Category Archives: Life on the Hill

Crime, Life on the Hill

Large police response on the north end of the hill

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After a case of misidentification at the UW in pursuit of the suspected Parkland shooter, police have swarmed north Beacon Hill, concentrated mainly around the Jungle and Jose Rizal Bridge near Amazon. BHNW scanner logs reported a possible sighting of the shooting suspect near 21st and McClellan earlier this morning, and neighbor Quoc Tang sent a note:

When I left for work this morning, there were media vehicles, police vehicles, and an armored car with officers in camouflage uniforms hanging off the side, they were driving around the neighborhood. It also looked like they may have had 17th blocked off as well.

Best to follow BHB on Twitter for updates this morning.

10:20 Update: Lewis Kamb in the Tacoma News Tribune:

SWAT units arrived at a duplex on 17th Avenue South in the Beacon Hill neighborhood about 9 a.m., according to neighbors, and ordered a resident to come out. A neighbor saw a middle-aged woman come to the door in her pajamas. Police aren’t confirming anything, but the buzz is that she was wanted for questioning in relation to the manhunt. The house is now secured and police may have either removed the woman or taken her from the house.

10:32 Update: From Travis Mayfield on Twitter:

Police have cleared the scene here at Jose Rizal Park on Beacon Hill.

10:37 Update: A description and photo of the scene on 17th from Pete Hathaway, posted to the mailing list:

police-on-17th-20091130
Click the image for the full-size version.

The two armored police yielded about a dozen police armed with assault weapons and a bullhorn, directing the occupants to lay down inside. They went into the house without an incident. When they left, about a dozen sheriff and other officers (detectives I would assume) pulled up in regular vehicles and spent over an hour in and around the house. Eventually one person was brought out and put into a vehicle. Several full brown paper bags were brought out and loaded into a different vehicle.

Life on the Hill, Urban Planning

Beacon Hill possibly “the test bed for a new network”

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“…it’s quite likely that Beacon Hill would be for all the reasons cited above the test bed for a new network.”

Glenn Fleishman’s latest article at Publicola deals with the broadband pariah that is Beacon Hill and the Central District and how Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn wants to address the issue by building a city-wide fiber-to-the-home network paid for by revenue bonds. A plan to “issue bonds, find contractors, and start building triple-play to the home over fiber” is deemed “likely”. This would entail “100 Mbps symmetrical broadband (like they have in Hong Kong, where it costs US$14 per month), video with high-definition channels, and unlimited voice calling.” An appealing proposition.

Read the article at Publicola.

Life on the Hill

Does your Broadstripe service meet expectations (yet)?

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(A) Broadstripe (representative) speaks up in the comments of a previous item:

We have been taking steps to improve High Speed Data services to your area. We have been systematically troubleshooting and repairing our nodes to provide exceptional service to our subscribers. Please contact us directly at earningourstripes@broadstripe.com so we can confirm if you’re (sic) concerns have been resolved with our recent upgrades or if we can do anything further to assist in resolving any on-going service concerns.

We’ve been pretty lucky here; we have not experienced the lengthy periods of complete internet outages many of you have reported and have repeatedly gone back and forth with Broadstripe over (many to the point of giving up on cable broadband entirely).

In my recent experience, I have seen some improvement: speeds during peak usage periods (evenings) are not nearly as horrible as I’d seen in September, but they’re usually only a tenth of the advertised speed of 15 megabits per second. At off-peak times, I have seen very brief peaks above 10 megabits near the beginning of a single download, but after a megabyte or two, the speeds appear to be throttled down to an average somewhere around 3 megabits, one fifth of the advertised rate.

As a rule-of-thumb, downloading one megabyte (1,048,576 bytes or 1024 kilobytes) should take:

  • about 15 seconds at 500 kilobits per second (500Kbps).
  • about 8 seconds at one megabit per second (1Mbps).
  • less than one second at ten megabits per second (10Mbps).

I encourage you to run your own tests — real-world tests like downloading software updates or loading large web pages as well as speed tests performed through sites like speedtest.net and Broadband Reports — and report your findings in the comments.

Those of you who have experienced general outages: have they become shorter or less frequent? Has their support staff become more responsive and solved your issues?

Please also send your experiences back to Broadstripe.

Life on the Hill

Beacon Hill library hours won’t be reduced after all

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Miles Peppers Dream Ship sails above the Beacon Hill library at sunset. Photo by Wendi.
Miles Pepper's "Dream Ship" sails above the Beacon Hill library at sunset. Photo by Wendi.
The Friends of Seattle Public Library Blog reports good news: yesterday, the City Council voted unanimously to increase support for library services by $860,000 in 2010, which will allow the restoration of some library operating hours and staff positions that would otherwise have been eliminated.

With this increase, the Beacon Hill library branch will keep its current seven days/60 hours per week schedule:

  • Monday – Thursday, 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
  • Friday – Saturday, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
  • Sunday 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Ballard, Broadview, Capitol Hill, Douglass-Truth, Greenwood, Lake City, Northeast, Rainier Beach, Southwest and West Seattle will also keep these hours.

