All supporters and friends of the Beacon Food Forest are invited to a celebration this Friday night, January 18, to celebrate the community’s accomplishments and the project’s new grant award from the Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund. There will also be a showing of a 53-minute film, “The Power of Community.”
The event starts at 7 p.m. at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S. It’s a dessert potluck, so bring a favorite dessert to share; there will be beverages and popcorn provided. All are welcome to this family event.
Along with the movie, Tlaloctecutli Dance Group will perform, and beekeeper Bob Redmond will be there with an information table and local honey.
Photo by Amanda Slater via Creative Commons/Flickr.Demand for canning instruction has led the folks at Canning Connections to add monthly beginner sessions on the first Tuesday of each month in 2013.
These beginner sessions cover the basics of safe food preservation using the waterbath method of canning. The sessions are held at the Garden House (2336 15th Ave. S.) from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Cost is $15, payable the night of the class. The class is suitable for beginners or those wishing a refresher or update of safe canning practices.
All supplies and equipment are provided; just bring your apron and enthusiasm!
“Greener Skies’ environmental assessment, which the Federal Aviation Administration approved in November, finds that noise impacts will diminish in broad vertical swaths from Wallingford and Fremont to downtown Seattle and Federal Way on the west and from Lake City to the Rainier Valley to the town of Pacific. But they’ll increase along the axis of Sea-Tac Airport’s runways, over Greenlake, the U-District, Capitol Hill, and, especially, Beacon Hill.”
Elsewhere on Crosscut today, Scigliano writes about retired airline pilot (and Beacon Hill neighbor) Dana Gerry, who argues that the airport could take steps to improve the noise situation, such as reducing airport hours and enforcing limitations on when jets can drop their landing gear and wing flaps.
According to Gerry, dropping landing gear and flaps too early burns more fuel and makes more noise. He has seen pilots heading to Sea-Tac drop their gear as early as 6,000 feet, about 18 miles from the airport.
“‘If they would just hold gear and flaps up till they got to the outer marker, about 1,700 feet, they’d save as much fuel as they’d use on a roundabout approach.’ An approach like the Elliott Bay to Duwamish loop that spares residential areas, but which the airlines reject because it adds distance.”
The Beacon Hill Family Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, a project of Beacon BIKES and the City of Seattle, has won a 2012 VISION 2040 Award from the Puget Sound Regional Council. Vision 2040 Awards honor real-life examples of sustainable growth and improvements to quality of life in Puget Sound communities.
The Friends of Lewis Park invite the community to the Beacon Hill Library (2821 Beacon Ave. S.) on Tuesday, November 27 from 5:30 – 8 p.m. for a public meeting to discuss the design process for the park.
There will be food provided from 5 to 6:30 p.m. From 6 – 7 p.m., there will be a presentation of some preliminary design principles and information about the project as it stands now, and from 7 – 8 p.m., representatives from Hafs-Epstein Landscape Architecture will discuss the project and listen to community comments.
The Friends of Lewis Park event notice says “We are very pleased with the selection of this firm and just as excited to get started on the community-based collaborative process that will result in a design proposal for the park. We have a dynamic consultant, a committed steering committee and a great site on North Beacon Hill. This missing ingredient is you… the community; we need to know what you want in this park.”
The park improvement project is funded by a Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple Grant.
Flowers glow in sunset light in Lewis Park. Photo by Wendi Dunlap.
Seattle Parks and Recreation announced today the winners of the 2012 Denny Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Stewardship. Among the winners: Beacon Hill’s own Craig
Thompson, who received the Community Stewardship Award for his work at Dr. Jose Rizal Park and the nearby area.
Here’s how Parks described him:
“Since 2001, Craig Thompson has been on a mission to reclaim the overgrown, crime ridden hillside at the north end of the East Duwamish Greenbelt and to activate Dr. Jose Rizal Park.
“He has spent hundreds of hours clearing brush himself and organizing work parties for thousands of volunteers. After a decade of volunteer leadership and personal stewardship, Craig’s hard work is paying off. With the completion of the Mountains to Sound Greenway trail through the greenbelt and park, activity has increased tenfold. Craig now spearheads activation. He continues to solicit and lead volunteer groups. He has provided mentorship and support to the new Off Leash Dog Area Steward. He inspired and continues to lead an Orchard Steward group, which has renovated and maintains an orchard in the park. And, he is now a Green Seattle Partnership Forest Steward.”
Additionally, Russell Odell was nominated for an award. He is a youth mock trial instructor at Jefferson Community Center.
The Denny Awards are named for Seattle pioneers David T. and Louisa Denny, who donated land for Seattle’s first park, Denny Park, in 1884.
