Tonight’s broadband community forum we posted about a couple of days ago has been cancelled. We’re told it will be rescheduled as soon as possible, and when we know the new date, we’ll post it here on the blog.
Monthly Archives: March 2010
First ruling on neighborhood plan appeal released
Sue Tanner, the Hearing Examiner, has released her first ruling regarding the appeal Frederica Merrell filed last month against the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) regarding the Determination of Nonsignificance (DNS) of the North Beacon Hill neighborhood plan update process. Here is the full text of the ruling.
Tanner dismissed two issues in the appeal outright because they are outside the jurisdiction of the Hearing Examiner’s office (the issues were related to planning process). Â She upheld one issue that DPD and El Centro de La Raza had requested to be dismissed, regarding whether DPD provided adequate notice for attendance at a meeting.
The revised schedule for the appeal is included in the document. Â The final hearing on the appeal is currently scheduled for April 26 at 9:00 am.
Cienna Madrid at the Slog has reported on this as well, and notes that one of the other two nearly identical appeals filed last month, the North Rainier (Mount Baker) appeal, has been dismissed because the appellants did not respond to the motion to dismiss. The Othello appeal continues and is scheduled for May 24 at 9:00 am.
Walking with Tica: Growing community
What I didn’t realize was that over the years, I would get to know every tree and front flower garden in the neighborhood. Â I’ve learned where the dogs live and where the cats like to hide. Â While Tica sniffs, I read the “for sale” and “lost bike” signs on the telephone poles. Â We’ve watched babies grow into kindergardeners. Walking with Tica has shaped the way I interact with my community.
I enjoy casual (and sometimes lengthier) conversations with neighbors—mostly those who spend a lot of time outside, like the dog owners and avid gardeners. Walking with a dog provides an opening for conversation, sort of a secret handshake. Â People stop and smile and start conversations. Â People reach into their pockets (or go into their houses) to share a treat with Tica. Â We exchange cookies during the holidays and keep an eye on each other’s homes on vacation.
It shouldn’t have surprised me that growing a baby brings out the same responses in people. Â I’m getting to know an entirely different group of neighbors—the grandmas, the moms without dogs, older kids who feel safe making eye contact with a mom-to-be. Â The always friendly library staff and Red Apple cashiers are absolutely bubbly. Â People who usually walk quickly from their car to the front door linger on the sidewalk to say hello, ask how I’m doing, or offer baby items. Â I’m amazed by the generosity of our neighborhood. Â Thank you to all the neighbors who’ve shared baby items, support, and yummy snacks!
Here are some Beacon Hill area parenting resources and places to donate or sell your baby/kid gear. Â More experienced parents, please add your suggestions in the comments.
Have you ever searched “Beacon Hill” on craigslist? Â I’ve gotten several baby items in perfect condition at a great price. Best of all, I got to meet new neighbors with kids, within walking distance of home!
Baby food, formula, and diapers are always welcome at both of our neighborhood food banks:
El Centro de La Raza, 2524 16th Avenue South, (206) 329-7960.
Beacon Ave Food Bank, 6230 Beacon Avenue South, (206) 722-5105.
If you’d like to donate children’s items or know a family in need, Wellspring Family Services operates the Baby Boutique. Â Their “urgent needs” wishlist includes: carseats, maternity clothes, shoes, and personal care items (shampoo, lotion, etc). Â The Baby Boutique serves kids of all ages, from newborn to teenager. Â Baby Boutique accepts donations on the following days and times: Tuesday 10:00 am – 7:00 pm; Wednesday thru Friday 10:00 am – 3:00 pm; 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month 10:00 am – 2:00 pm; or call 206-902-4270 to set up an appointment. Due to limited space, they cannot accept items larger than cribs or toddler beds.
I’m just getting started with the North Beacon Hill Parents yahoo group. Â It seems to be a good place to give away/sell kid items and post questions about everything from preschools to replacing old wood windows. I’m looking forward to interacting more with this group.
If you have pet items you’d like to donate, consider these resources:
Seattle Humane Society offers assistance to low income pet owners.
Rainier Veterinary Hospital is not a non-profit, but they do help people and pets in need. 815 Rainier Avenue South, (206) 324-4144.