Unfortunately, not all eliminated hours can be restored, and while Beacon Hill’s library hours have been saved, some other neighborhoods will still have the pain of serious cutbacks. The following branches will be reduced to a five days/35 hours per week schedule: Columbia, Delridge, Fremont, Green Lake, High Point, International District/Chinatown, Madrona-Sally Goldmark, Magnolia, Montlake, NewHolly, Northgate, Queen Anne, South Park, University and Wallingford.

Life on the Hill

Neighbors blogging: Walking hills, pipes, remodels, and reviews

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This weekend there’s been a burst of activity on the blogs of some Beacon Hill neighbors. Here’s a selection of some recent posts.

Kat reflects on her former neighbor Marsha and the steep walk uphill.

Nikchick ponders how to deal with bad pipes in her home heating system.

Allison‘s attic bedroom remodel is coming together.

Brendan has posted several new album reviews.

JvA has a new set of shots from her latest photographic tour of nearby Georgetown.

Thanks bloggers! And if you live on Beacon Hill and you’ve got a blog, please point us to it!

Life on the Hill

McGinn favorite among BHB readers in poll

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Mike McGinn at a town hall meeting on Beacon Hill last month. Photo by melissajonas.
Mike McGinn at a town hall meeting on Beacon Hill last month. Photo by melissajonas.
The Beacon Hill Blog Mayoral Survey is now closed. Here are the results:

  • McGinn: 61.5%
  • Mallahan: 33%
  • That dude sleeping on the bench in Triangle Park: 4%
  • Other: 1.5%

Will these match the final numbers? Time will tell.

At least two people attempted to stuff the ballot box by voting repeatedly (and obviously). Any votes that were the result of such ballot-box stuffing were removed from the final total. This left us with fewer than 100 responses, so it is a very small sample.

Life on the Hill

Top of the Hill: Your favorite mayoral choices

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It’s taken us longer to compile results from last month’s Top of the Hill survey than we expected. There are still a bunch more results coming, but since absentee ballots for the upcoming election are landing in everyone’s mailboxes this week, we wanted to get one of the results out to you sooner, rather than later.

We asked, “Who’s your favorite mayoral candidate at the moment?” As of September 11, when the survey closed, these were the results:

mayor-survey-9-11

Mike McGinn had a huge lead on Beacon Hill with 53% of the vote, followed by Joe Mallahan with 15%. “That dude sleeping on the bench in Triangle Park” had a relatively strong showing, with 9%. (For the first week of the survey, the anonymous Triangle Park guy was actually leading the race.) 6% of the “Other” responses were “I don’t know.” Current Mayor Greg Nickels had 6% of the survey responses (the chart does not show this correctly).

The survey closed on September 11, so your opinions might have changed, or not. What do you think now? We’ve posted a new survey to find out what you currently think. Beacon Hill folks only, please.

Life on the Hill, Neighborhood Pride

Rocking, cycling, and gardening: Beacon Hill sights

A guitarist tries out the music space at ROCKiT space. Photo by Bridget Christian in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.
A guitarist tries out the music space at ROCKiT space. Photo by Bridget Christian in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.
The new ROCKiT space non-profit music and art organization on Beacon Avenue held their grand opening this weekend. Bridget Christian was there, and has posted a great set of photos from the event on Flickr. She says, “GREAT place for kids… all kinds of art stuff to do, books, instruments to mess around on.”

Jesse Vernon, of The Stranger, recently discovered the Chief Sealth Trail, which, he says, starts on Beacon Hill and then “transports you to Kubota Garden via Ireland. Or New Zealand. Or some other place with rolling green hills I’ve never been.” However, some commenters on Vernon’s post complained about the trail’s hills, and one commenter, Kinkos, suggested that the best way to ride the trail is to “take light rail to beacon hill, ride to the trailhead, then ride downhill on the trail to near the end – to the rainier beach sta. catch the train back to beacon hill, and repeat.”

Willie Weir has been photographing his Beacon Hill garden all year as part of an “exercise in extreme local travel” — enjoying the sights close to home that we often overlook. He’s posted a gorgeous video collection of last spring’s photos on YouTube.

Life on the Hill, Local Events, Opinion

Walking with Tica: Election Edition

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Vote sign at El Centro, November 2008. Photo by Wendi.
"Vote" sign at El Centro, November 2008. Photo by Wendi.
Leaves are starting to turn and clouds are staying around for days instead of hours.  There’s that certain crispness in the air and football on TV (Go, Pack, Go!).  It must be election season.

Tica and I have been walking the blocks of North Beacon Hill since 2003.  We’ve watched election signs go up for Kerry, Bush, Rossi, Gregoire, Obama, McCain, Rossi, Gregoire… plus the monorail, levies, school board elections, parks, and more.  This year, there just isn’t the same showing–for any issue or any candidate. Where are the yard signs? Is it too early in the season?  Are candidates not producing them in the same way? It can’t be that Beacon Hill has become less interested in politics.  The 36th District is active, engaged, smart and passionate.  Both Democrats and Republicans in Beacon Hill vote.

