Beacon Hill Blog

KOMO’s best neighborhood blog’porter

Among KOMO’s new (and somewhat contentious) neighborhood-focused newsblogs, Beacon Hill’s Travis Mayfield is likely their best neighborhood reporter. (If you peruse their other “KOMO Communities“, we think you’ll agree.)

Living on the north-east edge of Beacon Hill with his partner Curtis and their chew-happy hound Sadie, Travis is in the neighborhood, chasing stories and asking questions nearly every day when he isn’t outside it, reporting on events and issues from Stanwood to Olympia to Port Orchard for KOMO NewsRadio and KOMO 4 News.

Most recently, Travis caught up with Governor Christine Gregoire during a visit to El Centro de La Raza today. Earlier this week, he sat down for a chat with North Beacon Hill Council chair Judith Edwards at Baja Bistro.

Tags: blogs, governor, komo, nbhc, travis mayfield

Beacon Hill plum tree is front-page news

Heidi Risse pointed out their plum tree’s front-page appearance on today’s issue of the Seattle Times. The Risses’ tree, with a bumper crop of plums this year, is featured in an article about City Fruit (previously mentioned here), an organization formed earlier this year to not only help harvest urban crops, but to assist and educate tree owners in pest control, pruning and processing. Check out City Fruit’s calendar for classes on canning and more.

Find out how the 75 pounds of bounty will be put to use in the article at the Times.

Tags: city fruit, fruit, trees

Neighbors protest power lines; City Light responds

The Seattle Times revisited the power line controversy on northwest Beacon Hill today, including a photo of neighbors Heather DeRosier, Carole Swanson, and Joan Habu standing underneath one of the new poles with a “Take Them Down!” protest sign. The new, thicker power lines, with taller poles, were installed a few weeks ago near South Stevens Street and 12th Avenue South.

Neighbor Frederica Merrell recently sent a letter of complaint about the power lines to Seattle City Light Superintendent Jorge Corrasco, asking, among other things, “why didn’t they bring the power in from below and run the lines through the tunnel, putting them under the freeway instead of draping them in the open where they will face wind and weather?” and received the following response:

Thank you for your note about the electrical service upgrade in Beacon Hill.

Seattle City Light installed an additional set of power lines to provide service for Sound Transit’s light rail trains, electrified buses and growing energy needs in the Rainier valley. The utility spent about three years reviewing possible routes and designs to deliver this needed service upgrade. While we try to limit the impact of such projects on the surrounding neighborhoods, safety for residents and our workers, reliability of the electric supply, and cost are important considerations as well.
More »

Tags: city light, power, sound transit, views

Power lines obscuring some sight lines for neighbors on the hill

Several local media outlets have picked up a story of some neighbors on the far-west edge of the hill whose views have become scarred due to taller power poles with thicker power lines, purportedly installed by Seattle City Light at the behest of Sound Transit to accommodate the power requirements of the light rail station.

Beacon Hill neighbor Roger Pence, who works with Sound Transit, said on the mailing list:

…these power lines have nothing to do with Sound Transit. We didn’t know they were going up either! This is a “betterment” project entirely the doing of Seattle City Light.

Later reports indicate that City Light upgraded the service to power trolley buses and in expectation of increased demand in Rainier Valley.

(Tangentially, I noticed the trucks on Stevens between 12th and 13th yesterday morning, and when I called City Light to inquire about them , I was told it they were performing sewer work. “TV sewer inspection.” Odd. Updating with links as they appear.)

Tags: city light, power, sound transit, views

Jefferson Park reservoir: insane in the membrane?

West Seattle Blog just broke a story about problems with leaky “membranes” applied to both the Beacon Hill Reservoir at Jefferson Park and West Seattle’s Myrtle Reservoir projects.

Repairing the problem will require removal of grass, dirt and “drain rock” lids covering the nearly-completed reservoirs to get to the membrane material. After replacing the faulty waterproofing, it will be re-covered. Who pays for the repair work will likely be resolved in court, and how far out this pushes “completion” of the project is unknown.

Much, much more detail on the West Seattle Blog.

Thanks, WSB!

Tags: jefferson park, leaks, reservoir

A bear that gets around?

This morning around 10:30, there were reports of a bear sighting near 17th & Ferdinand, and motorcycle officers were dispatched to search southward along the Chief Sealth Trail from about 5000 Beacon Avenue.

KING5 and KIRO-TV have preliminary reports.

If this turns out to be the same bear that made the news up north earlier this week, that bear really gets around!

11:50 Update: The P-I reports paw prints and a gnawed-on ice cream container found near the Beacon Hill P-Patch. And KOMO now has initial coverage.