Craig Thompson at a community meeting about PacMed development in August 2011.
This is part of a map on the Greener Skies website labeled “Future South Flow Arrival Procedures Over Current Flight Track Density, North of Airport.” See the full map here.As reported yesterday in the Seattle Times, the FAA has approved the new “Greener Skies” flight method to land planes at Sea-Tac Airport new way to land planes at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport received final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday.
In this method, arriving planes would approach the airport in a smooth descent, instead of the stairstep pattern they currently use. According to the FAA, this will save millions of dollars in fuel use per year, and it will also be safer, by reducing the potential for miscommunication between pilots and air traffic controllers.
Though the plan has these advantages, many residents of neighborhoods under the flight path are concerned about Greener Skies’ auditory impact. Information that has been published about the changes implies that the plan would condense the flight path, possibly sending more flights over Beacon Hill than current flight paths do. Neighbors including North Beacon Hill’s Quieter Skies Task Force requested a meeting with the FAA to discuss the plan and ask questions about the very technical information that has been published so far.
The FAA turned down the request for a meeting on Greener Skies, but offered to hold a general meeting about air traffic on October 23. The meeting was then cancelled, due to the unavailability of a key FAA official.
Erik Stanford of the Quieter Skies Task Force sent out this letter to supporters yesterday:
“The FAA and the Port of Seattle abruptly cancelled our meeting just 5 days before it was scheduled. The meeting was cancelled within hours of receiving the following agenda:
FAA to compel the Port of Seattle to install more noise monitors
FAA to fund the Port of Seattle to purchase, install and actively monitor the devices
Determine process for expanding the use of “Fly Quiet†procedures for Sea-Tac departures (in lieu of a “Noise Abatement†flight pattern)
Explain what “fly Quiet†procedures/protocols are available? Being utilized? (ex: powering back on departure, lowering landing gear closer to airport, etc.)
Extend the current FAR Part 150 Noise Study for Sea-Tac Airport to include 98144, 98118, and 98108.
We have rescheduled the meeting for Tuesday, November 13th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Cleveland High School Theater located at 5511 15th Ave S. Translation services and refreshments will be provided.”
According to the Times, less than 15 percent of arriving Sea-Tac flights will use the new plan next spring, starting with Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines. The FAA will gradually expand Greener Skies over time.
The Green Seattle Day organizers want you to know that volunteers are still needed to help out at another local park, John C. Little Park on South Beacon Hill, on Saturday, November 3. (We previously mentioned a work party at the Cheasty Greenspace.)
Volunteers will help remove invasive species, and plant native trees, shrubs, and ground cover.
The work party will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Volunteers should meet at the tool chest located behind the town homes along Holly Park Dr S. This area is located above the children’s playground in the upper part of John C. Little park. To reach the work area, follow the signs that lead up to the alley way behind the townhomes. The tool chest can be found under the large tree located halfway up the alley.
Please dress appropriately for weather conditions, and bring snacks and a filled water bottle.
The Cheasty Greenspace/Mt. View is a host site for the upcoming Green Seattle Day on Saturday, November 3. Neighbors and friends of the Greenspace are invited to participate in this special volunteer event.
According to the Friends of Cheasty Greenspace,
“We have over 800 native plants, shrubs and trees that need to be planted to transform the Angeline Entrance, our gateway into the park. We will also be completing the Columbian Way Link; if you like robust trail building work, this is for you!”
Volunteers should meet at 9:45 a.m. Saturday morning at 2809 S. Alaska Place, one block west of the Columbia City Link station. The work party will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., with a noon break for lunch. Tools and gloves are provided; please bring your own lunch, water, and a snack for the community snack table.
Last weekend, Beacon Food Forest supporters came out in force for the project’s “Ground Making Day.” Project organizer Glenn Herlihy sent out this letter to neighbors and supporters:
The Beacon Food Forest’s Ground Making day was an absolute blast. We’d like to thank the 100 plus community volunteers who came out and converted 3750 square feet of grass into the first Beacon Food Forest planting bed. It was an impressive sight to see so many people farming, smiling, eating and learning together.
We planted the first plum trees and a few shrubs that arrived on bicycle trailers powered by the good people of Beacon Bikes, we shared a delicious meal supplied by Tom Douglas, Essential Bakery, Central Coop and La Panzanella, and made a lot of friends. Thank you nutrient donors! Thanks also to City Fruit and ACTrees, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Seattle P-Patch, Seattle Parks and Recreation and SPU for being apart of a successful collaboration.
Thank you Food Foresters for making the time to become responsible stewards of your public land. Nice work people!
