Beacon Hill Blog

Help wanted: Co-teacher needed at Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool

Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool (which, despite the name, is on top of Beacon Hill) is hiring a replacement co-teacher.

The listing says, “We are looking for a teacher with strengths in teaching tools and skills to young children in the following areas: emotion management, self-regulation, problem solving and communication. The teacher will be given training and mentoring while co-teaching full-time in the classroom.”

If this sounds like you, find more information and application instructions here.

Tags: employment, preschool, rainier valley cooperative preschool

Rainier Valley Co-op Preschool celebrates Fall Festival 10/13

It’s fall festival season! The Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool‘s annual Fall Festival is Saturday, October 13 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Roberto Maestas Festival Street in north Beacon Hill.

The festival will have lots of activities, including bike hay rides, a bike parade, face painting, costume dress-up, a photo booth, cider pressing, pumpkin decorating, and more. All ages are welcome.

There will also be food for sale including baked goods and grilled food for both carnivores and vegetarians.

Proceeds from the festival will benefit the preschool.

Tags: festival, festival street, rainier valley cooperative preschool

Family films, music, and auction to benefit Rainier Valley Co-op Preschool

Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool, located in the Beacon Hill Lutheran Church building on South Forest Street, is hosting a movie matinee, music party, and auction fundraiser on Saturday, March 24 from 10 a.m. until noon. The event will take place at the Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill (1515 12th Avenue). All proceeds go to support this community preschool.

The day will include two showings of Touch My Heart: Gentle Films on the Big Screen, a collection of film shorts from this year’s Children’s Film Festival, live music by Eli Rosenblatt, and a silent auction. Highlights of the auction will include desserts of the month, a handmade quilt, single-malt scotch whiskey tasting, landscape architectural consultation, bike tuneups, a watercolor and ink portrait commission of your child, a birthday party for 15 at Southgate Roller Rink, gift cards to local businesses, and a guided mushroom identification walk.

Tickets are $6 in advance, and $8 at the door. You can buy tickets for a 10:00 a.m. movie showing with the auction afterward, or for the 10:30 auction with a movie showing afterward at 11:30. The auction will run from 10:30-11:15. Please bring cash or checks for your tickets, concessions, and the silent auction.

For information about tickets, contact: rvcpmovies@gmail.com.

Tags: fundraiser, rainier valley cooperative preschool

Rainier Valley Co-Op Preschool Fall Festival, Rizal Park apple harvest are this Saturday

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, The Rainier Valley Co-Op Preschool is holding their annual Fall Festival this Saturday, October 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The festival will be held in the 1700 block of Forest Street, in front of Beacon Lutheran Church.

The family event will include a block party, a dj dance party, live music by Eli Rosenblatt, bike parades on the hour, hot dogs, a bake sale, games for kids, a recycled toy shop, a treasure hunt in the sandbox, face painting, and more!

Neighbors of all ages are welcome to have fun and help support the preschool. Bring your bicycle if you want to be part of the bike parades.

Another fall activity will be taking place a bit further north on the hill at the same time (10 a.m. on October 8), where neighbors are invited to help harvest apples from the orchard at Dr. Jose Rizal Park. Most of the apples will become cider for the Beacon Hill Harvest Festival later this month, but some apples will also be available for your own baking. Craig Thompson writes:

Please come down to harvest the second crop of apples (tiny, tiny one last year, this year is much bigger); these apples are destined for the City Fruit apple press at the Oct. 22 Beacon Hill Harvest Festival, but there should be enough for your baking needs.

Now, these apples may have some bugs, but last year the winesaps I picked were still good for a significant pie.

We’ll have three fruit basket pickers (whatever they’re really called), plus some orchard ladders. We’ll also have all the containers necessary to hold the apples and transport them over to the Garden House, where the cider destined will cool in the basement until the Harvest Festival.

Forecast says it should be pretty nice in the late morning, too! So please take a wee bit to pick some fruit and, also, to check out the park. It’s really pretty magnificent now, and it will only get better!

