Monthly Archives: July 2010

Clean and Green

Free trees available through the Tree Fund

Add more greenery to your life with a free tree. Photo by Wendi.
Community members can get free trees for their neighborhood through the Tree Fund, a program of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. It is an easy way for residents to beautify their neighborhood and help the environment, while connecting with their neighbors.

Groups of neighbors from at least five households living on a street or block can request from ten to 40 trees per project.  In addition, each participating household can have a fruit tree for their own yard.  Information on how to organize your neighborhood, the selections of trees, and the application form, can be foundhere.  The deadline for applications is August 16.

This is the 15th year that the Department of Neighborhoods is providing free trees through the Tree Fund program.  Through the Fund, Seattle residents have planted more than 20,000 trees, and helped to add to the city’s dwindling tree cover. In 1972, Seattle had a tree cover of 40 percent.  Now, that cover has dropped to 22 percent.  This decline threatens nature’s ability to help manage storm water, reduce erosion, absorb climate-disrupting gases, improve public health and clean the air.  The goal of the Tree Fund program is to increase the percentage back to 30 percent, build community, and promote a clean and green environment for Seattle’s streets.

For questions or additional information, contact Judy Brown, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, at 206-684-0714.

In addition, Seattle reLeaf is providing free trees for residents who live in specific neighborhoods within southwest and southeast Seattle through the City’s 2010 Trees for Neighborhoods program.  To learn more, visit the website.

Meetings

Lewis Park Vegetation Management Plan meeting Wednesday

Flowers at sunset in Lewis Park. Photo by Wendi.
We mentioned earlier that the Jefferson Park skatepark design meeting is tomorrow night (Wednesday, July 14) at 6:00 pm, but if your park interests on the Hill lean more toward Lewis Park, there’s a meeting tomorrow for you, too. The Lewis Park Vegetation Management Plan meeting begins at 6:30 pm at the Citywide Horticulture Center, 1600 South Dakota Street. The Vegetation Management Plan will guide the maintenance of vegetation at Lewis Park so that it restores the park to its intended use as a natural area. More information may be found here.

Food and Drink

Street Treats: the beginning of a food revolution on the Hill?

10 Comments
A customer at the Street Treats van. Photo by Joel Lee.
I have long been arguing that Beacon Hill needs more street food vendors, so I am especially happy to have Street Treats answer my call. Not only do they provide a revolving variety of pies and cookies, but most importantly in this hot weather, they sell Bluebird homemade ice cream.

We rolled into Beacon Hill this last Friday after a grueling 13 hour drive through eastern Washington heat, and went immediately in search of the Street Treats truck which was parked this last Friday right across from the light rail station. We had to try more than one thing, so we had a homemade ice cream sandwich with double chocolate cookies and mixed berry ice cream and an equally amazing full-flavored espresso ice cream made with Stumptown coffee—both of which were amazing.

It’s hard not to notice the large increase in pedestrians near the light rail station in the last year, and since development has stalled, portable food vendors are in a perfect position to take advantage of this foot traffic. It pains me to see fences around gravel lots in areas that could so easily accommodate and attract more food trucks. How awesome would it be to have a revolving variety of food vendors in our neighborhood on any given night? There is no reason that neighborhood restaurants and businesses couldn’t capitalize on a regular mini food festival. More locals could develop small businesses and we all could use a multi-ethnic gathering area.

In the meantime, Street Treats desserts are not only delicious but they are served in an eco-friendly manner. Their truck uses biodiesel and serving materials are all biodegradable and compostable, so skip dinner and watch for the Street Treats truck parked near the light rail station on Friday nights between 6:00-8:00 pm.

Joel Lee maintains the Beacon Hill Public Art website and has posted previously on this blog about street food.

Could these fences be replaced by food carts? Photo by Joel Lee.
Life on the Hill, Local Business, Opinion

Walking with Tica (and now Sylvia): Thanks, neighbors!

Judith Edwards welcomes Sylvia to Beacon Hill. Photo by melissajonas.
Tica’s walks are a little slower and a little shorter than they used to be. She also has to share the smiles and praise our neighbors generously dole out. On May 14, we added a third person to our family: Sylvia Grace Foster. Gifts and well wishes started arriving before we even brought her home, thanks to the “doggy grapevine.” The neighbors who walked Tica while Sylvia was being born shared the news of her birth with all our doggy friends. We arrived home to a warm welcome!

Sylvia is napping in one of the many adorable outfits Heather passed down from her kids. I’m enjoying a hot bowl of chicken vegetable soup while the baby sleeps—courtesy of our neighbor Georgia. Judith’s potato soup waits in the freezer for another cool day; I devoured the chicken rice ambrosia as soon as she left it on the porch. Other neighbors have shared gifts, food, support, and tips for raising a baby in Beacon Hill—thanks to you all!

