Here’s the agenda for this month’s North Beacon Hill Council meeting, tonight at 7:00 pm at the Beacon Hill Library community room. El Centro de la Raza’s Cinco de Mayo celebration starts earlier, at 5:30 p.m. at El Centro, and neighbors are encouraged to attend both events if possible.
7:00 Hellos and introductions
7:05 Transit Development Area Update – Lyle Bicknell, City of Seattle
7:35 Elections
7:50 Community Concerns/Announcements
8:30 Regular meeting adjourns; Board meets in Community Service Center. Election of Executive Officers.
This month’s North Beacon Hill Council meeting on Thursday evening at the library includes a workshop about emergency preparation, information about bicycle/pedestrian activities, and more. Here’s the agenda, as forwarded from the Council:
7:00 Hellos and introductions
7:05 SNAP presentation – this is a one hour workshop that will enable all of us to better prepare our homes for emergencies.
8:05 Questions and answers
8:15 Dee Dunbar – Lewis Park Pedestrian and Bike Parade and Celebration
8:20 Announcements
board elections in May (four positions open)
neighborhood coordinator
community information center
8:30 Regular meeting adjourns; Board meets in Community Service Center
The meeting is this Thursday, April 7 at the Beacon Hill Library, 2821 Beacon Avenue South. All are welcome.
Public safety on Beacon Hill is the focus of next week’s North Beacon Hill Council meeting, Thursday, March 3 at 7 p.m.
Here is the planned agenda as forwarded by Judith Edwards:
7:00 Hellos and Agenda
7:05 Public Safety on Beacon Hill
(10 minutes each)
Sgt. Ann Martin, South Precinct, Seattle Police Department
Lt. Fowler, new South Precinct Lieutenant
Craig Thompson, Community Leaders for Public Safety Committee Member
7:35 Q and A
8:00 Other Community Reports and Announcements
Food Forest at Jefferson Park
Community Planting on Beacon and Forest, March 20
Advisory vote from Council on supporting parking at El Centro for 80 vehicles, and acting on discussion at our last meeting there will be no fencing around the parking lot.
Announcements and upcoming events
8:15 Executive Board Meeting – Vote on parking at El Centro, approval of meeting minutes from previous months.
The North Beacon Hill Council meeting next Thursday will include updates on the activities of Beacon Hill merchants, pedestrians, cyclists, and artists, as well as the organization of a Festival Street committee.
Here’s the complete agenda:
7:00 Welcomes and hellos
7:10 What’s happening
Approval of meeting minutes
Beacon Peds and Bikes
Beacon Hill Merchants
Beacon Arts, Music, and Community Survey
South Seattle Police Department
Treasurer’s Report (update on NBHC balance, balance of fiscal sponsorship accounts)
Festival Street – Committee Formation (to form a committee to oversee activities this year on Roberto Maestas Festival Street)
8:15 Executive Board Meeting (15 minutes)
8:30 Close
The meeting is on Thursday, February 3, 7:00 pm, at the Beacon Hill Library, 2821 Beacon Avenue South. All are welcome.
The Neighborhood Service Center in the Library is closing -- but could it continue to be a neighborhood resource? Photo by go-team in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.As the saying goes, “When one door closes, another opens.”
As part of budget cuts within the Department of Neighborhoods, North Beacon Hill is losing our Community Service Center in the Beacon Hill Library. Steve Louie is moving to the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center. He will work in coordination with three other District Coordinators to serve the Southeast, Greater Duwamish, Delridge, and Southwest Districts as a team.
The North Beacon Hill Neighborhood Council voted unanimously last Wednesday to request that the recently vacated office become a volunteer-run information sharing space. The location is accessible, highly visible, and already identified as a gathering/information space in the community. A community audit showed strong interest in maintaining a space for information sharing, meetings, assistance with grant applications, and general liaisons between neighbors and city programs.
The space would be shared with staff from City agencies such as the Department of Neighborhoods, Department of Planning and Development, etc. Volunteers from a variety of community organizations (including the NBHC, Beacon Arts, Beacon Merchants Association, and others) would staff the space.
Please contact the Mayor’s office and city council members to support the idea of maintaining a publicly accessible space to share information and stay connected with what’s happening in Beacon Hill and the rest of the city.
You can write, call, email, tweet, or post on facebook. Our elected officials are accessible—access them and let them know that Beacon Hill wants to use this space!
The North Beacon Hill Council is meeting on the first Wednesday this month instead of the usual first Thursday. That means the meeting is tonight! Here’s the agenda:
Please join us for an interesting and informative evening! All are welcome.
Our meeting will be devoted to Festival Street (South Lander Street between 17th Avenue South and Beacon Avenue South — ed.), a proposed street name change to Roberto Maestas Festival Street, the street’s usage in the coming year, our responsibilities, and the special permit that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is developing.
