Mayor Mike McGinn will be at Jefferson Park at 4:15 this afternoon with representatives from City Light and Parks and Recreation to announce Community Solar, a new solar energy program for city residents, in conjunction with new solar picnic shelters at the Park.
The new picnic shelters have roofs made of solar panels, and will not only provide sheltered picnic sites, but also produce an estimated 24,000 kilowatt-hours of of energy each year, enough to operate 3 households.
City Light customers can participate in the Community Solar project by purchasing “solar units.” A portion of the energy generated by the project will then be credited annually to each member’s power bill. Founding members will also have their names displayed at the project site in Jefferson Park. Find out more about the program at the Seattle Community Solar project website.
A workshop will be held at Jefferson Community Center next Tuesday, June 28, to explain the program and provide more information about signing up. You can register for the workshop here.
Illustration by Stephanie Bower; image courtesy of Seattle City Light.
Beacon Hill is a great place for people of all ages and features many opportunities for entire families to have a great time. Here are a few ideas to get you started—please share your favorite places/activities in the comments!
ROCKiT Space is thriving after the relaunch in January. Headquarters are now in the Garden House at 2336 15th Ave. S. (directly behind Baja Bistro; parking in the alley, on street or just walk there) and events are happening there and all over Beacon Hill.
High Chair Happy Hour happens every third Tuesday (the next ones are on April 19 and May 16) from 3:30-6:30 p.m. BYOB (baby/bigger kid). It’s good, cheap fun on Beacon Hill: $5, or free for ROCKiT members. No alcohol sold, but you’re welcome to bring your own (as well as other food/drink) to share. Â Must be accompanied by a minor to attend.
Tots Jam, a ROCKiT Space favorite, is held at El Centro every Wednesday at 9 a.m. Bring your toddler and $5 (free for members) and rock with Suzanne.
The Beacon Hill library has story times for toddlers, preschoolers, and the whole family. Toddler story time, Spanish story time, and Bilingual Kaleidoscope are only a few of the choices.
Thanks to our neighbors’ successful efforts to improve the parks on Beacon Hill, we have three (3!) awesome new playgrounds on Beacon Hill.
The play area at Jefferson Park has been open for several months. Don’t let the fences surrounding the future Beacon Mountain deter you—head over and check out the many ways your kids (and you) can climb, swing, hang and rock. Several refreshment options are available in the south end of our business district, including the Jefferson Park Field House, Victrola 3 and El Quetzal (now serving beer; just sayin’).
Jefferson Park also boasts a fantastic indoor playground on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Inflatables, riding toys, push toys, balls, and tons of other ways for toddlers to tire themselves are available for only $2!
Santos Rodriguez Memorial Park at El Centro de La Raza is now open to the public (closed during posted hours to protect the safety of the children enrolled in programs on site) and features new playground equipment for a variety of ages. Amenities such as benches for parents and a permanent chess board are in the works. I highly recommend a visit to The Station (directly across the street) before or after your park visit.
Beacon Hill Playground has new play structures, too! Swings, slides, a secure tunnel, and other fun await at our northernmost playground.
I’m sure I”m missing something—please share your ideas/events in the comments! A few of the ways to keep busy in the playground at Jefferson Park. Photo by Joel Lee.
Photo courtesy of Glenn Herlihy.In late 2010 we received a grant from the Department of Neighborhoods to select a Design Team to create a schematic design for a Food Forest in Jefferson Park. The Friends of Jefferson Park Food Forest formed a Selection Committee with eight members for the purpose of interviewing and hiring as much talent as possible. After publicly posting our Request for Qualification (RFQ) we received seven highly qualified Statements of Qualification (SOQ) from design teams in the western Washington area. From there we narrowed it down to four design teams to interview.
This week the selection committee is pleased to announce a final decision to hire Harrison Design Team to facilitate and create a schematic design for the Jefferson Park Food Forest.
