North Beacon Hill Council to meet Thursday

The North Beacon Hill Council monthly meeting is at 7:00 pm, Thursday, October 7, at the Beacon Hill Library community room, 2821 Beacon Avenue South. Everyone is welcome. As a reminder, you are part of the council when you attend your first meeting, and you have voting privileges when you attend your second.

Here is this month’s agenda:

  • 7:00 Welcomes and Introductions
  • 7:05 Presentations by Community Groups (Five minutes per group)
    • Beacon Avenue/South Forest Street Planting Project – Matt and Sara Stubbs
    • Beacon Hill Business Association – Robert Hinrix or representative
    • Beacon Hill Pedestrians/Bike Committee – Dylan Ahern or representative
    • Beacon Rocks! Festival – Paul Ray or representative
    • Jefferson Park Food Forest – Glenn Herlihy or representative
    • Jefferson Park Playground – Freddie Merrell or representative
    • Jefferson Park Reservoir Gatehouse Historic Designation – Mira Latoszek*
    • Lewis Park Re-Forestation – Dee Dunbar and Vinh Nguyen*

    *These groups have asked for letters of support by the Council and will be given extra time on the agenda.

  • 7:55 Vote to approve submitting Council letters of support for Gatehouse Historic Designation and Lewis Park’s Parks Opportunity Fund Grant
  • 8:00 Steve Louie, Neighborhood Coordinator and Judith Edwards, Chair – City Budget Cuts: Loss of neighborhood service center, cuts to Neighborhood Matching Fund, impacts and strategies
  • 8:10 Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Saturday, October 16, 9:00 – 12:00, Beacon Lutheran Church:
    Small group action planning for our town center. This link allows you to review the areas prioritized at the Mercer Middle School open-house earlier this summer.
  • Other announcements
  • 8:15 Executive Board Meeting/Closure

The next NBHC meeting will be held Thursday, November 4, at 7:00 pm.

The Joint Greater Duwamish District Council/Southeast District Council meeting is Wednesday, October 27, at 7:00 pm at the Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th Avenue South in Columbia City. Stella Chao, Executive Director of the Department of Neighborhoods and a representative from the City Budget Office will take questions and input on the Mayor’s proposed 2011-12 budget and the cuts which are proposed for the Neighborhood Service Centers and Neighborhood Matching Fund.

Sound Transit purchasing property affected by voids

Sound Transit is spending nearly $500,000 to purchase a home on the brink of one of the notorious “voids.” BHB news partner The Seattle Times has the story:

Christine Miller-Panganiban discovered a 21-foot-deep hole in her yard, at 2605 18th Ave. S., in March 2009. She and her husband, Rommel Panganiban, will receive $400,000 for the house, $11,350 for giving work crews access to the property and $65,000 compensation for stress.

Sound Transit will be seeking to recover expenses such as this from tunnel contractor Obayashi Corporation. Read more in The Times.

Beacon Bits: Classes, workshops, and work parties

Starting today and running through the 15th, the Goodwill Job Training and Education Center, just below the north tip of Beacon Hill on Lane Street, will register people for free classes in the eight-week session that runs from October 18 through December 9.

Classes include a Retail and Customer Service Training Program, Community College 101, the National External Diploma Program, and Adult Basic Education classes covering English, computers, reading, writing, math, and cashiering.

Additional classes may be available. For class availability and enrollment information, call (206) 860-5791.

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The performance space at Art's on Beacon. Photo by Wendi.
ART’s on Beacon is hosting a Culture Forum Acting Workshop from October 11 through December 19, for “actors and non-actors alike focusing on the healing aspects of performance.” Workshop participants will have the opportunity to share their work in a three-night performance to be held at the ART’s on Beacon theater.

Workshop participation is limited. Workshop sessions will run Mondays through Thursdays from 6:30 through 9:30 pm. For more information, contact Michael Perrone at 206-861-6260 or email him at egodd1@msn.com.

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There are a couple of volunteer work parties scheduled on October 10 to improve local parks. We previously posted about the Maple School Natural Area Invasive Species Removal and Native Planting work party from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm on Sunday. Find out more about that event and RSVP at the website.

Elsewhere on the Hill, the Friends of Lewis Park are also holding a work party at the same time on Sunday. The work will involve planting native trees and shrubs, and removal of invasive plant species such as English Ivy and Himalayan Blackberry. Afterwards, the volunteers will gather for a celebratory party. To find out more and RSVP, see the website.

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Mark your calendar for Saturday, October 16 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm for a North Beacon Town Center Action Team meeting at Beacon Lutheran Church, to help plan the North Beacon Urban Design Framework for the Town Center. We will post more about the meeting as the information becomes available.

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Today NAMSAYIN will announce the release date, time, and location of the “Know Where You Came From” shirt we posted about the other day. Keep an eye on namsayin.com for the announcement. In the meantime, though, you might enjoy this homage to Beacon Avenue and the “ghetto limousine.”

Recent photos in the BHB photo pool

These are some of the photos recently uploaded to the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. Do you have any photos of the Hill? You are invited to add them to the pool, for possible publication here on the blog.

Josephine enjoys the playground at Jefferson Park. Photo by tkml79.
The new crosswalk was recently completed in front of the library. There are small flashing lights embedded in the crosswalk that activate when people walk between sensors on either side of the street. Photo by Wendi.
Klara Glosova's Oily Pelican sculpture was one of the artworks seen at the latest NEPO art event. Photo by Dan Bennett.
A political statement recently seen among other posters on Beacon Avenue. Photo by Wendi.