All posts by Wendi Dunlap

Editor of the Beacon Hill Blog.
News

Nominations sought for Maestas Legacy Award

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El Centro de la Raza sends this announcement:

Third Annual Roberto Felipe Maestas Legacy Award

Roberto’s life was dedicated to building the “Beloved Community” through multi-racial unity and he deeply believed that poverty, racism and social inequity could only be eradicated if people of all races came together to do so.

In honor of Roberto and his legacy, the Third Annual Roberto Felipe Maestas Legacy Award will recognize two individuals, a woman and a man, who have exemplified Building the Beloved Community through multi-racial unity and working to eliminate poverty, racism and social inequity.

El Centro de la Raza will celebrate them and their contributions by making a $1,500 gift in their name to an organization of their choice. Award recipients will be recognized at El Centro de la Raza’s Building the Beloved Community Gala on Saturday, October 5 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.

Legacy award applicants can self-nominate or be nominated by someone else. Recipients are asked to participate in a video interview and attend El Centro de la Raza’s Building the Beloved Community Gala.

Deadline for application submission is Tuesday, July 9 (Roberto’s Birthday) 2013 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Click here to access the application.

Uncategorized

Plaza Roberto Maestas design guidance meeting delayed

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A rendering of a design for the 17th Avenue South side of the Plaza Roberto Maestas project.
A rendering of a design for the 17th Avenue South side of the Plaza Roberto Maestas project.
Kate Gill de la Garza of the Beacon Development Group wrote to let us know that the design review process for El Centro de la Raza’s south lot development, Plaza Roberto Maestas, will be delayed by a month. The Early Design Guidance meeting is now scheduled to take place on July 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Wellspring Family Services, 1900 Rainier Avenue South.

Kate said, “This is primarily because the State legislative process now looks like it will go into July, and while we feel confident in our momentum and financial scenarios on the project, we have decided to wait until we have more information in hand from the State budget process. Hopefully this will happen by July!”

See previous information about the project here.

Education, Getting Around, Health and Safety

Pedestrian safety project kicks off at Asa Mercer Middle School

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Photo by Wendi Dunlap.
Safe Kids Seattle, the Seattle Department of Transportation, Feet First and FedEx are starting a year-long partnership with Beacon Hill’s Asa Mercer Middle School, with a goal of improving safety and conditions for pedestrians in the area around the school. The kickoff event for this program is tonight (June 6) at 6 p.m., during the Sixth Grade Parent Welcome Night at Asa Mercer Middle School, 1600 S. Columbian Way.

As part of the project, FedEx is presenting the Safe Kids task force with a grant of $25,000 for work throughout the upcoming year to improve permanent walking conditions for child pedestrians in the Asa Mercer community. The task force will create both environmental changes in the area, and educational campaigns to increase pedestrian awareness.

Getting Around

S. McClellan to close for weekend repaving project

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This Saturday, June 8, westbound South McClellan Street will be closed between 23rd Avenue South and 20th Avenue South for repaving by the Seattle Department of Transportation. The street will close at 7 a.m. to repave concrete panels in the 2100 block.

The street will remain closed until about 2 p.m. on Sunday, to give the concrete time to cure. A detour route will be provided for westbound travelers: south on 23rd, west on South Spokane Street, then north on Beacon Avenue South to McClellan and Beacon.


View S. McClellan street closure, 6/8/13 in a larger map

Meetings

NBHC agenda: Broadband projects and Pac Med

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Tuesday’s North Beacon Hill Council meeting is the last until September 2 — it’s summer break!

Here’s the agenda for this week’s meeting at the Beacon Hill Library at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 4:

  • 7:00-7:10 Introductions, Greater Duwamish Council and Department of Neighborhoods updates, raffle sales
  • 7:10-7:25 Broadband in Beacon Hill (Mary Taylor, CenturyLink): CM Bruce Harrell proposing a pilot project in Beacon Hill; Public Safety, Civil Rights and Technology committee meets Wednesday, June 5, at 2 p.m.
  • 7:25-7:45 Pacific Medical Center Tower (Judith Edwards)
  • 7:45-7:50 NBHC revised bylaws
  • 7:50-8:00 Raffle last minute sales and drawing
  • 8:00-8:15 Happening on the Hill/Community Calendar
    • Beacon Bazaar at Beacon International School, Sat 6/8
    • Beacon ROCKS, Sun 6/30
  • 8:30-8:55 NBHC Board meets in Beacon Hill Resource Center (open to the public)

The council is also holding a raffle:

“Please support our community council and enter to win fabulous prizes including gift cards at Victrola, El Centro parking pass, Tippe and Drague and many more local businesses. The grand prize will be one free permit (and insurance ) to use Roberto Maestas Festival Street. Proceeds support NBHC overhead for the Beacon Hill Resource Center and Roberto Maestas Festival Street.

“Tickets: $2 each/3 for $5 (Buy tickets from any board member in the neighborhood or at the NBHC meeting)

“Raffle drawings will be held at our June NBHC meeting and June Beacon ROCKS for the grand prize.”

Local Events

Tomorrow: Celebrate the neighborhood at the Beacon Hill Festival

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Students perform on unicycles at the 2012 Beacon Hill Festival. Photo by Wendi Dunlap.
Tomorrow, Saturday, June 1, from 11 to 4, the Beacon Hill Festival returns for a fine day at sunny Jefferson Park. (It’s June already?!) This is the 21st annual event; it’s a neighborhood fair, but also a fundraiser for scholarship programs at Jefferson Community Center.