Candidates are falling over themselves to attend and organize forums, townhalls, and walks in Beacon Hill and other parts of Southeast Seattle.  The City is working on a Neighborhood Plan to decide how high buildings in the Beacon Hill “urban village” will be.  There are changes proposed to improve the safety of cyclists on our streets.  I know our neighbors have opinions–get involved! Attend meetings if you can, read up on the issues if you can’t, and talk to your neighbors.

Most importantly, register to vote and confirm that your ballot is on track to be mailed to your current address.  All voting is by mail in Seattle.  Go to My Vote to be sure that you’re going to get your ballot.  Do you have a new roommate or neighbor?  Do you know someone who just turned 18?  Monday October 5th (today!) is the last day to register or change your address online.  If you have never registered in Washington, you have until October 26th to register in person.

We have several important choices on the ballot this November.  There are two new candidates for Mayor: Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan.  We’re choosing between several City Council candidates AND there’s a race for City Attorney and King County Executive.  We are also voting on two statewide initiatives that could have lasting impact: I-1033 (a Tim Eyman initative) and R-71, a referendum to roll back approve or reject domestic partnership benefits.

Learn about the candidates and their values.  Understand the implications of the initiatives.  Vote.  That’s even more important than yard signs.

(Editor’s note — corrected R-71 reference. If you vote “approve” on R-71, that is to approve the new state domestic partnership law. If you vote “reject,” your vote would be to repeal the law.)

Life on the Hill

Top of the Hill Survey Results Part 3: Wishes and reasons

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The next group of results in the Beacon Hill Blog Top of the Hill are about the things we want, the reasons we live here, and the reasons why some might consider leaving Beacon Hill. Previous results are here, and there will be more results soon — stay tuned.

(Editor’s note: As with the earlier results, some of these results don’t add up to 100% because people gave multiple answers.)

mostneededamenity

What do you think is Beacon Hill’s most-needed amenity? We asked for one answer here, but some people listed as many as 17 different amenities!

It seems that, for the most part, Beaconites have food on their minds. The most popular answer was “More restaurants/cafés/coffee shops“, given by 29% of those surveyed. It was followed by requests for two specific kinds of establishments that people would like to see more of: a pub/brewpub/gastropub (a few people specifically mentioned Columbia City Ale House or West Seattle’s Beveridge Place Pub as the type of establishment they’d like to see here), mentioned by 18%, and a pizza restaurant, mentioned by 17%.

More retail in general was mentioned by 14%. 9% of you want more or better grocery stores (and a fair amount of you mentioned Trader Joe’s); one neighbor mentioned the need for a full-service grocery store south of Beacon and Columbian. Some of you are craving hamburgers; 8% of you want a restaurant with hamburgers, sandwiches, and general old-fashioned American “comfort food”. (Many people who gave this answer added that it needs to be kid-friendly, too.)

Beacon Hill once had a drugstore or two, and 8% of you think that a drugstore is our current most-needed amenity.

One neighbor’s answer to this question was a veritable wish list of places:

“pizza joint. drug store. vietnamese/thai/korean restaurants. flower stand. antique/junk/vintage store. ice cream stand. street vendors. vintage clothing store. hamburger joint. wine store. tea house. dessert/wine bar. book store. more of any kind of restaurant. A bread bakery. farmers market.”

Another neighbor’s answer was pragmatic: “Cops and social services that will deal with the dopers in and around Beacon Hill Elementary playfield and that bus stop on 14th across from the school.”

bestreasontoliveonbh

What do you think is the best reason to live on Beacon Hill? That’s an easy one: “location, location, location.” 57% of you said that the Hill’s central location and proximity to other places you might want to go are the best reasons to live here. (10% gave a related, but distinct, answer — our easy accessibility to I-5 and I-90.)

33% of you cited the “the United Nations diversity” of the Hill as a best reason to live here: “There’s no majority. You look at the faces on the 36 and it looks like the world.” Apparently our neighborhood is not just diverse, but friendly as well: 21% of you mentioned your nice, friendly neighbors. One neighbor wrote, “I feel like it’s an incredibly friendly place to live, and that our neighbors genuinely care about one another. And that’s not even our neighbors who profess to live in ‘community’ households the way that we do!” Another said, simply, “My neighbors rock.”

16% mentioned the affordability of living on Beacon Hill, and 8% specifically mentioned the new light rail.

bestreasonmoveaway2

On the other hand… what is the best reason to move away from Beacon Hill? Lack of retail and other amenities in our business district was the reason selected by 29%. One-third of people who gave this answer (10% of the overall total) explicitly stated that they wanted those amenities to be walkable. 12% of you specifically referred to a lack of restaurants, pubs, or coffee shops. Crime is a concern mentioned by 18% of you. 6% mentioned decreasing affordability, and another 6% mentioned noise (almost entirely airplane noise, but one person mentioned light rail noise as well).

7% of you said that there is no reason to ever move away from Beacon Hill. However, two optimistic people said that the best reason to move away would be “winning the lottery.” And one neighbor faced the sad reality of life on Beacon, answering “hard to pursue career as singing cowboy on the hill.”