All posts by Jason

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Off the rails, on the record, at the party, and eating right

KING 5 has a slideshow and story of a Link Light Rail train derailment today in SoDo.

* * *

KOMO’s (and Beacon Hill’s) Travis Mayfield has posted an interview he conducted with Senator Patty Murray on health care. Travis also points out Mike McGinn‘s “Victory Party” taking place this Friday, November 20th, at the NewHolly Gathering Hall, to which everyone is invited.

* * *

The Seattle Institute for Biochemical and Clinical Research located at the VA hospital is seeking a full time Research Dietitian, if you happen to know a dietitian looking for a gig.

* * *

Supposed to get pretty windy tonight and tomorrow, like it was early this morning; make sure your garbage cans and lids and such are secure and aren’t blowing down the street.

Local Business

Anyone recommend a space for a restaurant?

6 Comments

Spotted on Craigslist this morning, an ad headlined:

Restaurant Space Needed, South Seattle – $1 (Beacon Hill, Rainier Ave S, Columbia City)

The ad reads:

I am an experienced restaurant owner. I am looking for about 1100 to 1700 squared feet commercial space to lease with class I or II hood for my third location.

The areas I’m interested in: Beacon Hill, Columbia City, Rainer Ave S.

If you like to meet and talk, please respond to my ad.
Thank you

(Light editing and emphasis by me.)

Anyone like to help this person out? Or hazard a guess about what the other two locations might be?

Life on the Hill

Does your Broadstripe service meet expectations (yet)?

26 Comments

(A) Broadstripe (representative) speaks up in the comments of a previous item:

We have been taking steps to improve High Speed Data services to your area. We have been systematically troubleshooting and repairing our nodes to provide exceptional service to our subscribers. Please contact us directly at earningourstripes@broadstripe.com so we can confirm if you’re (sic) concerns have been resolved with our recent upgrades or if we can do anything further to assist in resolving any on-going service concerns.

We’ve been pretty lucky here; we have not experienced the lengthy periods of complete internet outages many of you have reported and have repeatedly gone back and forth with Broadstripe over (many to the point of giving up on cable broadband entirely).

In my recent experience, I have seen some improvement: speeds during peak usage periods (evenings) are not nearly as horrible as I’d seen in September, but they’re usually only a tenth of the advertised speed of 15 megabits per second. At off-peak times, I have seen very brief peaks above 10 megabits near the beginning of a single download, but after a megabyte or two, the speeds appear to be throttled down to an average somewhere around 3 megabits, one fifth of the advertised rate.

As a rule-of-thumb, downloading one megabyte (1,048,576 bytes or 1024 kilobytes) should take:

  • about 15 seconds at 500 kilobits per second (500Kbps).
  • about 8 seconds at one megabit per second (1Mbps).
  • less than one second at ten megabits per second (10Mbps).

I encourage you to run your own tests — real-world tests like downloading software updates or loading large web pages as well as speed tests performed through sites like speedtest.net and Broadband Reports — and report your findings in the comments.

Those of you who have experienced general outages: have they become shorter or less frequent? Has their support staff become more responsive and solved your issues?

Please also send your experiences back to Broadstripe.

Crime

Crime notes: Indecent exposure, more burglaries, South watch plans solidifying

2 Comments

Napsiyah writes about an incident that occurred at Beacon and McClellan, next to the Link station:

This morning at 8:30am as I was walking to Light Rail to go to work, a man driving a truck got out and exposed/masturbated himself in front of me. I turned around and ran and called the police to report this incident. Please put on the blog to look out for this man!!! It was a busy street! We need to report and catch this sicko.

She described the flasher as a “white or hispanic male wearing a camoflauge baseball cap, around 5’7″, medium build” and was reportedly driving a newer-looking navy blue truck with tinted windows.

Call the police if you have any information about this or similar crimes.

* * *

On the mailing list, Hazel reports an attempted break-in of her locked garage door on Monday at 20th and Spokane, and also relayed a report from her neighbor of an attempted lock-picking on 21st Avenue South on Friday.

* * *

Mahalie also reports on the mailing list of a second burglary of her home just off Cheasty some time between 9am and 5pm on Tuesday where the burglars appear to have taken their time and left with multiple computers, power supplies, a camera, a heavy change jar, and more after having rifled through bags and dumped out boxes looking for loot.

* * *

BHNW logged additional burglaries at 19th and Massachusetts last Saturday and at Beacon and Austin Friday.

* * *

Nick writes of a captured criminal:

My wife and I live on Beacon Hill on Hanford St. Our car was stolen on the 29th of October. We got it back the same day but, I just wanted to let you know that. The guy who stole it was arrested and is still in jail today.

Some more good news like this would be very welcome lately.

* * *

Mike Cheney posted a promising update in the forum about Project Safe Neighborhoods, plans to establish a neighborhood watch in South Beacon Hill and Holly Court, plans to pursue grants, and notice of monthly meetings. Sounds like things are starting to come together!

Thanks everyone for keeping your neighbors informed!

Beacon Bits

More Bits: Luminaria, sing-a-longs, matching money, and more

Luminarias photo by AZAdam. At the Beacon Hill Library on Saturday, learn basic paper-cutting techniques using scissors and a hole puncher to make your own decorative Day of the Dead luminaria.
Luminarias photo by AZAdam. At the Beacon Hill Library on Saturday, learn basic paper-cutting techniques using scissors and a hole puncher to make your own decorative Day of the Dead luminaria.

This Saturday, the 14th, from 2 to 4pm, an introduction to traditional Day of the Dead crafts with artist Amaranta Ibarra Sandys will be at the Beacon Hill Library. This event is free, requires no registration, and is open to everyone ages 5 and older.

