Getting Around

Metro proposes deletion of Routes 38 and 42

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A Route 38 bus on South McClellan. Photo by Oran Viriyincy in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool.
King County Metro has released proposed service changes for June, 2012. Among the changes are two in or very near Beacon Hill, the deletion of Routes 38 and 42.

Route 38 currently is a short route that runs between 15th Avenue South and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South on South McClellan Street. Previously, it ran down to Sodo, but since the opening of the Link light rail line in 2009, it has been truncated to the shorter route. The 38 runs only between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., generally every 20 minutes.

The proposal to delete the 38 cites “low performance” as the reason for the deletion:

“Route 38 performance is in the bottom 25 percent of routes that do not serve the Seattle core on the measure of passenger miles per platform mile.

“Consistent with our Service Guidelines, Metro plans to use resources from low performing routes to relieve overcrowding, improve on-time performance, and increase the number of trips on underserved corridors.”

The alternative transportation suggested for 38 riders is Link, either at Mount Baker Station or Beacon Hill Station. Either station is less than one-half mile from the 38’s current stops, however, there is a very steep hill between 23rd Avenue South and Mount Baker Station. Link trains do run more frequently and for longer hours than the 38 buses do.

Protesters at a King County Council town hall meeting in Columbia City in 2009 expressed their opinions about Metro service changes. Photo by Wendi.
Route 42 runs in Rainier Valley from Pioneer Square to Columbia City. Currently the 42 runs only once an hour between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, and not at all on weekends. Similar to the 38, Metro says “Route 42 performance is in the bottom 25 percent of routes that serve the Seattle core on both measures Metro uses to rate performance (rides per platform hour and passenger miles per platform mile).”

Alternatives Metro suggests for 42 riders, depending on whether they are going to Columbia City, Martin Luther King, Jr. Way South, Rainier Avenue South, or South Dearborn Street, include Route 7, Route 34, Route 39, Route 8, or Link light rail. Most stops are less than one-quarter mile from the current stops, and Route 8 serves the same stops as Route 42.

A previous attempt to delete Route 42 caused some controversy in 2009. Representatives for the Asian Counseling and Referral Service on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South at South Walden Street argued that the route is necessary to serve their clients, and that clients who are elderly or disabled would not be able to walk to the nearby light rail stations.

Seattle Transit Blog recently posted two articles, “The Case Against the 42” and “Ridership on Route 42” that argue that the route is redundant and rarely used:

“It’s demonstrably unnecessary for mobility, it’s costing a fortune, and riders are choosing in droves not to ride it. At this point, Route 42 is indefensible.”

Arts, Other Neighborhoods

Beacon Hill artist featured at SAM Day of the Dead

Beacon Hill artist Fulgencio Lazo (mentioned earlier this week) will have a tapete (sand painting) on display at the annual Day of the Dead celebration at Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park, tonight, November 4, from 6-7:30 p.m. The park is located at 2901 Western Ave, near Pier 70 and Myrtle Edwards Park.

Banda Gozona, an 18-piece brass band, will perform Oaxacan music at the event. There will be also be art activities for all ages, and Mexican food catered by Manjares Seattle.

This video shows the process of creating one of Lazo’s sand paintings:

Getting Around

Spokane Street Viaduct to close overnight next week

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The westbound lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed next week between I-5 and SR 99 for continued work on widening the structure. The closures will start each weeknight from November 7-11 at 10 p.m., and will end by 5 a.m. the next morning.

During the closures, southbound traffic from I-5 will detour to the South Forest Street exit, then to to the lower Spokane Street Swing Bridge. Northbound traffic from I-5 and traffic from Beacon Hill via Columbian Way will detour via Sixth Avenue South. Be aware there may be occasional congestion.

See the project website for more information.

Arts, Volunteering and Giving

Create art chairs with painter Fulgencio Lazo

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Art Chair #1, painted by Kathleen McHugh earlier this year. Photo courtesy of ROCKiT space.
ROCKiT space is hosting a work party on Saturday, November 5 as part of a continuing project to decorate art chairs for community events. The “Have a Seat, Beacon” project, which began earlier this year, will create 45 chairs that are also individual works of art. This free workshop with Oaxacan and Seattle-based painter and print-maker Fulgencio Lazo will provide participants with the opportunity to transform a plain metal folding chair into a painted art chair.

Lazo, who resides on Beacon Hill with his family, will share his technique and aesthetic approach at the workshop, as well as painting two chairs himself. His work has been exhibited extensively in Mexico, Japan and the United States. Sue Peters of the Seattle Weekly wrote about him in 2005: “There’s a simplicity and joy to Fulgencio Lazo’s work that’s refreshing. His oil paintings evoke Paul Klee and Marc Chagall in their vividly whimsical celebration of family, heritage, and community in his native Oaxaca.”

