Behind Teresa Lord Hugel's desk hangs a watercolor she painted of a University District street scene. It's a whimsical, slightly abstract view, as if to say: This may be familiar ground, but here's another way of looking at things.
That creative tack comes in handy as Lord Hugel goes about her job as executive director for the Greater University Chamber of Commerce.
Besides a creative outlook, Lord Hugel's position calls for a strong grounding in reality.
Whatever else, Lord Hugel is real.
She's bright, direct, funny and impatient with talk that leads nowhere. In Seattle, the City of Nice in love with process, Lord Hugel is regarded in some quarters as refreshing.
She doesn't lack for self-confidence.
"I'm 53," she says. "I've been around."
"Around" includes Berkeley, Calif., where Lord Hugel's social vision was forged. She makes it clear the University chamber is not a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a bastion of traditional Republicanism.
"We don't support their political views," she says.
The University chamber has been around for more than eight decades, but one of its on-going challenges is relatively recent: the changing fortunes of University Way Northeast, from Northeast 50th Street to Campus Parkway. The Ave. And the Ave's street kids, to be exact. Retail health, in the city's busiest pedestrian corridor outside of downtown, is a top-of-mind issue.
So is getting the various U-District groups - police, social service agencies, the retail community, landlords, the city, the University of Washington, the faith community and street kids - talking and even working together.
The University chamber departs from the traditional chamber-of-commerce assumption that what's good for business is good for the community. This chamber is more likely to take a broader approach to issues, especially street kids, where public safety concerns are balanced by the better angels of human nature - a desire to treat the kids as something other than refuse.
"That's why I was wanting to work here," Lord Hugel, who has been on the job since September 2001, says. "It's very visionary."
Never a conformist
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wis., in 1951, Lord Hugel was the oldest of five daughters. Her grandmother, who had earned a master's degree and made ceramics in her basement, was "my guiding light," she says.
Higher education was second nature for the whole family.
"I was always just a little bit off," Lord Hugel recalled of her early years. "I didn't follow the typical Midwest conservatism."
Lord Hugel's coming-of-age began at the University of Texas at a time when the country seemed to be coming apart. She was involved in anti-Vietnam war protests there before transferring to the University of California at Berkeley.
After earning her bachelor's degree in the practice of art in 1977 Lord Hugel opened a custom-framing shop in Oakland and then went on to start a new career as an advocate for the disabled and affordable housing and fund raiser for the arts.
"I loved all those aspects of creative energy and spiritual connection," she says. "It was not a particularly good way to make a living."
Still, what Lord Hugel learned about grant writing, city bureaucracies and nonprofit boards would serve her well in Seattle.
StreetFair dust-up
When Lord Hugel and her husband visited Seattle in 1995 she fell in love with the place. After moving here she went to work for the Leadership Institute of Seattle and earned her master's degree in applied behavior science at Bastyr University in 1999.
In September 2001 she was hired as director for the Greater University Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber was not in robust financial shape. Now, she says, "we're as stable as we've been for a long time."
The Ave Plan, a process begun in 1994, was waiting for funding when Lord Hugel arrived.
The 2003 StreetFair, a chamber production, brought to a head simmering frustrations in the wake of the Ave Plan's sidewalk construction.
That year, by fire-department directive, vendor booths were backed up against retail fronts, preventing easy access into the shops. Lord Hugel bore the brunt of the merchants' anger.
"The Ave Plan widened our sidewalks and messed up StreetFair," says Gail Nowicki, chamber member and owner of Gargoyles, a statuary shop situated between Northeast 47th and 45th streets. "The wider sidewalks give more room for street kids to hang out.
"We need to focus on social programs before ripping up the sidewalks," Nowicki adds.
As for Lord Hugel, Nowicki says: "I think Teresa's up against a lot of obstacles when it comes to the city. I think she has a lot of integrity."
Don Schulze, chamber board member and owner of Schultzy's, 4114 University Way N.E., says his eatery has benefited from the Ave Plan.
"Incredible," he says of business. "The street lighting, the sidewalks, the trees. We're up 80 percent at night."
Schulze, who has been in business for 16 years, is equally affirmative about Lord Hugel.
"She's very good," he says. "This is the first time in years the chamber has been in the black. She's always upbeat. She's one of those people getting things done."
A social vision
Lord Hugel is optimistic about the Ave's retail prospects, citing the arrival of American Apparel in the old Pier 1 Imports space by the end of this month.
"We'd like to entice clothing specialty shops," she says. "We've heard loud and clear: more shopping."
Her social vision remains.
She serves on the board of directors for ROOTS (Rising Out Of The Shadows), an organization providing services, including housing, to young adults living on the streets.
She also serves on the North Precinct Advisory Board.
"I know, I know," she laughs about her busy schedule. "But I need to keep this community visible at all times."
And she keeps working to bring different parties to the table while making sure more than just talk happens.
Still, there are occasions when just talking is enough. Three times a year the chamber's Donut Dialogues bring street kids and cops together to do just that.
That's no little thing.
"I love what I'm doing," Lord Hugel says. "I think I've come into my personal power. I'm in the flow."
For more information about the Greater University Chamber of Commerce, go to www.udistrictchamber. org.
Mike Dillon is publisher of the Herald-Outlook. He can be reached at mdillon@nwlink.com.
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