- Rhohelia ‘Bob’ Webb, Tuskegee veteran and one of the NBHC founders, passed away on May 28th — Seattle Times
- Relatedly, Craig Thompson posted a remembrance of long-time community activist Katashi Oita on the BAN list — RVP
- Georgetown’s classic Mercedes repair shop Benz Friends is packing up and moving to Burien — Blogging Georgetown
- Route 38: “Slightly ridiculous” what with the light rail opening — Seattle Transit Blog
- Time is running out on the city’s parking and traffic ticket penalty and interest amnesty program. Get paid-up by June 30th!
- Free screenings (donations expected) of Mad City Chickens, a documentary about raising urban poultry, will be held this Friday in Wallingford and Monday in West Seattle. Friday’s showing is presented by Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice, Monday’s by Sustainable West Seattle. Follow those links for full details about show times and locations. — Lynn Tucker on the mailing list
Category Archives: Beacon Bits
Beacon Bits: Chekhov, snakes, and liquor
- Performances of Anton Chekhov’s The Lost Highway are tonight (June 6) and next Thursday through Saturday, June 11-13, at 8:00 pm. The venue is Art’s on Beacon Hill, 4951 13th Avenue South. (Thanks to Audrey Chesnutt for letting us know.)
- Craig Thompson reports that, as part of today’s Seattle Works Day event, a team of folks was to help build a herpetarium (an environment for garter snakes) near the northwest side of the off-leash area at Dr. Jose Rizal Park. Additionally, volunteers picked up rocks and debris in the off-leash area to make it easier for Seattle Parks and Recreation to mow the meadow. (Garter snakes are not poisonous, so have no fear of the snakes!)
- Inay’s beer/spirits/wine application has been approved. Inay’s Asian Pacific Cuisine is at 2503 Beacon Avenue South and the food is quite tasty. In other liquor license news, two local businesses have liquor license renewals coming up on August 30: Thai Recipe at 2609 South McClellan Street and Dahlak Eritrean Cuisine at 2007 South State Street. If you have comments or concerns about either of these renewals, send them to John McGoodwin at john.mcgoodwin@seattle.gov. (Thanks to Shelly Bates for the report.)
- Can’t wait to see the inside of the Beacon Hill light rail station? Sound Transit has posted a photo of the recently-installed artwork inside the underground station. A couple of weeks before that, they posted a photo of air-flow testing within the station.
Beacon Bits: Tunnel trip, park priorities, planning photos
- A bunch of folks were able to ride the Link light rail through the Beacon Hill tunnel and down to Tukwila on Wednesday. Here’s a liveblogged description of the trip from the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate blog. Dominic Holden from The Stranger rode it, too, and loved it.
- The community discussed what to prioritize in the Jefferson Park expansion, at a community meeting on April 21 and also via an online poll. The results have now been tallied and are posted here. The city is using this process to set priorities since the funding for the project is not all available at once. (Thanks to Joel Lee for forwarding us this document to host.)
- Jason has posted a photo set of the the North Beacon Hill neighborhood planning update meeting which was held on May 30. The set shows many of the discussion points that were brought up at the meeting.
- The Seattle Public Library system, including the Beacon Hill branch, will be closed from August 31 through September 6, due to citywide budget cuts. The library will also be closed September 7 for the Labor Day holiday. During the closed week, no materials will be due, nor will any fines be accrued. None of the library’s website services, such as the book catalog, will be accessible either. (Can’t they find a way to at least allow us to use the website during that week?)
Beacon Bits: Street repair, home values, and the Great Seattle Fire
- The Seattle Department of Transportation will be working on 15th Avenue South this Saturday, June 6, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, repairing pavement. The street will be closed to all traffic except for local access, pedestrians, and bicyclists, between South Atlantic Street (on the north) and South College Street (on the south). 14th Avenue south is the detour route. The street will open to northbound traffic at 3:00 pm, and for both directions at 6:00.
