Can you identify this landmark? If so, you should enter our contest. Photo by Wendi.You can still win a NAMSAYIN #36 bus t-shirt and a $50 gift card to The Station coffee shop (and, folks, that’s a lot of potential caffeine!) if you’re the first person to identify the 16 locations pictured in our contest post from earlier this week. Better work fast, though — we already have some guessers who are very close to getting all of them.
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The Seattle Department of Transportation wants to know “what you think about transit in Seattle and how it could be better.” You can tell them by taking their survey. It’s fairly short.
You might have noticed sheep baa-ing somewhere on Beacon Hill lately.
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Dylan Ahearn mentioned it the other day, but here’s a reminder: Tomorrow (Saturday) is the Walk & Bike Beacon Hill Neighborhood Transportation Summit. It’s a neighborhood meeting to discuss ways to improve safety and mobility while walking and biking on Beacon Hill. The event is from 10:00 am to noon at Beacon Hill International School, 2025 14th Avenue South. Activities will include designing safe walking and biking routes, learning about bike safety for children, and more. Refreshments will be served. All ages are welcome. For more information, please contact Frederica Merrell, frmerrel@seattleschools.org.
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If you’re already thinking ahead to Christmas, you might want to get your Christmas tree right here in the neighborhood. No, don’t chop one down in the Cheasty Greenbelt, please. Instead, you can get one from El Centro de la Raza. Trees will be available at their lot Wednesday through Sunday, starting November 26 and running through December 19. Order before the 26th and there will be a discount. There will be 2′-7′ Grand and Noble Firs, live trees, and 20″ and 30″ wreaths. Purchases will support El Centro’s many programs. El Centro is located at 2524 16th Avenue South.
Beacon Hill can always use more trees like this. Volunteers will plant trees on Columbian Way this Sunday. Photo by go-team in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.A few events this weekend (and Monday) we would like to remind you of:
There’s a rummage sale in the St. George School Hall on Saturday and Sunday. The folks from St. George tell us that proceeds will help to support the St. George Grade 8 educational trip to Alaska and Victoria, B.C.
The sale hours are 8:00 am to 3:00 pm both days. St. George is located at 5117 13th Avenue South.
Beacon BIKES will be meeting on Monday evening at 6:30 pm at the Beacon Hill Library, 2821 Beacon Avenue South. If you want to plan ahead, their next meeting is scheduled for November 15, same place and time.
The Columbian Way paving and improvement project that we wrote about last November will begin next Wednesday, May 19. The construction will begin with sidewalk replacement on the north side of Columbian Way between Beacon Avenue South and the VA Hospital.
The project will alter Columbian Way between Beacon and 15th Avenue South to have one travel lane in each direction with a new center left turn lane, along with new sidewalks, street trees, bike lanes, and other improvements.
There will be parking and lane restrictions in the area during the project, though one traffic lane in each direction will remain open at all times. The project is expected to be completed in September. For further information, see the project website.
Victrola Coffee received a perfect score in their recent inspection by the Health Department. This drink was photographed at Victrola by Christie Aesquivel, in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.There is a planning meeting for the Beacon Hill Food Forest at Jefferson Park, at 7:00 pm tonight at the Lawn Bowling Clubhouse (4103 Beacon Avenue South).
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The Columbian Way paving project meeting is tomorrow, April 7, at the Mercer Middle School Library (1600 South Columbian Way) from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Here’s a flyer about the project.
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Beacon Hill International School was the subject of a feature in the Seattle Times (BHB news partners) this week, including a great video about the language immersion program at the school.
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If you like to dance and you’d also like to help raise some funds for Beacon Rocks!, swing by their website, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and sign up for their mailing list.
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Beacon Hill is quite the hot spot for gardening activity this spring. Seattle Good Food Network‘s April meeting is next Thursday, April 15, from 4:30 to 6:00 pm at the Beacon Hill Library. Learn a bit more about SGFN.
Several of our local establishments have been visited by health inspectors recently. Congratulations to Golden Daisy and Victrola for achieving perfect scores of zero violations. Here are links to all the inspection reports:
The Friends of Cheasty Greenspace at Mountain View invite you to their upcoming planning meetings, where you’re invited to share your ideas for a trail plan and entry with “safe trails, way-finding, environmental learning, gathering spaces, welcoming trail heads.” The first meeting was April 1 and hosted a discussion of current conditions, ideas, and priorities.
