Beacon Hill Blog

A look at Beacon Hill in 2008

The Beacon Hill Blog started publishing in October, so we don’t have a whole year’s worth of stuff to look back at as 2008 passes into history. We do, though, have the last quarter to reminisce about. Here are some photos of the Hill this autumn and early winter from the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. We would like to add special thanks to the folks who have posted photos to the pool so far. Beacon Hill has some amazing photographers and we appreciate your vision and generosity in sharing that vision with all of us. Happy New Year, everyone!

Tags: new year, retrospective

Beacon Bits: Bus delays and violent behavior

• Did the “holiday” changes to Metro bus schedules this week catch you by surprise? Here is the information about the schedules through Wednesday. Note that the 38 is on a normal schedule, and the 36 and 60 are on “reduced weekday schedule.” To find out how the reduced schedule affects you, go to http://metro.kingcounty.gov/ and enter your route number, then look for the trips marked with “H”; those trips are cancelled.
• A Junior Achievement poll states that a disturbing number of teens are nonchalant about violence; Seattlest discusses this in the context of violence in South and Southeast Seattle.

Tags: bus, metro, teens, violence

Snowmageddon noon-hour video review

Below are time-lapse movies of the south end of the Stevens Place triangle park, squeezed down to about a minute per hour, taken during the hour between 12:00pm and 1:00pm each day from December 13th through December 28th.

It’s interesting to watch the evolution of the snow. It starts so innocently. (Click the “More” link for following two weeks of video.)

More »

Tags: snow, stevens place park, time-lapse, triangle park, video

It’s melting!

We are emerging from our snowed-in kitchen full of Christmas cookies and leftover food, to find that, for the first time in a couple of weeks, we can actually see our lawn again. There hasn’t been too much to post about for the last couple of days; “the streets are still slick, drive carefully” and “UPS still hasn’t brought our Christmas presents” seem to be the most common topics around here.

Now that we are able to leave the Hill without fearing for our lives on icy roads, however, it seems like a good time to look back at the last couple of weeks and talk about how it went. What did you think of the city’s handling of the snow and ice? How about Metro? Did you have to make extreme changes to your holiday plans? Did you enjoy the snow? Did you hate it? Tell us what you think, please.
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Merry Christmas from the Beacon Hill Blog!

We wish you all a very peaceful, safe, warm, and happy Christmas!

– Wendi and Jason

Tags: christmas, holiday

A wish for wheels that work: can you help?

The snow is melting, but it’s not gone yet, and things could still get worse before it’s gone. While we’re still in this mess, the folks at the Rainier Valley Post are helping organize a network of Southeast Seattle neighbors with reliable snow-friendly vehicles to help people with critical travel needs. They have volunteers in several areas, but still need people with chains or 4WD in Brighton/Othello, Rainier Beach, and Beacon Hill. We hope they won’t be needed for long, but wet snow is very slick, so lots of people are still stuck at home. If you can help, please do.

Tags: driving, snow, volunteer

Bring in that garbage… for now

If you put your garbage out today, you can bring it back in. The city sent us this statement:

“Residential garbage, recycling, food and yard waste collection has been delayed in Seattle today, Wednesday, Dec. 24, due to dangerous road conditions. Wednesday residential customers will be collected next Wednesday Dec. 31.

“The city’s collections contractors have been running limited commercial routes around the clock this week, providing service urgent commercial accounts where containers are accessible. Service priorities include hospitals, health facilities, grocers and other accounts with severe capacity constraints…

“…Residential collections were suspended Thursday Dec. 18, through today, Wednesday Dec. 24, due to snow fall and road conditions. Limited commercial routes have been run Monday through Wednesday this week reaching approximately 30 percent of the businesses accounts in the city. Contractors are continually inspecting all neighborhoods throughout the day for service opportunities.

“Due to the Christmas holiday on Dec. 25, Thursday and Friday customers will be delayed one day. Thursday customers will be collected Friday, Dec. 26, and Friday customers will be collected Saturday, Dec. 27.

“Customers whose collections have been delayed by a week can set out double their normal amount of garbage at no additional charge. When setting out extra waste, customers are encouraged to place perishable food items in their collection containers and set bagged non-perishable items next to the containers. Customers who have had their collections missed two weeks in a row can also take their waste to Seattle’s Recycling and Disposal Stations, where it will be accepted at no charge.”

Tags: garbage

Zipcar abandons Beacon Hill; suggests we walk to Judkins Park instead

Some months ago, Erica C. Barnett of The Stranger noted concerns that Zipcar, the company that consumed the much-loved Flexcar, would slash service in Seattle as they have already done in LA and San Diego.

There was reason to be concerned. Beacon Hill is about to lose its only Zipcar site on top of the hill, as well as the nearby site at 29th and Columbian Way. Zipcar members recently received this email:

“The Zipcar location at Beacon Ave S/Lander St is being closed December 31, 2008, but have no fear — there’s a Zipcar located just down the street at S Charles St/Hiawatha Place.”