- June 6 is also the 120th anniversary of the Great Seattle Fire. Commemorate it by checking your smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.
- While housing in the rest of King County lost value last year, Beacon Hill and Rainier Valley home prices went up, perhaps a result of the soon-to-be-open light rail line. This news gives at least one Beacon Hill resident reason to smile.
- Art On Airport, an artists’ open studio event, is happening just down the hill in Georgetown on Saturday, June 13, from 11:00 am – 7:00 pm. Artists in the Sunny Arms Artists Cooperative, the Old Rainier Brewery and the 4810 Building will welcome visitors into their studios to see painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking, as well as performing arts. It’s free and open to the public.
- Following up on a post from December 12: the elderly woman found in her home on 26th Avenue South covered in maggots and filth, is now being cared for in a nursing home. Her daughter, Margaret A. George, has been charged with criminal mistreatment and theft. She is scheduled to be arraigned June 9 in King County Superior Court.
- Don’t forget to check our events calendar to see what’s going in the next few days, including the SNAP Disaster Preparedness workshop on Thursday and the Beacon Hill Festival on Saturday!
Beacon Bits: Golf carts, food carts, planning starts
- Neighborhood Planning town hall meeting 9am Saturday at El Centro! Do not miss it!
PDF with details - As the neighborhood planning meeting winds down, take the kids (aged 7-18) to the Jefferson Park golf course to register for a free junior golf program offered by the Fir State Junior Golf Foundation. Registration is from 3-6pm on Saturday, May 30th, for an instructional program beginning June 28th.
- Right between the planning meeting and the golf program sign-ups on Saturday, the Denise Louie Education Center is hosting its 4th Annual Children and Families Festival from 1-4pm at the Jefferson Community Center.
- A street food movement is developing in Seattle and Gabriel Claycamp (of the late Culinary Communion and the Swinery) may be bringing it to Beacon Hill for a visit. — The Stranger
- Bumper-to-Bumper looks into light timing along Spokane Street between 15th and Columbian. — The Seattle Times
Be sure to check out the Events calendar for more upcoming activities nearby!
Beacon Bits: bear apparel, a plant pillager, and a permit
- We may have only had a fake bear on Beacon Hill for one day last week, but that was enough for Behi Bonsai to create a Beacon Hill Bear t-shirt.
- Awhile ago we posted about the plant pilferer recorded by security cameras while stealing people’s shrubs. Neighbor April reports that several neighbors have identified the man as someone who lives near 16th Avenue South and South College Street. A police officer watched the security video, and spoke to the man, who denied stealing the plants. April says “Unfortunately, that probably is as far as it will go — it would be very unlikely that he is actually going to be charged with the theft unless more evidence is provided by others.” If your garden is also victimized, please file a police report.
- The folks at First Choice car wash at 2507 Beacon Avenue South have filed for a construction permit to “Establish use of a portion of commercial building as an auto detailing service, per plan.†The building continues to be zoned NC2P-40, which means that, according to the city land use code, “Drive-in or drive-thru businesses are prohibited” at the site.
Beacon Bits: liquor licensing, disaster preparedness, and a bike ride to Alki
- A new applicant, Young Rae No, has applied to assume the liquor license at the M.C. Food Store at 4800 Beacon Avenue South (Beacon and Columbian). The license being applied for is “Grocery store — beer / wine”: a “license to sell beer and/or wine for off-premises consumption in bottles, cans, or original containers.” See the notice here.
- A Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare (SNAP) disaster preparedness program is coming to North Beacon Hill, with a workshop on June 4. Presenters from the city’s Office of Emergency Management will discuss safeguarding your home before a disaster happens, quake-safe actions, and building neighborhood preparedness teams. The workshop is free and open to all, at the Beacon Hill Library, 2821 Beacon Avenue South, Thursday, June 4, 6:30 – 8:00 pm.
