The new parking lot at El Centro is open on the future site of a new development. Photo by Wendi Dunlap.
Some Bits for you from the last few weeks:
El Centro de la Raza has opened their temporary light rail parking lot to the
public. Parking rates are listed here. The lot is in the south part of the El Centro site, directly adjacent to the Roberto Maestas Festival Street, across the street from Beacon Hill Station. The parking lot is an interim use of the site, limited to three years or less, after which El Centro plans to develop the site. Proceeds from the parking lot benefit El Centro’s human services and community building programs.
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Mayor McGinn recently led a delegation to Chongqing and Beijing, and while there distributed some Seattle souvenirs to local schoolchildren — including a Beacon Rocks! t-shirt.
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Doreen Deaver sent us this notice:
Now that the egg hunts are done, are you wondering what to do with all those plastic eggs? Jefferson Community Center is the place to bring them. We are recycling eggs! Bring them in and give them a good home. We can use them again. Thank you.
The Jose Rizal Bridge. Photo by Seattle Daily Photo in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.Seattle Department of Transportation crews will repair the underside of the Jose Rizal Bridge (the 12th Ave. S. Bridge) from August 1 to August 26. They will close the northbound, right lane across the bridge from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during this time. The sidewalk will remain open. Please be aware that there may be some traffic congestion.
Today, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will close the right lane southbound on the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge to conduct a routine inspection of the bridge. The closure will begin at 9:00 am with the lane reopening for traffic no later than 2:30 pm. The western sidewalk adjacent to the closed lane will remain open. One lane will be closed on this bridge today so this nearly 100 year old bridge can undergo an inspection. Photo by Bridget Christian in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool.
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will close one southbound lane on the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge at the north end of Beacon Hill today from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. The closure is required to allow engineers to perform a routine inspection of the bridge. This closure may be rescheduled, however, if crews are called on do emergency work elsewhere.
SDOT has substantially completed the rehab project on the bridge. The project was necessary to extend the life of the bridge, built in 1911, and reduce the frequency of major maintenance and repair. The bridge is the state’s oldest steel arch bridge, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The rehabilitation project included repairing concrete spallings on the bridge deck, installing a new sidewalk concrete overlay, repairing and sealing cracks in the concrete, and repairing or replacing deteriorating expansion joints and a concrete girder.
A view of the Rizal bridge from the Dearborn Street regrade in 1912. Yes, the angle of the bridge at the south end was steeper then than it is today. A 1917 mudslide along with some regrading on Beacon Hill required the southern approach to be rebuilt, this time less steeply. Photo courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives.
Signs in the window of Sharon's Lutong Bahay, a Filipino restaurant just south of Beacon and Stevens, say that the restaurant's Grand Opening is this Friday, June 25. Photo by Wendi.Jerry Large of the Seattle Times (BHB news partners) featured Jeane Cook and Kim Nakamura in his column yesterday. Cook and Nakamura, who are both in their 90s, were honored by Beacon Hill International School (formerly Beacon Hill Elementary) for nearly 30 years of volunteer work at the school. Large also mentions that the BHIS Golden Acorn award for volunteers this year went to Pat Dederer, who has been helping at BHIS for 20 years. We here at the BHB would also like to express our gratitude to Cook, Nakamura, and Dederer for their service and contributions to the lives of Beacon Hill kids over the decades.
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You may have noticed some work near Jose Rizal Bridge this week. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is installing curb ramps in the intersection of 12th Avenue South and South Charles Street at the north end of the bridge. Crews plan to work until Thursday, from 7 am to 2:30 pm each day. They will close the western and then the eastern sidewalk and parking strip, one at a time, to complete the work.
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Speaking of construction work, work on the Chief Sealth Trail Extension project will probably start in late August. The project will take about three months. Afterward, the trail will extend northwestward from Beacon Avenue South northwest to South Angeline/15th Avenue South.
SDOT has completed its environmental review of the project per the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and determined that there will be no significant adverse environmental impacts as a result of the project. To see the DNS and other environmental documents as well as a map of the project, see the project web site.