We chose this design team for not only their past work experience but their outstanding ability to engage, educate and facilitate the public in a design process. They are fun people with multiple talents for landscape design, permaculture food systems, ethnobotany and the facilitation process.
Briefly the team consists of:
Margarett Harrison is Principal of Harrison Design. She has over 25 years of experience in planning, designing, and managing landscape projects in both public and private sectors. She has worked for several local design firms including Mithun.
Jenny Pell is Owner of Permaculture Now. Her experience covers all aspects of permaculture consulting, design, site assessment, managing installations, and budgets. Fluent in Spanish, she has worked and taught around the globe.
Kris Pendleton is the Owner and Principal of Sound Urban Edibles, based in Seattle. He has traveled the world studying temperate agriculture landscapes.
Now we need you more than ever.
In late March, date yet to be announced, we will be holding the first of several design parties. They will be festive and educational workshops for the whole family. We plan on offering an ethnically diverse spread of food because food and nutrition is what we are all about. This project offers you the seeds to positive action, the seeds for a future with affordable nutrition for our community. Please join us; everyone is welcome.
Long live your Mother,
Glenn Herlihy
Friends of the Jefferson Park Food Forest
These are some of the photos added to the the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr during January. Thanks to the many photographers who contributed this month! Your photos are welcome, too. Photo by Bridget Christian.A Jefferson Park path end. Photo by go-team.Stevens Place Park during the January 11 snow. Photo by Wendi.Downtown sparkling like diamonds from Dr. Jose Rizal Park. Photo by Casey Sjogren.A view down the west tunnel of the Southbound Link train at Beacon Hill Station. (Photo was taken from the platform, believe it or not.) Photo by natfoot. At the Lunar New Year Festival last weekend in the nearby International District. Photo by RS_Photographs.
Last call forever December 22 at the Beacon Pub on Beacon Avenue South. Photo by Joel Lee.Holiday lights on a Beacon Hill fence. Photo by RS_Photographs.Jefferson Park pond at sunrise. Photo by Joel Lee.Somewhere on Beacon Hill. Photo by dotism.Beacon Hill Lincolns. Photo by Rob Ketcherside.
More images of a snowy Beacon Hill from the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. Do you have photos of Beacon Hill? We invite you to add them to the pool, and thank those of you who have contributed!
Near the fire station at Beacon and Spokane Street. Photo by Furchin.By RS_Photographs.The historic church building at 16th and Forest catches the rays of Tuesday's sunrise. Photo by Wendi.Photo by K. Shuyler.In this snow and light, the temporary fence at Jefferson Park almost looks like art. Photo by Furchin.
Leaves overwhelm the sidewalk on 15th Avenue South near PacMed. Photo by Bridget Christian.The pond in Katie Black's Garden in North Beacon Hill is filled with orange leaves instead of water at this time of year. Photo by Wendi.Perfectly groomed shrubbery graces a Beacon Hill yard. Photo by Joel Lee.The viewpoint in Jefferson Park, where these boulders almost seem to be enjoying the view. Photo by //dotism.
Jefferson Park is finally open, and we had some nice weather to enjoy it. Here are some photos from the BHB Photo Pool on Flickr, or otherwise submitted by BHB readers or staff.
Photo by Wendi.Swinging barefoot---in November! Photo by Melissa Jonas.This tilt-shift effect photo makes these houses viewed from the park look like miniatures. Photo by Joel Lee."A place where water is collected and stored in quantity." From the large “Drawing the Land†artwork by Elizabeth Conner. Photo by Wendi.Large concrete pieces and boulders punctuate the viewpoint site in the NW corner of the park. Photo by Wendi.A look at the landscaping. Beyond it is the sports field area over one of the old reservoirs, and beyond that the amphitheatre and viewpoint. Note the skyline view even from here. Photo by Wendi.A view of downtown from the viewpoint in the northwest corner of the park. Photo by David Gackenbach.Distances along the park path are marked. It's a 3/4 mile walk. Photo by Wendi.
