In May, 2023 the CID was named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2023 list of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places. It was the first time a site in Washington state was listed as such by the National Trust.
“These places and the stories they tell illuminate the challenges and complexities that have always been a part of what it means to be American,” said Katherine Malone-France, Chief Preservation Officer at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “They are treasures for our entire country that we cannot lose. To lose any one of them diminished our shared history.”
The listing of the CID as an endangered historic place resulted from Sound Transit’s plan to construct a new light rail station in the District and its impact on the area. However, that plan appears dim because of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s opposition to it.
Nonetheless, Wing Luke Museum Executive Director Joël Barraquiel Tan described the ongoing threats to the CID as “long repeating patterns, naming gentrification, increasing racially-motivated crimes, unjust community development projects, and systematic neglect as primary culprits.”
For sure, the CID is constantly being challenged by a variety of threats including gentrification, crime, pubic neglect, business closures, public and private disinvestment, and harmful public projects. However, since the 1970s — when the Asian American community in Seattle earnestly began to rally around the preservation of the CID and to help the many low-income elderly residents there — the neighborhood has evolved a network of traditional and contemporary community organizations, and support services to face any issue that might prevent it from being a prolific Asian enclave.
Indeed, a number of community organizations have worked diligently to preserve the Asian American heritage and to strengthen its commercial and residential…
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