Neighbor Kyle writes:
Hi, I live near 15th and Spokane, and a cute uncut pit bull puppy wandered in to our house tonight… It didn’t have a collar, so I don’t know who to call. Here’s a couple of pics if anyone recognizes him.
If you recognize this puppy, email us and we’ll put you in touch with Kyle.
Neighbor Allison Delong visited Jefferson Park on Saturday, and saw lots of activity. She writes:
“It was really cool—the cricket spectators were set up for picnicing right outside the lawn bowling club. Fun to see such different events going on right next to each other. On top of that, Cleveland High School had an alumni event going on at the same time at the golf course.”
Allison sent us some photos of the day’s events:
Thanks, Allison!
By Brook Ellingwood
For the 2011-2012 school year, the cash-strapped Seattle Public Schools Transportation Department has come up with a plan designed to cut costs while still providing school bus service to many students. A primary part of this plan consists of consolidating multiple stops into central locations designated as “Community Bus Stops.” An FAQ on the SPS site (PDF) describes how Community Bus Stops will work.
Q. My transportation eligibility is “Community Bus Stop.†What does that mean?
A. Community Stops are located at or near your neighborhood school and within the walk zone of the school. This could require up to a one mile walk. If you do not live in a walk zone for an elementary or Kâ€8 school, the bus stop will be at a regular neighborhood stop and could require a walk of up to a half a mile. If you live within a half a mile of the regular transportation zone, you can apply for space available transportation and walk to a corner stop within the zone.
For my family, this will mean traveling a half mile to the Beacon Hill International School so my son can catch the school bus that used to pick him up across the street from our house. Sure, it’s an inconvenience, but I’m well aware of the financial problems the district is facing and while I hope they get their house in order, I’d rather they make cuts to bus service than to educational programs.
But on the other hand, when I read the phrase “Community Bus Stop” I think “Don’t we already have one of those in front of Beacon Hill’s Link Light Rail Station?”
To provide efficient public transportation, Metro Transit and Sound Transit have coordinated their services so that they converge in one spot. From this one location on Beacon Avenue, mass transit riders can board bus routes 36, 38 and 60, or take the elevator to the light rail platform and board a train. What they won’t be able to do under the new Seattle School District transportation plan is see their child safely onto a school bus and then easily board a Light Rail train or a number 38 bus. Instead, parents of children assigned to the Beacon Hill International School bus stop will find themselves half a mile from our neighborhood’s existing Community Bus Stop for the entire community.
The School District is suffering from terrible reputation problems, fueled by highly publicized scandals and an impression of lax oversight and poor responsiveness to community needs. I would suggest that a step towards restoring the district’s reputation and better fulfilling its mission could include aligning its transportation services with the services offered by Metro and Sound Transit. Effective education means understanding the needs of families, not just the children in those families, and making choices that better help working parents better juggle getting their kids to school, themselves to work, and everyone safely back home would be an indicator that the Seattle School District understands this.
As a practical matter, school buses can’t block the Metro bus stops on Beacon Avenue. However, they could conceivably stop on Roberto Maestas Festival Street, 16th Avenue, or even on the other side of the block on 17th Avenue across the Festival Street from where a school bus stopped at the El Centro de la Raza driveway all last school year.
What matters less than these details is that the stop would be near a real Community Bus Stop that already meets the transportation needs of many families. The School District projects an image of a out-of-touch bureaucracy that plans in isolation and is incapable of managing its affairs. Aligning school bus stops with Metro and Sound Transit’s regional transportation plans won’t change this perception overnight, but it could help demonstrate an awareness of the need to work better with the communities the District serves.
While on vacation last week I sent an email to the Seattle School District Transportation Department proposing this idea. This week I’m going to follow up by emailing the School Board and both emailing and calling the office of School Board member Betty Patu, who represents the Southeast District, linking to this post and asking that they please consider this idea.
If you agree and would like to express your support, here is direct contact information:
(Thank you, Brook! Have an opinion on something? The Beacon Hill Blog welcomes opinion articles. Email us.)
(One sentence was edited for clarification after publication at the request of the author.)
Beacon Hill Blog news partner KOMO reports that police are searching for a man who exposed himself to a teenage girl and her sister at the Beacon Ave. S. and S. Willow bus stop Saturday night.
The man was described as a white man in his 20s, with shaved or short hair, wearing a grey sweater and jeans.
If you have information on the suspect, please contact the police.
The Seattle Department of Transportation advises that the westbound lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed just west of I-5 for three nights, August 16-18. During these closures, southbound traffic exiting I-5 will be detoured to the S. Forest St. exit. Northbound traffic and westbound traffic from Columbian Way on Beacon Hill will be detoured to surface streets at 6th Ave. S. Drivers on southbound Highway 99 will still be able to access West Seattle as usual.
On August 15, the right lane of the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed overnight. The I-5 westbound ramps will remain open.
For more information, see the project website.
The proposal to move the Youth Services Center (including juvenile court and detention facilities) into Beacon Hill’s PacMed building is now off the table. King County officials have determined that none of the six proposals for replacement of the Alder Youth Services Center—including the PacMed proposal—meet the county’s affordability criteria.
According to County Administrative Officer Caroline Whalen, one of the primary goals of the process was that “the [Youth Services Center] project should be, to the extent possible, cost-neutral to King County or at least minimize the financial contribution required to be made by King County.” None of the submitted proposals were found to meet this criteria, so the county is ending the current procurement process and considering its next steps.
See further reporting from the Beacon Hill Blog‘s news partners:
Neighbor Christine reports:
“Just returned from a walk around Jefferson Park where the big cricket competition has been going on since Sunday on the new sports field. Talking with some spectators, this is a big competition with teams from Samoa, Hawaii, Utah and Washington. On Saturday starting at 8am there will be some pagentry as each team does a song/dance and then some other festivities and the playoffs.
“The field is ringed with merchants and food vendors—and some great music. The players are attired in sarongs. The game is hard to understand for some of us.”
The Samoan Cricket League folks are at Jefferson Park throughout the summer, but we didn’t know that there was a special event this week. We hope to find out more for the blog, but in the meantime, we wanted to let you know that something interesting is happening at the Park.
Seattle Parks and Recreation is hosting a follow-up public meeting to discuss the design of a skatedot (a skateboard facility) at Benefit Playground. The meeting is a follow-up from input received in the August 11 design meeting, and will take place on September 1 from 6 – 7 p.m. at the park picnic shelter. Benefit Playground is located on South Beacon Hill at 9320 38th Ave S.
According to Parks and Recreation:
A skatedot is a skateboard feature within an existing park that can range in size from 1,500 to 10,000 square feet. It is considered a neighborhood facility that can accommodate up to 13 users at a time. This skatedot is expected to be located within the existing sport court area of the park. For more information on Seattle Skatepark planning, please visit the skatepark website.
Craig Thompson sent the following notice:
“A neighbor asked me to send this message out reminding people that there’s an informal meeting of concerned neighbors at Dr. Jose Rizal Park tonight at 6 PM to discuss the proposed move of the Juvenile Justice Center to the PacMed building.
“We’ll meet in the amphitheatre. You can also barbecue at the park….”
Curtis Bonney adds: “There’s no agenda, just a discussion.”
