All posts by Wendi Dunlap

Editor of the Beacon Hill Blog.
Food and Drink

Restaurants renovating on Beacon Avenue

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The folks opening Bar del Corso in the old Beacon Pub space have posted a few photos of the work they are doing on the building. Looks like it will be a bit brighter inside, now that they are stripping paint off the old transom windows.

Thali meals like this may be served in the former Culinary Communion space soon. Photo by Shahoo, via Creative Commons.
Further down Beacon Avenue in the old purple Culinary Communion/Tasha’s Bistro Café house, a sign indicates that another new restaurant will open this summer, and this one will feature Indian food. We haven’t been able to reach anyone there yet, but it appears to be a branch of Travelers Tea Bar on Capitol Hill, and will feature vegetarian thali meals (here’s an example of the menu at the Capitol Hill café).

Education

Parent leadership workshops coming to SE Seattle schools

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The Southeast Parent Leadership Project is a series of workshops intended to train parents from Southeast Seattle elementary and middle schools to be “informed school partners and advocates.” Through the project, South End parents will be able to connect them with other parents across schools and culture groups, and learn to use leadership skills and tools to support community schools. Topics of the workshops include: learning styles, parents as partners, giving voice to education experiences, understanding standards and school data, asking the right questions, action, and comprehensive school improvement planning.

 Parents who participate in this training will be encouraged to support ongoing school improvement in the Aki Kurose/Asa Mercer Middle School feeder pattern assignment schools. The project is organized by Community & Parents for Public Schools (CPPS), and funded by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Neighborhood Matching Fund Program, and the Hands-On Network.

The two-day workshops will take place on the following dates:

  • May 6-7, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.: Aki Kurose Middle School, for Aki Kurose assignment pattern schools (Aki Kurose, Graham Hill, Wing Luke, Martin Luther King Jr., Dunlap, Emerson, Rainier View, South Shore)
  • May 21-22, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.: Asa Mercer Middle School, for Mercer assignment pattern schools (Mercer, Beacon Hill International, Maple, Kimball, Hawthorne, Dearborn Park, Van Asselt, Orca)

 
For more information or to sign up, contact Amber Banks, CPPS Project Director, at amberbanks@mac.com, or Stephanie Jones, CPPS Executive Director, at stephaniej@cppsofseattle.org.

Getting Around

SDOT seeks feedback on parking restrictions

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Typical sign in the North Beacon Hill RPZ. Photo by Wendi.
Seattle Department of Transportation would like some feedback on how well your restricted parking zone (RPZ) is working.

The North Beacon Hill light rail station area RPZ opened in 2009, restricting parking within the zone to two or four hours for those without zone permits. Residents and businesses within the zone received two free two-year parking permits and one free guest permit; those permits will expire on August 31 this year. Renewal permit decals will now be $65 each (previously, additional permits were $45), and guest permits will cost $30. Households are limited to four decals. Low income permits will be available for $10. RPZs in the Rainier Beach, Columbia City, Othello, and Mount Baker station areas will also expire at various times during 2011.

If you live in one of the light rail RPZs, SDOT would like to hear from you. You can find a link to a brief survey here. You can also send comments or feedback to Allison Schwartz at 206-386-4654 or allison.schwartz@seattle.gov.

Have you noticed “hide and ride” parking in the neighborhood? Here at the BHB, we haven’t noticed commuters trying to park and ride, but we have seen a noticeable number of sports fans parking here for Sounders and Mariners games. Those events, however, are typically outside of the hours when the RPZ is enforced: 7 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays.

Clean and Green, Local Events

Local groups to meet at South Seattle Garden Summit

These plants were part of a recent planting-strip improvement project on Beacon Avenue, across from the library. Photo by Jason.
Local urban gardening and farming groups will convene on Beacon Hill on Wednesday, April 20 at 6:30 p.m. for a South Seattle Garden Summit and Potluck at the Garden House, hosted by ROCKiT Space and the Washington State Federated Garden Club.

The event will include a potluck dinner and social hour, then presentations and discussions among a variety of South Seattle garden groups, with a goal of planning a joint calendar of events to enhance use of community resources, avoid conflicts, and improve communication.

