The ABC Supermarket at 2500 Beacon Ave. S. has applied for a new liquor license of the type “Grocery store: beer/wine.” The listed applicants are ABC Supermarket, Inc., James Che, Jenny Che, and Ky Ho. The license number is 354645.
If you’d like to make any comments on this application, whether positive or negative, e-mail customerservice@liq.wa.gov or send regular mail to:
Washington State Liquor Control Board
3000 Pacific Avenue SE
P. O. Box 43098
Olympia, Washington 98504-3098
Plan ahead — Jefferson Community Center will close for four days next month for an electrical upgrade project to add an emergency generator and automatic transfer switch. It will be closed from Thursday, September 20, 2012 until 7 a.m. on Monday September 24. The upgrade is part of a larger project including seismic upgrades, replacing the HVAC unit with a heat pump system, and a variety of architectural and maintenance improvements. This will allow the building to be used as an emergency shelter in case of disaster.
Any programs scheduled for Friday, September 21 may be affected by the closure, and participants should contact the community center for information. Classes and programs scheduled for Saturday, September 22 will be canceled.
It’s primary election day, and that means it’s time to get your ballots to a mailbox or drop box today if you want your vote to be counted. Some races will be decided at this primary, and there are also some levies on the ballot, including a library levy.
As long as your ballot is postmarked today, it should be counted. However, if you want to save a stamp, there are a few ballot drop boxes available — unfortunately, none in Southeast Seattle. One is at the King County Administration Building downtown, 500 4th Avenue. Even closer, however, is the Accessible Voting Center at Union Station, 401 South Jackson, which will be open until 8 p.m. There is a ballot drop box there, and you can also vote there in person if you have lost your mail-in ballot or need to use an accessible voting unit. To vote in person at Union Station, you must either show a photo ID or sign a declaration.
Dominic Gates of The Seattle Times reports that a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) trial project may change flight paths over Seattle for planes landing at Sea-Tac Airport, with possible impacts to Beacon Hill. Under the proposed new procedures, incoming planes that currently pass over the airport and turn over Edmonds or North Seattle to head south to the airport would instead turn over Elliott Bay, rejoining the normal southbound flight path right over Beacon Hill. (See the Times’ flight map.) This will reduce noise over the northern neighborhoods, but the effect on Beacon Hill is, as yet, unknown.
Jets participating in the trial will use satellite signals for guidance to the airport runway, keeping engines on idle as long as possible. This will save fuel as well as reducing polluting emissions.
According to Gates (in an email forwarded to the Beacon Hill mailing list), it is unclear at this point whether the new flight paths will cause more noise over Beacon Hill, or whether the engines will still be in idle at the point where they pass over us. An environmental assessment (including assessment of noise impacts) will be performed later this year, after the completion of the flight trial project.
(Thanks to Capitol Hill Seattle for drawing our attention to this!)
A few neighbors let us know on Wednesday that Sound Transit was restoring the metal “flag” artworks by Carl Smool to the station plaza. The colorful artwork, mounted on several poles, was removed for retrofitting after one of the poles fell in strong winds in March 2011.
When we went by to check out the returned artwork Wednesday afternoon, however, we were surprised to see that the poles were gone again. Sound Transit representative Bruce Gray tells the BHB: “We ran into some installation issues and need to double check a few things before we move ahead with the reinstallation. We want this to be the last time we do this, so we’re being extra cautious.”
Also at Beacon Hill Station, travelers may have noticed some unsightly mess in the passage between the two platforms. Gray tells us that that there is a leak in the ceiling there, but it is being fixed under warranty by the station’s contractor.
According to a story by Brian M. Rosenthal and Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times, Seattle Police are investigating after a Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) investigation discovered a possible misuse of funds at Van Asselt Elementary School by the former principal and by a parent coordinator. (See the investigation report here.) The principal, ElDoris Turner, retired on March 16 after being placed on administrative leave, and the parent coordinator, Ramona Fuentes, was fired on Tuesday.
