All posts by Wendi Dunlap

Editor of the Beacon Hill Blog.
Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Milkshakes, coffee, and a brand-new playground

5 Comments
Workers taking down the fence at the Jefferson Park Play Area. Photo by Joel Lee.
The playground at Jefferson Park is open at last, and in the words of Joel Lee, “It was already mobbed by children tonight. For adults it’s a good vantage point to see the rest of the park and of course an amazing view of downtown.”

* * *

It’s been all over the local news, but we thought we’d mention it too. Long-time Seattle institution Dick’s Drive-in is hosting a poll on their website, asking where they should build a new Dick’s—north of Seattle, South Seattle (as far south as SeaTac), or the Eastside? Now, we know that Beacon Hill itself wouldn’t be a good location for Dick’s. But we think that a new Dick’s location would fit perfectly into, say, Sodo. We would also like to point out that every single existing Dick’s location is already north of Downtown (though Broadway is only slightly north) and it’s time to give South Seattle some love—and some chocolate milkshakes. Currently we are in second place with 29%, and the north end is running away with the election. Go here to vote.

* * *

If you prefer coffee to a Dick’s milkshake, fear not—Victrola has begun a weekly “cupping” (coffee tasting) at their Beacon Hill location, every Saturday at noon. The café is located at 3215 Beacon Avenue South. — Coffee City blog at The Seattle Times

* * *

Jessie McKenna of ROCKiT space sent along an announcement:

Just a quick announcement that as many of you know, Suzanne Sumi will be taking over Kids’ Dance, Sing & Play. The classes are weekly on Wednesdays, will begin at 9am and are one hour sessions.

The cost is still just $5 per class, but is per family, not per child. This class is big fun for toddler/pre-school aged children and you will just LOVE Suzanne. She’s wonderful! She has 26 years of early childhood education under her belt and will share stories, songs and more with you and your children.

Hope to see you with kids in tow some Wednesday soon!

We see also on their website that ROCKiT space is offering $5 Spanish language classes for both kids and adults, beginning Saturday, September 11. Find out more on the site.

ROCKiT space is at 3315 Beacon Avenue South. Please note that they will be closed from Sunday September 5 through Sunday September 12.

* * *

Publicola and Seattle Transit Blog recently ran articles praising Beacon Bikes! and noting that the group has been awarded $15,000 to make biking safer in the neighborhood.

Way to go, Dylan and Beacon Bikes! (Check out the Beacon Bikes! Facebook page.)

* * *

Publicola reported a while back that loss of the city’s tree canopy is worst in Southeast Seattle, including part of Beacon Hill. The city is hosting an Urban Forestry open house on September 21 to discuss city plans and proposals to increase and enhance our urban forest. More information about the open house here.

* * *

Have a great Labor Day weekend and enjoy what remains of our very odd summer this year!

(Melissa Jonas also contributed to writing this edition of Beacon Bits. Thanks, Melissa!)

Volunteering and Giving

KCIA, TAF seek community volunteers

King County International Airport (the one we usually call Boeing Field) is accepting applications from community members to fill the role of a “community representative living in the Beacon Hill/Rainier Valley neighborhood” on the King County International Airport Roundtable.

The Roundtable acts a bridge between King County government officials, Airport management, aviation organizations and businesses, and the communities such as Beacon Hill which surround the airport. Find out more about the Airport Roundtable at the King County website.

The position is a volunteer, unpaid position, appointed by the King County Executive and the King County Council. Terms are three years in length, with a two-term maximum. Please contact Leslie Barstow at 206-296-7431 for an application or additional information.

Another organization currently seeking volunteers is the Technology Access Foundation, located on Rainier Avenue South. Their mission is “to prepare underserved children of color for higher education and professional success by providing a rigorous and relevant K-12 curriculum.”

TAF tells us,

We are currently accepting applications for classroom assistants for our TechStart afterschool program. Volunteers support the teacher by answering questions, keeping students on task and determining which students need extra support in the areas of Science, Technology, math and reading. TechStart is a free after-school academic enrichment program that uses technology to improve math, science and language literacy for students in grades K-9. TechStart students use technology tools in project-based learning experiences. While working on their projects, students gain valuable computer knowledge and communication skills, as well as other essential life skills such as time management, teamwork, fulfilling goals, and presenting information to audiences.

