Reasserting the Place of Nature in Seattle’s Urban Creeks - Politics of Urban Runoff: Nature, Technology, and the Sustainable City - page 140

demands that simultaneous attention be given to people, the physical
environment, and their numerous interrelations.” 61
More diffi cult than negotiating with homeowners over the new street
design were the battles that erupted between municipal departments over
the modifi cation of right-of-way areas. In particular, the transportation
and emergency services departments cited concerns about the safety of
children with respect to the open drainage swales as well as access for
emergency vehicles and adequate provision for parking. 62 One SPU staff
member notes, “For SEA Street, the transportation department only ap-
proved the width of the street because it was a demonstration. They did
have an emergency response there and they've been down the street, but
they don't like it.” 63 SEA Street posed a direct challenge to existing public
right-of-way conceptions but had the advantage of being a project initi-
ated by the municipality; thus, SPU had more negotiating power with
other municipal departments and could successfully push for more radical
reinterpretations of street function. The battle between municipal experts
was won by the stormwater engineers, largely due to the support of the
mayor and the promise that this would be a one-off project—an experi-
ment, rather than a new approach to street design.
The SEA Street project has received regional and national acclaim as
an innovative approach to sustainable urban stormwater management.
In 2003, the project and the NDS Program received the “Vision 2020
Award” from the Puget Sound Regional Council for promoting a liv-
able Pacifi c Northwest region. And in 2004, the NDS program won the
prestigious Innovation in American Government Award from Harvard
University's Kennedy School of Government as well as $100,000 in prize
money. 64 Riding on this success, SPU would go on to replicate, expand,
and revise the SEA Street process with four more projects (see table 6.1).

Table 6.1
Natural Drainage System projects, 2001-2009

Year
completed

Size
(blocks)

Drainage area
(acres)

Project Watershed

SEA Street 2001 Piper's 1 2.3

110th Cascade Project 2003 Piper's 4 21

Broadview Green Grid 2005 Piper's 15 32

Pinehurst Green Grid 2007 Thornton 12 49

High Point 2010 Longfellow 34 129

Source : Seattle Public Utilities 2008.