By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Another issue under review by the neighborhood is loss of parking spaces caused by the Regrade's growing popularity, coupled with its new pedestrian connections to the Port of Seattle.

Since 1986, more than 500 parking stalls have been lost, mainly because of new development, according to Howard Anderson, a commercial developer and real estate broker.

One solution is to allow developers to build extra market-rate parking, an idea that currently runs counter to the city's goal of promoting mass transit.

Another hot button is the explosion of social service providers. At least 15 are in the neighborhood. One of the oldest is the Millionair Club on Western Avenue. It serves up 11,000 meals a month and dispatches more than 2,000 registered workers every day. It also provides shelter, job training and financial assistance.

But not everyone who hangs out on Western is registered for work through the Millionair Club. The club prohibits loitering, but "free-lancers" mill about looking for jobs from local contractors.

When work is scarce some turn to drinking and that is when trouble can start. The drinking leads to broken bottles and harassment, residents say.

Betty Stevenson, a director at the Millionair Club, sees a simple solution: "If we could get people to stop picking them up (for jobs), we'd see a lot fewer men on the street."