Tag Archives: beacon avenue s

Customers visit the hot dog cart in front of Beacon Pub, summer 2009. Photo by Jason.

It may be a dive, but it’s our dive: The Beacon Pub was featured recently in the Seattle Weekly website’s Dive Bar Advent Calendar.

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Homestead Community Land Trust is a local nonprofit group, intended to create affordable housing by taking the cost of land out of the purchase price of a home by using a community land trust. The HCLT Advantage program provides funds for purchase assistance to help families buy homes in Seattle. Interested? Orientation classes for the HCLT Advantage program are held periodically at El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Avenue South. The next two classes are Saturday, January 9, and Thursday, January 26. Further info is here.

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Jefferson Community Center is again offering the $2 Try It program, in which you can try a class or program once for only $2. Class dates are between January 4 and January 30, and classes include Zumba, Yoga, Pottery, Pilates, Pickleball, Badminton, Hapkido, Ballet, Hip Hop Dance, Cartoon Drawing, Instructional Basketball, Little Dribblers, Creative Dance, and Line Dancing. See the Winter class catalog here.

Thanks to Doreen Deaver for the info!

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Craig Thompson writes on the BAN list that many volunteers have been hard at work on Beacon Avenue and at Jose Rizal Park:

“Washington State Department of Corrections supervised a cleanup of street litter [Saturday] along Beacon Avenue and adjacent streets. Next week, WSDOC will continue cleanups of litter and trash in the East Duwamish Greenbelt, on the west side of Beacon Hill.
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“At Jose Rizal Park, 20 volunteers, EarthCorps crew members, and community court service workers cut blackberries and moved 300+ potted native plants into the woods; these will be planted on Saturday, January 16, in a large volunteer event (100 people expected) that will kick off the Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday weekend of volunteer work in Seattle. On Saturday, January 9, the community court service workers will return for a general cleanup.”

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For those who want to do their civic duty in other ways, there are a couple of upcoming possibilities to help make your neighborhood more livable. The first round of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund is currently open for your nominations of potential park development and acquisition projects. The nomination process begins with the submittal of a proposal letter, due by February 1, 2010. Letters and Opportunity Fund criteria may be found at this link. There will be workshops in early January to help develop proposal letters and explain the process. For more information, visit the Opportunity Fund website.

If pedestrian issues are your interest, you still have a day to apply for the city’s Pedestrian Advisory Board. Three volunteers are wanted for the board, which advises the Mayor and City Council, as well as participating in planning and policy activities relevant to pedestrians. The board meets on the second Wednesday of each month from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at City Hall. Board members serve for two years, and must be Seattle residents who are not city employees. Those interested in serving should submit a resume and cover letter by Wednesday December 16 to brian.dougherty@seattle.gov. For more information, email Brian Dougherty, or call him at (206) 684-5124, or e-mail him at the address above.

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The International District Housing Alliance (IDHA) is a non-profit organization that provides housing services and community building to the Chinatown/International District and greater Seattle’s low-income, Asian Pacific Islander, immigrant and refugee communities, including many who live in Beacon Hill and surrounding neighborhoods. The IDHA is holding a Holiday Dinner on Wednesday, December 16 from 4:00 to 7:00 p,, and a Holiday Gift Drive until December 18. The dinner, at the Four Seas Restaurant in the International District, will help elderly neighbors celebrate the season with friends and family.Â Activities will include live entertainment, a six course Chinese banquet, a raffle, and door prizes. In the gift drive, CID elderly residents, youth and family clients send in gift requests, and Sound Transit and the University of Washington Law School help distribute gift requests and collect presents for participants. Presents will be wrapped and delivered between December 18-23. If you would like to donate to the holiday dinner, or to volunteer to wrap and/or deliver gifts, or you need information, contact Alma Dea Michelena at almadea@apialliance.org, or call 206-623-5132, extension 322.

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An application has been made to the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to install T-Mobile antennas on the rooftop of the Amanuel Ethiopian Orthodox Church at 2101 14th Avenue South.