Tags: family, kid-friendly, rainier valley cooperative preschool

Save the date: Rainier Valley Co-Op Preschool hosting Fall Festival 10/8

The Rainier Valley Co-Op Preschool (which, despite the name, is not in the Valley at all, but up on top of Beacon Hill) is holding their annual Fall Festival on Saturday, October 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The festival will be held in the 1700 block of Forest Street, in front of Beacon Lutheran Church.

The family event will include a block party, a dj dance party, live music by Eli Rosenblatt, bike parades on the hour, hot dogs, a bake sale, games for kids, a recycled toy shop, a treasure hunt in the sandbox, face painting, and more!

Neighbors of all ages are welcome to have fun and help support the preschool. Bring your bicycle if you want to be part of the bike parades.

Tags: festival, rainier valley cooperative preschool

Beacon Bits: Catch-up edition

Apologies to everyone. We are way behind on posts this week. Here’s a catch-up edition of Beacon Bits to fill you in on the latest.

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Notice the newspaper up in the windows of the old Beacon Pub? According to the Bar del Corso blog, they have started work on the building, where their pizzeria will be opening later this year.

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Just south of the former pub, another change is about to take place: ROCKiT space is moving. Betty Jean Williamson reports that ROCKiT will continue regular hours of operation at the current location, 3315 Beacon Avenue South, through January 31. After that, Open Mic moves to Kusina Filipina (3201 Beacon Avenue South) on Saturday, February 5. The event starts at 8:00 pm and costs $5. Tots Jam is moving to El Centro de la Raza room 310 (2524 16th Avenue South) on February 2 at 9:00 am. Classes are $7.

In the meantime, the ROCKiTeers have a lot of work ahead before vacating the building at 3315 Beacon and moving their activities into other locations. It sounds like they will need some volunteer help, including cleaning, repair, and moving. Contact Betty Jean at 206-658-0187 or bjwlmp@msn.com if you can help.

There will be a ROCKiT space moving sale on January 29 from 9:00 am – 6:00 pm. If you have loaned ROCKiT anything, please pick it up soon or let them know if you want to donate to the sale.

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Travis Mayfield at KOMO points out that Edwin Lee, the new mayor of San Francisco and the first Asian-American mayor of that city, was born on Beacon Hill!

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On the less-happy side of things, you may have heard that some very bad people were out and about last week, posing as Water Department workers to convince neighbors on Beacon Hill and in Columbia City to let them in their homes for a “water quality check,” but stealing their stuff instead. Here’s a Seattle Times (BHB news partners) report. The Seattle Police South Precinct Email Community Newsletter went out yesterday with their own take on the subject:

“For those of you who are ‘seasoned’ enough to remember the song ‘Let ’Em In’ by Paul McCartney & Wings from 1976 (I know, so last century), it should not be a surprise that we disagree with Sir Paul. Just because someone knocks or rings at the door does not mean that you let them in.”

The SPD reminds you that City employees will have laminated picture ID that includes a name, department, and serial number. If you see a suspicious person come to your house, and that person can’t produce a City of Seattle picture ID, call 911 to report the situation immediately.

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The Nova High School Book Night is coming on January 26. We are told it’s a “book fair/book exchange with books of all kinds, free for all!” Beacon Hill neighbor Levecke Mas is collecting books for the the book exchange; contact Levecke at leveckeinseattle@gmail.com. You can also drop off your book donations at the Nova office, in the Meany school building on East Capitol Hill (300 20th Avenue East).

The event is from 6:30-8:30 pm on Wednesday, January 26, and it is open to all.

Learn more about Nova and the Book Night at http://novaproject.my-pta.org.

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Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool invites the community to learn about the school at an open house on Saturday, February 5, from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, and Thursday, February 10, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

The parent-run preschool is located in Beacon Hill Lutheran Church at 1720 South Forest Street. More info at their website.

