Monthly Archives: March 2013

Meetings

Parking, streets, and a raffle drawing on April’s NBHC agenda

1 Comment

It’s almost April, which means it’s almost time for the next North Beacon Hill Council meeting on Tuesday, April 2 at 7 p.m. in the Beacon Hill Library community room, 2821 Beacon Ave. S.

This month’s agenda:

  • 7:00-7:10 Introductions, Greater Duwamish Council and Department of Neighborhood updates, raffle sales
  • 7:10-7:30 Public Safety
  • 7:30-7:35 Street Stories
  • 7:35-7:50 Sound Transit and SDOT Beacon Avenue design updates
  • 7:50-8:00 SDOT Residential Parking Zone update
  • 8:00-8:15 Rosemary Aragon, Pacific Hospital PDA
  • 8:15-8:20 Happening on the Hill/Community Calendar
  • 8:20-8:30 Raffle drawing and NBHC draft bylaws and call for board members
  • 8:30-8:55 NBHC Board meets in Beacon Hill Resource Center (open to the public)

The Council is currently holding a raffle with prizes including gift cards to local businesses, a parking permit at El Centro, and more. The grand price is one free permit (and insurance) to use Roberto Maestas Festival Street for an event. Raffle proceeds will go to support NBHC’s support costs for the Beacon Hill Resource Center and Roberto Maestas Festival Street.

Raffle tickets are $2 each or 3 for $5, and can be bought from any board member in the neighborhood or at the NBHC meeting. Drawings will be held on April 2 and May 7 at NBHC meetings, and at the June Beacon ROCKS! for the grand prize.

As always, all interested neighbors are invited and welcome to attend and participate in the meeting.

Arts, Education, Life on the Hill

Beacon Hill teens: Street Stories application deadline is today!

2 Comments

Screen Shot 2013-03-29 at 2.55.56 AMBeacon Hill 6th – 12th graders, this is your chance to participate in a free 5-week after-school digital video storytelling program, but you’ll need to work fast — the deadline to apply is today!

In the Street Stories program, Beacon Hill youths will create video stories of their experiences living and walking in the neighborhood, using provided iPod Touch devices to create and edit the videos. Students will also receive training including video technology and storytelling techniques. The finished videos will be shown at community events, displayed on local websites, and used to build a new kind of walking map for the Beacon Hill neighborhood.

Eligible students are:

  • 6th-12th graders living or going to school on Beacon Hill
  • Able to participate at Jefferson Community Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-6 p.m. from April 2 though May 9.
  • Able to do a minimum of four hours of independent research

The program is limited to 20 students, and the deadline to apply is today, March 29. To apply, fill out this application form along with this E-13 Participant Information and Authorization Form and drop both forms off today at the front desk of Jefferson Community Center, marked “attention: Jean Lee.”

Selected students will be notified on Monday, April 1 (no fooling) before the first workshop on Tuesday.

Arts, Local Events

Stories for Boys at Beacon Hill Library 4/28

1 Comment

The Beacon Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library is hosting a free dramatic reading from Gregory Martin’s Stories for Boys: A Memoir from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 28. The reading, adapted and directed by Laura Ferri, will be performed by Book-It Repertory Theatre.

Admission is free and all are welcome; no ticket or reservation is necessary. The library is located at 2821 Beacon Ave. S. in North Beacon Hill.

Stories for Boys was chosen as this year’s Seattle Reads book. The book details author Gregory Martin’s struggle in coming to terms with revelations of his father’s homosexuality following an attempted suicide, and tells stories about his own parenting of two young sons.

For more information on the reading or Seattle Reads, call 206-386-4636.

Lost and Found

Have you seen Messi?

6 Comments
Have you seen this kitty?
Have you seen this kitty?
Neighbor Krystyn writes:

Our cat has been missing since the night of Friday, March 22nd from our yard on North Beacon Hill at the corner of 18th Ave S and S Holgate St. He is a 1 year old, short-haired, tabby striped bobtail. Think bobcat or lynx look-a-like. If you live in the area, can you check your garage, basement or garden shed? Please call if you have seen him. He is afraid of strangers and will run away if you try to catch him. Thank you! We miss Messi.

If you can help, call Mike at 206-658-5169.

Local Events

Hoppity-hop to the Jefferson Community Center Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast

1 Comment
Photo by makelessnoise via Creative Commons/Flickr.
Easter is coming soon and so is the annual Jefferson Community Center Spring Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast on Saturday, March 30. The egg hunt will start at 10 a.m. sharp. The pancake breakfast will be served from 9 to 11 a.m.

Pancakes are $4, pancakes and sausage are $5, and the deluxe breakfast with pancakes, sausage and eggs will be $6. The egg hunt is free.