Connecting: Broadstripe contract at UTUC, Schrier on FCC plan
(Editor’s note, March 25: The meeting discussed in this post has been CANCELLED.)
A reminder about the UTUC broadband Community Forum coming up on Thursday where Broadstripe’s city-granted monopoly franchise agreement will be a major point of discussion.
Scheduled speakers include City of Seattle Chief Technology Officer Bill Schrier and Broadstripe’s recently appointed Northwest General Manager David Irons.
Your presence will help drive the City of Seattle and Broadstripe to improve the way the current franchise agreement is handled. Sponsored by Upgrade Technology for Underserved Neighbors, all are invited and especially neighbors living in the underserved areas: Central District, Beacon Hill, Leschi, parts of Capitol Hill. We will review the 2010 Work Plan to ensure internet and cable service delivery improves as promised.
Thursday, March 25th, 5:30-7pm at the Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Ave South. Refreshments will be served courtesy of the Central Area Development Association.
UTUN brings together neighbors from multiple south Seattle neighborhoods to advocate for immediate improvement to substandard cable and internet services. For more information about the forum or to get email updates, contact Tracy Bier at 206-227-2369 or atbier@msn.com.
* * *
Speaking of City CTO Bill Schrier, his recent blog posting on the FCC’s broadband plan is good reading and answers these questions and more:
- Is this plan really radical or different?
- What does 100 megabit service really mean for consumers at home or small business?
- What are the implications for large cities like Seattle?
- Practically, why do we need a public safety wireless broadband network?
[T]he FCC’s plan is visionary. Certainly it was carefully crafted with many competing interests interests in mind. And it doesn’t really provide any good mechanism to encourage competition between private providers. Such competition would reduce costs to users. Nevertheless, if it is followed, will materially improve the economy, safety, and quality of life for the people of the United States.
Beacon Idol entrants sought
Bands and individual performers who are interested in performing at this summer’s Beacon Rocks! music series are invited to perform in Beacon Idol. Beacon Idol will take place at the ROCKiT Space open mic (3315 Beacon Avenue South) on these Saturdays: March 27, April 24, and May 29.
You can sign up to perform at a Beacon Idol event by emailing beaconrocks@gmail.com or contacting Jessie McKenna through ROCKiT space.
Beacon Idol is geared for smaller acts, but bands are encouraged to perform as well as long as they make arrangements with Jessie beforehand.
If you would like to submit your band/music or other talent that you think might be a good addition for the Beacon Rocks! event series, but are unable to perform at a Beacon Idol event, you have the following options:
- Send a link to your webpage where your music can be found (three songs minimum), a brief bio, and some pictures of you to beaconrocks@gmail.com
- Send a CD (three songs minimum) with a one-sheet/brief bio to ROCKiT space, 3315 Beacon Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98144
- Or drop your CD and bio off in person at ROCKiT space (you may leave it in the mailbox if no one is around)
The Beacon Rocks! series is all-volunteer—artists will not be paid. The series is intended to be a fun opportunity to build community and give local musicians a place to play in their neighborhood. Music and performances must be family friendly. All bands/artists will be chosen by May 29.
For more information on Beacon Rocks! or Beacon Idol, see the Beacon Rocks! website.
Beacon Bits: Green bikes, arts classes, and dodgeball
“As part of a greater initiative to get more people biking in SE we will be implementing the Green Bike Project. The Project gives away Novara commuter bikes to employees who fulfill a 3-month pledge to reduce their drive alone commute trips by 50%. Last year, the GBP was done county-wide, but this year it will be targeted only at SE Seattle employers in the Rainier, Beacon Hill and Columbia City area. Interested employers need to be able to recruit about a half dozen employees from their work site (company or building) to participate, and then serve as a site-contact for the duration of the project.”
Applications for the project are due March 31st. More information can be found on the Green Bike Project page.
* * *
Health Department inspectors have been in the area again, visiting Mac Pherson’s and the 21st Avenue South Cash & Carry. The Cash & Carry should be congratulated for scoring a perfect score of zero, which they have done for at least the last four inspections (the only ones shown on the county’s website).
* * *
ROCKiT space at 3315 Beacon Avenue South is among the South End music and arts businesses featured recently in the South Seattle Beacon.
