On Jan. 13, residents of Haller Lake, Maple Leaf, Licton Springs, Pinehurst, Victory Heights and Lake City met in the President's Room of North Seattle Community College and joined together to form the "Citizens for a Liveable Northgate." On Jan. 7, over 100 members of these communities had met to discuss various upcoming developments around the Northgate area of Seattle which will critically impact their respective neighborhoods. An additional meeting of the Steering Committee and representatives of the various neighborhoods was held on Jan. 16.

Of particular concern for the "Citizens" is the pending Department of Construction and Land Use decision on the General Development Plan for the Northgate Mall as proposed by the Simon Group of Indianapolis, Ind. Additional concerns are the various developments planned by Landmark, King County Metro, and the coming of light rail. All of these planned developments go beyond the scope of Neighborhood Councils, and need the attention of an overall watchdog group.

Some of the concerns that we have are traffic mitigation, Thornton Creek, sidewalks, open space, public meeting space, library, urban trail, light rail, and public rest room facilities. It is urgent that these concerns by the citizens of the neighboring communities be met, but due to the lack of public notice and public meetings, it appears that a rush is on to issue permits and start construction. We do not want to delay construction interminably, but we do want our elected and appointed officials to understand and alleviate our concerns.

-NEAL CURTIN,
Maple Leaf