Jefferson Community Center is located at 3801 Beacon Ave. S. For more information, call 206-684-7481.

City Services, Education, Local Business

Preschool, yoga and tax prep available at El Centro de la Raza

1 Comment
El Centro de la Raza from the south. Photo by Wendi Dunlap/Beacon Hill Blog.
Kids, yoga fans and taxpayers are part of some of the upcoming and current activities at El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Ave S. Read on for more information:

* * *

Jonna Bracken is teaching yoga classes at Skin Deep Dance studio on the second floor of El Centro on Thursday evenings, from 7:00-8:15 p.m. The class is open to all levels of practitioners and is an alignment-based class. The fee is four classes for $55 or eight classes for $100, but you can try your first class for free. Questions? Contact Jonna via email at jonnayoga@gmail.com.

* * *

The José Martí Child Development Center is currently enrolling children aged 18 months to four years old for preschool programs with a focus on dual-language education in Spanish and English and a rich multicultural program featuring age-appropriate developmental goals to prepare kids for later success in kindergarten.

Classes for kids aged 18 months through three years start on April 1. Classes for four-year-olds start on June 1.

Assistance is available to fill out applications for subsidies from the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) or the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Slots are also available for private pay families. For more information or to enroll, call 206-957-4619 or email jmcdc@elcentrodelaraza.org.

* * *

As mentioned on this site last month, there is a free tax preparation clinic currently operating at El Centro. In addition to tax preparation, help is available for completing the FAFSA (application for student loans for college), applying for food stamps, utility assistance, free credit reports and more.

The United Way Tax Preparation program is free for anyone making under $51,000. Bring photo ID and Social Security cards or Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, along with all wage and earnings statements and any other documents needed for tax filing.

Tax prep sessions are open at El Centro on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m. (English/Spanish) and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (English/Spanish/Tagalog).

Education, Health and Safety

Shape up at Van Asselt CC this spring

1 Comment
Get rid of your old exercise albums and tapes and try Van Asselt’s fitness courses instead. Photo by Kevin Dooley via Flickr/Creative Commons.
Two upcoming classes at Van Asselt Community Center will help neighbors aged 18 and older shake off those winter pounds and get more fit.

The first class, Aerobics, will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 7 p.m., starting on April 2. Longtime instructor Noel Montgomery will lead the class. The cost to join is $75, or $65 for adults 65 and up.

The second class, Boot Camp, is an “intense evening workout” to gain strength and endurance while losing weight. The Van Asselt neighborhood is the exercise arena for this class, which will run on Tuesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. starting on April 16. Cost for the Boot Camp class is $65.

Call 206–386–1921 to register or for more information.

Local Events

FriendShop to pop up at Beacon Hill Library

Neighbors wait for the Beacon Hill Library to open in the morning. Photo by Jason Simpson/Beacon Hill Blog.
The Beacon Hill Library is a fine place to find books, DVDs, and more. On one Saturday this month, however, it will also be a fine place to shop. The Friends of The Seattle Public Library are bringing a FriendShop Pop Up Shop to the Beacon Hill Branch (2821 Beacon Ave. S.) from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 30.

The FriendShop Pop Up Shop will include pre-owned paperbacks, children’s books, and gift items such as tote bags, mugs, and jewelry. All proceeds will benefit the Seattle Public Library. The Pop Up Shop is a traveling version of the main FriendShop at the Central Library.

Photos

Put on your 3D glasses: Beacon Hill Station in 3D

2 Comments

Former BHB staffer Jason Simpson was visiting Beacon Hill yesterday and took this 3D photo of Beacon Hill Station with a FujiFilm FinePix 3D camera. You’ll need standard red/green 3D glasses to see the effect, and I strongly recommend you click through to the large copy of the image to see it at its best. If you don’t have those, check out this “wobble” gif that gives a 3D effect without glasses.

Click on this image to see a larger version. Photo by Jason Simpson.
Click on this image to see a larger version. Photo by Jason Simpson.
Education, Neighborhood Pride

BHIS principal honored as Principal of the Year

1 Comment
Kelly Aramaki.
Kelly Aramaki.
Beacon Hill International School Principal Kelly Aramaki was honored today as the Washington State Elementary School Principal of the Year. Aramaki, who has been the BHIS principal since 2011, was one of three finalists out of 18 statewide nominees, and will advance to a national celebration this fall in Washington D.C. as part of the National Distinguished Principal of the Year program.

The award was determined by a panel from the Elementary School Principals Association of Washington, who lauded Aramaki’s dedication to instructional leadership and engagement with the school, including occasionally breaking into song “to create a positive, collective identity” among the school’s staff.