative aspects of the physical environment of the area.

To learn more about the information being collected in our street-level surveys, click here.

Asset Findings:

Table 1:

Table 1 above lists the most frequently collected positive conditions (assets) organized by feature. For example, most of the asset or opportunity incidents were found in the business category with 20 incidents collected. 13 incidents of buildings in good condition with architectural detail were collected. The third most collected category was along sidewalks with 11 incidents collected. Community members found some of the sidewalks were clean, in good condition & safe for walking and in two cases, thought the business advertising boards (sandwich board) were well displayed. Additionally, 8 incidents of well maintained planters were collected. Currently, community members have collected 98 assets in Columbia City & Hillman City on April 1st, 2006. For a complete list of all the assets collected in the survey, click here. (Excel document)

Deficit Findings:

Table 2:

Table 2 above lists the most frequently collected negative conditions (deficits) organized by feature. Community members collected the most deficit conditions along the sidewalk with 27 incidents collected, which include litter, sidewalk pavers, and uneven pavement concerns among others. There were a total of 136 deficits or concerns collected by community members in Columbia City & Hillman City neighborhoods on April 1st, 2006. For a complete list of all the deficits collected in the Columbia City & Hillman City survey, click here . (Excel document)

Deficit Conditions Found and Sent to the City of Seattle

There are four deficit conditions which are recognized by Sustainable Seattle as priorities. These include: graffiti, potholes, large dumping and serious incidents of uneven pavement. These conditions are sent to the respective City of Seattle agency immediately after they have been collected. This pie graph summarizes the number of these priorities which were sent to the City as compared to the total number of deficit concerns collected. In Columbia City and Hillman City there were a total of 136 deficit conditions collected out of which 29 were sent to the City as priorities. For a list of the conditions sent to the City of Seattle, please click here. (Excel document)

What do you think of the results of the street-level survey in the Columbia City & Hillman City neighborhoods?

If you work or live in Columbia City or Hillman City, we would love to hear what you think of these findings. Your opinion is important for understanding community priorities related to the physical environment along the main business district of the neighborhood.

Please click HERE to tell us what you think of the results and share your thoughts about the neighborhood!

Please click HERE to read a summary of the results of the on-line survey to learn more about what others in Columbia City and Hillman City think of the findings of this survey (as of July 6, 2006).

Back to Columbia City Main Page

Back to 2006 Street Level Surveys