After more than a decade, members of SeaTac’s Somali community believe the city is close to breaking up their community as it redevelops a key commercial center.<\/p>\n
SeaTac Center is a long, two-story building north of the airport on the city’s border with Tukwila and kitty-corner to its light-rail station, making it prime real estate to be redeveloped on a plot of land that the city of SeaTac has had its eyes on for more than a decade. The building also serves as a cornerstone of the local Somali community, and in the past 10 years, dozens of small businesses have moved into an indoor market nestled in the building’s center.<\/p>\n
Inside, traditional Somali and East African garments hang from the walls and the smell of perfumes, fragrance, and deli food mix as people make their way through the small hallways looking for clothes, something to eat, and even help filing taxes at a small accounting office, which was particularly busy on a recent evening. SeaTac bought the building in 2010 in such a backhanded manner that it ended up losing an $18 million lawsuit filed by the building’s former owners. Even still, the city resold it last December to the Spokane-based Inland Group to be turned into a mixed-use development.<\/p>\n
Nadifa Yusef is one of the business owners who rents a stall in the indoor market. The Somalian immigrant, a mother of five, has worked at her shop for 10 years. To support herself and her children, Yusef relies on her store, where traditional Somali dresses called dirac<\/em> coat the walls. Yusef said that if the city succeeds in knocking down the building without providing relocation assistance, she won’t have any place to do business and support herself. “What we’re asking is for our government to act with compassion, and act with heart,” Yusef said. “Don’t just break up our community and leave it at that as if we’re garbage.”<\/p>\n For context, it’s helpful to know a bit of the building’s history, including the $18 million lawsuit. During a three-month civil trial, the jury found that SeaTac officials had sabotaged the previous owner’s development plans, “strong-armed them into giving up their property and then violated the state’s Public Records Act by withholding city emails and documents<\/a>,” reported The Seattle Times.<\/em> The case was resolved in 2016. The judge found that the mayor in power at the time, Gene Fisher, intentionally wanted to secure the building, build condos, and force out the Somali community from “his neighborhood.” The trial judge stated in his decision that the city’s lack of honesty and transparency was extreme, and that “the city violated that duty so many times I’ve lost count.”<\/p>\n Regardless, the current SeaTac City Council in December voted 5-1 to approve the sale and redevelopment plans. The vote came shortly after the city’s only councilmember from the Somali community, Amina Ahmed, died in a car accident. SeaTac’s City Council is almost entirely white in the minority- majority city.<\/p>\n