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Cass Turnbull of Plant Amnesty doesn’t approve of Beacon Hill-style yard topiaries. Joel Lee begs to differ:

“I can certainly appreciate wanting to protect plants from senseless mutilation but Plant Amnesty seems to have nominated themselves the arbiters of taste with comments like ‘When the inherent beauty of a plant is compromised, it’s painful for those of us who know what it should look like.’ Who gave Plant Amnesty the authority to decide what plants should look like?”

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While it’s not Beacon Hill-specific, I can’t resist posting this link to a photo of former City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck with a man in a heron costume. Thank you, Seattle Municipal Archives.

Tags: bar del corso, books, city council, home invasion, local folks done good, pizza, rainier valley cooperative preschool, rockit space, theft, topiaries

Beacon Bits: Bumps, bacon, and the blues

The “Bumper to Bumper” column in the Seattle Times addressed a much-discussed Beacon Hill topic this week: Beacon Avenue’s bumpy pavement outside of the light rail station. According to a spokesman for Sound Transit quoted in the column, we should be seeing some relief for the the poor pavement when that segment of Beacon is repaved in the next couple of months.

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Some Beaconians might be curious about what happened to former Culinary Communion operator Gabriel Claycamp and his pork emporium, The Swinery, after Claycamp decamped from Beacon Hill back to West Seattle last year. It turns out the road has not been entirely smooth (some of the comments on that post are interesting, to say the least), but Claycamp and the Swinery did get a positive write-up from the New York Times’ T Magazine Blog recently.

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Elliott Jones of El Centro writes with more news about tasty tamales:

Have you been one of the lucky attendees of El Centro de la Raza’s tamale classes? Chances are, you haven’t – they have been wildly popular and have been selling out quick! Here’s a link to sign up for the next one, on May 15th (they are every 3rd Saturday, by the way).

Our April class is this Saturday, so that means that even though you might not be able to learn how to make them yourself, this month, you can still purchase some! Tamales are $12/dozen and you must order by Wednesday at 5pm.

To order, call Ashley Haugen at 206-957-4611 or e-mail development@elcentrodelaraza.org.

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The Dana Lupinacci Band is playing blues and jazz on Thursday night at the Beacon Pub, 3057 Beacon Avenue South. Show is at 8:00, and there is no cover charge.

Also in musical news on the Hill: We neglected to mention that Beacon Hill’s own Blue Scholars were featured in The Stranger a couple of weeks ago.

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Some lowlife stole a couple of kids’ bikes right off their front porch. “1 royal blue/silver/black 20″ mongoose, BMX style with pegs. Right handbrake is cracked. 1 lime green/silver 20″ Next, BMX style with pegs.” If you’ve seen them, please contact the parents.

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Denise Louie Education Center is holding their Fifth Annual Children and Families Festival on Saturday, May 22 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm at their Beacon Hill location, 3327 Beacon Avenue South. The event is free and open to the public, and will feature food, music, crafts, and community resources. Volunteers are needed. For more information or if you are interested in volunteering, please contact Frances Lin at 206-792-9771 or email flin@deniselouie.org.

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The Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool is hosting a rummage sale this Saturday, April 24.  The school is located at the Beacon Lutheran Church, 1720 South Forest Street (just across Beacon from the library).

Tags: blue scholars, culinary communion, denise louie, music, rainier valley cooperative preschool, rummage, street repair, swinery, tamales, theft

Education roundup: Time for levies and open houses

School levy ballots should be reaching mailboxes throughout the city this week for an election officially ending on Tuesday, February 9. Two levies are on the ballot this time, a capital levy (Proposition 1) to replace the expiring Buildings, Technology and Academics levy approved by voters in 2004, and an operations levy (Proposition 2) which replaces the expiring three-year levy that voters approved in 2007 and have supported every three years since 1976.

Among other things, the capital levy includes funds for ADA/life safety systems installment at Mercer Middle School, along with renovations districtwide. Beacon Hill schools would also see funds for academic improvement, including Early Learning classrooms at Kimball and the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) option program at Cleveland, and funds for improving athletic fields and making their lighting more energy-efficient.

