All posts by Wendi Dunlap

Editor of the Beacon Hill Blog.
Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Potholes, parents, and all-you-can-eat pancakes

Walking and driving have been treacherous during our recent cold snap, particularly in places like this 14th Avenue location where there seems to be some kind of water leak. Photo by Robert Kangas in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.
The Friends of Cheasty Greenspace at Mt. View, together with Cascade Land Conservancy and Washington Conservation Corps, are co-hosting a Martin Luther King Jr. service day on Monday, January 17 from 10:00 am to 12 noon. All are welcome to help, including families with children (it’s a school holiday). To participate, meet at 2809 South Alaska Place, one block west of Columbia City Station. Volunteers will work on forest restoration and invasive species removal. Gloves and tools will be provided.

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Mmmmm, pancakes. MMMMMMMMmmm, all-you-can-eat pancakes for $5! The Cleveland High School softball team is hosting a pancake fundraiser on Saturday, January 9 from 9:00 – 11:00 am. Breakfast is served at the Cleveland cafeteria, the same building where the gym is located. Questions? Email Kyrsten at klpratt@seattleschools.org.

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We previously mentioned that Gage Academy of Art is offering free drop-in art classes for teens aged 13-18 in the Rainier Valley. We have more information about the classes now. January’s classes are “Imaginative Plaster Forms” with Katrina Wolfe, February’s are “Cut It Out” (cut paper in two and three dimensions) with Celeste Cooning, and March features “Explorations in Paint” with Jeanne Dodds.

Classes are on Saturdays at The 2100 Building, 2100 24th Avenue South. Classes will be from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm. For more information, call 206-323-GAGE. Art materials and pizza will be provided.

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There is a new Yahoo group/listserv for Beacon Hill parents. Go here to join and chat with your fellow parents in the neighborhood.

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BHB contributor Joel Lee’s blog, BeHi Bonsai, was featured in The Seattle Times (BHB news partners) a few days ago:

“‘You can’t drive down a block on Beacon Hill without seeing them,’ says Joel Lee of the plant sculptures he refers to as bonsai on his popular neighborhood blog. Lee moved to the area a couple of years ago, drawn by the promise of light rail and the Jefferson Park expansion. But as soon as he started walking his dog around the neighborhood, he became fascinated by the display of sheared and shaped plants.”

Unfortunately, author Valerie Easton seemed a bit put off by the Hill’s topiary art.

The Times is also hosting a “map the potholes” project. There are a few Beacon Hill potholes already included, such as the “giant holes heading west on Holgate at approx 14th” (we hit that one a couple of weeks ago—ouch!), but if your most annoying tooth-rattler isn’t listed, please add it.

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There’s a yoga and EFT Workshop, “Rejuvenate your Energy in 2011,” this Saturday, January 8 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Jun Hong Kung Fu and Sports Association, 4878 Beacon Avenue South. Find out more and register for class on the event website.

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Neighbor Robert Kangas has noted some extreme water leakage along 14th Avenue South, west of Jefferson Park. The leaks caused some dangerous ice patches. He posted a series of photos here. In discussion on the Beacon Hill mailing list last week, some folks noted a history of artesian wells on the Hill, and suggested that these are the source of some of the leaks around the neighborhood. Others think it’s a leaky water main.

If you notice a potential water leak on public or private property, you can report it by calling 206-386-1800, and Seattle Public Utilities will then check it out.

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The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is hosting three free workshops to educate neighborhood groups and community organizations on the funding process and requirements for the Large Projects Fund, the matching fund that awards up to $100,000 for community projects. Next Tuesday, January 11, there’s a workshop in Southeast Seattle, at the Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th Avenue South. The workshop is from 6:00-8:00 pm. More information about the Large Projects Fund and the three workshops may be found here.

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Sustainable South Seattle is hosting the third of a workshop series dedicated towards creating a climate co-op for South Seattle neighborhoods. The event is Wednesday, January 26 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm at the Southside Commons, 3518 South Edmunds Street. Food, refreshments, and childcare will be provided. Please RSVP by emailing climate.coop@gmail.com.

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A new co-ed a cappella group is forming on Beacon Hill, with auditions this month according to a current post on craigslist.org:

We are looking for:
Men and women who are positive, fun and excited about performing and singing harmony. We will possibly be doing 1 to 2 gigs per month starting in the Spring.

