Beacon Hill’s Asa Mercer Middle School is one of five public schools in Seattle that has been recognized as a “School of Distinction” for outstanding academic achievement in improving math and reading. Schools with this honor have placed in the top 5 percent of highest-improving schools in Washington.
The other schools in Seattle to earn this honor are Alki Elementary School, Hamilton International Middle School, Madison Middle School, and Orca K-8 School.
Mercer has received this honor for the last three years in a row. Congratulations to everyone at Mercer!
A brightly-painted walkway at Mercer Middle School. Photo by Wendi.
Going to West Seattle late tonight? It will be a bit more complicated than usual. The Seattle Department of Transportation is closing the westbound lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct between I-5 and SR99 from 10 p.m. tonight, Thursday, October 20, until 5 a.m. tomorrow morning, October 21, to test techniques for preparing old deck for new paving.
Traffic from Beacon Hill via Columbian Way will be detoured onto 6th Avenue South to a route leading to the lower-level Spokane Street swing bridge.
The October Beacon BIKES meeting will be held tonight from 6-8 pm at the Beacon Hill Library. Sam Woods from SDOT will be presenting information on our 17th/18th Greenway (currently under construction). Deb Brown (SDOT) will be presenting the tree planting plan for the same corridor (planting to occur in November). We will also be discussing Red Apple bike parking, upcoming grant opportunities, and the city-wide Greenway effort.
The first of two tile-making parties is today, October 19, from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at the Beacon Hill International School Multipurpose Room. Neighbors and friends of the school can take part in the creation of a tile mosaic for the south-facing wall of the BHIS entryway. (Previously mentioned here on the BHB.) Mosaic artist Julie Maher will lead the project.
The tiles and supplies will be provided, as will dinner. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Beacon Hill International School is located at 2025 14th Ave. S.
Beacon Hill doesn’t see a lot of political rallies, but one is coming to the Hill today. The Seattle “End Subsidies for Big Oil” rally, organized by Environment Washington, is coming to the BP gas station at 2415 Beacon Ave. S. this morning at 10 a.m. Speakers scheduled for the rally include Katrina Rosen of Environment Washington, Pete Mills from the office of Congressman Jim McDermott, and Rachel Padgett of Fuse Washington.
This is one of several rallies scheduled throughout Washington State over the next couple of days. Tacoma and Olympia will see rallies this afternoon, and tomorrow morning there will be a rally in Yakima.
Location of the BP station on Beacon Avenue South. View Larger Map
Jefferson Community Center will be haunted on October 28. Photo by Wendi.Both community centers on Beacon Hill have scheduled Halloween festivities for Friday, October 28, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Van Asselt Community Center (2820 S. Myrtle St.) is hosting a free Halloween Carnival that evening for kids aged 12 and under. Games and goodies are promised for the carnival guests. Wear a costume, and bring a bag or basket to collect treats and prizes. Refreshments will be available for sale.
Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave. S.) is holding their own Fall Festival and Haunted House for kids 11 and under (the haunted house is for older kids, per parents’ judgment). Games will be 25 cents each or 5/$1, and the haunted house admission is $1. As at the Van Asselt festival, guests should dress in their best costumes and bring a bag or basket for treats.
Beacon Lutheran Church under construction in 1947. Photo courtesy of Beacon Lutheran Church archives via John Graham.The 70-year-old Beacon Lutheran Church (1720 S. Forest St.) will close at the end of this month, with a final worship service and farewell dinner planned for Sunday, October 30. Community members are invited to the closing events.
The church was founded in 1941 by members of Hope Lutheran Church in West Seattle. For the first few years, the group met at the Garden House on 15th Avenue South, then moved into their current building on South Forest Street in 1948.
Membership numbers have been gradually declining since the early 1970s, and so in March of this year, the congregation voted to disband, as the smaller membership could no longer keep the church functioning.
Ownership of the building and its contents will be transferred to the Northwest District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool, which currently rents space in the building, will continue to rent there through at least the end of this school year. Long-term plans for the site are unknown.
John Graham sent us this invitation to the community:
You, our Beacon Hill neighbors, are all invited to the closing service and farewell dinner for Beacon Lutheran Church on Sunday, October 30th, 2011. Worship will begin at 10:00 am for the event. Afterwards, about noon-ish, we’ll gather for a potluck dinner and brief program to celebrate 70 years of God’s blessings to our congregation. There will also be photographs on display and hopefully, we can get a reminiscence or two out of our older members. Please come and share in one or both parts of the event. For more info, you can e-mail me at hamburgerclan@yahoo.com.