Space is limited, so the free workshop is open to the public by reservation. No experience is necessary, and the workshop is bilingual. For more information or to reserve a spot in the workshop, contact Sheba Burney-Jones at shebabj@gmail.com or 206-669-4574.

(Wendi Dunlap also contributed to this article.)

Local Events

Book Fair at St. George School this week

Photo by albertogp123 via Creative Commons.
Looking for books for the kids in your life? You may find them at the St. George School Scholastic Book Fair, open to the public through Thursday this week in the Parish Education Center, 1300 S. Dawson. The fair will be open through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be snacks, art activities, and kids’ story time. For more information, please contact the St. George School librarian, Liz Walsh-Boyd, at lizzie583@msn.com.

Meetings

Proposition 1 on agenda for NBHC meeting

The North Beacon Hill Council is meeting tonight, November 1, at 7:00 p.m. in the Beacon Hill Library Community Room. All are welcome, as always.

The announcement the council sent out yesterday said “Our agenda is yet to be finalized, however it will address an issue we all care about—the proposal by the City Council to increase car tab fees by $60 (Proposition 1).”

Here’s the current agenda:

  • 7:00 Welcome
  • 7:05 Thoughts in favor of Prop. 1
  • 7:15 Thoughts in opposition to Prop. l
  • 7:25 Questions and Answers
  • 8:00 Community Concerns
    • Cutting your energy usage
    • Other community reports
  • 8:30 Executive Board Meeting (as needed)
Local Events

“No Olvidado”: Día de los Muertos event at El Centro tomorrow

Ofrenda artwork from last year's Día de los Muertos event at El Centro de la Raza. Photo by Leslie Seaton via Creative Commons.
Tomorrow evening El Centro de la Raza presents their annual Día de los Muertos celebration and ofrenda (altar) exhibit. This year’s theme is “No Olvidado” (“Not Forgotten”), a tribute to those who have lost their lives crossing the Mexico/United States border.

The opening ceremony is tomorrow, November 1, with dinner at 5:30 and a reception ceremony at 6:30. Admission, dinner, and parking are free.

If you can’t attend the opening event, you can still visit the ofrenda exhibit from November 2-18 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and on Thursday from noon-8 p.m.

Click to see a larger copy of this flyer.
Crime

Armed man barricades self inside Cherrylane Place home

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by Kiersten Throndsen, KOMO Communities (Beacon Hill Blog news partner)

Just before 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, officers got a call about a man with a gun along the 1500 block of Cherrylane Place South. Emergency dispatchers say the caller reported the man had been arguing with his neighbors and had pointed a handgun at one of them standing by a window inside a house.

Police say the suspect made a firing motion with the gun and then placed it behind his back and walked back inside his home.

Officers set up a perimeter around the suspect’s home and began efforts to get him to come outside without the gun. The man was unresponsive to officers’ requests, so hostage negotiations and SWAT were called to the scene.

After six hours of negotiating with the man, he finally agreed to surrender. He was placed under arrest at 11:00 p.m. and taken to the South Precinct.

See also the Seattle Police Blotter blog entry about this incident.

Crime

Police call fire on S. Austin “Suspicious”

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by Elizabeth Dinh, KOMO News (Beacon Hill Blog news partner)

A Seattle woman came home on Sunday to discover someone set fire to her home. Now, the neighborhood is on edge as police search for an arsonist.

While she was at church, police say someone broke into Eddye Davis’s Beacon Hill house by knocking down a door and then started a fire inside.

“You know—it’s one thing to break in and take something. It’s another to set the house on fire and take away what for some people could be a lifetime of memories,” said Thomas Poole, Davis’s son-in-law.

Davis moved into the home nearly 40 years ago. She lived in the home with her husband until he passed away five years ago. It was where her daughter, Maret, grew up.

“This is just evil. It hurts. It hurts more than anything because true enough—things can be replaced, but it just hurts,” she said.

Davis’s house has been broken into before and some neighbors said they’ve also been victims of break-ins.But this is the first time anyone here has seen an arson, and they’re shocked.

“Well, it’s very troubling. You are concerned about what goes through the minds of people that would do something like this,” said Thomas Poole.

Even more troubling, Davis’s family says is why someone would target her home.

“If she wasn’t at church, she was helping somebody,” said her daughter.

Now, a woman who’s known for lending a hand to those in need is out of home. There’s so much smoke damage it’s not safe to stay.

Even though Davis was too shaken to speak, her family says they know she’s strong.

“So we just have to pick up and move on—keep living,” said Thomas Poole.

A witness described the suspicious man fleeing the scene as a light skinned black man between the ages of 17 to 19-years-old. He is approximately 6’1″ tall and 160 pounds, and was dressed in all black at the time of the incident.

See also the Seattle Police Blotter blog entry about this incident.