* * *

Craig Thompson has resumed regularly updating the Beacon Lights column at the P-I, most recently considering Sound Transit, the mayoral race, and Dow Constantine.

* * *

Next Thursday, November 19th, from 6 to 7:30pm at the Beacon Hill Library, the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is hosting free technical assistance workshops to educate neighborhood groups and community organizations on funding opportunities under the Neighborhood Matching Fund. The program provides cash awards to community organizations for neighborhood-based projects. Proposals are due as early as January 11th for “Small and Simple” projects.

* * *

Metro has introduced a new reroute notification system where you can sign up for email or SMS alerts if your bus has been rerouted due to snow or other emergency condition. — Seattle Transit Blog

* * *

200 student poet-athletes will be participating in their fall season-ending America SCORES Seattle Poetry Slam tomorrow, November 13th, from 5 to 6:45pm. Join them at the Cleveland High School Auditorium. Call 206-988-1000 for more information.

* * *

Rise up Singing — a family-friendly, evening sing-along with Albert Kaufman (the human jukebox). Former Beacon Hill neighbor Albert Kaufman will be back in town on Saturday the 14th at OmCulture near Gasworks Park from 7 to 9:30pm. Albert will be leading a sing-a-long with special guests and children of all ages are welcome. Thanks for the notice, Mira!

Crime

Home invasion robbery by men posing as police

SeattleCrime.com has details of a home invasion robbery at an apartment near 13th and Beacon in the early morning of November 1st. A couple was robbed of several thousand dollars by six men dressed as police officers.

From the story, the couple seems to think they were targeted after having gone to a taco stand earlier in the evening. I wonder what could have happened at a taco stand to make these criminals interested in tracking down and robbing these victims.

Update: KOMO has more details.

Meetings, Recreation, Urban Planning

Jefferson Park Project Advisory Team meeting tomorrow

1 Comment

From Mira Latoszek on the mailing list:

The Parks Department has scheduled a Jefferson Park Project Advisory Team meeting. The meeting is this Tuesday, 11/10, @ 6pm at the Jefferson Park Lawn Bowling club house.

The agenda includes the following topics:

  1. Jefferson Park Expansion Project — Construction status/update
  2. Jefferson PAT [Project Advisory Team] — Do we want to add new members? Does everyone want to continue for the next few years?
  3. Jefferson PAT lessons learned — How can we improve.
  4. Upcoming projects at Jefferson associated with the new Levy.

    5. All PAT meetings are open to the public.

    Hope to see you there,
    Mira

The lawn bowling club house is behind the restaurant and main building at the golf course on the west side of Beacon Avenue South.

Some emphasis added by me. Thanks, Mira!

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Cheasty, permits, gardens, and snow plans

6 Comments
Photo from Seattle Department of Transportation
Photo from Seattle Department of Transportation

Cheasty Boulevard to get new brown street signs thanks to the Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks (FSOP)’s recommendation made after the 2003 Seattle Olmsted Park System Centennial celebration. More about the signs in Crosscut.

* * *

Speaking of Cheasty, Green Seattle Day is tomorrow. They’re looking for volunteers to help out in the Cheasty Greenspace at 10am Saturday, rain or shine.

* * *

Recommended boundary maps for Seattle Public Schools new student assignment plan. The school board votes November 18th. There’s one more public meeting on Saturday (tomorrow).

* * *

The Friends of the Seattle Public Library encourage you to email the undecided City Council members and help keep the Beacon Hill Library (and several others) open more than 35 hours a week.

* * *

Identical permits to “Construct alterations to replace doors, windows and install air blend fan, per King Co. Sound Insulation Bid Pkg. #7 and floor plan, subject to field inspection, [subject to field inspection]” have been filed for a number of properties in South Beacon Hill, running about $40,000 a pop. (Sounds like a construction company made the same mistake multiple times.)

* * *

United Way and El Centro are again offering free raised bed gardens and gardening assistance for seniors.

* * *

KOMO’s Travis Mayfield reports on the US Senate approving funds for Seattle Youth Violence Prevention and El Centro’s executive director Estelle Ortega being named to newly elected King County Executive Dow Constantine’s transition team.

* * *

Metro has announced their new winter “snow plan” — West Seattle Blog

Health and Safety

Be alert when out in the dark mid-afternoon

Colette shares a suspicious situation her husband witnessed last night:

Around 7pm my husband was walking our dog on 22nd and McClellan and passed a gentleman walking with a backpack. Continuing his walk, my husband noticed two males walking at a fast pace. One of the individuals crossed the street and walked in the same direction as the gentleman and my husband noticed some sort of hand signal between the two of them. They then noticed my husband and stopped their pursuit. It may have been nothing, but it seemed as though it could have been a robbery situation… Now that it is getting darker earlier it’s a good idea to be aware of what’s around you, especially if you’re walking alone.

Stay alert! Report suspicious activity and keep your neighbors safe. Thanks Colette!

Getting Around, Health and Safety

Pedestrian injured in collision with bicyclist

From the SPD Blotter:

On 11/03/09, at approximately 4:45 p.m., a bicyclist was traveling [northbound] on Beacon Ave S. approaching S. College St. As the Bicyclist approached S. College St, a pedestrian going [westbound] across Beacon Ave S. stepped into the roadway.

The Bicyclist was unable to avoid the pedestrian and collided with him.

The pedestrian sustained a serious head injury and Seattle Fire Department Medic transported him to Harborview Medical Center (HMC).

During the investigation, HMC stated that the pedestrian’s medical condition improved to become non-life threatening.

An officer responded to the scene to screen the bicyclist for any signs of impairment due to drugs/alcohol. The officer determined that the bicyclist was not impaired.

More also from KOMO:
Bike Pedestrian Accident on Beacon Ave
Update: Pedestrian injured in head-on crash with bicycle