All posts by Wendi Dunlap

Editor of the Beacon Hill Blog.
News

North Beacon Hill Council protests closure of Neighborhood Service Center

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City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw spoke at a North Beacon Hill Council meeting earlier this year at the Beacon Hill Library. Closure of the Neighborhood Service Center will not only remove the services provided by the center, but also prevent the NBHC from holding its meetings at the library site. Photo by Wendi.
The North Beacon Hill Council sent a letter today to all members of the Seattle City Council, protesting the planned closure of the Neighborhood Service Center located at the Beacon Hill Library, 2821 Beacon Avenue South.

Severe cuts to the Department of Neighborhoods in the proposed City Budget would close the Beacon Hill (Greater Duwamish) Neighborhood Service Center and remove the Greater Duwamish District Coordinator, Steve Louie. The Service Center and the Coordinator provide services and help for the community, including (but not limited to):

  • Community and neighborhood organization contacts
  • Crime prevention and block watch materials
  • Information on heating bill assistance and food banks
  • Information on city and other job opportunities, including summer youth employment
  • Land use and zoning information
  • Application forms and assistance for the Neighborhood Matching Fund, business licenses, voter registration, and passports

Additionally, Louie’s access to the building allows the North Beacon Hill Council to use the space for council meetings even though the meetings usually need to run later than the library’s normal closing time.

If the Neighborhood Service Center is closed, neighbors on North Beacon Hill seeking equivalent city services would need to go to the Southeast Neighborhood Service Center instead, located 3.5 miles away on South Othello Street.

North Beacon Hill Council Chair Judith Edwards says, “The loss of our District Neighborhood Coordinator and Neighborhood Service Center would have a tremendous negative affect on all of us. Please contact the City Council.” You can find contact information for all Council members here. The council will vote on the new budget next Monday, November 22.

Here is the letter sent by the North Beacon Hill Council to the Seattle City Council today. Judith suggests that people use this as a starting point for their own letters to the Council.

North Beacon Hill Council
3211 Beacon Ave. S., Suite 14
Seattle, WA 98144

November 15, 2010

Dear City Council Members,

This is a final plea from all 150 members of the North Beacon Hill Council (NBHC) and its Board of Directors. We ask that you leave the Beacon Hill Neighborhood Service Center open to the public which it serves in our diverse, but active, neighborhood, and retain the services of our Neighborhood Coordinator.

If the Neighborhood Service Center no longer exists in the Beacon Hill Library, an average of 3-5 citizens per day will have no one to turn to with questions regarding the City and other neighborhood problems. Many of these citizens speak English as a second language, use bus transportation or walk, and find the Service Center to be very accessible when they come into the Library for other services, such as classes, computer use, etc. Since diversity and reaching out to under-represented populations is a high priority for the City, closure of this Neighborhood Service Center will be a great injustice to one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city, and will diminish greatly the City’s outreach to under-represented populations.

Our District Coordinators have helped many members of the North Beacon Hill Council to apply for and receive many Small Sparks and Neighborhood Matching Fund grants. Without this guidance, I suspect that the applications for these grants will diminish in number. Stairwells have been cleaned of drugs and prostitution; cross walks have been made safe; parks have been restored—all thanks to the guidance of our Neighborhood Coordinators.

The North Beacon Hill Council will be without a meeting place if the Neighborhood Service Center is closed. As many as fifty (50) concerned citizens and citizen activists regularly attend these meetings. We are able to use the Beacon Hill Library Community Room for meetings which end at 9:00PM only because our Neighborhood District Coordinator is housed in the Library and has authorization to lock up after hours.

We, the Board and members of the North Beacon Hill Council, ask that you give strong consideration to keeping the Neighborhood Service Center and Neighborhood Coordinator in the Beacon Hill Library, where a very strong community need is now being met.

Thank you.

