Seen one of these lately? Photo by Drew Avery. Yes, you read that headline correctly. A five-foot-long iguana is apparently lost somewhere on North Beacon Hill.
My iguana headed out Saturday morning, Oct 17th. He cannot survive long in this weather. He was last seen near the I-90 trail at Atlantic & 17th AVE S, and may have wandered down towards 18th, up towards 23rd, or even climbed over the wall towards I-90. If you have seen him, please email me. If you live in the area or know people in the area, especially anyone who might have been driving Saturday morning, or running or biking on the I-90 trail, please let them know about this search.
Remember this? Photo by Bridget Christian, last December.The city is hosting a Winter Weather Open House tonight at 7:00 pm at the Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Avenue South. At the event, you’ll be able to find out information about the new winter weather plan, and ways to deal with potential wintery weather in the coming months. The new city snow response map is here, showing which streets are prioritized for snow plowing.
The Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge: going to rehab. Not the Amy Winehouse kind. Photo by Wendi.Two local establishments have recently been visited by the Health Department’s intrepid inspectors. The Beacon Hill 76 station at 2415 Beacon Avenue South scored 0 (yes, zero) violation points. Congratulations! The Beacon Pub at 3057 Beacon Avenue South scored 45 violation points on October 14, all related to problems keeping things cold enough. (Perhaps these are problems with the new hot dog cart.) To give a little perspective on this point total, 45 or more red critical violation points require a re-inspection within 14 days, 90 or more red critical violation points require that the establishment be closed, and 120 or more total (red and blue) points also require that the establishment be closed. The 45 points that the Beacon Pub received were mixed red and blue points, so they were in no danger of being closed. Still, we hope the temperature issues are now fixed. We like having another food option in the neighborhood.
If you tried to drive west through Sodo yesterday, you might have noticed that westbound South Spokane Street is now closed between Fourth and First Avenues South. This is part of the South Spokane Street Viaduct widening project. The detour route will send you north on Fourth Avenue to South Lander Street, then west to First Avenue, then back south to Spokane Street — West Seattle Blog
It’s taken us longer to compile results from last month’s Top of the Hill survey than we expected. There are still a bunch more results coming, but since absentee ballots for the upcoming election are landing in everyone’s mailboxes this week, we wanted to get one of the results out to you sooner, rather than later.
We asked, “Who’s your favorite mayoral candidate at the moment?” As of September 11, when the survey closed, these were the results:
Mike McGinn had a huge lead on Beacon Hill with 53% of the vote, followed by Joe Mallahan with 15%. “That dude sleeping on the bench in Triangle Park” had a relatively strong showing, with 9%. (For the first week of the survey, the anonymous Triangle Park guy was actually leading the race.) 6% of the “Other” responses were “I don’t know.” Current Mayor Greg Nickels had 6% of the survey responses (the chart does not show this correctly).
The survey closed on September 11, so your opinions might have changed, or not. What do you think now? We’ve posted a new survey to find out what you currently think. Beacon Hill folks only, please.
My indoor cat has escaped in the neighborhood around MacPherson’s Market on Columbian on Wednesday night. She is a black cat, big and fat. She doesn’t wear a collar — she always would take it off — but she is micro chipped.
I don’t have a picture of her on my computer — but she is just a regular, hefty black cat… She is also very loved and missed. She’s been part of my family for 8 years and she’s never been outside before except for trips to the vet.
If someone finds her, her name is Gracie. Please contain her if possible and call me: 206-419-8986.
One potential future for North Beacon Hill (looking north on Beacon Avenue, near McClellan. El Centro is in the upper right of this image).Recently there were two open houses to display the most recent planning goals and strategies for the North Beacon Hill, North Rainier, and Othello neighborhood plan updates. Over 160 people attended these open houses to view and comment on some of the potential strategies for our Southeast Seattle neighborhoods. If you could not attend, the city still needs to hear from you! You can view the materials that were presented at the open house here, then submit your comments online here. The deadline for this comment period is October 30, 2009.
Our neighbors in the Central District share our pain when it comes to airplane noise. One CD resident, Patty Fong, has started an Under the Flight Path! group on Facebook to “advocate for environmental justice in Seattle’s affected neighborhoods (Central District, Beacon Hill, Capitol Hill, White Center, Burien and others under the flight path disproportionately) and for speedy advancements in reduction of airplane noise.” — Central District News
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The Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool is hosting a Fall Rummage Sale on Saturday, October 24 from 12 noon – 4:00 pm at Beacon Hill Lutheran Church, 1720 South Forest Street (between 17th and 18th). Along with the sale there will be a Fall Festival for all ages. The 1700 block of South Forest will be closed for the party, which will include games, crafts, a bake sale, Dante’s Inferno Dogs, and, at 1:00 pm, live music by Brian Vogan.
