A longtime Seattle small business owner says city officials and contractors abruptly shut down critical parking access to the Leschi business district without proper notice, putting neighborhood businesses and jobs at risk during the busiest season of the year.
Yousef Shulman, fourth-generation owner of Leschi Market, told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI that he arrived at his family’s store Monday morning to find nearly all nearby public parking lots fenced off as part of the South Leschi Marina Rehabilitation Project.
“This was not just an inconvenience,” Shulman said. “For a small neighborhood business, losing access means losing sales, and losing sales means the business and the jobs connected to it are put at risk.”
According to Shulman, the two public parking lots across from Leschi Market — located south of BluWater Bistro and next to the Leschi South Marina — were suddenly closed off Monday morning, along with additional street parking impacts on Lakeside Avenue.
The construction project also involved digging beneath the parking lots to install sewage, water, and electrical infrastructure for a marina pump-out station, while reducing Lakeside Avenue to a single lane during portions of the work. Shulman said the project would also eliminate several of the roughly 10 parking spaces directly in front of Leschi Market.
Leschi Market has operated in the neighborhood since 1948. “Like many small neighborhood businesses, we depend on reliable customer access to survive,” Shulman told KVI.
Shulman said business owners had known about the marina rehabilitation project for nearly nine years and had repeatedly been told parking lot work would occur during the fall months, with local businesses included in planning discussions beforehand. Instead, he said businesses discovered the closures only after arriving Monday morning to find the lots already fenced off.
“The required 10-day notice to impacted businesses had not been properly given,” Shulman said, adding that Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth arrived on scene after business owners contacted her.
According to Shulman, Hollingsworth informed them that the contractor had failed to provide the required notice, and the contractor allegedly admitted as much in front of city officials and business owners.
Shulman praised Hollingsworth’s response to the situation. “Joy has been amazing throughout this process,” he told KVI. “She showed up quickly, listened to the concerns of the businesses, took the situation seriously, and immediately began pushing to get answers.”
Although business owners were initially told work would pause pending further discussions, Shulman said construction activity resumed later that same day. The backlash from the community was swift. “More than 1,500 people wrote in and continue to write in, sharing their concerns and making it clear that this is not just a business issue, but a community issue,” Shulman said.
During a subsequent meeting with city officials and contractors, Shulman said the city initially resisted delaying the project, offering only to reopen the lots on weekends while claiming other changes would cost too much money.
Shulman said he pushed back hard during the discussions, warning city officials that businesses could be forced to close if the disruptions continued through the critical summer season. “I explained that losing approximately 140 parking spaces during the summer, reducing Lakeside Avenue to one lane, and taking away several of the only 10 spaces directly in front of Leschi Market would directly affect whether customers could reach us, whether employees could get to work, whether we could keep staff, whether we could pay our bills and vendors, and whether we could continue operating,” Shulman told KVI.
He also warned city officials that business owners would consider legal action if businesses were forced to shut down because of the city’s actions.
“I made clear that if businesses were forced to close because of this, we would have no choice but to hire a lawyer and pursue the city,” Shulman said.
Seattle Parks and Recreation also provided a statement to The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI Tuesday acknowledging the concerns raised by business owners and confirming the project delay.
“The SPR project manager and contractor were on site today and met directly with the neighboring businesses to listen to concerns and identify a path forward,” Seattle Parks and Recreation told KVI. “As a result of those conversations, we’ve agreed to pause construction after next week and will not resume until August. In addition, most of the parking lot will reopen this weekend to accommodate increased visitors for Mother’s Day.”
“We appreciate the business community working collaboratively with us on a solution, and we are committed to improving coordination as the project moves forward,” the department added.
When asked by Hoffman why neighboring businesses were not consulted before construction began, Seattle Parks and Recreation acknowledged a breakdown in the notification process.
“SPR’s construction contract required the contractor to contact the adjacent property owners 10 days prior to the start of construction, which did not occur,” the department said. “We are estimating mid-August for when work will resume.”
Shortly afterward, city representatives agreed to postpone the larger construction work until mid-August, according to Shulman. Additional meetings are expected in July to discuss mitigation plans for businesses when construction resumes.
However, Shulman said confusion continued after portions of the parking lot work were allowed to proceed through the week, leaving approximately 140 parking spaces still affected and businesses already reporting lost customer traffic.
“We are not against the South Leschi Marina Rehabilitation Project,” Shulman told KVI. “We understand the work needs to happen. What we are against is a process that shut down access to small businesses without proper notice, without meaningful coordination, and without a real plan to protect the businesses, employees, and customers who depend on this area every day.”
Shulman said local businesses are now calling on the city for a meaningful parking and traffic mitigation plan before any additional construction proceeds.
