Sustainable Seattle is hosting rain garden workshops to celebrate their installation of new rain gardens in several areas as part of their Sustainable Rain program.
A workshop will be held on Beacon Hill on November 12 at El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Ave. S., from 10 a.m. until noon. The workshops will present information about the Sustainable Rain project and how neighbors can install their own rain gardens. They will also announce “scholarships” to fund more neighborhood rain gardens.
Two of the projects demonstration gardens are located in Beacon Hill: one at El Centro de la Raza, and the other at the Helen B. Ratcliff women’s transitional facility on the north end of the Hill.
Valdez, a former Beacon Hill resident, would prefer more density than a 30-unit apartment building would provide, and suggests that Beacon Hill needs “big changes” to get where it needs to be.
He is pessimistic about tomorrow’s Early Design Guidance meeting for the project, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at WellSpring Family Services’ community room, 1900 Rainier Ave. S: “I’m really hoping that isn’t the case, but my sense of land use politics tells me that, like most design review meetings, neighbors will emerge with all kinds of reasons why this project is wrong for Beacon Hill.”
But Valdez expects such responses to be only a small roadblock, and the new development on 17th and McClellan to be “a wedge for more development” on Beacon Hill.
Comments recently on this blog seem to indicate a fair amount of support for more density around Beacon Hill Station, in contrast to Valdez’ perception of Beacon Hill neighbors as people who have “vigorously opposed significant upzones around the station.” What do you think?
The empty lots around Beacon Hill Station look desolate. (This photo has been sepia-toned.) Photo by Wendi.
Beacon Hill’s Asa Mercer Middle School is one of five public schools in Seattle that has been recognized as a “School of Distinction” for outstanding academic achievement in improving math and reading. Schools with this honor have placed in the top 5 percent of highest-improving schools in Washington.
The other schools in Seattle to earn this honor are Alki Elementary School, Hamilton International Middle School, Madison Middle School, and Orca K-8 School.
Mercer has received this honor for the last three years in a row. Congratulations to everyone at Mercer!
A brightly-painted walkway at Mercer Middle School. Photo by Wendi.
Going to West Seattle late tonight? It will be a bit more complicated than usual. The Seattle Department of Transportation is closing the westbound lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct between I-5 and SR99 from 10 p.m. tonight, Thursday, October 20, until 5 a.m. tomorrow morning, October 21, to test techniques for preparing old deck for new paving.
Traffic from Beacon Hill via Columbian Way will be detoured onto 6th Avenue South to a route leading to the lower-level Spokane Street swing bridge.
The October Beacon BIKES meeting will be held tonight from 6-8 pm at the Beacon Hill Library. Sam Woods from SDOT will be presenting information on our 17th/18th Greenway (currently under construction). Deb Brown (SDOT) will be presenting the tree planting plan for the same corridor (planting to occur in November). We will also be discussing Red Apple bike parking, upcoming grant opportunities, and the city-wide Greenway effort.
The first of two tile-making parties is today, October 19, from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at the Beacon Hill International School Multipurpose Room. Neighbors and friends of the school can take part in the creation of a tile mosaic for the south-facing wall of the BHIS entryway. (Previously mentioned here on the BHB.) Mosaic artist Julie Maher will lead the project.
The tiles and supplies will be provided, as will dinner. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Beacon Hill International School is located at 2025 14th Ave. S.
Beacon Hill doesn’t see a lot of political rallies, but one is coming to the Hill today. The Seattle “End Subsidies for Big Oil” rally, organized by Environment Washington, is coming to the BP gas station at 2415 Beacon Ave. S. this morning at 10 a.m. Speakers scheduled for the rally include Katrina Rosen of Environment Washington, Pete Mills from the office of Congressman Jim McDermott, and Rachel Padgett of Fuse Washington.
This is one of several rallies scheduled throughout Washington State over the next couple of days. Tacoma and Olympia will see rallies this afternoon, and tomorrow morning there will be a rally in Yakima.
Location of the BP station on Beacon Avenue South. View Larger Map
Jefferson Community Center will be haunted on October 28. Photo by Wendi.Both community centers on Beacon Hill have scheduled Halloween festivities for Friday, October 28, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Van Asselt Community Center (2820 S. Myrtle St.) is hosting a free Halloween Carnival that evening for kids aged 12 and under. Games and goodies are promised for the carnival guests. Wear a costume, and bring a bag or basket to collect treats and prizes. Refreshments will be available for sale.
Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave. S.) is holding their own Fall Festival and Haunted House for kids 11 and under (the haunted house is for older kids, per parents’ judgment). Games will be 25 cents each or 5/$1, and the haunted house admission is $1. As at the Van Asselt festival, guests should dress in their best costumes and bring a bag or basket for treats.
Beacon Lutheran Church under construction in 1947. Photo courtesy of Beacon Lutheran Church archives via John Graham.The 70-year-old Beacon Lutheran Church (1720 S. Forest St.) will close at the end of this month, with a final worship service and farewell dinner planned for Sunday, October 30. Community members are invited to the closing events.
The church was founded in 1941 by members of Hope Lutheran Church in West Seattle. For the first few years, the group met at the Garden House on 15th Avenue South, then moved into their current building on South Forest Street in 1948.
Membership numbers have been gradually declining since the early 1970s, and so in March of this year, the congregation voted to disband, as the smaller membership could no longer keep the church functioning.
Ownership of the building and its contents will be transferred to the Northwest District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool, which currently rents space in the building, will continue to rent there through at least the end of this school year. Long-term plans for the site are unknown.
John Graham sent us this invitation to the community:
You, our Beacon Hill neighbors, are all invited to the closing service and farewell dinner for Beacon Lutheran Church on Sunday, October 30th, 2011. Worship will begin at 10:00 am for the event. Afterwards, about noon-ish, we’ll gather for a potluck dinner and brief program to celebrate 70 years of God’s blessings to our congregation. There will also be photographs on display and hopefully, we can get a reminiscence or two out of our older members. Please come and share in one or both parts of the event. For more info, you can e-mail me at hamburgerclan@yahoo.com.
On behalf of the congregation, I’d like to thank you all for letting us be a part of the community on Beacon Hill. God’s richest blessings to you all in the years to come.
Peace,
John Graham
Here are some photos from the 70-year history of Beacon Lutheran Church.
Music during a worship service at Beacon Lutheran in about 1970. Photo courtesy of Beacon Lutheran Church archives via John Graham. Beacon Lutheran Church's first confirmation class at the Garden Club House, 1942. Photo courtesy of Beacon Lutheran Church archives via John Graham.Sunday School, January 2011. Photo courtesy of Beacon Lutheran Church archives via John Graham.
The construction of the nearby Mountains to Sound Trail has provided an opportunity to reconfigure areas of the park including the OLA. In the proposed changes, the OLA would be reduced in size and fenced, to provide a buffer between the dog area and bicycle traffic. However, all of the property within the OLA would be usable, which is not the case with the current site.
The proposal is not without controversy. “Save our off-leash area!” reads a headline on Frieda Adams’ “Friends of Jose Rizal Off-Leash Area” website, which contains commentary about the proposed changes, and a petition form to keep the OLA at its current size.
Adams is not in favor of Parks’ proposed changes to the site footprint, and suggests that the city is shrinking the site because of low attendance and perceived vulnerability to crime in the area: “Whether low attendance is due to fear, whether it’s due to neglect on the part of the Parks Department and COLA, whether it’s true that nobody is using the site—these are all considerations the City must take into account before scrapping the off-leash area’s original concept.”
Those interested in the future of the park and of the OLA should attend Thursday’s meeting, where Parks’ plan will be presented in full.