A couple of DPD decisions have been handed down related to Clearwire utilities in our area. At 3114 South Warsaw Street, a decision was made to allow a Clearwire utility (antennas and a microwave dish) to be mounted on a City Light transmission tower. At 3802 South Othello Street, a Determination of Non-Significance with conditions was decided regarding the installation of a Clearwire utility (antennas and an equipment cabinet) on the rooftop of the existing five-story residential building.

The deadline to appeal these decisions is December 28.

Getting Around

New pedestrian signage installed on Beacon Avenue

October 26, 2009 Wendi Dunlap 2 Comments

Will a bright yellow pedestrian warning sign get drivers attention? Photo by Wendi. — Will a bright yellow pedestrian warning sign get drivers' attention? Photo by Wendi.

We’ve heard neighbors complaining lately that it is sometimes difficult to cross Beacon Avenue South in front of Beacon Hill Station–cars just don’t see pedestrians, or just don’t stop for them. Sometime in the last week or so, the city added new signs to Beacon Avenue in an attempt to make this crosswalk safer, along with warning lights. With the opening of the light rail station, this crosswalk is even more heavily used than it was before, so this new signage has been needed.

A cyclist walks a bicycle across the crosswalk under the new signs. Photo by Wendi.

Getting Around

15th Ave S closed, will reopen by 5:00 pm; Beacon Ave partially closed on Saturday

June 4, 2009 Wendi Dunlap

We reported a couple of days ago that 15th Avenue South would be closed between South Atlantic Street and South College Street for repair this Saturday.

However, Marybeth Turner from SDOT reports that the plan was changed, and if you live in that area, you might already have noticed:

The plan for performing the paving work on 15th Avenue South this weekend fell through. When the crew chief found that he had the crews and equipment available today, he seized the opportunity and went ahead with the work. They expect to have the street completely open by 5:00 p.m. I apologize for the lack of warning about the schedule change.

In further street construction news, paving crews will work in the 5300 block of Beacon Avenue South on Saturday, starting at 8:00 a.m. The street will be closed to southbound traffic between South Bennett Street and South Brandon Street until 8:00 a.m on Sunday. A detour will be provided. The crews will repair pavement that was previously excavated for work on underground utilities.

Thanks for the updates, Marybeth!

Getting Around, Life on the Hill

Blue wall removal begins; schedule and details announced

March 30, 2009 Wendi Dunlap 7 Comments

The station site sans wall, looking roughly southeast from 16th and Beacon. Photo by Jason.

In December, Sound Transit told us the big blue noise wall around the light rail station site would be coming down in “February or March,” and suggested that it would more likely be earlier than later. In February we saw the first section of the wall come down. Now, just barely still in March, the removal of the rest of the wall is finally happening. Sound Transit says:

“As early as Tuesday, March 31, Sound Transitâ€™s contractor, Obayashi Corporation will begin removal of the blue noise wall that surrounds the site of the Beacon Hill light rail station.

“The first phase will include the removal of the blue noise wall starting with the northernmost sections along Beacon Ave S., 17th Ave S and S. Lander Street… The second phase will include removing the remainder of the blue noise wall on the south end of the property. The second phase is currently scheduled for the middle of May to early June. Once the blue noise wall is down, the site will be secured by a chain link fence. As a result, residents may experience increased noise from construction activities.

“Pedestrians should use caution while using the sidewalk on the eastside of Beacon Ave (that borders the blue noise wall) as pedestrian access will be moved safely around the work site.

“The noisier activities (such as jack-hammering) will take place during the day, and will be restricted to the hours of 7:00 am to 5:00pm.

“Construction activities expected between the hours of 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm include the installation of brick veneer, site and roadway (S. Lander St.) restoration, plaza paving and landscaping.

“No surface-level construction activity is expected between 10:00 pm and 7:00 am.

“Sound Transit will continue to monitor construction noise levels and any activity whose noise is outside of acceptable limits will be restricted to the hours between 7:00 am and 5:00 pm.

“If you have any construction-related concerns, please call Sound Transitâ€™s construction hotline at 1-(888) 298-2395.”

A map of the affected area is located in Sound Transit’s PDF.

Some portions of the wall already seem to be coming down, as seen in Jason’s photo above.