Just down the street? That’s a long walk for Beaconians, roughly 1.4 miles. See the map below, in which doomed Zipcar sites are marked in red, and the remaining site at Charles and Hiawatha is marked in green:

View Larger Map

Zipcar’s website currently does not mention that these sites are going away, so some folks might have planned Zipcar memberships as Christmas gifts, only to find that their local Zipcar will be gone after New Year’s Eve.

This change seems extremely short-sighted, given the forthcoming opening of the Beacon Hill light rail station across the street from the Beacon/Lander Zipcar (which is currently in the Red Apple parking lot), and the Columbia City light rail station a block or two away from the Columbian/29th Zipcar. The locations would seem to be ideal for use in conjunction with transit.

You can tell Zipcar what you think by writing their Seattle General Manager, Carla Archambault, at Zipcar, 380 Union Street, Seattle, WA 98101; phoning 206-323-3539, or faxing 206-682-1657. The email address they give is company-wide (not just Seattle) so it may not be useful, but it is info@zipcar.com.

Tags: north beacon, red apple, zipcar

“I asked for ice for my drink, but this is ridiculous”

We’re starting to notice a theme in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool:

Tags: ice, snow

Parking changes coming soon to light rail station area

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has released a preliminary proposal for neighborhood parking around the Beacon Hill light rail station. You should receive a mailer about the proposed plan soon. Note that the current proposal will be for a restricted parking zone, or RPZ, in the roughly 1/4 mile area around the light rail station, with some exceptions in front of businesses and around the library and Stevens Place (Triangle) Park that will have a time limit instead.

The parking changes will be installed on a rolling basis this Spring, and should be complete by the time the light rail begins service in July. To park in the RPZ without penalty at that point will require an RPZ pass, which will cost $45/two years, with a discount available for low-income households.

We note something interesting in the FAQ about these changes: “Enforcement will also increase to help those new regulations function properly. Increasing enforcement will affect all types of parking violations, including vehicles parked too close to driveways or blocking fire-hydrants. Please obey the law.” The new RPZ may have some unexpected consequences for some people in the area who have become accustomed to relatively lax parking enforcement in this neighborhood.

If you have an opinion about the changes, there are several ways to tell SDOT what you think. An open house is scheduled for Saturday, January 10, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm at El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Avenue South. Other open houses are scheduled to be held at New Holly and at the Starbucks building in Sodo.

You can take an online questionnaire about the parking plan. Read the mailer, then fill out this questionnaire.

Additionally, you can email your comments and questions to lightrailparking@seattle.gov, or comment by phone at 206-684-8186. You may call Sound Transit’s language lab hotline at 1-800-823-9230 for translation if you need to speak in a language other than English.

Tags: beacon hill station, light rail, north beacon, parking

Things to know amid the ice and snow

It’s looking like an ugly commute and a good day to call in “snowsick.”

If you do need to get out and about, Metro’s Ice and Snow service status page may help.

Other information that might be useful today:

• The branch libraries are open only 1:00 – 5:00 pm today because of the weather. (The Central Library opens an hour earlier, at noon.)
• Some King County services have closures or reduced hours.
• Seattle Parks and Recreation’s School Age Care Winter Break Camps at all community centers are closed today. Regularly scheduled programming at Seattle Parks and Recreation facilities has been cancelled, but the facilities will be open.
• The University of Washington, Seattle’s community colleges, and just about every other college in town are closed. Most of the K-12 kids are already on winter break.
• Monday garbage pickup is delayed one day. Put it out on Tuesday (unless they delay it again!).

Neighborliness and snowstorms

Yesterday we were keeping warm and enjoying the snow. I was working on pulling together some things to post on the blog, and getting ready to go out and take some photographs and see what people were up to in the snow.

Then we got a phone call from our friend Kristen, telling us she was worried about her cat. I went to Kristen’s and saw that her 7 month old kitten Julius was indeed very ill, and needed to visit a vet immediately.

But there were 11 inches of snow outside, and none of us had chains, snow tires, four wheel drive, or anything else that would be helpful for driving to a vet. Additionally, there are no emergency vets in Southeast Seattle. We would have to go to West Seattle, Wallingford, Bellevue, or Lake City. I guess you can’t call 911 and get an ambulance for a cat, can you?

So we turned to the Internet. We posted on Twitter: “Trying to find emergency vet transportation for someone, to Wallingford from Beacon Hill. Sick kitten who needs a vet, and we have no chains”. We also posted an appeal on the Beacon Hill mailing list.

And soon someone did reply. I don’t know if he would want us to mention his name for this, so I won’t, but a kind Beacon Hill neighbor drove Kristen and Jason up to the emergency vet, and waited there with them until they were able to see the vet and then come home.