Upcoming meetings: 7:00 to 8:30 pm, May 13—Review ideas, priorities, and options at the home of Amit Ranade and Jennifer Faubion-Ranade, 2615 South Edmunds Street.
7:00 to 8:30 pm, June 17—Open House to present trail plan; guided walks through Cheasty Greenspace/Mountain View at the end of South Alaska Place.
If you want to know more about the Friends of Cheasty Greenspace at Mountain View and get involved, email mdejong@spu.edu or adostrovsky@gmail.com or contact Pamela Kliment of Seattle Parks and Recreation, at Pamela.Kliment@seattle.gov or 206-684-7356.
View Larger Map. Expect construction delays at this location next week as new dynamic signs are installed.
The Seattle Department of Transportation will be installing new dynamic (electronic) messaging signs at several locations in the city next week, including South Columbian Way/14th Avenue South near the freeway ramps. The new electronic signs will provide improved traffic information to travelers.
The signs will be installed during the daytime next week, March 8 to 12. The work will start in Crown Hill and progress down the list to Columbian Way, which is last, so we can probably expect lane closures and construction slowdowns at Columbian and 14th from the middle to end of next week. Expect some delay and congestion during this time.
The other locations that will receive the new signs are in Crown Hill at 14th Avenue NW and Holman Road NW, 15th Avenue NW just south of Ballard High School, and on 15th Avenue West near the Magnolia Bridge.
A 50-year-old driver accused of injuring a man and his son, resulting in the younger man losing part of his leg, in a crash on Beacon Hill Saturday night was charged today with two counts of vehicular assault.
Rodney James allegedly had a breath alcohol content of 0.16, twice the legal limit, according to charging papers filed in King County Superior Court. Police say that James was speeding east in the 1700 block of South Columbian Way when he lost control of his 1998 Corvette. The sports car slid across a sidewalk, into a driveway and into Wah Wong and his son who were standing, court papers said.
Injured were Wah Wong, 67, and Jason Wong, 22. Salina Wong, Wah Wong’s 60-year-old wife, was injured after James’ car struck a car she was sitting in, charging papers said.
Update: Wah Wong runs the Jade West Cafe in West Seattle, and the West Seattle Blog has been covering the situation at the cafe with the Wongs currently at Harborview hospital. I’d like to add our wishes for a speedy recovery. Thanks, Tracy!
On December 12th at approximately 7:08 pm, a 1998 black Chevy Corvette was travelling eastbound in the 1700 Block of South Columbian Way when the Corvette veered off the street and onto the driveway/front yard of a house and struck two pedestrians. The two people were standing at the back of their parked car unloading luggage from the trunk. The Corvette struck the two individuals with the front of the car, pinning the two people between the two cars momentarily before bouncing off and coming to a rest facing westbound. The pedestrians each suffered serious injuries to their legs and were transported to the hospital for treatment. The driver of the Corvette was evaulated at the scene for possible signs of impairment/intoxication. The 50-year old driver of the Corvette was arrested and later booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Vehicular Assault. The Traffic Collision Investigation Squad (TCIS) responded to the scene and conducted the investigation.
A new paving project is planned for South Columbian Way between Beacon Ave S and 15th Ave S in 2010. The project will benefit the multiple users of the street by:
Repaving the street
Installing new curbs
Improving drainage
Constructing new curb ramps at intersections to improve pedestrian access
In addition to the above, this portion of Columbian Way S will be restriped as part of this project. Restriping would help improve motor vehicle safety and access, pedestrian access, and bicycle usage. Proposed changes include:
one lane of motor vehicle traffic in each direction
a new two-way center turn lane
new bike lanes
a new dedicated right-turn lane at VA Hospital Drive to improve access to the medical center
This project is a part of the voter approved “Bridging the Gap†transportation levy. Click here for more information on the project.
These improvements will tie in with improvements slated for 15th Ave S.
Power was out for about 3,000 folks on Beacon Hill and elsewhere in Southeast Seattle, including the VA Hospital. Power has since been restored to all but about 300 City Light customers, and the current expectation is that the power will be fully restored by noon. Here at the BHB, we noticed two power flickers at the time of the outage, but power stayed on in our part of the Hill.
According to City Light, the area now affected is bordered on the north by South Hinds Street, on the south by South Ferdinand Street, between 4th Avenue South and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South.