ROCKiT space also has some new activities, including sculpting classes and a knitting club (at which you may see a certain BHB editor, once it gets started). See the ROCKiT space website for details.
* * *
The ongoing work on the South Spokane Street Viaduct continues. Permanent closure of the First Avenue South on-ramp to the westbound lanes of the viaduct is tentatively scheduled for May 17. For the next year and a half after that, there will be no access to the Spokane Street Viaduct from surface streets in Sodo, and vehicles from Sodo will be detoured to the low level bridge to get to West Seattle. We’ll post more info as the date approaches.
On March 22, the First Avenue off-ramp from the eastbound viaduct will be reduced to one lane for up to five months, and First Avenue South will also be restricted to one lane for northbound traffic from South Spokane to South Hanford.
Next week will be the exception—the Alaskan Way Viaduct will be closed for inspection, so First Avenue will stay open to keep Sodo from becoming complete gridlock for the weekend. See SDOT’s Spokane Street Project page for more.
* * *
If you didn’t get enough dodgeball as a kid in gym class, Jefferson Community Center is the place for you this spring. Adult dodgeball league games will be held at both Jefferson and West Seattle’s Delridge community centers. It’s open to teams of all abilities, and the cost per team is $180. Spring team registration closes on April 7, 2010. For more information, contact Antoinette Daniel at 206-684-7092, or email Antoinette.daniel@seattle.gov.
How you can be part of the Beacon Hill Blog
You may have noticed recently that we’ve run a few opinion pieces by Beacon Hill neighbors who have something to say. This is just one of the ways you can communicate with your neighbors through the blog and its related activities, and keep up with what’s going on here on Beacon Hill.
Opinion posts are always welcome, on a variety of topics, as long as they are related to Beacon Hill. If you’d like to submit an opinion post, please email us. Non-opinion articles are welcome, as well. Please talk to us about what you are interested in covering. Local meetings and events are great places to start.
If your interests are more in the photojournalism area, consider posting your photos in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. Photos posted there are considered for publishing in the blog.
The BHB Forum allows you to post on a variety of topics and carry on ongoing conversations with your neighbors. Recent topics posted on the Forum include electric car plug-in sites, finding running partners on the Hill, the Jefferson Park Community Garden, and bicycling with kids. The Forum is a good place to post your help wanted, lost pet, and swap/sell posts, too.
Some folks prefer to interact with their neighbors via email. The Beacon Hill Mailing List has been operating for more than 10 years now, with a large group of neighbors exchanging advice, warnings, recommendations, announcements, and ideas about our neighborhood.
The Beacon Hill Blog Twitter feed is another way to keep up with things. All the blog’s new posts are announced there, as well as other commentary and information on occasion. We also have a Facebook group.
Last but not least, there’s one other way that you can use this blog to communicate with your neighbors on the Hill—by running an ad (or two). You can run picture ads or text ads, for a very low price, that will directly target people who live and/or work on Beacon Hill.
Opinion: A bold idea for Beacon Hill’s Central Park
Do you have an opinion? We welcome opinion articles on topics related to Beacon Hill. Please email us your articles.
by Andrea Leuschke and Tim Abell
What if you could start from scratch and locate the Beacon Hill Central Park, the neighborhood’s focal point, anywhere on Beacon Hill—without disrupting existing businesses, without relocating current residents, without demolishing any of the many buildings of character on Beacon Hill? Ideally it would be located on Beacon Avenue, in the heart of the Urban Village, close to the transit station… and that is exactly what we are proposing.
The Parks and Green Space Levy Oversight Committee announced that there are funds available for the acquisition and development of park space. The intent of this project is to acquire the land surrounding the light rail station (see a map of the area here) to create an urban park in the heart of the North Beacon Hill Urban Village.
A park-like setting in the core will also help alleviate the lack of tree cover and vegetation. It would give residents and visitors a great opportunity to connect with nature, the environment, and the larger landscape of the Pacific Northwest, and for all to share the spectacular Beacon Hill views.
With community backing, this acquisition would most likely score highly due to the central location in our community, the consistency with the adopted plan, the coupling with the transit station, and the vacancy of the desired land. All these factors combine to make this an unique and creative opportunity.