It is nice to know, that despite some of the neighborhood problems, that people are still neighborly and help each other out. Thank you to the neighbor who helped save Kristen’s cat.

(The kitten turned out to have an intestinal blockage. He had surgery last night and apparently the blockage was caused by eating part of a cat toy — one of those small fur-covered little mice. The surgery went well and Julius is resting now.)

Tags: neighbors, snow

Brrrrrr!

So far the snowstorm has dumped a bunch of snow on us, but not a horrible amount of wind on North Beacon Hill. Cross your fingers that it doesn’t get worse. With all the snow we’ve gotten, though — and it’s been falling steadily since yesterday afternoon — getting off the hill today is likely to be extremely difficult.

Please let us know what it’s like in your part of the Hill — traffic getting around OK? Particular places to avoid? Storm damage?

A little while ago I saw some folks skiing up Beacon Avenue. There’s always that method of getting around.

We’re not sure how much snow we’ve got this time — I just measured 7″, but I’m not sure how clear the spot I measured was before this storm, or if blowing snow has affected it. I would say we probably got at least 4″, though. That may be a conservative estimate.

We hope you are all keeping warm and being safe tonight!

Tags: snow

Do you recognize this car?

A hit-and-run driver in a dark-colored Chevy Suburban hit Michal’s car at 18th and Hinds on Friday morning at 4:13 pm. The driver might have thought he or she would get away scot-free, but the crime was recorded for posterity.

Here are two videos; the first shows the car that did it, the second shows the actual crime. If you know who this was, please email Michal at furchin@gmail.com.

Thanks Michal for posting to the mailing list — hope this helps you find the culprit!

Tags: hit and run

Beacon Bits: skiing in the park, hiking to the store, and eating Cajun food

• Debera Carlton Harrell writes about cross-country skiing at Jefferson Park, and snow-day life on the 36 route — The P-I Big Blog
• JvA has some photos of a snowy-day trek to the Graham Street Grocery — Mid Beacon Hill
• Crawfish King Cajun Seafood Restaurant is soon to open in the International District at 701 Eighth Avenue South. Yes, I said Cajun — Seattle Times
• Craig Thompson writes about his experience running as a write-in candidate to the State House against Sharon Tomiko Santos, and why Santos was opposed — Rainier Valley Post

Tags: 36, craig thompson, crawfish king cajun, graham street grocery, international district, jefferson park, snow

More snow pictures (and a video)

More snow pictures that people have uploaded to the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. We’d love to see your snow pictures too!

About the above video, Bridget says “This is a mostly safe place for kids to sled down. Cars aren’t really around so if you’re in the ‘hood check it out. The entry is across the street and north a little bit from the tennis courts at the Beacon Playfield.”

Tags: snow

Storm warning in effect

The National Weather Service has a Winter Storm Warning in effect for us from 4:00 pm Saturday to 4:00 pm Sunday. Here are some relevant excerpts (punctuation and lower-case added to make it more readable):

“A strong frontal system will spread precipitation inland over western Washington starting Saturday afternoon and continuing through much of Sunday. A combination of blizzard conditions, heavy snow, strong winds and ice buildups are expected…

“A major winter storm is on tap this weekend. Heavy snow is expected to develop along the coast on Saturday afternoon and then spread into the interior of western Washington early Saturday evening…

“Along the I-5 corridor north of Tacoma, including Seattle and Everett, storm-total snowfall of 4 to 8 inches is expected. In general, lighter amounts will occur near the Cascade foothills with heavier amounts further west along the shores of Puget Sound.”

The winds further east in the foothills are supposed to be extreme, and our winds, though less strong, will not be fun either. Be prepared.

Tags: snow, storms

Snowboarding Holgate

You may have seen some photos at the Rainier Valley Post of snowboarding down Holgate. Now, thanks to our Beacon Hill neighbor Olav, here’s some video!

Tags: holgate, snow, snowboard

Friday snow updates

Craig Thompson reports on routes to avoid via the mailing list:

• Holgate
• McClellan
• College, toward Rainier
• Massachusetts, between 17th & Rainier

For getting off the hill, 14th or 15th to the Jose Rizal Bridge is OK. For the return trip, 12th seems OK.

Thanks Craig!

Tags: driving, snow, streets

Still need to do that Christmas shopping and the buses aren’t running?

We hope the buses are able to get us where we need to go today, but yesterday that was frequently a problem. (Metro’s Ice and Snow Transit Service Status page will tell you if your bus is still cancelled or rerouted.) If you can’t get off the Hill to do your Christmas shopping, don’t forget our recent post about holiday shopping right here on Beacon Hill. It might give you some ideas for ways to get your holiday shopping done here in our neighborhood — no gasoline, tire chains, or fender-benders necessary. (The comments on that post include some other suggested places to shop on the Hill, so check those out too.)

Tags: christmas, gifts, holiday, north beacon, retail, shopping