On behalf of the congregation, I’d like to thank you all for letting us be a part of the community on Beacon Hill. God’s richest blessings to you all in the years to come.
Peace,
John Graham
Here are some photos from the 70-year history of Beacon Lutheran Church.
Music during a worship service at Beacon Lutheran in about 1970. Photo courtesy of Beacon Lutheran Church archives via John Graham. Beacon Lutheran Church's first confirmation class at the Garden Club House, 1942. Photo courtesy of Beacon Lutheran Church archives via John Graham.Sunday School, January 2011. Photo courtesy of Beacon Lutheran Church archives via John Graham.
The construction of the nearby Mountains to Sound Trail has provided an opportunity to reconfigure areas of the park including the OLA. In the proposed changes, the OLA would be reduced in size and fenced, to provide a buffer between the dog area and bicycle traffic. However, all of the property within the OLA would be usable, which is not the case with the current site.
The proposal is not without controversy. “Save our off-leash area!” reads a headline on Frieda Adams’ “Friends of Jose Rizal Off-Leash Area” website, which contains commentary about the proposed changes, and a petition form to keep the OLA at its current size.
Adams is not in favor of Parks’ proposed changes to the site footprint, and suggests that the city is shrinking the site because of low attendance and perceived vulnerability to crime in the area: “Whether low attendance is due to fear, whether it’s due to neglect on the part of the Parks Department and COLA, whether it’s true that nobody is using the site—these are all considerations the City must take into account before scrapping the off-leash area’s original concept.”
Those interested in the future of the park and of the OLA should attend Thursday’s meeting, where Parks’ plan will be presented in full.
Bar del Corso is one of the restaurants on Beacon Avenue featured in a recent Seattle Met article. Photo by Wendi.Seattle Met’s Kathryn Robinson recently posted an article about three of Beacon Avenue’s restaurants: Bar del Corso, Travelers Thali House, and Inay’s Asian Pacific Cuisine, suggesting that with restaurants like these, Beacon Hill is now a neighborhood worth bringing your appetite to.
About Bar del Corso, Robinson says “Full of neighbors sharing wine and chatting across tables, it was a true third place from the moment it opened in July.” Travelers “now has the space to do justice” to the thali and street food its owners have served until now from a portion of a small retail store on Capitol Hill. And Inay’s food, says Robinson, is “accorded solid treatment by Inay’s son Ernie”—but she even more highly recommends eating there on Friday evenings, when waiter Louie transforms into drag queen waiter Atasha for a lip sync diva tribute.
Commenters on the article and on the Beacon Hill mailing list noted that El Quetzal was left out, as was Baja Bistro. Perhaps Robinson wanted to focus on newer restaurants, though Inay’s has been around for several years.
Mark your calendar for the Beacon Hill Harvest Fair, Saturday October 22 from 2-9 p.m. Activities for all ages include apple cider pressing, art, music, and dancing. On the edible side of things, there will also be a bake sale, food vendors, a Food Forest demonstration, and, to share the harvest’s bounty, a donation drive for the El Centro de la Raza food bank.
The Harvest Fair is free and will take place at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S.
Here’s the planned schedule of events:
2 p.m. until dark:
Apple cider pressing with 300 pounds of apples grown here on Beacon Hill at the Jose Rizal Park orchard. If you have extra home grown apples you would like to share, bring them to be pressed.
El Centro de la Raza Food Bank food drive
Beacon Food Forest demonstrates a “fruit tree guild”
Beacon Hill Garden Club members talk to interested folks about membership in their organization
ROCKiT space bake sale
Food vendors
2-5 p.m.: Create an Art Chair with Kathleen McHugh. For all ages, no experience required.
3 p.m.: Hamanah Don plays West African Malinke harvest rhythms.
5 p.m.: Aaron Hennings leads the Mercer Middle School eighth grade orchestra.
6 p.m.: Jefferson Community Center-based break dance crews perform.
7-9 p.m.: Harvest Fair Barn Dance featuring the Small Time String Band (Oliver Abrahamson on fiddle, Eli Abrahamson on banjo, Terrie Abrahamson on guitar, and Danny Abrahamson on bass), with Sherry Nevins calling dances that are fun for the whole family—no lessons or experience needed.
Mark your calendar for the