Groups participating include Beacon Food Forest, Friends of Lewis Park, City Fruit, local P-Patches, the Maple School Ravine Project and more.

All are welcome. The Garden House is located at 2336 15th Ave. S.

Here’s the agenda:

  • 6:30 p.m. Potluck
  • 7:30 p.m. Presentations by partner organizations
  • 8 p.m. Open discussion of common garden resources and needs. Review of calendars to avoid conflicts and make the best use of volunteer pool.
Crime, Health and Safety

Responses wanted for public safety survey

The City of Seattle is currently conducting an online survey on the topics of public safety and the Seattle Police Department, with the help of graduate students from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs. The project will gather Seattleites’ views about public safety concerns in their own neighborhoods and on public transportation. The resulting data will be used to help police and city officials improve police services.

The survey is anonymous and takes about 15 minutes to complete. You can access it here.

You can read more about the survey here.

Education, Volunteering and Giving

BHIS needs Chinook Book coupons

Beacon Hill International School has a request for help from local parents and neighbors:

Dear Neighbors who have Chinook Books,

The last page of this year’s Chinook Book has 4 Metro bus coupons. If you don’t plan to use yours, please consider mailing them to:

Nancy Fujimoto
Beacon Hill Int’l School
2025 14th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98144

Our Volunteer Coordinator, Nancy, will give them to low income families who bring their kids to school early to do tutoring. For some families, even the cost of bus fare is a hardship and we want to support their educational efforts as much as possible. Thank you in advance for your consideration!

Allison Delong
BHIS PTA President 2010/2011

Education, Local Events

Add to your library at Cleveland book fair

Photo by Emily Carlin via Creative Commons.
This week you can add to your book collection at the Cleveland High School library, where they are having a book fair in conjunction with Secret Garden Bookstore on April 13-15. For every three books sold, Secret Garden will donate one book to the CHS library.

The sale is open to the community at any time during the open hours of 7 a.m.-3 p.m. daily (the fair is open until 5 p.m. on Friday). Cash, check, and credit cards are accepted.

Cleveland High School is located at 5511 15th Ave. S.

Volunteering and Giving

Comcast Cares Day coming to El Centro

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El Centro de la Raza is one of the sites hosting the tenth annual Comcast Cares Day on Saturday, April 30. 300+ volunteers will come together for a variety of team projects to help improve El Centro’s facility and grounds. Projects will include active work such as landscaping, prepping and painting, installation of safety lights and cameras, and window washing, along with desk projects such as design, data entry, and more. Any amount of time you can volunteer is welcome.

Work can start as early as 7 a.m. on the 30th, and Comcast will provide lunch. For more information or to sign up to volunteer, please contact Kendehl Corley by email at volunteer@elcentrodelaraza.org, or at 206-957-4602. Please RSVP by April 15.

Health and Safety, Meetings

Airport noise study open house on Saturday

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A familiar sight on Beacon Hill. Photo by Helen Cook via Creative Commons.
Though it’s a bit distant from the Hill, the Part 150 Noise Study Open House on Saturday may be of interest to the many Beaconians who are irritated by noise from the overhead flight path in and out of Sea-Tac Airport.

The open house is the fourth in a series of public events related to the Part 150 Study, which is looking at ways to reduce aircraft noise impacts on communities around Sea-Tac Airport.

Topics at the open house will include:

  • The new, still in draft form, noise remedy boundary, which determines insulation eligibility
  • Discussion of noise abatement programs
  • Potential new sound insulation programs
  • An update on the Hush House, designed to suppress aircraft engine testing noise

The open house will be held on Saturday, April 9 at Sea-Tac Airport’s Arrivals Hall, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The Arrivals Hall is at the south end of the main terminal, baggage claim level. From Beacon Hill, an easy way to get there is to take Link to the Airport Station. If you drive instead, park at the south end of the airport garage, on floors 5 through 8, near the yellow or green elevators, rows N through U. Take the elevator to floor 4 of the garage and walk across skybridge 1 to the main terminal. Look for signs directing you to the Arrivals Hall, next to baggage claim carousel 1. Parking will be validated.