Judith Edwards, Chair – North Beacon Hill Council

Local Events

Mermaids and nymphs, currently at The Station

The Station coffee shop at 2533 16th Ave South is currently displaying paintings by Angelina Tolentino. There will be an opening reception for the exhibit from 1:00 to 3:00 pm on Sunday, November 21.

The artist’s biography:

I am a designer, illustrator and painter. I was born and raised in California but have called Seattle home for fourteen years. I love to draw and I am happiest with a little paint in my hair. I am inspired by a great number of things: old cartoons, firecracker packaging, bicycles, photo-booths, Japanese packaging design, street art, windup toys, antique stores, gardens, high-fashion, 60s soul music, dinosaur exhibits, old signs, chefs, flowers, sea creatures… just to name a few.

I paint because it’s what I love to do. I describe my painting style as whimsical, colorful, and playful. I have been known to paint women with fantastically long necks who live on tropical islands. I am specifically inspired by the natural world especially the the worlds under the sea. I find water to be a unifying element in my work. I’ve been working lately with other materials like sand and creating three-dimensional altars, exploring death and rebirth, but in a colorful, celebratory way.

One of my most recent projects was a mural on the side of a bridge in the Southpark neighborhood of Seattle. This mural will live for another year before the bridge is taken down and replaced with a new one.

Gina is also the co-owner ofa partner in the Bar del Corso pizza restaurant, currently scheduled to open at the Beacon Pub site next June.

Here is an example of her artwork:

(Photos courtesy of the artist.)

(Ed.: Correction made of Tolentino’s involvement in Bar del Corso, 11/16/10.)

Photos

Nature in November

More photos from the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr:

Leaves overwhelm the sidewalk on 15th Avenue South near PacMed. Photo by Bridget Christian.
The pond in Katie Black's Garden in North Beacon Hill is filled with orange leaves instead of water at this time of year. Photo by Wendi.
Perfectly groomed shrubbery graces a Beacon Hill yard. Photo by Joel Lee.
The viewpoint in Jefferson Park, where these boulders almost seem to be enjoying the view. Photo by //dotism.
Getting Around

Chief Sealth Trail extension nearly done

The Chief Sealth Trail extension during construction, looking oddly like a country road. Photo by kashgroves in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.
The Chief Sealth Trail northward extension project is nearly completed. The Seattle Department of Transportation told us recently that the asphalt surface paving is done, and only the final stages of construction remain, including minor paving work, storm drainage, signage and bollard installation, hydroseeding, and cleanup.

There will continue to be intermittent traffic restrictions through mid-November on South Angeline Street (east of 15th Avenue South), South Ferdinand Street (between 17th Avenue South and 19th Avenue South), Columbia Drive South (between South Ferdinand Street and South Pearl Street) and Beacon Avenue South (curb lane only between South Bennett and South Ferdinand streets). See the map at the end of this post for these locations.

The trail is being extended northwesterly, following the City Light corridor from the intersection of Beacon Avenue South and South Dawson Street to a point near the intersection of South Angeline Street and 15th Avenue South.

Seattle Bike Blog has noted how useful the trail is for providing connections for cyclists to ride from Rainier Beach to Sodo and Capitol Hill.


View Traffic restriction locations, 11/10 in a larger map

History of the Hill

Past and present: Chickens in the basement

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The old Fire Station No. 13 at 14th Avenue South and South Massachusetts Street, about 1915. Photo from the PEMCO Webster and Stevens Collection, MOHAI. Used by permission.
The old fire station building still exists, with some changes. Photo by Wendi.

This early 20th century firehouse on 14th avenue still remains, camouflaged as a residential building. Look closely at the dormer on the roof and you can see siding that matches the siding in the 1915 picture. Other details have been changed over the years, but the building is still clearly recognizable as old Station 13.

My attention was drawn to the building by this interesting letter posted in the Seattle Municipal Archives Flickr Feed:

Image courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives.

Fire stations back then had to house horses, so the manure storage issues are not surprising. But the chickens in the basement were apparently not expected in a proper firehouse.