Please comment on this blog about what you think and what you would like to see in the Beacon Hill Park. This proposal will be submitted to the North Beacon Hill Community Council for endorsement at the meeting on Thursday April 1, 2010. Please come out to express your support!!
Andrea Leuschke is a landscape architect who has worked on the Beacon Ridge Improvement Community (BRIC) stairway project. Tim Abell is a resident of Beacon Hill and an architect who designs and develops work force housing in Seattle.
(All images courtesy of Andrea and Tim. Click on each thumbnail image to see a larger version.)
Beacon Hill is the bees’ knees
Do you have any interesting photos of the Hill? You are invited to post them to the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool.
Crime notes: Neglect, break-ins, and pedestrian harassment
Jan wrote to the mailing list about a break-in:
[Last Wednesday] our rental house was broken into. It’s across from the viewpoint at 2910 12th Ave. So. Our renter was at home at the time and the intruder broke in the front door and came in with a knife. He boldly sat on the couch until our renter pointed a gun and called police. The intruder is one that we new as a little boy who lived down the street. He’s a druggie and usually not dangerous… Our son who is a policeman said he’s arrested him several times, but he seems to always get back out on the street. He needs some serious rehab.
* * *
Sentencing has taken place in the neglect case from December ’08:
Margaret Adell George’s mother was found living in deplorable conditions in her Beacon Hill home in December 2008. Seattle police detectives said the immobile woman appeared to have been neglected for an extended period of time before authorities found her in her home in the 4900 block of 26th Avenue South.
Seattle woman sentenced to jail for neglecting bed-ridden mom — Seattle Times (BHB news partners)
* * *
In The Big Bad Wolf of Beacon Hill, SeattleCrime.com has the police account of a woman on foot being harassed by a man in a vehicle in the early morning hours of March 8th:
The woman told officers she got lost on the way to her friend’s home and, as she was wandering around the neighborhood, a “light brown or gold colored full sized American-made 4 door vehicle” pulled up next to her near 20th Ave S and S Ferdinand and the driver offered her a ride.
The woman declined the man’s offer and kept on walking.
The driver than told the woman “he was a good guy” and asked for her name, but the woman ignored him and kept walking.
Moments later, the report says, the driver got out of his car holding a knife and told the woman “I want sex.”
* * *
Meilee offers a first-hand account of being shadowed and stalked by a driver:
After work yesterday 3/16 just after 5P, I was walking north along 15th Ave S. It was still daylight and lots of cars and people around. I just passed the Clearwire store and barbershop and was almost to the garden society house when a man in a burgundy SUV pulled up along side and started rolling his car along. I stopped and he stopped so then I started walking forward and he pulled forward. He turned his vehicle as if he was going to park. So I turned around and started walking back towards ABC Supermarket. When I turned around, I looked back and the guy had put his car in reverse and started driving backwards. I started walking faster and called my husband asked that he pick me up. The guy drove off and I walked into the grocery store.
Anyway I wanted to let people know and just be aware of your surroundings and even walking on a busy street in daylight. Some guy, who knows what his intentions were was “brave” enough to roll along side in his car.
My husband said I did the right thing by walking into a business but I’m still shook up. Who knows what the guys intentions were but even more, what he might do something to someone else.
* * *
Kevin forwarded a note from a neighbor at 24th and McClellan:
We had a burglary on Tuesday. It occurred at about 11:30 AM [Tuesday], when there was apparently no one at home in any of the 6 homes here on this side. Our house had been unoccupied for an hour when this happened. The frame to the lower door (and the door itself) was broken to gain entry, apparently with a pry bar of some sort. The intruders entered and stole items of substantial value, notwithstanding the alarm (and the decals and signs indicating there was an alarm). The police responded 3 hours later.
* * *
Select items from bhnw.org’s scanner logs:
Burglaries:
- 3/9 9:15pm near 17th and Shelton
- 3/10 6:15pm near 14th and Nevada
- 3/12 2:00pm near 14th and Nevada
- 3/18 12:00pm near 23rd and Spencer
- 3/18 12:15pm near 22nd and Spencer
Vehicle break-in:
- 3/11 12:45pm near Beacon and Lander
Shooting:
- 3/13 6:30pm in Holly Park
Thanks everyone for keeping your neighbors informed!