The SEEC investigation, acquired by the Times via a public records request, found that more than $30,000 in cash was withdrawn from an unauthorized school bank account maintained by Turner and Fuentes, and that “the documentation supporting these withdrawals is woefully inadequate.” Additionally, the SEEC found that Turner received payments for the use of Van Asselt’s gym, and “has not been able to document the amount of the payments or how they were used.” Those payments did not go to the school district, counter to district policy.
The investigation, according to the SEEC report, began when some parents and teachers at the school on South Beacon Hill began the process of creating a Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA). They asked Turner about funds the school had earned through fundraisers, and where those funds went. Turner replied that Fuentes controlled the money. Parents expressed concerns about the use and storage of cash at Van Asselt. Some said they had seen a bag of money in the office safe and a shoebox of cash in Turner’s office. Staff members stated that funds from a talent show and from a gift basket fundraiser were unaccounted for.
The SEEC report states that “Turner and Fuentes kept terrible records of the money that flowed into and out of the Account. Bank statements provide very limited information on the account activity, since many withdrawals were in cash” (emphasis is in the original SEEC document — ed.). Checks on the account did appear to be for legitimate school purposes. But the report concludes “The SEEC cannot rule out the possibility that some of these funds were converted to personal use” and recommends that the school district involve law enforcement for further investigation.
(Editor’s note: This post was scheduled to go live on the morning of April 2 but due to a software error, did not actually publish. Sorry for the delay.)
On March 10, 2011, one of the metal banner artworks installed on the plaza at Beacon Hill Station collapsed in a windstorm. Luckily, no one was hurt when the metal banner and pole hit the ground, but all three of the banner poles were removed as soon as possible after the collapse. It’s been more than a year, and Beacon Hill community members were beginning to wonder if the colorful banners were history.
We checked with Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray last week, who gave us reassuring news: “The short answer to your question is yes, the flags are returning after a thorough refurbishing. Should be back up this spring.”
The flags are part of a larger work at the station by artist Carl Smool, Community Threads, which includes etched textile “carpets” in the plaza’s walkway and on a cut-metal louver on the outside north wall of the station building as well as the three cut-metal banners that flew above the plaza until the windstorm last year.
The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) has announced a few new decisions related to Beacon Hill.
At 2706 14th Ave. S., on 14th two blocks west of the Red Apple, DPD has granted a short subdivision to create four unit lots out of the existing single site.
The planned development on the site would eventually be two duplex townhomes with four surface parking spaces. You can see the status of construction permits for the site here, and see the decision page here for more information about the site subdivision. If you wish to appeal this decision, the deadline to submit an appeal is March 26.
On the far south end of the hill, DPD has made a Determination of Non-Significance with conditions (no environmental impact statement required), for a grading and vegetation removal project at three properties. The first is 8839 36th Ave. S. See the decision page here for more information.
The same decision was given for the nearby project at 3400 Edward Dr. S. See the decision page here.
The same decision was given for the nearby project at 9025 Cecil Ave. S. See the decision page here.
View Grading projects on South Beacon Hill in a larger map
(At 2:15 p.m. the power went back on for many, if not most, of those affected by the outage. — ed.)
If your lights are out and your computer is offline, don’t feel alone. The power is out through a wide area of the city, including Beacon Hill, Sodo, Mt. Baker, Georgetown, and Columbia City.
Seattle City Light currently estimates more than 28,000 customers are without power, but the problem has been identified and they expect power to return by 5 p.m. (They have just updated it to 6 p.m. — ed.) See the outage map here.
In the meantime, please remember that intersections where traffic signals are dead should be treated as four-way stops, and drive carefully. Stay in if possible.
(Posted via phone — our power is out, too!)
If you want to comment to the state Liquor Control Board about either of these applications, email customerservice@liq.wa.gov. The Red Apple license number is 350969, and the QFC license number is 353298.
