Proposed Beacon Arts logo by Joel Lee.It’s an interesting time for the arts on the Hill these days.
Monday night at the Beacon Hill Library, the first meeting was held to organize a Beacon Arts Council. Jessie McKenna of ROCKiT Space reports:
“A group of artists, neighbors and artist-neighbors gathered (Monday) at the Beacon Hill branch of the library and discussed organizing something of a Beacon Arts Council. A few of us volunteered to be on the steering committee for such an organization. We secured a web domain name and a Ning site (a social networking site like the one ROCKiT space uses) and began the process of building an online presence as well as a physical presence. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 5th, 6:30-9:30pm at ROCKiT space (3315 Beacon Avenue South) and is open to all interested parties.
Speaking of the ROCKiT website, if you go there you can find information on the Beacon Rocks! music festival currently planned for the Lander Festival Street on June 13, July 11, August 8, and August 29. Interested in volunteering? Glad you asked!
In the visual art realm, Beacon Hill may not have any traditional art galleries, but it’s home to one very cool non-traditional one, home_page.project. Artist (and neighbor) Klara Glosova occasionally turns her home into a venue for art. On Saturday she hosted a show called “Nepo” (it’s “open,” backwards), in which the whole house—one lived in by Glosova’s whole family—was filled with art, including sculpture, painting, video, and music: “a visual experience perched on the threshold of spontaneous creative experience and perfected mastery.” There’s even art in the bathroom and the bedroom closet! If you missed Saturday’s show, you can still see it today, March 6, from 4:00-6:00 pm, at 1723 South Lander Street, just a block east of Beacon Hill Station.
The ramp from South Columbian Way to the West Seattle Bridge, and the westbound, right hand lane on the South Spokane Street Viaduct from I-5 to Harbor Avenue Southwest will be closed on Sunday, March 7, from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm to allow crews to clean drains for the Spokane Street Viaduct widening project. Plan accordingly.
View Larger Map. Expect construction delays at this location next week as new dynamic signs are installed.
The Seattle Department of Transportation will be installing new dynamic (electronic) messaging signs at several locations in the city next week, including South Columbian Way/14th Avenue South near the freeway ramps. The new electronic signs will provide improved traffic information to travelers.
The signs will be installed during the daytime next week, March 8 to 12. The work will start in Crown Hill and progress down the list to Columbian Way, which is last, so we can probably expect lane closures and construction slowdowns at Columbian and 14th from the middle to end of next week. Expect some delay and congestion during this time.
The other locations that will receive the new signs are in Crown Hill at 14th Avenue NW and Holman Road NW, 15th Avenue NW just south of Ballard High School, and on 15th Avenue West near the Magnolia Bridge.
Organizers set up tables at the Festival Street opening last December in front of El Centro's empty south lot. Photo by Jason.Cienna Madrid at The Stranger has written a story about the recent appeals filed against the North Beacon Hill, Othello, and North Rainier (Mount Baker) neighborhood plan updates. The article discusses El Centro de la Raza’s plans to develop the land just south of their building, plans which are—for now—on hold. State law allows neighborhood plans to be amended only once a year. Whether the appeals are upheld or not won’t be determined until it is too late to meet the deadline for this year, so the appeals are automatically forcing a one-year delay to any plan changes.
Madrid interviewed Estela Ortega from El Centro, Bill LaBorde of Transportation Choices Coalition, City Councilmember Sally Clark and David Goldberg of the Department of Planning and Development, and also attempted to speak with North Beacon appellant Frederica Merrell and the appellants from the other Southeast Seattle neighborhoods—for the most part, however, the petitioners aren’t talking. (The exception is Jenna Walden of the Othello group, who suggests that the reason for her group’s appeal is that it is a protest against marginalization of neighborhood groups.)
The resulting article pulls no punches; it concludes, “…Merrell and her cohorts appear to be more concerned with winning than pursuing the best interests of their neighborhoods and the city.”
Responses from The Stranger‘s readers on the website have been mixed.
Several meetings are coming up in the next week for groups of neighbors with big plans for Beacon Hill. Robert Hinrix writes:
Calling all Beacon Hill Artists!
We’re investigating starting an Arts Council for our neighborhood. While there are some artists groups up here on the hill, there is none willing to tackle the issues of how to schedule and promote the Lander Festival Street. We also want to promote other arts-related events up here on Beacon Hill—how about a craft market, or an outdoor cinema? And we want to create a forum for artists and musicians to share information: about grants, shows, projects, and ideas. Our first meeting will be next Monday, March 1, 6:30 at the Beacon Hill Library (2821 Beacon Avenue South). If more discussion is needed after the library closes, we’ll have to retire to our friendly neighborhood pub!
Let me know if you’d like to be included in future events but can’t make the meeting.
One thing we’re trying to do up here is start a Beacon Merchants Association. This would replace the Chamber of Commerce which is essentially defunct. Better communication among existing businesses could help them and the greater community. We’re just in the process of forming, having had one preliminary meeting. Our next meeting will be this Friday at noon at Baja Bistro (2414 Beacon Avenue South). Our intent is to capture home businesses as well, so if you’re a business owner drop by to get more info and contribute your ideas. Anyone wanting to be added to the list can contact me directly.
The North Beacon Hill Council’s March meeting will include a presentation from Findlay Church regarding the development at 14th and Bayview. Another presentation will be given by the Department of Planning and Development regarding proposed new development guidelines for the City of Seattle.