This opportunity is great experience for those seeking a career in teaching. Also this position is ideal for volunteers who enjoy working with younger children, are passionate about technology, and are looking to be part of a dynamic and diverse learning community.

They have other volunteer opportunities as well. See their website for further information.

Urban Planning

Results of recent neighborhood plan update surveys posted

4 Comments
City Councilperson Mike O'Brien speaks with Beacon Hill residents at May's town hall meeting at Mercer Middle School.
The Department of Planning and Development has posted the results of the recent town hall and Web surveys about the North Beacon Hill Neighborhood Plan Update. They sent out the following announcement:

Thank you for your participation and contribution to your Neighborhood Plan Update from the March 2009 meeting through the May 2010 Town Hall meetings and the online survey. Your input in creating the updates and your help prioritizing the Action Steps will guide the Implementation Phase, which we are just about to start. Implementation will involve a partnership of community members, community organizations, the City and funders. We look forward to working with you on the Strategies and Action Steps to bring about your community’s Vision and Goals.

The May 2010 Town Hall and web surveys results are now posted to our website. Click on the following link if you wish to see what your fellow community members think: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/Neighborhood_Planning/Overview/ (Editor’s note: You can go directly to the survey result PDF here if you prefer.)

Your commitment to your community is further demonstrated by the hundreds of Action Team members signed up to implement the Action Steps. City Departments will be activating the relevant Action Teams as we start our work in your neighborhood. If you did not sign up, but are interested, please contact your Neighborhood District Coordinator: Yun Pitre (yun.pitre@seattle.gov) if you are in Othello or North Rainier; or Steve Louie (steve.louie@seattle.gov) if you are in North Beacon Hill. In the meantime, you can keep up to date on our progress via our website and Facebook page.

Again, thank you for your commitment to your neighborhood. We are excited to begin our shared work plan in your neighborhood.

Local Events, Neighborhood Pride

Block party tonight on South Hanford

Summer’s not quite over yet—it’s still August and it’s still block party season, despite this year’s weird weather! New neighbor Steve Pratt sent us this announcement for a block party happening tonight:

My wife and I just moved to this part of Beacon Hill. We are both teachers at Cleveland High School and love the opportunity to live and teach in the same neighborhood. To get to know our neighbors as well as to celebrate summer, we wanted to get the word out about a block party happening on Tuesday, August 31st from 6 – 8 PM. It will happen on Hanford St between 13th and 14th. Anyone in the nearby vicinity is invited. I’ve knocked on quite a few doors to invite folks, but some people weren’t home and others probably thought I was trying to sell them a vacuum cleaner. Anyway, bring a side or drink, and we’ll see everybody then.
Questions or RSVP: Steve Pratt, 206.293.0345

Local Events

2010 Beacon Rocks! series to rock out one last time Sunday

Photo by Oran Viriyincy in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool.
The final Beacon Rocks! music event of this year is Sunday, August 29, from 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm (rain or shine!) at the Lander Festival Street next to Beacon Hill Station.

As always, the event is free to all (we suggest bringing chairs or blankets to sit on, maybe umbrellas, sunscreen, etc.).

The performers at this weekend’s show include:

YAAMBA Marimba: YAAMBA Marimba are a group of musicians who enjoy playing Zimbabwean music and other music driven by a rhythmic beat on marimba and mbira. They’ve been playing together since the 1980s.

Glenn Bell Band: Glenn Bell is a Seattle musician who hails from Philly. His self-released debut LP, Slide, is a dose of all-American story telling in the context of rock/pop melodies, in the mold of Springsteen and James McMurtry.

Splinter Dance Company: Splinter Dance Company’s repertoire ranges in styles from hip-hop and breakdance, to lyrical, salsa, and jazz.

The Colour Project: The Colour Project is a Seattle-based electronic rock duo, formed in 2010 by Jessie McKenna and Mark Chrisman. They combine drum beats, guitar, synthesizer, textured loops and melody.

Jessie McKenna: Original melodic pop/rock.

Red Heart Alarm: Red Heart Alarm is a “Gruntry” band hailing from Seattle, WA. They’ve coined the term for their sound, which marries their native city’s Grunge legacy with the melodic twang of classic Americana/Roots music. The result of this experimentation is their recently released debut album White Elephants.