At noon, Mayor McGinn and other local dignitaries will be there for the American Planning Association Great Places Award ceremony, honoring Beacon Hill as one of the APA’s “Great Places in America.”

The day will also include live performances from local schools and artists; a silent auction; 40 vendors, food including hot dogs, teriyaki, and burgers; bouncy houses, Frisbee demos, and we are also promised the chance to “play catch with a robot from Franklin HS Xbot Team!”

Crime, Overheard

Beaconian tells tale of two robberies

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Image by Anders Sandberg via Creative Commons/Flickr.
The Stranger has an article this week by Tobias Coughlin-Bogue: “Mugged at Gunpoint on Beacon Hill.” In the article, Coughlin-Bogue describes being robbed twice on North Beacon Hill, and his thoughts on revenge and gun ownership.

“About two blocks into our trek, a cop rolled by, and we flagged him down. He made a very unconvincing effort to track our assailants, giving the distinct impression that he believed our cause lost from the get-go. He also made sure to let us know, “If they tried to rob me, I would have pulled out my gun and asked them, ‘How badly do you want my stuff?'” I wasn’t in the mood to point out how incredibly foolish that statement was, so I just let it slide, borrowed his cell phone to get ahold of our roommate so we could get into the house, and let him drive us home.”

Have you been mugged on the Hill? Do you feel the police response was adequate? And what do you do to stay safe when walking around?

Arts, Education, Local Events

Chorus brings Canto to Cleveland HS

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Canto General---web graphicThe Seattle Peace Chorus will perform “Canto@Cleveland,” featuring the Canto General by Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda and renowned Greek composer Mikis Teodorakis, at Cleveland High School (5511 15th Ave. S.) on Saturday, June 8, at 7:30 p.m. The event will also include a poetry reading by a Chilean Mapuche poet accompanied by an Andean pipe player.

The chorus does not normally perform at high schools, but chose Cleveland for one of their two performances of Canto General due to the school’s renovated auditorium and location in a diverse vibrant neighborhood. One hundred free tickets are available through the school for Cleveland students. Other student tickets are $5 and tickets for Cleveland parents are $10. These are available at Cleveland on the night of the concert. Advance tickets for others are $20 ($18 for students, seniors, and disabled) and can be purchased from a Seattle Peace Chorus member, online through Brown Paper Tickets, or by calling 800-838-3006. Adult tickets for $25 can be purchased at the door.

Proceeds from tickets and a free-will collection at the concert will benefit the Cleveland High School music program.

Advance tickets for either concert are $20 and $18 for seniors. They can be purchased from a Seattle Peace Chorus member or at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 800-838-3006. Adult tickets for $25 can be purchased at the door at either concert.

The Seattle Peace Chorus will also perform the Canto General at Town Hall (1119 8th Ave) on Saturday, June 1 at 7:30 p.m. This show will also benefit Cleveland’s music program. As with the Cleveland show, advance tickets may be purchased from a Seattle Peace Chorus member, online through Brown Paper Tickets, or by calling 800-838-3006.

Education, Local Events, Volunteering and Giving

6/8: Buy or sell to benefit BHIS at the Beacon Bazaar

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Save the date for the 8th Annual Beacon Bazaar, coming up on Saturday, June 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., in front of Beacon Hill International School at 2025 14th Ave. S. The Bazaar is an event with community vendors selling goods and food to benefit the Beacon Hill International School PTA. Items available will include crafts, homemade tamales and baked goods, clothing, toys, books, organic veggie starts, and more.

All are invited to attend. If you want to sell at the Bazaar, tables are $30. You can keep your earnings, or donate all or part to the PTA. Here’s the flyer for vendors (we had to grab it from the Google cache because of problems with the BHIS website, but it should still work for now). If the link doesn’t work or you need more information, contact Beacon Bazaar Coordinator Mike Almquist at 206-619-5278 or almy55@yahoo.com.

The event will happen rain or shine; if we get some of that liquid sunshine, the Bazaar will move to the BHIS gym.

Crime

Robbers strike Beacon Hill pedestrians twice

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Monday, May 20, was apparently not a good day to be walking around on Beacon Hill. Seattle Police report two robberies that took place Monday evening, one with arrests and one without.

In the first incident, a woman was walking on the Chief Sealth Trail near Beacon Avenue South and South Orcas Street at about 6:40 p.m., listening to music on her white iPhone 4S, when she noticed a group of four teens following her. Two of the youths rode up to her on a bicycle and tried to grab the phone, but only knocked it onto the ground. They fled and the woman continued walking.

Later, she noticed two more boys following her, and she started to run. One of the teenagers caught up to her, pushed her down, grabbed the iPhone, and took off.

Police later found two of the suspects near 21st and Orcas, with a white iPhone 4S in one suspect’s pocket. Though the teen claimed it was his own phone, police found that it contained photos belonging to the victim.

The two suspects, aged 14 and 15, were booked into the Youth Service Center on charges of robbery.

Later on Monday, a man and his wife were walking home in the 4700 block of Beacon Avenue South just after 8 p.m. when two suspects ran up to them and demanded the man’s wallet. One of the suspects was holding a gun.

The wife ran across Beacon, looking for help, while the husband turned over his wallet. The suspect then ripped a chain from the man’s neck. The suspects then fled in what police describe as an older, full-sized white sedan with tinted windows and violet paint on the sides, driving westbound across Beacon Avenue.

Police were unable to locate the suspects, described as two black males: one 6’2″, thin, wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and armed with a handgun, and the other 5’5″, medium build, dressed similarly.


View May 20, 2013 Robberies in a larger map