We want to be:
16 in total. (We have 10 right now) Put together performances that are tight musically, visually and are funny and entertaining to most people. You don’t have to dance or want to make a fool of yourself, but it is a bonus. Diverse in anyway possible—age, race, musical background, sexuality…

See the ad for more info.

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A couple of changes to liquor licenses on the Hill occurred last month. The Station coffee house at 2533 16th Avenue South was approved for a license as a “direct shipment receiver – in WA only.” But every new beginning is some other beginning’s end: on the same day, the liquor license for the ill-fated Tasha’s Bistro Café was discontinued.

City Services

Neighborhood Service Center closed, changes coming

Cuts to the city’s budget have led to the closure of the Greater Duwamish Neighborhood Service Center, located in the Beacon Hill Library on North Beacon Hill. District Coordinator Steve Louie will be relocated across the bridge to the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center. He sent out the following letter with information about the closure and the resulting changes to the Neighborhood Service Center program:

Happy New Years. As a result of the 2011-2012 Adopted Budget and Department changes, here is an update on my status. I am currently in the process of closing down the Greater Duwamish Neighborhood Service Center on Beacon Hill and will now be based out of the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center. Now that we are down to 10 from 13 District Coordinators we will be serving the City through a team approach. I will be working with 3 other District Coordinators and the 4 of us will be covering the South Division. The Districts we will be covering are SE, Greater Duwamish, Delridge, and Southwest. Below is more information from our Department.

Neighborhood District Coordinator Program Changes and Neighborhood Service Center Closure: Background and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

As a result of the 2011‐2012 Adopted Budget, the Department of Neighborhoods (DON) is restructuring services provided by the Neighborhood District Coordinator Program as well as the number of open Neighborhood Service Centers. Following are frequently asked questions and responses. If additional information is needed, please contact Pamela Banks, Neighborhood District Coordinator Program Manager at 206‐233-5044 or Kimberlee Archie, Deputy Director, at 206‐684‐0463.

DON 2011 Budget Impacts:

  • Neighborhood District Coordinators (NDCs) reduced from 13 to 10, effective 1/4/11. The Neighborhood District Coordinator (NDC) interim service plan divides the city into 3 geographic areas, each served by a team of NDCs.
  • Neighborhood Service Centers (NSCs) reduced from 13 to 7, effective 1/4/11. The remaining NSCs are all payment sites where few changes will be experienced for those who visit for information or payment services; however, co‐locators and those who utilized space at nonpayment sites will experience major changes with the closures of the 6 non‐payment sites.

    • Continue reading Neighborhood Service Center closed, changes coming →

Meetings

Meeting tonight to discuss S. Lander renaming, usage

The North Beacon Hill Council is meeting on the first Wednesday this month instead of the usual first Thursday. That means the meeting is tonight! Here’s the agenda:

Please join us for an interesting and informative evening! All are welcome.

Our meeting will be devoted to Festival Street (South Lander Street between 17th Avenue South and Beacon Avenue South — ed.), a proposed street name change to Roberto Maestas Festival Street, the street’s usage in the coming year, our responsibilities, and the special permit that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is developing.

Be sure to attend and add your thoughts and opinions.

The meeting will be held in the Beacon Hill Library community room, 2821 Beacon Avenue South, at 7:00 pm.

Photos

Beacon Hill 2010 in photos

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In 2010, many of you continued to contribute great photos to the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. The photos you see here today were chosen from the more than 600 photos that were posted in the photo pool during 2010. Some were chosen because of their photographic beauty; others, because they captured newsworthy moments on the Hill. Some of these we’ve published before, and some we haven’t.

We would like to thank all of our wonderful Beacon Hill photographers for posting photos to the pool and their generosity in allowing us to share them with you. Please click on each photo to visit the original photographers’ pages on Flickr and let them know how much you enjoy their work!

We hope you enjoy this look back at 2010. Happy New Year!

Some of these photos are viewable in a gallery on Flickr.