- 37th District Representative Eric Pettigrew is hosting a community access meeting about health care issues on Monday, June 1, at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Room 209, 1634 19th Avenue. The meeting is free and open to the public.
- Hello Bicycle is hosting their first Beacon Hill group bicycle ride this Saturday. All are welcome. Be at Hello Bicycle at 10 am for a moderate speed bike ride with the group to Alki Beach, and return just after noon for tacos from El Quetzal. Hello Bicycle is at 3067 Beacon Avenue South.
Beacon Bits: crocheted art, construction photographs, and fighting crime with coffee
- Artist Mandy Greer is creating Mater Matrix Mother and Medium, a “process-based temporary public art installation” that uses recycled fabric and yarn along with the volunteer help of many hands to build the installation. You can help crochet this artwork at the Beacon Hill Library on May 24 — all skill levels welcome! Details are here.
- Peter de Lory, the Photographer in Residence for the Sound Transit Central Link light rail project, has posted some interesting recent pictures of the Beacon Hill and Mount Baker stations under construction. (Go here, click “Visit the gallery now”, and choose March 2009 to see the slide show. Flash required.)
- Beacon Hill neighbor Lorraine reports on the mailing list: “I was waiting at the northbound bus stop at Beacon and Hanford (yesterday) morning
when a guy tried to grab my phone from me. I held on tight and whacked him with my coffee thermos and he ran off. Then I followed him and watched him get in his small, black pickup truck and take off.” The unsuccessful thief was white, with short brown hair and brown facial hair, about 5’9″ and 180 pounds, wearing a short-sleeved, plaid shirt with a collar and pale blue jeans. Lorraine adds, “The guy asked me a few questions and what time it was before he grabbed my phone. I had turned the phone to show him the time after he acted like he hadn’t heard me. So, lesson learned. Please be alert at those bus stops, everybody!”
Beacon Bits: bravado, acrobatics, and coyotes
- “Health-department rules are critical for people who don’t know what the f— they’re doing. We’re chefs,” is the telling quote from Gabriel Claycamp in Jonah Spangenthal-Lee’s take on the Culinary Communion/Swinery/Lunch Counter tale. We just want to know if something else will be moving into that building on Beacon Avenue — The Stranger
- The folks at the School of Acrobatics & New Circus Arts just down the hill in Georgetown will be holding their Annual Spring Showcase on Saturday, May 9, at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center. They tell us the show will feature “Two unique, circus-variety shows featuring the spectacular SANCA Youth Company, the amazing Circus 1-ders, incredible SANCA instructors and fabulous friends of SANCA!” See their website for further info.
- That same day from 9:00am – 2:00pm, Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool is hosting a fundraising rummage sale at 3818 S Angeline Street in Columbia City. See this and other upcoming events on our events page.
- David Gackenbach reported on the Beacon Hill Mailing List this weekend that a trio of coyotes were “loping down the sidewalk” at 18th and Plum on Saturday night. Keep an eye on your pets and keep them safe.
Beacon Bits: Bigger, craftier, and busking
- El Quetzal has expanded their dining room
- Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church hosts an Asian Craft Fair, May 9th from 10 to 4
- Also craft-related, Ayame Kai’s 28th Annual Holiday Craft Fair is accepting applications for crafters for the November 21, 2009 fair. Screening of applicants begins in June. Email for details.
- La Bendicion Tienda Mexicana‘s delicious hand-made tamales get a mention in Voracious
- Jose Rizal Park is featured in the Photographer’s guide to Seattle
- Slog talks about the problems malls are facing and the Goodwill development project on Dearborn — Update: Project canceled?
- Amazon‘s departure from the Hill and their curious poor attendance at their South Lake Union groundbreaking in TechFlash and The Times
- Busking Journey, a hitchhiking-and-busking odyssey, wraps up with a stop in Beacon Hill
(Post edited from earlier version to remove story that wasn’t actually about Beacon Hill — we misread it. Sorry! — Ed.)