Next Tuesday, November 15, everyone is invited to “ride along” with Seattle Police officer Nate Shopay to get a taste of life for a patrol officer on Beacon Hill. That’s right, everyone. There’s room for the whole neighborhood, since it’s a virtual ride along — a Tweetalong! Shopay will use Twitter to post his experiences on a typical day patrolling Beacon Hill between South Orcas Street and South Othello Street, during the second watch shift from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Shore Pine. Photo by Art Poskanzer via Creative Commons.The Trees for Neighborhoods program has extended the application deadline for Seattle residents to receive free trees to plant in their yards. Apply online here. The remaining available species, all conifers, include deodar cedar, Western red cedar, weeping Alaska cedar, and shore pine.
Trees can be picked up this Saturday, November 12, at Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands, 5513 S. Cloverdale Street .
If conifers aren’t the trees of your dreams, or if you want to plant street trees, you’ll need to wait until next fall when applications will re-open for other tree species and for street tree permits.
Microsoft has a vision of the future that includes slick touchscreens, virtual buskers, transparent refrigerator doors, and a Hong Kong subway station that looks oddly familiar. (The station can be seen starting at 1:19 in the video.)
Two new liquor licenses have been granted to Beacon Hill businesses.
El Quetzal, at 3209 Beacon Ave. S., received a license of the type “Spirits/beer/wine restaurant service bar; off-premises sale of wine.†This was an additional liquor license class beyond their previous license, and allows the restaurant to sell wine by the unopened bottle for off-premises consumption.
It’s Election Day, and while the focus on one specific election day has dimmed somewhat since we switched to vote-by-mail, it’s still the deadline for turning in your ballot. Ballots must be postmarked today or returned to a ballot drop box by 8:00 pm to be counted. (If you get your mail to the mailbox after the final pickup of the day, you won’t get a November 8 postmark, even if the final pickup is before 8 p.m. Be careful to check pickup times.)
If you would rather not use a stamp to mail in your ballot, you can drop off your ballot at one of the county’s official ballot drop boxes. The nearest ones to Beacon Hill are located downtown, at the King County Administration Building (500 4th Ave), and in the International District at the accessible voting center at Union Station (401 S. Jackson St.). There are no drop boxes in Southeast Seattle.
If you have lost or damaged your ballot, or if you are one of the up to 21,000 voters who did not receive ballots, you can vote the old-style way in a voting booth at the accessible voting center, until 8 p.m. tonight. Bring your identification. However, the Union Station voting center is one of only three in the entire county, so be aware that there may be lines at peak periods. Get there early if you can.
The first batch of results will be posted to the King County Elections page tonight at 8:30 p.m., and thereafter at 4:30 daily. Unfortunately, the 8:30 batch is the only batch of results that gets posted on Election Night these days, making Election Night parties a bit less suspenseful.
Last November, voters at the Union Station accessible voting center waited as much as three hours to vote. However, there was no wait to use the ballot drop box. Photo by Wendi.
A Route 38 bus on South McClellan. Photo by Oran Viriyincy in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool.King County Metro has released proposed service changes for June, 2012. Among the changes are two in or very near Beacon Hill, the deletion of Routes 38 and 42.
“Route 38 performance is in the bottom 25 percent of routes that do not serve the Seattle core on the measure of passenger miles per platform mile.
“Consistent with our Service Guidelines, Metro plans to use resources from low performing routes to relieve overcrowding, improve on-time performance, and increase the number of trips on underserved corridors.”
The alternative transportation suggested for 38 riders is Link, either at Mount Baker Station or Beacon Hill Station. Either station is less than one-half mile from the 38’s current stops, however, there is a very steep hill between 23rd Avenue South and Mount Baker Station. Link trains do run more frequently and for longer hours than the 38 buses do.
Protesters at a King County Council town hall meeting in Columbia City in 2009 expressed their opinions about Metro service changes. Photo by Wendi.Route 42 runs in Rainier Valley from Pioneer Square to Columbia City. Currently the 42 runs only once an hour between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, and not at all on weekends. Similar to the 38, Metro says “Route 42 performance is in the bottom 25 percent of routes that serve the Seattle core on both measures Metro uses to rate performance (rides per platform hour and passenger miles per platform mile).”
Alternatives Metro suggests for 42 riders, depending on whether they are going to Columbia City, Martin Luther King, Jr. Way South, Rainier Avenue South, or South Dearborn Street, include Route 7, Route 34, Route 39, Route 8, or Link light rail. Most stops are less than one-quarter mile from the current stops, and Route 8 serves the same stops as Route 42.
“It’s demonstrably unnecessary for mobility, it’s costing a fortune, and riders are choosing in droves not to ride it. At this point, Route 42 is indefensible.”
Beacon Hill artist Fulgencio Lazo (mentioned earlier this week) will have a tapete (sand painting) on display at the annual Day of the Dead celebration at Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park, tonight, November 4, from 6-7:30 p.m. The park is located at 2901 Western Ave, near Pier 70 and Myrtle Edwards Park.
Banda Gozona, an 18-piece brass band, will perform Oaxacan music at the event. There will be also be art activities for all ages, and Mexican food catered by Manjares Seattle.
This video shows the process of creating one of Lazo’s sand paintings:
The westbound lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed next week between I-5 and SR 99 for continued work on widening the structure. The closures will start each weeknight from November 7-11 at 10 p.m., and will end by 5 a.m. the next morning.
During the closures, southbound traffic from I-5 will detour to the South Forest Street exit, then to to the lower Spokane Street Swing Bridge. Northbound traffic from I-5 and traffic from Beacon Hill via Columbian Way will detour via Sixth Avenue South. Be aware there may be occasional congestion.
Photo by albertogp123 via Creative Commons.Looking for books for the kids in your life? You may find them at the St. George School Scholastic Book Fair, open to the public through Thursday this week in the Parish Education Center, 1300 S. Dawson. The fair will be open through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be snacks, art activities, and kids’ story time. For more information, please contact the St. George School librarian, Liz Walsh-Boyd, at lizzie583@msn.com.
The North Beacon Hill Council is meeting tonight, November 1, at 7:00 p.m. in the Beacon Hill Library Community Room. All are welcome, as always.
The announcement the council sent out yesterday said “Our agenda is yet to be finalized, however it will address an issue we all care about—the proposal by the City Council to increase car tab fees by $60 (Proposition 1).”
It’s Election Day, and while the focus on one specific election day has dimmed somewhat since we switched to vote-by-mail, it’s still the deadline for turning in your ballot. Ballots must be postmarked today or returned to a ballot drop box by 8:00 pm to be counted. (If you get your mail to the mailbox after the final pickup of the day, you won’t get a November 8 postmark, even if the final pickup is before 8 p.m. Be careful to check pickup times.)