Remember summer? Bridget Christian captured this amazing shot of a swimmer in mid-air.
Freeman Mester was awake to see this amazing sunrise over mid-Beacon Hill.
Raccoons may be annoying sometimes, but you can't deny that these are awfully darned cute. Photo by Bridget Christian.
Fire jugglers performed at the NEPO 3 art show in June. Photo by Dan Bennett.
Face painting at the Piñata Party in July. Photo by Jason.
Someone messed up when painting this road stripe on Holgate. Photo by divide.
Jefferson Park in the snow looked almost unearthly. Photo by Furchin.
Another view of the NEPO art show in June, by Dan Bennett.
Brrrr! Only two weeks after record temps in the 70s, Beacon Hill homes were bedecked with icicles. Photo by b. schaffer.
Neighbors got together several times this year to plan for a future Beacon Hill that will be bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. Photo by Dan Bennett.
Jessie McKenna was a major force behind both ROCKiT space and the Beacon Rocks! music series this year. Photo by Julia Cheng.
El Centro de la Raza in a strange October morning fog. Photo by Joel Lee.
A reminder to be a careful cyclist (or pedestrian, or driver). Photo by Dan Bennett.
On Seattle Night Out in August, block parties were held throughout the neighborhood to enjoy the summer evening with one's neighbors. Photo by Bridget Christian.
Crime

One woman robbed, another sexually assaulted

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On December 26 at about 12:25 am, a woman was robbed on the Chief Sealth Trail in the 2600 block of South Orcas Street. She told police that the robber put a gun to her back and said “Give me everything you have.” She gave him her wallet and he took her money as well as her cell phone, then took off running northeast through the park.

The woman then ran to Beacon Avenue South and rang doorbells until she was able to get someone to call 911 for her.

A K-9 search for the suspect was unsuccessful. The suspect was described as a black male, about 6’0″, wearing a dark beanie, braided hair, a gray zipper sweater, dark pants, and white Jordan tennis shoes.

The police report is here, and the SeattleCrime.com report is here.

Another crime took place on Tuesday, December 28, when a 63-year-old woman was violently sexually assaulted in the 1700 block of South Angeline Street at about 5:50 pm. The woman fought back and the suspect fled, taking her handbag.

The suspect (pictured to the right in a police sketch) remains at large, and is described as a Hispanic male in his 30’s to 40’s, 5’10” to 6′, clean-shaven, with a brown complexion and medium build, and wearing a beige or light-colored jacket and a beige hat.

The SPD Blotter report is here.

If you have information about either of these incidents, please call 911. If you have information about Tuesday’s assault, you can also call the Seattle Police Sexual Assault Unit at 206-684-5575. Anonymous tips are welcome.


View Assaults on Beacon Hill, 12/10 in a larger map

Arts, Local Events

ROCKiT space has plans for the New Year

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Photo by Jason.
It’s looking like a Happy New Year after all for ROCKiT space and the Beacon Hill music and arts community. Betty Jean Williamson tells us that the situation for ROCKiT space has stabilized, regular hours are being staffed by committed volunteers, and the volunteer base is growing. The group is forming a board, and seeking 2-3 more members. The board will oversee a lease extension through March in the current location, and consider a long term lease.

Last night ROCKiT space hosted a Tuesday Folk Night with Dan and Molly Tenenbaum and Red Dog performing to a full house. Folk night will be a regular monthly event.

Also upcoming at ROCKiT space:

  • The next music event is Jazz Night on Saturday, January 8, 7:00 pm.
  • Open Mic will skip January 1, and be back again January 15 at 7:00 pm.
  • Free Create Hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:00 am – 6:00 pm, for all ages. This week from 3:00 – 6:00 pm there will be paper bead making.
  • Tots Jam continues on Wednesdays at 9:00 am. Betty Jean adds: “We have a request for tots play group on Monday at 10:00 am. We need to hear from folks if they would attend to determine if demand warrants increasing hours.”

ROCKiT space is located at 3315 Beacon Avenue South.

Local Business, Local Events

Tonight: Say goodbye to the Beacon Pub

Photo by Wendi.
Tonight is the last night of the Beacon Pub, and so it’s the Last Ever Beacon Pub Solstice Social, from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am at the Pub, 3057 Beacon Avenue South. The Pub is closing and moving to Hillman City. The current Pub site on Beacon Avenue will become a pizza parlor next year.

Here’s the email Beacon Arts sent out about tonight’s event:

That’s right: the Beacon Pub’s last night is this Wednesday. It’ll be too crazy to get any business done, and it’s not the time of year for business anyway! This will be a good night to get together with friends and remember the good ol’ days and think ahead to the ones on their way. Come have some cheer and a tear for our neighborhood pub! and Happy New Year!

