Monthly Archives: March 2009

Local Events

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with El Centro

¡Vengan a celebrar el Cinco de Mayo con El Centro de la Raza!

El Centro de la Raza is hosting a Cinco de Mayo celebration (a few days early) on Saturday, May 2, from 3:00 to 8:00 pm. The event will be at the Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Avenue South. Come and enjoy:

  • Live entertainment and DJ
  • Traditional foods
  • Children’s activities
  • Local vendors
  • A health, social services, and local business fair

To get involved in this event, contact Leah at (206) 957-4640, or cincodemayo@elcentrodelaraza.org.

Crime

Man shot twice stopped near Amazon HQ

The Seattle Times reports that around 3:45 a 42-year old man was shot twice, hit in the shoulder and the hip, somewhere in the 1200 block of 12th Ave S. He was alert and oriented when the medics took him to Harborview. Police offered no further details, however Beacon Hill Neighborhood Watch did mention that the shooter fled westbound and that the nearby school was briefly locked down.

Update: The Rainier Valley Post has a number of differing details on the story: the victim was dropped off at the PacMed with gunshot wounds, not shot there. Also, while known, the victim would not divulge the name of the shooter, planning to “take care of it” himself.

Update 2: Seattle911 has even more details, along with the possibility that the shooting may have occurred in the 5500 block of South Avon Street, and that the school locked-down was Rainier View Elementary.

Update 3: KIRO 7 reports that “eyewitness saw a person lying on the sidewalk near 67th Avenue South and South Bangor Street with a gunshot wound,” and KOMO 4 mentioned that the victim may be linked to one or more of three shootings that occurred across the south end this afternoon.

Local Events

Competing meetings tonight

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Tonight is both the NBHC monthly meeting, this one with a special focus on “transit oriented development”, as well as the BAN meeting (on new, tentative schedule), where the topic concerns grants: city grants for Beacon Bluff, Jose Rizal Park, and Lewis Park, and the county grant application deadline.

Full NBHC meeting agenda and location details were mentioned just a couple of posts ago.

The BAN meeting is also at 7pm tonight, but at the PacMed Quarters 1 building on the northwest corner of 14th Ave S and S Judkins.

Unfortunately, due to previous commitments we won’t be able to make either meeting — but please let us and your other neighbors that can’t make it to one meeting or the other know what happens in the comments!

Urban Planning

NBHC meeting to tackle density topic

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The North Beacon Hill Council meeting this Thursday will include discussion of the Transit-Oriented Development bill, HB1490, and the changes and density that the light rail station may bring to North Beacon Hill.

The meeting and discussion, as with all NBHC meetings, is open to all residents of Beacon Hill.

Time and location: 7:00 pm, Thursday, March 5, in the basement of the Beacon Hill Lutheran Church, 1730 South Forest (just east of the Library). Ample parking is available.

Here’s the full agenda:

  • 7:00 Hellos and announcements
    • Jefferson Park Festival, June 27 – volunteers?
    • Picnic and Piñatas, July 18 – volunteers?
  • 7:10 Light Rail and Neighborhood Changes:
    • HB1490 Pro and Con, Update
    • Bill LaBorde, Transp. Choices Coalition
    • Jenna Walden, Community Activist, Othello Neighborhood Council
  • 7:20 A time for questions and answers
  • 7:40 Lyle Bicknel, Seattle Department of Transportation, and leader of the SDOT and Dept. of Neighborhoods team which is working with the Neighborhood Policy Advisory Committee (NPAC) – an update on what’s happening
  • 7:50 Questions and answers
  • 8:10 Seattle Police Department and/or Shelly Bates
  • 8:20 Comments and concerns
  • 8:30 Close

Thanks to Judith Edwards for sending out the agenda!

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: One less editor, one more barista

Can you do this? Then Victrola has a job for you. Photo by Wendi.
Can you create this? Then Victrola has the job for you. Photo by Wendi.
  • Victrola on Beacon Avenue is hiring a part-time “superstar barista” — craigslist
  • South Seattle Beacon editor Erik Hansen was recently laid off; the paper will now be edited by Vera Chan-Pool, who also edits the North Seattle Herald-Outlook and the Capitol Hill Times, also produced by Pacific Publishing. The papers will compensate for the reduced staff by sharing more articles in all the chain’s papers, and running fewer stories specific to each neighborhood — Seattle P-I
  • The Beacon Bluff P-Patch was featured on the Seattle Daily Photo blog
  • Bruce Gray at Sound Transit gives us further info about the recent gas leak at the light rail station: “Our contractors were removing sound wall support footings along 17th Avenue when they struck an abandoned, unmarked gas line… The old line has now been capped at the main.”
Getting Around, Health and Safety

Gas leak near station construction

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Jacqueline just wrote to the mailing list about a major gas leak reported at 16th & Lander (presumably at the light rail station) “in case you were wondering about the smell and commotion.” Nineteen units are responding.

Update from Tri Nguyen via Twitter: “Beacon Ave S northbound blocked.” Gabe confirms: “Just drove past. Beacon Ave is all closed down.”

Update from KING5Seattle: “2-inch natural gas line break at Beacon Hill light rail station. People in area advised to keep windows shut and stay inside.” Story here.

Check the comments for more updates.

Another update from KING5Seattle: “Gas has been shut off and final repairs are underway.”

Reader mootkat has posted a video showing the wide area that was closed off: