All posts by Wendi Dunlap

Editor of the Beacon Hill Blog.
Local Events

Happenings around the Hill: Fall Festival, Mayor’s forum, and more

The bake sale at last year's Rainier Valley Co-operative Preschool Fall Festival had lots of tasty goods, and this year's should too. Photo by Jason.
There are a few activities (and a cancellation) in the Beacon Hill Blog events calendar over the next few days you may want to take notice of.

Plant and Art Sale at ART’s on Beacon: Today through Saturday, a sale of plants, collectibles, art and antiques at ART’s (we wrote about ART’s in February). The sale runs from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm each day through Saturday. ART’s is located at 4951 13th Avenue South.

Slightly off the Hill in Rainier Beach, Mayor McGinn is hosting a public forum tonight, billed as “an opportunity for residents and business owners to discuss their concerns directly with city leaders.” Police Chief John Diaz will be there too, as will representatives from other city departments. They’ve only scheduled 90 minutes, though—will that be time enough for everyone to gripe? Find out at 6:30 pm at Rainier Beach Community Center, 8825 Rainier Avenue South.

Friday, October 1, the Beacon Merchants Association will meet at Baja Bistro, 2414 Beacon Avenue South. On the agenda this month: finalizing bylaws, and approving the board trainer and the date for board training. The group asks, “Please come, give us your input, and help Beacon Hill business grow strong!”

Saturday the Rainier Valley Co-op Preschool, which is actually up on the Hill at 1720 South Forest Street (near the Library), is holding their Fall Festival and Rummage Sale from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm. There will be a DJ Dance Party for kids, a bike parade, a bake sale, a treasure hunt, face painting, and more merriment.

Unfortunately, the Kai-Lan story time which was scheduled for the Beacon Hill Library on Saturday afternoon has been cancelled.

Don’t forget ROCKiT space has an Open Mic on the first and third Saturdays of each month.

Last but certainly not least, don’t forget that Monday is the deadline to apply for free trees for your neighborhood!

Getting Around

Bus service changes for Beacon Hill begin Saturday

Route 38 makes its way up South McClellan Street. But it won't be doing that before 9:00 am anymore. Photo by Oran Viriyincy.
King County Metro Transit will be making service changes to some of the routes serving Beacon Hill, starting on Saturday, October 2.

According to Metro, revisions include:

  • Route 36 will return to its regular routing between Beacon Avenue South and South Myrtle Street, and South Myrtle Street and 39th Avenue South. It will no longer operate on Beacon Avenue South between Myrtle Street and Othello Street. The Route 36 shuttle will be discontinued.
  • Route 38: All service before 9:00 am will be discontinued.
  • Route 39 will return to regular routing between South Othello Street and 38th Avenue South and South Myrtle Street. It will no longer operate on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and Renton Ave South between South Othello Street and South Henderson Street.
  • Route 60: On weekends, all trips will be extended from Georgetown to White Center, and service will be improved to a 30-minute frequency.

The online Trip Planner will help you see if your route’s schedule has changed. Be sure to input a date of October 2 or later when using the Trip Planner, or you won’t get the new schedule.

The new RapidRide “A Line” will debut on Saturday, replacing Route 174 and running between Federal Way and the Tukwila International Boulevard Link light rail station. If you’re interested in trying it, you might want to take Link from Beacon Hill down to Tukwila on Saturday or Sunday, because all trips will be free on the A Line for opening weekend.

Neighborhood Pride

How “southend” are you?

Currently on Twitter there’s a hashtag meme going around: #imsosouthend. Some of the tweets people are posting with that hashtag might bring back some memories:

keepheaven79: Real Charlie Brown Christmas trees from Chubby&Tubby EVERY year. #imsosouthend

NAMSAYIN: #imsosouthend I rode my lowrider bike on beacon ave

Gfunkology: #imsosouthend that i remember when beacon hill wasnt really considered the southend unless you lived in the hollys

yeloson: #imsosouthend Family dinners- either South China or La Cabana.

yeloson: #imsosouthend digging out golfballs from the edges of the driving range to sell back for candy money.

yeloson: #imsosouthend “Hold up, plane overhead” punctuating your phone calls.

antron5000: #imsosouthend I know this number by heart 2067257000 hahahaha!

BBOYWORTHING: #imsosouthend all the homies took school buses to the northend in middle school and elementary school

BBOYWORTHING: #imsosouthend when it snowed we used to sled down McClellan hill and that was live and dangerous

TheRealBJOng: #imsosouthend we used to have our bday parties at Imperial Lanes- and still do.

Getting Around

S. Orcas to gain new sidewalks through Neighborhood Street Fund

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On Wednesday, Mayor McGinn announced eleven neighborhood projects that will be constructed through the Neighborhood Street Fund Large Project program, funded by the Bridging the Gap transportation levy. One project is of note to Beacon Hill residents: South Orcas Street from Beacon Avenue South to the Chief Sealth Trail will receive new sidewalks, lighting, and other improvements. Other changes would be made between the Trail and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, including making room for new sharrows on that part of the road.

The original project application stated that sidewalks on Orcas are currently “badly degraded or non-existent. Pedestrian access to Dearborn Elementary School is dangerous, especially when it is non-daylight hours. If the improvements are made, many will walk safely from Beacon Ave South to Lake Washington.”

See more about the Neighborhood Street Fund Large Project process here.

Neighborhood Pride

Beacon Hill t-shirts feature a familiar sight

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We noticed the very cool graphic pictured on right while reading Twitter the other day, tweeted by NAMSAYIN, who posted that the design is by Waffle Designs, and it’s for anyone who “grew up, lived on or even spent time on Beacon Hill.”

Want one? NAMSAYIN tells us “Tune in namsayin.com or twitter for an undisclosed location, date and time” if you want to pick up a shirt. Demand is apparently already high.

Getting Around

Leaks in Beacon Hill Station being fixed

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During last week’s miserable, rainy weather, we noticed something disconcerting—it was raining in the southbound tunnel of Beacon Hill Station.

You can't see it, but there are droplets constantly falling into this puddle. Photos by Wendi.

The leaks along the wall in the tunnel (seen above in the photo on the right) were noticeably worse, and a constant shower of droplets was falling over the platform, all the way back to the wall, where drops were falling out of the front of the light fixture there.

We asked Sound Transit about this, and spokesperson Bruce Gray told us: “The short answer is, we have a leak and are fixing it. We don’t think it’s indicative of anything seriously wrong. Our engineering folks tell me this is fairly common over the first year or so of deep-mined projects, which is why the work is all covered by warranty.”

Indeed, this week work is being done on the south platform.

Repairs to the south platform at Beacon Hill Station. Photo by Jesse Odam.
History of the Hill

Roberto Maestas, El Centro founder, dies

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Roberto Maestas, a founder of Beacon Hill’s El Centro de la Raza who led that non-profit organization until he retired last year, passed away this morning of lung cancer at the age of 72.

Mayor McGinn has ordered that city flags be lowered to half-staff today in honor of Maestas.

A former Spanish teacher at Franklin High School, Maestas was among the activists involved in the peaceful occupation of the then-empty Beacon Hill Elementary School building on 16th Avenue South in 1972. After three wintery months in the run-down building, the group negotiated an agreement with the City to lease the building for $1 per year, and the El Centro organization has been there ever since. Maestas led the organization as executive director until he stepped down in 2009.

The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project at the University of Washington has this page about Maestas, including a biography and several video interviews.

Here is a story from last year about the Four Amigos: Maestas, the late Bernie Whitebear, Larry Gossett, and Bob Santos, who as activists and friends worked together to make Seattle a more just place.

The Seattle Times (BHB news partners) posted an obituary here. More obits at KIRO TV, Seattle P-I, Seattle Weekly, and The Stranger.

Update: Details of a memorial celebration for Mr. Maestas are in the comments.

Crime, Health and Safety

Bad behavior in Stevens Place Park

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Neighbor Tess writes with concerns about Stevens Place Park (commonly known as Triangle Park, located on Beacon Avenue South between South Forest and South Stevens):


View Stevens Place/Triangle Park in a larger map

I don’t know if a blog post is the best venue for this query, but i would love to get feedback from the community. I live on Beacon Ave S, right across the street from the little triangle park at S Stevens near the library. I also live very close to the #36 bus stop. Obviously, where we are situated we get a lot of traffic and noise from passers-by. However, we also get a lot of drunk people who hang out on the benches in the triangle park, sometimes cross the street and sit in the bus shelter and sometimes also migrate to the dentist’s office parking lot. We get a lot of yelling, screaming, singing, smashing bottles, foul language, and even public urination (against the tree in the triangle park or against the hedges in the parking lot). We have a family with little kids that lives downstairs and they often play on their toy bikes in front of the house. It’s hard to know what to do. Does anyone deal with this? Any suggestions?

The BHB headquarters is very near Stevens Place, and we have noticed the same occurrences, including public urination, confrontational behavior with neighbors in the park, and activity that looks very much like drug transactions; this has been the status quo at this park for a while now. What are your thoughts on the matter?

Sunbathing, sleeping, or worse? One Saturday this summer, four men were sleeping on the grass in Stevens Park. Aid cars arrived slightly later to attend to one of these men. We don't know about the men in this particular picture, but often the sleepers in the park are intoxicated or worse. Aid car and police visits to the park have been very frequent this summer. Photo by Jason.
Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Breakfast, Black Stax, and the budget

Last week, Laura Onstot of the Seattle Weekly’s Voracious food blog visited Beacon Hill’s Despi Delite Bakery on the way to the airport on Link, and posted about her experience there.

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The new crosswalk on Beacon Avenue in front of the library is now complete and functional. When pedestrians pass between the sensors on either side of the street, flashing lights activate in the crosswalk to alert drivers.

The lights do not seem terribly bright; they are invisible during bright daylight and even in the evening, not as bright as we expected. But they should help make evening and nighttime pedestrians a bit more safe at that intersection.

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Neighbor Ray writes: “I found this guy this morning wandering and looking lost at the corner of S. Oregon and 10th Ave. S. He has no tags and no chip. I can be reached at 206-349-3147.” Is this cute lost dog yours?

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Camp Fire groups are forming in the area, with activities for boys and girls aged 3 to Grade 12. Groups can be all boys, all girls or boys and girls together. Parents decide where, when and how often to meet. For more information contact Janelle Kitson at 206-826-8910 or by email at janellek@campfire-usa.org.

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Local hip hop group Black Stax are opening for Les Nubians just down the hill at Showbox SODO this Thursday, September 23. You may remember that Black Stax performed on the rooftop of Spoons (at 15th and Beacon) last summer.

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As the City Council works to balance the city’s 2011-2012 budget, they are seeking input from residents to develop a budget that best reflects the needs of the city. To do this, the Council is inviting everyone to participate in this year’s budget process in one of the following ways:

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The Beacon Hill P-Patch needs volunteers on October 2 for a clean-up work party. Volunteers will weed and aid in brush removal in the upper slope of the P-Patch, and afterward gather for food, drinks, and socializing.

Further information and RSVP here.

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Nearly 800 freshmen and transfer students at Seattle Pacific University will be volunteering on Beacon Hill on Saturday, September 25 as part of SPU’s “CityQuest” program. From 10:30 am until 2:30 pm, SPU student and staff volunteers will be working on an orchard and a public garden at Dr. Jose Rizal Park, helping Operation Nightwatch with a community clean-up, and clearing out invasive plants at Lewis Park.

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Because of an all-staff meeting, all locations of the Seattle Public Library will open late on Thursday, September 30. All library locations will open at 1:00 pm that day.

People waiting for the library to open in the morning. On Thursday, September 30, library patrons will have to wait a bit longer because the library will open late. Photo by Jason.