12:45 Update: The P-I adds that Department of Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Kim Chandler doubts the credibility of the reported sighting and that “wildlife agents will not be responding unless additional, more credible reports are received.”

1:30 Update: The Weekly on the false bear alarm.

2:15 Update: The P-I now has pictures of the P-Patch tracks.

6:00 Update: The Big Blog has a photo of the ice cream evidence and Blogging Georgetown breaks out the hazard stats for black bear attacks.

Tags: bear, wildlife

Four vehicle crash injures pedestrians, driver at Beacon and Columbian

The Seattle P-I reports that a vehicle-pedestrian collision was reported just before 2:30 pm today at Beacon Avenue South and South Columbian Way. Police are investigating the incident.

Edited to add further info:

KOMO 4 has a photo and further information. A 60 year old woman driving near the above intersection collided with another car, then veered into a grocery store parking lot and hit two women there. One pedestrian has broken bones, and the driver and the other pedestrian have minor injuries.

Edited yet again, 10:19pm::

The accident was worse than KOMO’s information stated. According to Seattle Police, four vehicles were involved in the collision, and there were life-threatening injuries to at least two people. An 81-year-old woman driving a Lexus sedan lost control of her car while attempting to back out of a parking space in the parking lot on the northwest corner of Beacon and Columbian. Then she hit a woman who had been a passenger in her car, then continued backward, striking another car and pinning its driver, then hit yet another vehicle. The driver of the Lexus and one of the pedestrians were transported to Harborview with life-threatening injuries; the other pedestrian was transported to Harborview with non-life-threatening injuries. Police are still investigating the accident.

Beacon and Columbian was not the best intersection to pass through this afternoon. Half an hour after the earlier accident, a 30-year-old man on a moped was struck by an SUV. The moped driver was also taken to Harborview with non-fatal injuries.

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Tags: accidents

Beacon Hill mentioned (briefly) in the New York Times

Beacon Hill received a brief mention in the New York Times today:

The deep recession, with its lost jobs and falling home values nationwide, poses another kind of threat: to the character of neighborhoods settled by the young creative class, from the Lower East Side in Manhattan to Beacon Hill in Seattle. The tide of gentrification that transformed economically depressed enclaves is receding, leaving some communities high and dry.

It’s a bit odd, because Beacon Hill doesn’t actually seem to fit the pattern described in the article, of neighborhoods gentrified by “the young creative class” and then finding their new hipster shops and cafés collapsing from the effects of the recession. Beacon Hill is still a neighborhood seemingly on the verge of gentrification, but we haven’t yet seen an influx of shops “playing the Decemberists in a continuous loop,” as the Times puts it. We have a couple of newish coffee shops, and a couple of newer businesses that might have been on the cutting edge of gentrification up here, but, honestly, it sounds more as if the Times meant to name-check Georgetown.

Tags: gentrification

House fire on east edge of Jefferson Park

KIRO is reporting a home in the 3900 block of 24th Avenue South is in flames.

It is currently unknown if any occupants were at home or injured.

I heard the news helicopter hovering in the area as I waited for the bus this morning.

Update: No injuries, cat safe, house insured, owners plan to rebuild.

Tags: fire

Seattle Times: What Mid-Beacon Hill?

The Seattle Times posted a “Neighborhood of the Week” article about South Beacon Hill, touting its affordability, diversity, closeness to Georgetown and Columbia City, and mentioning places like Lockmore and Cleveland High School — hey, wait a minute! Those locations are about as Mid-Beacon as you get. Apparently, to the Times, anything south of Jefferson Park is South Beacon Hill. Folks who live there, particularly in Lockmore, do you think of where you live as South Beacon?

Tags: mid-beacon, names, seattle times, south beacon, sub-neighborhoods

Help define the future of Seattle golf

Seattle Parks and Recreation is having a series of community meetings to discuss updates and improvements to the four municipal golf courses and the city Golf Master Plan. If you’re interested in helping to define the future of Seattle golf and of Jefferson Park’s golf facilities, you’ll want to attend the Jefferson Park open house on Thursday, December 4, 6:30 – 8:00 pm, at 4101 Beacon Ave South. You can get more information from Susanne Friedman, at susanne.friedman@seattle.gov or (206) 684-0902.

Thanks to Chris Bailey on the beaconhill-announce mailing list!

Tags: golf, jefferson park

BB Gun burglaries in West Seattle may be related to Beacon Hill crimes

The West Seattle Blog reports that several suspects have been arrested for a series of “BB gun burglaries” in West Seattle — but the suspects have been tied to crimes in the Beacon Hill neighborhood as well. More details at the WSB.