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Verity Credit Union is hosting a community shred-a-thon on Saturday from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. At this event, community members who don’t have their own shredders can have the security of shredding their sensitive documents. There is a suggested minimum donation of $10 which will be donated directly to the Beacon Hill Food Bank. Verity is located at 1660 South Columbian Way, Building 35.
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Helping Link, or Má»™t Dấu Nối, is a non-profit group that provides tutoring, citizenship and English classes, and social services to the local Vietnamese community. They are having their annual fundraiser, the Seattle International Fashion Gala, this Saturday, June 26, at O’Asian Kitchen Restaurant. There will be an array of modern and traditional gowns premiered by fashion designers, Oscar Milano Mai and Chi Duyen, along with Asian cuisine.
Proceeds of ticket purchases will go towards the support of Helping Link’s community strengthening programs for Vietnamese refugees and immigrants. More information can be found on the website.
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The Bar del Corso pizzeria folks are holding a fundraiser on Sunday from 3:00 to 6:00 pm to help raise funds for the restaurant they plan to open on North Beacon Hill early next year. They say, “Jerry will be firing up the brick oven in our backyard garden, and making pizzas. With fava beans and garlic in season, we will be making some special pizzas with these ingredients, along with other classics.” The suggested donation is $100, but “the donation amount is suggested—pay what you can.” RSVP is required to info@bardelcorso.com (with RSVP in the subject line). They will send you a confirmation email with the details and the address of the party.
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Beacon Lutheran Church will be holding a Bible and Chinese Camp for children from ages 4 through 12 this summer, August 16-20. The program will run from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and will provide Bible lessons, singing, crafts, and games, as well as Chinese language and culture lessons. Snacks will be provided morning and afternoon, but each child should bring a sack lunch. For more information or to register, call Father Philip Wong, 253-277-1831 (in Chinese or English), or Eunice Graham, 206-323-0226 (English only).
The Jose Rizal Bridge rehab project is starting soon, and to facilitate this work, traffic on the bridge will be reduced to one lane in each direction for the next four months. A sidewalk on one side of the bridge at a time will be closed, and access for pedestrians and bicycles will be maintained on the opposite side. There will also be periodic lane closures on South Dearborn Street under the bridge.
This is probably a photo of the 12th Avenue South Bridge (now Jose Rizal Bridge) in spring 1917, when a mudslide destroyed the southern (wooden) approach to the bridge. The bridge was later repaired. The Jose Rizal bridge was built in 1911, and is the oldest steel-arch bridge in Washington state. This 1912 photo shows the familiar shape of the bridge that many of us cross daily.
The Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge: going to rehab. Not the Amy Winehouse kind. Photo by Wendi.Two local establishments have recently been visited by the Health Department’s intrepid inspectors. The Beacon Hill 76 station at 2415 Beacon Avenue South scored 0 (yes, zero) violation points. Congratulations! The Beacon Pub at 3057 Beacon Avenue South scored 45 violation points on October 14, all related to problems keeping things cold enough. (Perhaps these are problems with the new hot dog cart.) To give a little perspective on this point total, 45 or more red critical violation points require a re-inspection within 14 days, 90 or more red critical violation points require that the establishment be closed, and 120 or more total (red and blue) points also require that the establishment be closed. The 45 points that the Beacon Pub received were mixed red and blue points, so they were in no danger of being closed. Still, we hope the temperature issues are now fixed. We like having another food option in the neighborhood.
If you tried to drive west through Sodo yesterday, you might have noticed that westbound South Spokane Street is now closed between Fourth and First Avenues South. This is part of the South Spokane Street Viaduct widening project. The detour route will send you north on Fourth Avenue to South Lander Street, then west to First Avenue, then back south to Spokane Street — West Seattle Blog
Most of these photos are from the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr, which has tons of photos of our neighborhood. Want to contribute, or just browse the pool? Go here. Thanks to all the pool members who have contributed such wonderful images!
Reader Ryan emailed this evening to tell us about a film crew at work on the Jose Rizal Bridge, one of the best sites in Seattle to film skyline views. The crew turns out to be filming a promo for the upcoming Seattle Film Festival, and told the BHB they’d be filming “once it gets dark.”