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Youth in Focus, a non-profit organization that empowers urban teens through photography, is holding their annual Bowl-A-Thon fundraiser on Saturday, October 24, from 12 noon – 5:00 pm at the AMF Imperial Lanes, 2101 22nd Avenue South. The goal of the bowl-a-thon is to raise $15,000 to help Youth in Focus provide free photography classes and mentoring to underserved teens in the Seattle community. Teams of five bowlers will bowl in two shifts, noon – 2:00 pm, or 2:30 – 4:30 pm. This year’s theme is “Come as your own Superhero!”, so dress accordingly! All are invited. To sign up or get more information, please email Jessica at jessicag@youthinfocus.org.
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El Quetzal on Beacon Avenue has applied for a beer/wine liquor license.
Looking for something to do this weekend and next? All-ages events are scheduled nearby in Rainier Valley each of the next two weekends: one to raise money to help those in need, and one to celebrate the printed word.
Local dance crew Massive Monkees and hip-hop group Blue Scholars will share a stage for the first timeagain in a benefit show on Sunday, Massive Relief, to raise money for victims of the recent tropical storm Ketsana. The benefit, featuring a b-boy/b-girl (break dance) workshop, food, conversation, live music and more, is open to all ages, and will be held at 2:00 pm October 18 at the Filipino Community Center, 5740 Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. Later that evening there is a 21+ after-party benefit concert, at 8:00 pm at The Crocodile, 2200 Second Avenue in Belltown. (via the P-I’s Big Blog)
A guitarist tries out the music space at ROCKiT space. Photo by Bridget Christian in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.The new ROCKiT space non-profit music and art organization on Beacon Avenue held their grand opening this weekend. Bridget Christian was there, and has posted a great set of photos from the event on Flickr. She says, “GREAT place for kids… all kinds of art stuff to do, books, instruments to mess around on.”
Jesse Vernon, of The Stranger, recently discovered the Chief Sealth Trail, which, he says, starts on Beacon Hill and then “transports you to Kubota Garden via Ireland. Or New Zealand. Or some other place with rolling green hills I’ve never been.” However, some commenters on Vernon’s post complained about the trail’s hills, and one commenter, Kinkos, suggested that the best way to ride the trail is to “take light rail to beacon hill, ride to the trailhead, then ride downhill on the trail to near the end – to the rainier beach sta. catch the train back to beacon hill, and repeat.”
Adoption prices for cats range from $102 to $107, and include:
Initial vaccinations
Deworming
Feline Leukemia testing
Certificate for free health exam at local veterinarians
Spay or neuter
Microchip
Two-year Seattle Pet License (if applicable)
Also this weekend, ROCKiT space (in the old Buggy location, 3315 Beacon Avenue South) is holding their grand opening event, both Saturday and Sunday. ROCKiT space is a non-profit organization devoted to making music and art accessible to all. They have equipment and space available to members, including musical instruments and P.A. equipment, art supplies, books, rehearsal space, performance space, and more. This weekend they will have “neat stuff for all ages including pumpkin carving, a costume exchange (bring your spare costume stuff!), live music and much more.”
South Lander Street will be closed between 16th Avenue South and 17th Avenue South from Monday, October 12, through December 1 for construction of the new Lander Festival Street. The Festival Street will extend the plaza north from Beacon Hill Station, providing a space for neighborhood festivals and events.
The project will include construction of a new roadway with decorative pavers, at the same level as the sidewalks, making the street “curbless”; adding removable bollards that can be used to close the street during events; adding other side treatments to delineate the roadway surface; and installing pedestrian-scale lighting.
During construction, along with the road closure of South Lander Street, you can expect pedestrian detours and some moderate to high construction noise and dust for a short period of time. Typical work hours are planned to be 7:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
The Festival Street project is a community-generated project, requested by the North Beacon Hill Council, and funded through the Large Neighborhood Street Fund. The Seattle Department of Transportation project website is located at http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/btg_nsf_lander.htm.
Looking for something to do this weekend and next? All-ages events are scheduled nearby in Rainier Valley each of the next two weekends: one to raise money to help those in need, and one to celebrate the printed word.