Tags: burglary, west seattle, west seattle blog

Crime confusion in SE Seattle

“Crime Is Actually Down in Southeast Seattle” said a headline in the Stranger Slog yesterday. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee’s post lists SPD statistics that supposedly back that up. Is it just me, though, or is the math completely off here? Here’s what the article currently says (emphasis added is mine):

“According to SPD records for the South Precinct—which covers everything between Georgetown and Lake Washington south if I-90—as of the end of September, there have been 821 assaults—including 401 shootings—193 strong-arm robberies, 120 burglaries and 9 murders.

“Last year, there were 1,214 assaults, 202 strong-arm robberies, 955 burglaries and 7 murders (statistics on shootings aren’t available) in the South Precinct. That’s 400 fewer assaults, and 800 fewer burglaries.

“In 2006 there were 1,388 assaults, 232 strong-arm robberies, 1218 burglaries and 6 murders.”

Comparing “as of the end of September” totals with whole-year totals and then claiming the numbers are lower is not particularly useful. Of course the numbers could be lower; there were still three months left in 2008!

But here’s the rub — the numbers aren’t even necessarily lower. When you do the math and consider that the totals for this year only include 9 months, some of the numbers are lower, but others are not. We are on track for 1095 assaults this year, so, yes, that’s a downward trend. Good. But we are also on track for 257 strong-arm robberies, a substantial increase. Burglaries are down, but they are down so far that I suspect something is glitchy with the numbers there. You don’t go 1218 to 955 to 120 without a darn good explanation. If they are down that far, that’s great — but I don’t believe it.

And then you get to the murder stats. As of the end of September, we were on track for 12 murders this year. 12. That is twice the number of murders in 2006, and nearly twice the number in 2007. This is not what I would call a drop in crime.

Over at the Mid Beacon Hill blog, JvA has done a great job of reporting that the city’s crime stats are often, well, wrong. And then on November 2, the P-I published a story claiming that, according to the King County Medical Examiner, there were no shooting homicides in Seattle between April and October, which is demonstrably false.

So then we get to this week. Multiple shots were fired in the area of 5400 23rd Avenue South. Two kids shot in the Central District on Halloween, one killed. Then further shootings in the CD, in what the Central District News suggests has become a “gangland revenge free-for-all.”

So, do you really feel like crime is going down in Southeast Seattle, or not?

Tags: shootings, slog, stats

Beacon Lights on the Rep. Tomiko Santos Kerfuffle

Two weeks ago, State Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos arrived (late) to speak to the Beacon Alliance of Neighbors. Her visit, or rather her apparent lack of awareness expressed through her words, left a bit of a bitter taste in many neighbors’ mouths.

Craig Thompson’s latest Beacon Lights article at the P-I website has a full rundown of the representative’s numerous misses with the community, touching on her disconnects with Beacon Hill neighborhood organizations, race and reaching out, El Centro’s community involvement, public safety, and parks and trails.

The Rainier Valley Post covered Tomiko Santos’s awkward visit earlier.

Tags: ban, beacon lights, el centro de la raza, politics, sharon tomiko santos

New Holly playground completed in one day

You’ll remember a few days ago, when we published an appeal for volunteers to help build a playground for New Holly’s 2,500 children in six hours. The day was yesterday, and the playground was completed on time with the help of many volunteers. The Seattle Times has a nice story about it, including video (but I wish they’d have shown more video of the playground — anyone out there take any photos at the event?).

Tags: new holly, playground

Buggy featured in the P-I

Buggy, a Beacon Avenue retailer of baby stuff, is featured in the P-I today. Nice pictures! I knew they had knitting classes at Buggy, but I did not know they had yarn for sale there. I don’t have a baby to buy for, but I am a knitter, so I may have to check out the woolly merchandise.

Tags: buggy

Shooting at 16th and Spokane

A flurry of posts on the neighborhood mailing list Sunday reported hearing gunshots in the area of 16th Ave S. and S. Spokane early Sunday morning. The P-I has the details: a 17 year old was shot in the leg after he and his girlfriend “exchanged words” (sounds so civilized, doesn’t it?) with the occupants of an SUV. As of yet, the SUV and its occupants have not been found.

Thanks to Ezra Klug for pointing us to the P-I report!

Tags: guns, shootings

Leafy larceny

Garden burglaries on the Hill, recently discussed on the neighborhood mailing list, are the subject of a brief article in this week’s Weekly: “Thyme Bandits.” (Give that headline writer a prize!) I have some lawn clippings and cut blackberry vines here, if someone would like to steal them… please?

Tags: garden, seattle weekly, theft