Beacon Hill businesses have also been welcoming, generous, and patient with our new baby. Sylvia’s first outing was to the newly opened The Station, where Luis greeted her like family. We strolled to the Beacon Hill Festival and had lunch afterwards at Baja Bistro and dinner a few days later at La Cabaña (impossible to say which is more family/baby friendly).  Already, we’ve enjoyed two Beacon Rocks! events, visited the library multiple times, and been granted the royal treatment at Red Apple. Sylvia ogles other babies smaller than watermelons at McPherson’s, and enjoys attention from the big kids in strollers at Beacon Hill Office and Mail Center.  I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the Piñata Party next Saturday!

Many thanks to all the wonderful, amazing, generous, thoughtful people who have welcoming Sylvia to Beacon Hill.  I hope she always appreciates how fortunate we are to live in this community.

Local Events

Beacon Rocks again on sunny Sunday

2 Comments

The second Beacon Rocks! music event happened yesterday at the Lander Festival Street. Here are some of the images of the day:

The Screaming Starts' lead vocalist, The Creeper, putting on a show. Photo by Wendi.
A happy audience enjoys the event. Photo by Jason.
A volunteer crossing guard helps a pedestrian cross Beacon Avenue to the event site. Photo by Wendi.
JJ del Serra performs at the event. Photo by Wendi.
Lander Festival Street, closed to all traffic. (Perhaps it should always be this way.) Photo by Wendi.

Last but not least, here’s a brief video clip Jason made of the Screaming Starts. It’s a bit rough, but it gives you a taste of the event. (The video quality improves about halfway through.) If anyone recorded any of the other acts, please let us know so we can link to them too..

Getting Around

Sound Transit still working to fill voids

Starting Monday, July 19, Sound Transit will return to Beacon Hill to continue underground exploration and backfilling work near Beacon Hill Station related to the voids discovered last year. Expect restricted parking, flaggers directing traffic, heavy equipment, and some noise. Construction is anticipated to take at least two months.

Among other impacts, the remediation work will reduce 17th Avenue South from South McClellan to South Waite to one travel lane, and drivers will be assisted by flaggers to safely get around the drilling equipment. Further information on the project activities can be found on this PDF.

These activities will be the first phase in the current work plan of exploratory operations to find and fill the remaining voids. The subsequent phases of the work plan focus solely on private property. If you have not been previously contacted by Sound Transit, no work will be on your property.

If you have any questions about the project or the Beacon Hill Station in general, please contact Jennifer Lemus, Sound Transit Community Outreach, at 206-398-5314.

This map shows the section of 17th Avenue South that will be affected by the lane closure, sidewalk closure, and parking restrictions:


View Sound Transit Void Remediation Work, Summer 2010 in a larger map

Getting Around

Lane closed today on Rizal Bridge; rehab work done

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will close one southbound lane on the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge at the north end of Beacon Hill today from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. The closure is required to allow engineers to perform a routine inspection of the bridge. This closure may be rescheduled, however, if crews are called on do emergency work elsewhere.

SDOT has substantially completed the rehab project on the bridge. The project was necessary to extend the life of the bridge, built in 1911, and reduce the frequency of major maintenance and repair. The bridge is the state’s oldest steel arch bridge, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The rehabilitation project included repairing concrete spallings on the bridge deck, installing a new sidewalk concrete overlay, repairing and sealing cracks in the concrete, and repairing or replacing deteriorating expansion joints and a concrete girder.

A view of the Rizal bridge from the Dearborn Street regrade in 1912. Yes, the angle of the bridge at the south end was steeper then than it is today. A 1917 mudslide along with some regrading on Beacon Hill required the southern approach to be rebuilt, this time less steeply. Photo courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives.
Recreation, Urban Planning

Jefferson Park skatepark schematic to be presented at 7/14 meeting

23 Comments
One of the skatepark designs proposed at the May community meeting.
The final design meeting for the Jefferson Park Skatepark is next Wednesday, July 14, at the Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Avenue South. Beacon Mountain Play Area and Jefferson Park Playfield will be discussed from 6:00 to 6:40 pm, then from 6:45 to 8:00 the final schematic design for the skatepark will be presented. Here is a flyer with more information. Meeting notes and concepts from the April and May community meetings may be downloaded here. The project is currently planned to be advertised for bid in early 2011 and completed in late summer of the same year.

Help Wanted

Musician wanted for Happenin’ on the Hill

The other day, we mentioned Happenin’ on the Hill, a celebration at the Maple School Natural Area this Saturday. The event hosts are seeking a “talented busker” who will play at the event to keep it festive. They say they have some money left in the budget to pay, so if you’re a local musician who can “play the stuff that you love” with an acoustic setup, you might want to contact them. See their Craigslist ad for info.