Getting Around

Fire causes temporary closure of Beacon Avenue

March 11, 2009 Wendi Dunlap

At 12:22 this morning there was a reported fire in a single-family residence on the 3300 block of Beacon Avenue South. Many units responded, and Beacon Avenue South was closed between Hanford and Spokane streets. Metro has rerouted Beacon Avenue buses onto 15th Avenue South between McClellan and Spokane street until Beacon reopens. The fire does not appear to be major.

Update: Beacon Avenue South has been reopened in both directions.

Life on the Hill

Visiting one of Beacon Hill’s smallest parks

February 18, 2009 Wendi Dunlap 1 Comment

Recently I was browsing the Seattle Parks website, looking for Beacon Hill area parks. One park caught my eye: McClellan Place. There is no picture on the park’s web page, but the address is there: 16th and McClellan. “16th and McClellan? But… that’s the Red Apple!” I thought. And then I realized — McClellan Place is the tiny triangle of greenery at the corner there, the one that cars cut in front of when taking a right turn onto McClellan from Beacon Avenue. It has a tree and a rhododendron plant, and unfortunately, usually a few pieces of debris as well.

The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department has a collection of histories about most of the city’s parks, including one that gives us a fragment of information about this most tiny park. The original improvement, it tells us, was financed by the Beacon Hill Lions Club. Unfortunately, it gives no date. (Anyone know when? Do we even still have a Lions Club on the Hill?)

Next time you walk past the Red Apple, take a moment to visit McClellan Place, and enjoy a bit of one of the Hill’s — and Seattle’s — smallest parks. Perhaps next summer it would be nice to bring a lawn chair and a hibachi out there and have a picnic.

Its OK to enter the park! Photo by Wendi. — It's OK to enter the park! Photo by Wendi.

Weather

It’s baaaaaaaack

February 9, 2009 Wendi Dunlap

It’s snowing! But it’s awfully wet snow, and the high temperature today is supposed to be 43, so it should be gone quickly. No sign so far of any school closures in this area. Some other districts are opening late, however, so keep your eyes on schoolreport.org for local school announcements.

Here’s what it looked like on North Beacon Hill around 4:30 am this morning. All photos by me, in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr:

Continue reading It’s baaaaaaaack →

Getting Around

Notice anything different on Beacon Avenue?

February 8, 2009 Wendi Dunlap 3 Comments

Bright shiny new Beacon Avenue street sign. Photo by Wendi.

Sometime in the last couple of weeks, the city replaced all of the street signs on Beacon Avenue South with the new and bigger signs that are gradually being installed throughout the city. The new ones are much easier to read from a distance, and on dark and rainy nights; they are really reflective and glow brightly in a car’s headlights. The font has changed as well. (The new one appears to be FHWA Series C, as far as I can tell. You can get a version of that font here.)

The sign replacement program is now planned to run through 2016, and the old signs are being sold to the public. You can see more of the old street signs here — and, of course, there’s one in the header graphic of this page.

Old worn-out Beacon Avenue street sign. Photo by Wendi.

Getting Around, History of the Hill

Beacon Hill past and present: Streetcar tracks on Beacon Avenue

January 30, 2009 Wendi Dunlap 1 Comment

Looking north on Beacon Avenue, just south of South Stevens Street, in March 1934. Courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives, item 8675.

The same intersection, late afternoon in January 2009.

As Seattle begins to build new streetcar lines, it saddens me to think of all the streetcar lines we once had that were later ripped out in favor of buses. In the 1934 picture here, we see streetcar track work on Beacon Avenue, just south of Stevens. The site is still clearly recognizable today; particularly noticeable in both pictures are the brick apartment/retail building on the left (now home to Yoga on Beacon), the sign marking then Texaco/now Valero, and the white house just beyond the gas station.

The trolley wires overhead in the new photograph mark the last remaining vestige of our streetcar: the electric trolley buses that replaced it.

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Goodbye Planet, hello antennas

January 16, 2009 Wendi Dunlap 2 Comments

Just down the hill, Planet Georgetown is closing at the end of the month — Mid Beacon Hill
Remember when T-Mobile applied last year to install three panel antennas on the roof of the Jefferson Park Apartments at the corner of South Spokane Street and Beacon Avenue South? The antennas are planned to be located “within a faux brick chimney shroud assembly… extending approximately 10 feet above the roof top.” The installation has been conditionally approved.