Notes taken at https://www.facebook.com/events/1691718717731762/ event by Urban Design Forum. Definitely not a word-for-word transcript, don't quote anyone from here, but I believe it is accurate in general.

Part 1, Chris talks (with powerpoint):
Hoping to grow grassroots support
Almost everyone who contacts them is in favor
Why was this space chosen for I5 in the first place?
22 years ago there was the Seattle Commons, this plan is really inspired by that (he was in architecture school at the time and created a proposal). The opposition to that was led by...The Stranger!
There's a similar size cap park in Phoenix
How does it solve exhaust? It has to leave the tunnel, right?
Benefit: runoff from the freeway gets solved
Energy generation from west facing elevation
Creates new green space
Their summer interns built a model of the entire city of Seattle in SketchUp
They want to build a stadium over the existing convention center bus station
Housing along the wall on Eastlake
A 2007 article said that I5 is reaching the end of its lifespan and needs to be rebuilt for current seismic codes etc. So we should be pushing to build this when that happens.
Next step: fund an engineering investigation, investigate air rights above i5

Part 2, Audience questions:
Q: [some guy] showed that highway pollution caused asthma among people who don't get benefits from highways. This park doesn't go in the area where the people suffering most pollution in Seattle live. Why shouldn't they get this?
A: people range from never freeways to always freeways. I feel that we are moving away from cars which will reduce the environmental impacts. I just don't know what we can do to ameliorate elevated freeways.
Q: so this doesn't mitigate the amount of traffic, its just going to be a box that fills with pollution?
A: scrubbers and air treatment in air vents out of the tunnel can make the air coming out of it cleaner than it is today
Q: ? High grade differences? (missed part of this question)
A: there will be elevators at some points, like in Pike Place market today
Q: you could even build more freeway lanes dug into the east hill next to it? Also the waterfront project could connect to this? And the convention center and arena, we have tons of housing going up now but no cool public buildings. Maybe the arena shouldn't be covered, it should be an awesome icon building. And the new housing on the wall will be blocked off really fast by new housing built next to it to have a view over the park.
A: yea we need to look at how land values will be affected and stuff
Q: yea and all the new buildings in SLU should be paying into a parks fund,  there's no parks and they need them.
Q: thinking about the topography of the park where it goes up over the arena it seems like a very steep park which seems like its hard for people going up and down so much
A: I think that's what makes it a unique Seattle park, having hills and tough grades just like the city.
Q: I think putting a giant hill in the middle doesn't benefit commuters and pedestrians who would want to use it
And does your team have any landscape architects?
A: no but we have friends who are
Q: What parts of this park could I visit in a wheelchair?
A: north of Denny
Q: ?? (missed)
Q: isn't this just going to bring in more gentrification? Like highline in new York? How do you keep the park safe without driving people out?
A: one of the reasons I like parks is they are the last public spaces. That line of thinking is what killed the Seattle Commons plan, and gentrification happened anyway. So we have to try and get the benefits out of it.
Q: as an architect I feel like you are missing the infrastructural stuff like how do buses feel going through that tunnel
A: yes there's a lot to work on
Q: why build up instead of going under? Why build a lid instead of digging i5 deeper?
A: well that could be a good idea, I think there is precedence for lids. Ideally we would put the city back the way it was but the cap is as close as we can get.
Q: can you talk more about how we could get the convention center to be the catalyst here?
A: a cap hill group (p punk?) Are working on this , talking to the center on what can be done to get benefits for the nearby residents. We think that's not going to work, they just offer superficial things. We want them to move it altogether. But maybe these guys can get that first piece of lid constructed near pike/Pine
Q: you said the freeway is about as wide as a football field is long. So that's a huge gap between two different places that we're going to close - how is that going to affect those two very different parts of the city that are going to be joined with a shared backyard?
A: I dunno!
Q: looping back to gentrification, we need affordable housing, this seems like a great opportunity
A: I think I didn't say this but it would be mostly affordable housing
Q: so the parks district does have money towards buying park space, and then the city has funding for affordable housing. But also I thought a school, could we put a school in?
A: yes! Down at the south end! We are working on gasworks park now, and the parks dept is fascinated by this and wants to learn more so we will do a presentation soon
Q: soooo have you talked to WSDOT? Cause we at sdot have gotten better at stuff but they haven't...
A: yea they don't like it. But we just have to ask them what the schedule is for replacing i5
Q: this is most similar to the Big Dig. Most i5 money will be federal funds because its an interstate...can we use that?
A:?? (missed)
Q: can you talk more about energy generation?
A: we need actual engineers for this, I don't know any more than you do
Q: I like grassroots stuff...I feel like this could go south to help get to Sodo which would help that first question, is there a potential to lower the highway where it is elevated and who would we as citizens talk to?
A: well to lower those elevated sections they really need to go underground and that would be amazing
Q: could do awesome pedestrian stuff like the Spanish Steps, down along the wall
Q: park stuff like outdoor theatre, outdoor cafes
Q: how much thought has gone into transit? Like what goes along Eastlake now?
A: well mostly Eastlake is buses parked. They'll go somewhere. There's the transit station under the stadium. Maybe when they rebuild i5 they could put in a transit lane.
Q: what are the implications for air quality for housing along that wall? Or a school?
A: yea engineers would know that
Additional from the audience: anyway there's already affordable housing just near there so they're already breathing that air

// I had to leave at this point, but there were clearly more questions coming.