Fire Station 13 opened at 14th and Massachusetts on October 10, 1904, in what was, at that time, the center of Beacon Hill’s residential neighborhood. Over the next couple of decades, development on the Hill shifted further south, and the Fire Department changed from using horses to using motorized vehicles. These changes necessitated the building of a new station that would be more centrally located to serve Beacon Hill, and more suitable for the new vehicles. The old firehouse remained in service until the new station opened at the intersection of Beacon Avenue South and South Spokane Street in 1928. That building is a Seattle historical landmark that remains in operation as a fire station to this day.

The current Station 13, opened in 1928. Photo by Jason.
Getting Around

Emergency drill Saturday at Link stations

These doors to the southbound platform in Beacon Hill Station will be closed again tomorrow morning for an emergency drill. Photo by Oran Viriyincy in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool.
Sound Transit, the Seattle Fire Department and the Seattle Police Department will conduct an annual emergency drill tomorrow, November 6, from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. During the drill, the southbound platforms at Beacon Hill Station and Mount Baker Station will be closed, and riders will need to use the northbound platform to catch Link trains in either direction. Trains will run between Westlake and the airport every ten minutes with potential minor delays.

For more information, follow Sound Transit’s Rider Alerts page, or call the Rider Information number, 1-888-889-6368.

Local Events

Happy birthday, ROCKiTspace!

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Photo by Jason.
ROCKiT space, the community music and art organization located on Beacon Avenue, is having their First Birthday Party tomorrow, November 6, from 12 noon to 12 midnight.

They promise “family fun from noon to 6:00 pm,” including “SquashFest,” face-painting, music, games, and prizes. Grown-up fun (but kids are welcome) follows from 6:00 pm to midnight with more music, games, prizes, and surprises.

The ROCKiT space folks say “If you have any leftover Halloween pumpkins or squash that are still good, feel free to bring ’em and we’ll smash ’em up and put them in our soup!”

ROCKiT space is at 3315 Beacon Avenue South in North Beacon Hill.

Photos

The new Jefferson Park

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Jefferson Park is finally open, and we had some nice weather to enjoy it. Here are some photos from the BHB Photo Pool on Flickr, or otherwise submitted by BHB readers or staff.

Photo by Wendi.
Swinging barefoot---in November! Photo by Melissa Jonas.
This tilt-shift effect photo makes these houses viewed from the park look like miniatures. Photo by Joel Lee.
"A place where water is collected and stored in quantity." From the large “Drawing the Land” artwork by Elizabeth Conner. Photo by Wendi.
Large concrete pieces and boulders punctuate the viewpoint site in the NW corner of the park. Photo by Wendi.
A look at the landscaping. Beyond it is the sports field area over one of the old reservoirs, and beyond that the amphitheatre and viewpoint. Note the skyline view even from here. Photo by Wendi.
A view of downtown from the viewpoint in the northwest corner of the park. Photo by David Gackenbach.
Distances along the park path are marked. It's a 3/4 mile walk. Photo by Wendi.
Meetings

Station block development scenario to be presented at NBHC meeting

What will replace this fenced, empty lot? Photo by Wendi.
The North Beacon Hill Council monthly meeting this week will include a topic that many neighbors have been asking about for some time: development possibilities for the vacant land next to Beacon Hill Station. The meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm, Thursday, November 4, at the Beacon Hill Library community room, 2821 Beacon Avenue South. Everyone is welcome to attend. As a reminder, you are part of the council when you attend your first meeting, and you have voting privileges when you attend your second.

This month’s agenda:

  • 7:00 Introductions and Welcome
  • 7:05 Scott Kirkpatrick of Sound Transit will give an update on a potential development scenario for the properties adjacent to the light rail station.
  • 7:45 Neighborhood updates:
    • South Precinct Police Advisory Committee
    • Beacon Hill Business Association
    • Other announcements, events