Build the Streetcar

Build the Streetcar is a non-profit organization comprised of property owners, businesses, community groups and civic leaders, which supports building a streetcar line to service the South Lake Union, Denny Triangle and Downtown Seattle neighborhoods.

• SITUATION
• With thousands of new jobs and residents projected by the City of Seattle for the bustling, mixed-use South Lake Union neighborhood, a transit solution was needed to connect these new workers and residents to the city’s downtown core.


• Neither the proposed Monorail project nor Sound Transit were planning to serve the growing neighborhood.


• To realize the vision for a vibrant, pedestrian-focused neighborhood in South Lake Union, a transit solution was needed to help keep cars off the road.

• SOLUTION
• The Fearey Group launched an aggressive campaign to support building a modern streetcar in the South Lake Union neighborhood. The streetcar would connect South Lake Union, Denny Triangle and Downtown, meeting the neighborhood’s transit needs and spurring economic development. The aggressive two-year campaign included coalition building, message development, media relations, campaign management, government relations, fundraising and community relations.

• RESULTS
• In just two years, the streetcar campaign evolved from a far-fetched idea to a project supported city-wide by local politicians and community leaders alike.


• Through intense City Council outreach and lobbying, the streetcar project advanced from little Council support to obtaining unanimous or near-unanimous Council votes at key decision points and a final 7-2 vote to build the streetcar in June 2005.


• Aggressive media and community relations resulted in moving the media and neighborhood’s perception of the project from an “amenity” to an understood transit solution for three growing communities.


• After a much-anticipated Council vote in June, the streetcar project is now on track to operate by 2007.