Education, Volunteering and Giving

Clearwire volunteers brighten up Mercer Middle School

Volunteers busy painting a mural. Photo courtesy of Clearwire.
Last week over 100 Clearwire employees participated in a volunteer project at Asa Mercer Middle School. They painted a mural and some walls of the portable classrooms, built benches and planters, planted flowers, and put together new backpacks with donated school supplies—one for each of Mercer’s 850 students. Clearwire also donated 34 Lenovo laptop computers for Mercer’s new mobile computer lab.

The project was part of Clearwire’s service program, “Connecting with Communities.” Thanks to Clearwire for volunteering on Beacon Hill and helping the kids in our community!

Photos

August on Beacon Hill

These are some of the wonderful photos people have posted lately in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. Have any photos of the Hill? You are invited to add them to the pool for possible publication.

Swimming at the Harwood Condos. Photo by Bridget Christian.
In Daejeon Park on North Beacon Hill. Photo by Silare.
A dog hitched to the hitching post at The Station coffee shop. Photo by Joel Lee.
Balloons at sunset. Photo by sodoheights.
Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Internet outages, slow traffic, and health inspections

3 Comments

(We apologize for some delay in getting this posted. Our internet was down for a bit. Oddly, it went down just as I was preparing the story below.)

Neighbor Sebastian in North Beacon writes that he’s been having some Broadstripe trouble lately:

I’ve been having intermittent to complete Internet outages for 24 days, starting on 7/30. Cable TV has been out since 8/19. I’ve called Broadstripe 20+ times to ask for updates and for someone to investigate their Network issues with less than satisfactory responses. During a third service call on 8/19/2010, a Broadstripe technician finally discovered that the source of the problem is with Broadstripe’s network and not with the equipment inside my house. Unfortunately the issue still hasn’t been resolved and my Internet and Cable TV still aren’t working.

…I’m curious if anyone else has been having issues with their Broadstripe Internet and Cable TV service? I’m getting tired of dealing with an incompotent service provider and I’m wondering if anyone has had any luck dealing with them?

Anyone else having these problems with their cable lately? And does anyone have any suggestions for Sebastian?

(Editor’s note, 5:28 pm: Sebastian tells us his service is up and working again. How about the rest of you?)

* * *

Like Beacon Hill internet service, traffic on Rainier Avenue South will also be moving slowly for a while. Southbound traffic on Rainier will be reduced to one lane between South Forest Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way South around the clock until early September. Construction crews are upgrading drainage and electrical utilities in the roadway as part of the Rainier Transit Priority Corridor Improvements Project to create a better waiting environment for bus passengers, improve travel time for buses, and improve parking conditions for automobiles. You can read more about it here.

* * *

“Home to some of the very best views of downtown Seatown, it’s shocking that sleepy Beacon Hill is often overlooked, said Yelp’s “Neighborhood Spotlight” feature last week. The article touts our library as “stunning,” our cuisine as “out of this world,” and concludes that there are “so many reasons to buzz about this ’hood!” Read it here.

* * *

Speaking of our cuisine, certain local establishments received their periodic visits from the Health Department. El Centro de la Raza, Dim Sum House, Elegant Gourmet Catering, Em Engo Beacon Grocery/BBQ Deli, Golden Daisy Restaurant, Holly Park Head Start Center, Jefferson Community Center, Sharon’s Lutong Bahay, and La Bendicion all saw the inspector in the last few weeks.

Congratulations to Holly Park Head Start Center, Jefferson Community Center, and Sharon’s Lutong Bahay who all had perfect scores of zero!

Click on the establishments’ names above to see the reports of each place’s inspection. Please note that having some violation points does not necessarily mean an establishment has a serious problem. It is common for even good establishments to get some violation points now and then. The type and number of the points are what matters. Here is some more information about the Food Protection Program.

Lost and Found

Pet pair looking for a way home?

3 Comments

Neighbor Miranda writes,

“On my way to the train this morning around 7:45 on 22nd & Lander I spotted a large, black, senior Labrador mix anxiously walking around with a brown/orange/black tabby cat following close by. The two were obviously together. I followed them to College but the dog was scared. I couldn’t get close and I didn’t want to chase them down to Rainier. I managed to get a photo of the dog, the cat was behind the car. It’s attached. Hopefully one of the BHB readers will recognize them so they can go home.”

I hope this animal pair finds its way home. Perhaps they are on an incredible journey.