It’s official—we just received this press release from the city:
The new 43-acre Jefferson Park Expansion Project over the Beacon Reservoir complex is open to the public with all construction fencing being removed by the end of Friday, October 29, 2010. Parks opened the new play area and tennis courts to the public in August 2010.
The Pro Parks Levy funded park offers unparalleled view of the Duwamish and city with Olmsted inspired path system flanked with trees that offer a wonderful respite from city life. The extensive hierarchy of pathways through the site offer connections to the neighborhood and surrounding amenities.
Additionally, the park offers a grand lawn flanked by a gathering plaza, large open spaces with skillfully placed groves of trees, rainwater feature designed by The Berger Partnership Landscape Architects in collaboration with artist Elizabeth Conner, a large traditional play area, new tennis court with lights, terraced seating areas with vistas over the park, a comfort station designed by Parks Senior Architect Mohan Khandekar and a natural turf sports meadow over the lid.
Fencing will remain around the sports meadow on the Beacon Reservoir lid to allow the turf to fully develop. Fencing will be removed in summer 2011.
The future Beacon Mountain play area, funded in part by the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, will also remain fenced off. Construction on this Phase Two project begins in spring 2011.(emphasis ours—BHB)
Seattle Parks and Recreation worked with the Beacon Hill community, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), and other stakeholders to identify the best park features and priorities for Jefferson Park. A Master Plan for the site was developed in 2002 as a guide. Parks awarded the construction contract to Mid-Mountain Construction, and gave them notice to proceed in June 2009.
We got some emails and tweets yesterday indicating that the fences were coming down, so it’s good to hear the official word that yes, the park is open. Please comment and tell us what you think about the new park.
by Joel Lee Workers busy last week putting some of the new features in the park. Photo by kashgroves in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. On April 30, 1903, Seattle leaders hired the prominent Olmsted Brothers, one of the first and most important landscape architecture firms in the country, to design a park and boulevard system for Seattle. On October 19, 1903, Charles Olmsted wrote of the Seattle park system that the “primary aim should be to secure and preserve for the use of the people as much as possible of these advantages of water and mountain views and of woodlands, well distributed and conveniently located.” Beacon Hill’s Jefferson Park was one of a handful of parks that the Olmsteds considered vital to the success of their plan and the health of the city, and joined a short list of important parks including Seward Park, Green Lake, the Arboretum, and Volunteer Park as key links in an “emerald necklace†of parks and boulevards connecting the city.
A new viewpoint shows the autumn foliage from Jefferson Park. Photo by Joel Lee.Unfortunately Jefferson Park’s history has been more convoluted than these other parks, and the Park has gone through many changes over the years since the land was first purchased by the city in 1898. Named after President Thomas Jefferson, the area was used for everything from a “pesthouse†isolating smallpox patients, to military use, housing anti-aircraft guns and a G.I. recreation center when the land was requisitioned during World War II.
A large northwest section of the park was turned over to the water department where, until recently, it housed the two above-ground water reservoirs built a hundred years ago. This had the unfortunate side effect of taking what had been a key open green space and community gathering spot on Beacon Hill and converting it to a fenced-off barbed wire government compound which served as a physical barrier dividing the neighborhood.
Soon, however, the fences are coming down and once again Beacon Hill will be united. At 52.4 acres, Jefferson Park and its accompanying golf course are one of Seattle’s largest parks. Although some of the key components to the park such as the skate park and the Beacon Mountain Playground are not yet complete, it is already easily one of the nicest parks in the city. With its well-planned walkways and playfields taking advantage of the stunning views of downtown and Elliott Bay, it is easy to imagine how this area is going to become Beacon Hill’s new outdoor living room and one of the best green spaces in the Seattle park system. Perhaps more importantly, it will finally complete the plan that the Olmsted Brothers put into place over 100 years ago to unite Seattle with an “emerald necklace†of parks and boulevards, and bring Beacon Hill together with the rest of the city.