The NBHC meeting is on Thursday, March 4, 7:00 pm at the Beacon Hill Library. It is open to all who wish to attend. Here’s the agenda:
7:00 pm: Welcomes and introductions
7:05 pm: Presentation by Findlay Street Church on proposed construction of church and market rate housing on 14th Avenue South
7:20 pm: Questions and answers
7:35 pm: Presentation by the Department of Planning and Development on proposed city development guidelines
7:40 pm: Questions and answers
8:05 pm: Update on Public Safety: South Precinct Seattle Police Department
Making tamales. Photo by Noema of Intercultura y Cocina, via Creative Commons.El Centro de la Raza has a lot going on in upcoming weeks at their building at 2524 16th Avenue South, including cooking and language classes, free tax prep, and electronics recycling.
Graciela Gonzalez, El Centro’s Human Services Director, is teaching a class on making tamales. The class fee is $50, and students will be able to take home a dozen tamales along with the recipe. Each class is limited to six students. The class dates are Saturday, March 20, from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm, or Saturday, April 17, also from 10:00 to 12:30. Sign up at Brown Paper Tickets.
El Centro’s conversational Spanish classes will begin on Monday, April 5, and will continue on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm until June 9. Students will be able to learn Spanish with other adults in a relaxed, yet professional setting. The class fee is $300. Here is the registration form.
All proceeds from these classes go to support El Centro’s human service, child and youth, and education and skill-building programs.
As we wrote in January, United Way of King County is providing free tax preparation services to low-income taxpayers at El Centro. Tax assistance is provided in English and Spanish by volunteers who are trained and certified by the IRS. The free tax prep services will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00 – 9:00 pm and Saturdays from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm until April 15.
Those eligible for the free service include anyone whose household made less than $50,000 in 2009, and who is filing a basic tax return only (no rental income, business taxes, or sale of property or stock).
Lastly, El Centro has joined up with Cartridges for Kids to collect used electronics. Cartridges for Kids recycles the used goods, and then gives a
small donation to El Centro. You can contribute old iPods, cell
phones, video game consoles, printer cartridges, digital cameras, DVDs, and more.
The Cartridges for Kids box is in room 304, on the top floor of the El Centro building at 2524 16th Avenue South. If you have a large amount of stuff to drop off, or if you are unable to come up to the top floor for medical reasons, please call Elliott Jones at 206-957-4652 to work out the logistics.
Drawing by Joel Lee of a potential woonerf or active alley in the Link Station Block, with El Centro de la Raza in the background. Please click through to see a larger version.By Joel Lee
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. — Eleanor Roosevelt
All of this recent rezoning talk has gotten me thinking about North Beacon Hill’s business district. I’ve lived in many different areas of Seattle and although I love Beacon Hill, I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that does not work with our business areas. I love our coffee shops, funky grocery stores, and ethnic restaurants and I do my part to make sure that I spend money locally, but why do I so often find myself leaving the hill for other services? Some of the answer is obvious: when I want to go see a movie I head over to Columbia City Cinema or the Admiral Theater, since this is a service that I just can’t get in our neighborhood. But I also find myself going to Georgetown just to eat dinner or grab a beer after work. If you have been paying any attention you will have noticed that Georgetown has been booming for the last ten years, with many new restaurants and shops and just funky things going on. What do they have that we don’t?
First I decided I should look at available data to see if I could find some truths. According to Zillow.com, Beacon Hill has 4104 residences, our median income is $45,965 (above Seattle’s median income), our highest percentage age group is people in their 30s, and our average household size is 3.107 people. Add to this mix an awesome underground light rail station, stunning views, a large brand-new park coming soon, convenient freeway access, and a location that is a stone’s throw from downtown, and Beacon Hill has been dealt a winning hand.
Now let’s take a minute to look at Georgetown. If you can dodge that freight train and try to concentrate over that low flying plane noise for a minute, let’s try to take a look at their numbers. Depending on where you draw the line, Georgetown has a mere 379 residences, their median income is $33,654 (almost the lowest in Seattle), their highest percentage age group is people in their 20s, and their average household size is 1.94. Add to this mix a few Superfund sites, eclectic zoning, and some disjointed industrial areas, and it’s a wonder that Georgetown survives at all. Despite all of this, Georgetown is not only surviving, but thriving. Their vibrant business district has added new bars and restaurants almost yearly, and their events such as Artopia attract people from all over the region. Music stores, bakeries, multiple coffee shops, pet supplies, a beer store and antique stores have all opened in the last few years.
The Seattle Office of Economic Development (OED) recently released a study focused on retail in Rainier Valley. Although the study didn’t focus on Beacon Hill, one of the study’s main finds was “leakage,” which is roughly defined as people leaving their own neighborhoods to buy products and services in other areas. Just as Beacon Hill clearly suffers from leakage as many people leave the area for basic services, neighborhoods such as Georgetown clearly capitalize on this, since there is no way that the 379 people that live there could possibly support their range of businesses.
It’s hard not to conclude from this data that zoning alone will not fix our business district. Neighborhoods like Georgetown and Columbia City have certain less-measurable qualities about them that have helped them thrive. Chief among them has to be neighborhood pride, creativity, activism, long-term vision, building owners willing to take chances, investors with vision and tough as nails entrepreneurs that are brave enough to swim against our economic current. None of these are qualities that we can zone for; they are qualities that we must earn with a lot of difficult risk, vision, community participation, cooperation and tenacity.
