Tag Archives: beacon lights

Church has plans for surplus property on 14th Ave. S.

The Beacon Lights blog at the SeattlePI.com website has a new writer, Daniel Scheer. Scheer has kicked off his tenure on the blog with an excellent story about Tuesday night’s North Beacon Hill Council meeting, at which the topic of Seattle City Light’s possible sale of a plot of land on 14th Avenue South drew a big crowd:

“Vacant since 1993, the former substation at 2107 14th Ave S suffered lead exposure until City Light cleaned it up. The Debre Medhanit St. Emmanuel Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, located next door, wants to buy the property to expand their already limited facilities. ‘We’re over full capacity and growing like crazy,’ said church member Maikele Mengesha. He added that the Church wants to build a big structure similar to the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption on Capitol Hill. ‘We want it to be a landmark,’ Mengesha added.”

The sale of the 14th Avenue South site would be part of a surplus property disposition pilot project for City Light, which has more than 40 surplus properties, most of which are former substations. As part of this project, City Light will be doing public outreach meetings and collecting comments on the fate of this property as well as several properties in Northeast Seattle. There will be a formal hearing on the sale at El Centro de la Raza next month; we will post the meeting info as soon as we have it.


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More Bits: Luminaria, sing-a-longs, matching money, and more

Luminarias photo by AZAdam. At the Beacon Hill Library on Saturday, learn basic paper-cutting techniques using scissors and a hole puncher to make your own decorative Day of the Dead luminaria.
Luminarias photo by AZAdam. At the Beacon Hill Library on Saturday, learn basic paper-cutting techniques using scissors and a hole puncher to make your own decorative Day of the Dead luminaria.

This Saturday, the 14th, from 2 to 4pm, an introduction to traditional Day of the Dead crafts with artist Amaranta Ibarra Sandys will be at the Beacon Hill Library. This event is free, requires no registration, and is open to everyone ages 5 and older.

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Craig Thompson has resumed regularly updating the Beacon Lights column at the P-I, most recently considering Sound Transit, the mayoral race, and Dow Constantine.

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Next Thursday, November 19th, from 6 to 7:30pm at the Beacon Hill Library, the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is hosting free technical assistance workshops to educate neighborhood groups and community organizations on funding opportunities under the Neighborhood Matching Fund. The program provides cash awards to community organizations for neighborhood-based projects. Proposals are due as early as January 11th for “Small and Simple” projects.

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Metro has introduced a new reroute notification system where you can sign up for email or SMS alerts if your bus has been rerouted due to snow or other emergency condition. — Seattle Transit Blog

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200 student poet-athletes will be participating in their fall season-ending America SCORES Seattle Poetry Slam tomorrow, November 13th, from 5 to 6:45pm. Join them at the Cleveland High School Auditorium. Call 206-988-1000 for more information.

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Rise up Singing — a family-friendly, evening sing-along with Albert Kaufman (the human jukebox). Former Beacon Hill neighbor Albert Kaufman will be back in town on Saturday the 14th at OmCulture near Gasworks Park from 7 to 9:30pm. Albert will be leading a sing-a-long with special guests and children of all ages are welcome. Thanks for the notice, Mira!

Beacon Lights on the Rep. Tomiko Santos Kerfuffle

Two weeks ago, State Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos arrived (late) to speak to the Beacon Alliance of Neighbors. Her visit, or rather her apparent lack of awareness expressed through her words, left a bit of a bitter taste in many neighbors’ mouths.

Craig Thompson’s latest Beacon Lights article at the P-I website has a full rundown of the representative’s numerous misses with the community, touching on her disconnects with Beacon Hill neighborhood organizations, race and reaching out, El Centro‘s community involvement, public safety, and parks and trails.

The Rainier Valley Post covered Tomiko Santos’s awkward visit earlier.