Letter to the editor: Make Lynnwood City Center more pedestrian-friendly

Dear Lynnwood City Council:

PLEASE, if you expect more transit riders and pedestrians (as you have expressed recently) consider what Lynnwood is like for pedestrians.

Lynnwood City Center is completely car-centric. Pedestrians are merely a nuisance to the majority of Lynnwood right now. I traverse Lynnwood on foot daily. You allowed City Center at Lynnwood to be built, and then allowed the hotel next door to take away the sidewalk between City Center and the Transit Center on 200th for a block. So we either have pedestrians walking on 200th in the road, or pedestrians who have to go three to four long blocks out of their way. Do councilmembers walk through Lynnwood city center to experience what it’s like for pedestrians and transit riders? Have you tried to cross the streets in the time allowed at the lights? Have you experienced drivers blocking crosswalks? Have you seen the filth on the sidewalks that is never cleaned up?

The area of 44th and 196th is the heart of Lynnwood and it’s an ugly area where broken glass and garbage sits for months on the sidewalks. Does Lynnwood have any cleaning crews? Perhaps we need more? What about police walking the streets? Everett is doing that on Colby now and having excellent results. The only police I see are passing by on their motorcycles or in their SUVs. If you expect transit riders who don’t own vehicles (which you did express you expected when approving City Center at Lynnwood and SHAG) please make Lynnwood more pedestrian friendly.

From my experience as a pedestrian in Lynnwood, it is very unpleasant to be a pedestrian in Lynnwood. I have waited through two traffic lights for a walk signal after 7 p.m. in the rain while trying to cross 196th to make it home from work numerous times. Is it possible to make pedestrians more of a priority at lights? Has Lynnwood thought of lowering the speed limit through its city center to 30 mph now that residents are living right on 196th? Drivers are rarely staying under the current speed limit of 35. Lowering it to 30 may get folks to slow down to 35 or 40.

There are many things that could be done to make Lynnwood a safer (and more pleasant) place for pedestrians and transit riders. Please take some time to think about us during your upcoming retreat. Thanks for your time.

Lisa Michele
Lynnwood

  1. Lisa Michele,

    You are so correct, City Center is not for pedestrians or people who want to live here.
    The City allowed a Business to have 9 Industrial Generators running 24 hours seven days a week right in the heart of City Center. located at 4200 194th S.W..
    When the apartment building located 250 feet to the East of this Business complained of the constant noise (over the Legal Decibles) we were called liars, ignored and even had a City Employee in my face saying (you’re one person, we are not concerned about one person).
    I was not just one person, I was the one person standing in front of City Council asking for their help!

    All we asked for was that this Business run Legal, the City has a Noise Ordinance Law but have not enforced it with this Business. They have with other Business’s, but not this one. I also was the one that had to prove (with pictures) that they were in the beginning running Generators with Diesel Fuel, with black smoke filling the sky around this area on a daily basis.

    I understand this Business has been sold to a Company from the East Coast and the noise is still over the Legal Limit on a daily basis.
    Many people in our building have moved, saying “nothing will change” and they were correct, nothing has changed with this Business!
    Not once did a City Employee come into our building and listen to what we must listen to on a 24 hour basis!

    Also when the Shag building was built it was built right up to the sidewalk, what happened to the Law that said new Buildings must be 15 feet back from the side walk?
    If this Law was changed I would like to see it in writing.
    They have since tore up a small section of the sidewalk and made room for Delivery and Pickup only. But you’ll still see cars parked in the lane of traffic with no-one in the car.
    The Police have done all they can to stop this but even with a Police Car parked at the end of the block, people still double park.
    They also have tried parking in our Building parking Lot. Which has forced all Residents here to have a “Parking Pass” for all visitors.

    We have asked many times, who is running the City?

  2. Yes Lisa, I agree with your comments. Lynnwood is car-centric. I too am a daily walker in Lynnwood. I feel that some days I’m taking my life in my hands just trying to get in a walk or run an errand. I wish every intersection had red light cameras. No one comes to a full stop. There is little enforcement of speeding. We finally did get a machine that says ‘your speed is’ on 60th. Half the time it is dysfunctional (I’ve called). It doesn’t really matter though, since everyone still speeds on that road. I’ve seen cars ‘pass’ on 60th, 64th, and 68th! I carry my pepper spray as well, since I no longer feel safe in Lynnwood. I would move if I could.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.