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: T-shirts, gift-wrapping, and the mayor

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This fire truck at Beacon Hill's Fire Station #13 is festively attired for the holiday season. Photo by Joel Lee in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.
Neighbor Peter heard sirens last week, and managed to get outside and some photos of a house fire in a boarded-up house on 25th Avenue South, behind QFC. See the photos here.

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News from El Centro de la Raza tells us that Mayor Mike McGinn will be joining them for their Holiday Latino Hot Meal tomorrow, Wednesday, December 22 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm.

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Remember the “Know Where You Came From” t-shirts from NAMSAYIN featuring a #36 bus? Remember how the first run of 56 shirts sold out in one day?

On Wednesday and Thursday this week, the shirts will be re-released at Deli Seattle, 1307 First Avenue. They will have men’s and women’s shirts, as well as onesies for babies this time. Sizes are limited, and the shirts are very cool, so if you want one, don’t let it get away this time.

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Do you have an interest in Pacific Northwest ecology? Do you like to share what you know with others? Are you over 18 years of age? Are you looking for a meaningful volunteer experience? You may be interested in the Seward Park Audubon and Environmental Center Master Urban Naturalist program. The program provides free naturalist training workshops and certification in exchange for 10 hours of donated service and completion of a final project or presentation. More information here.

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The newly-revitalized ROCKiT space has a few things going on that you might want to know about.

Need a good place to wrap Christmas gifts, or want someone to wrap them for you? You can wrap your gifts at ROCKiT space, where your loved ones won’t see what you’re up to. DIY gift-wrapping is $5/day site use fee, plus a $2 supply fee. All materials are supplied. Bring your own wrap and they will waive the supply fee.

If you’re a wrapping klutz or just don’t have time, you can also drop off gifts, and they will wrap them for you to pick up later. The fee is $2 each for small packages, and $5 each for large packages.

On Tuesday, December 28 at 7:00 pm, ROCKiT space is hosting a Tuesday Folk Club with two old time/country bands: Red Dog and Dram County. The minimum donation is $7 at the door or $5 in advance. Tickets are available at Rockit Space during business hours.

The Tots Jam with Suzanne Sumi is continuing on Wednesdays, from 9:00 – 11:00 am , but there is no session on December 29.

ROCKiT space is located at 3315 Beacon Avenue South.

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The Department of Planning and Development has approved an application to subdivide a site at 4010 14th Avenue South into five unit lots for the purpose of allowing sale or lease of the lots. The property will continue to be zoned for duplex multifamily development. Read the decision here.

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There is at least one place to ring in the New Year nearby. The new St. Dames restaurant at Columbia City Station is hosting a party on New Year’s Eve, starting at 10:00 pm. The event will include appetizers, dessert and a champagne toast at midnight. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Make reservations by calling 206-725-8879. St. Dames is located at 4525 Martin Luther King Jr. Way South.

Do you know of any other Beacon Hill places that are open for New Year’s? Let us know!

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Gage Academy of Art is offering free drop in art classes for teens aged 13-18 in the Rainier Valley. Classes are on Saturdays at The 2100 Building, 2100 24th Avenue South.
Classes will be from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm. For more information, call 206-323-GAGE. Art materials and pizza will be provided.

BH in the News

Kimball crossing guard a jazz and race-relations pioneer

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“…Back in the day, Kimball Elementary’s crossing guard was a fixture in Seattle’s explosive Jackson Street jazz scene. He played with all the legends of Seattle jazz, from Quincy Jones to Ernestine Anderson.” Danny Westneat of The Seattle Times (BHB news partners) wrote a column recently about jazz pianist Kenny Boas, a Beacon Hill neighbor whose past includes hanging out with Ray Charles, playing with famed groups the Savoy Boys and the Bumps Blackwell Band, and crossing the color line—in the reverse direction. The musicians’ unions in Seattle at the time were segregated. Boas quit the white union, and became the first non-minority member of the Negro Musicians’ Union, Local 493.

Until recently, the 85-year-old Boas worked as the crossing guard at Kimball Elementary School on 23rd Avenue South. See a video of Boas playing piano here.