You can read more about the levies or watch an informational video by Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson at the SPS website.

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It’s open house season at local schools. We posted about a few recently.

Maple Elementary School is having an Open House and Math/Science Night on Thursday, February 11 from 6:30-8:30 pm at the school, 4925 Corson Avenue South. (Hat tip to neighbor JvA for the heads-up!)

Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool is also holding an open house on Thursday, January 28 from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm at the preschool’s home, Beacon Lutheran Church, 1720 South Forest Street (across Beacon from the library). They say, “Come meet our families and learn about our preschool: We encourage the whole family to come to the open house and check out the space and meet the teachers and community.” For more information, email rvcpinfo@yahoo.com or call 206-723-3115.

Tags: maple elementary school, rainier valley cooperative preschool, school levies

Beacon Bits: Planning, protesting, and playing

Recently there were two open houses to display the most recent planning goals and strategies for the North Beacon Hill, North Rainier, and Othello neighborhood plan updates. Over 160 people attended these open houses to view and comment on some of the potential strategies for our Southeast Seattle neighborhoods. If you could not attend, the city still needs to hear from you! You can view the materials that were presented at the open house here, then submit your comments online here. The deadline for this comment period is October 30, 2009.

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Neighbors living near South Stevens Street and 12th Avenue South have been asking why the large power lines on their street can’t be moved underground. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, an electrical system upgrade is about to do just that. — Capitol Hill Seattle

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Our neighbors in the Central District share our pain when it comes to airplane noise. One CD resident, Patty Fong, has started an Under the Flight Path! group on Facebook to “advocate for environmental justice in Seattle’s affected neighborhoods (Central District, Beacon Hill, Capitol Hill, White Center, Burien and others under the flight path disproportionately) and for speedy advancements in reduction of airplane noise.” — Central District News

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The Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool is hosting a Fall Rummage Sale on Saturday, October 24 from 12 noon – 4:00 pm at Beacon Hill Lutheran Church, 1720 South Forest Street (between 17th and 18th). Along with the sale there will be a Fall Festival for all ages. The 1700 block of South Forest will be closed for the party, which will include games, crafts, a bake sale, Dante’s Inferno Dogs, and, at 1:00 pm, live music by Brian Vogan.

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Youth in Focus, a non-profit organization that empowers urban teens through photography, is holding their annual Bowl-A-Thon fundraiser on Saturday, October 24, from 12 noon – 5:00 pm at the AMF Imperial Lanes, 2101 22nd Avenue South. The goal of the bowl-a-thon is to raise $15,000 to help Youth in Focus provide free photography classes and mentoring to underserved teens in the Seattle community. Teams of five bowlers will bowl in two shifts, noon – 2:00 pm, or 2:30 – 4:30 pm. This year’s theme is “Come as your own Superhero!”, so dress accordingly! All are invited. To sign up or get more information, please email Jessica at jessicag@youthinfocus.org.

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El Quetzal on Beacon Avenue has applied for a beer/wine liquor license.

Tags: airplane noise, bake sale, bowling, el quetzal, festival, garage sale, imperial lanes, neighborhood planning, power lines, rainier valley cooperative preschool, youth in focus

Saturday is a busy day on Beacon Hill

Lots of things are happening on or near the Hill on Saturday. Here’s a quick list. Remember, you can check our Events Calendar anytime to see what’s up.

• Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool is hosting a Rummage Sale from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm, at 3818 South Angeline Street in Columbia City.
• The Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church Asian Craft Fair is from 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. 3001 24th Avenue South.
• The School of Acrobatics & New Circus Arts (SANCA) Annual Spring Showcase has two performances on Saturday at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S Alaska Street. Choose between the 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm shows – or go to both!
• The Stamp Out Hunger food drive is also on Saturday. It’s probably the easiest food drive there is — just place bags filled with non-perishable food items next to your mailbox or mail slot. Your letter carrier will pick them up and deliver them to local food banks!

Tags: blaine memorial, food drive, rainier valley cooperative preschool, rainier valley cultural center, sanca