Be sure to attend and add your thoughts and opinions.
The meeting will be held in the Beacon Hill Library community room, 2821 Beacon Avenue South, at 7:00 pm.
City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw spoke at a North Beacon Hill Council meeting earlier this year at the Beacon Hill Library. Closure of the Neighborhood Service Center will not only remove the services provided by the center, but also prevent the NBHC from holding its meetings at the library site. Photo by Wendi. The North Beacon Hill Council sent a letter today to all members of the Seattle City Council, protesting the planned closure of the Neighborhood Service Center located at the Beacon Hill Library, 2821 Beacon Avenue South.
Information on heating bill assistance and food banks
Information on city and other job opportunities, including summer youth employment
Land use and zoning information
Application forms and assistance for the Neighborhood Matching Fund, business licenses, voter registration, and passports
Additionally, Louie’s access to the building allows the North Beacon Hill Council to use the space for council meetings even though the meetings usually need to run later than the library’s normal closing time.
If the Neighborhood Service Center is closed, neighbors on North Beacon Hill seeking equivalent city services would need to go to the Southeast Neighborhood Service Center instead, located 3.5 miles away on South Othello Street.
North Beacon Hill Council Chair Judith Edwards says, “The loss of our District Neighborhood Coordinator and Neighborhood Service Center would have a tremendous negative affect on all of us. Please contact the City Council.” You can find contact information for all Council members here. The council will vote on the new budget next Monday, November 22.
Here is the letter sent by the North Beacon Hill Council to the Seattle City Council today. Judith suggests that people use this as a starting point for their own letters to the Council.
North Beacon Hill Council
3211 Beacon Ave. S., Suite 14
Seattle, WA 98144
November 15, 2010
Dear City Council Members,
This is a final plea from all 150 members of the North Beacon Hill Council (NBHC) and its Board of Directors. We ask that you leave the Beacon Hill Neighborhood Service Center open to the public which it serves in our diverse, but active, neighborhood, and retain the services of our Neighborhood Coordinator.
If the Neighborhood Service Center no longer exists in the Beacon Hill Library, an average of 3-5 citizens per day will have no one to turn to with questions regarding the City and other neighborhood problems. Many of these citizens speak English as a second language, use bus transportation or walk, and find the Service Center to be very accessible when they come into the Library for other services, such as classes, computer use, etc. Since diversity and reaching out to under-represented populations is a high priority for the City, closure of this Neighborhood Service Center will be a great injustice to one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city, and will diminish greatly the City’s outreach to under-represented populations.
Our District Coordinators have helped many members of the North Beacon Hill Council to apply for and receive many Small Sparks and Neighborhood Matching Fund grants. Without this guidance, I suspect that the applications for these grants will diminish in number. Stairwells have been cleaned of drugs and prostitution; cross walks have been made safe; parks have been restored—all thanks to the guidance of our Neighborhood Coordinators.
The North Beacon Hill Council will be without a meeting place if the Neighborhood Service Center is closed. As many as fifty (50) concerned citizens and citizen activists regularly attend these meetings. We are able to use the Beacon Hill Library Community Room for meetings which end at 9:00PM only because our Neighborhood District Coordinator is housed in the Library and has authorization to lock up after hours.
We, the Board and members of the North Beacon Hill Council, ask that you give strong consideration to keeping the Neighborhood Service Center and Neighborhood Coordinator in the Beacon Hill Library, where a very strong community need is now being met.
What will replace this fenced, empty lot? Photo by Wendi.The North Beacon Hill Council monthly meeting this week will include a topic that many neighbors have been asking about for some time: development possibilities for the vacant land next to Beacon Hill Station. The meeting is scheduled for 7:00 pm, Thursday, November 4, at the Beacon Hill Library community room, 2821 Beacon Avenue South. Everyone is welcome to attend. As a reminder, you are part of the council when you attend your first meeting, and you have voting privileges when you attend your second.
This month’s agenda:
7:00 Introductions and Welcome
7:05 Scott Kirkpatrick of Sound Transit will give an update on a potential development scenario for the properties adjacent to the light rail station.
The North Beacon Hill Council monthly meeting is at 7:00 pm, Thursday, October 7, at the Beacon Hill Library community room, 2821 Beacon Avenue South. Everyone is welcome. As a reminder, you are part of the council when you attend your first meeting, and you have voting privileges when you attend your second.
Here is this month’s agenda:
7:00 Welcomes and Introductions
7:05 Presentations by Community Groups (Five minutes per group)
Beacon Avenue/South Forest Street Planting Project – Matt and Sara Stubbs
Beacon Hill Business Association – Robert Hinrix or representative
Beacon Hill Pedestrians/Bike Committee – Dylan Ahern or representative
Beacon Rocks! Festival – Paul Ray or representative
Jefferson Park Food Forest – Glenn Herlihy or representative
Jefferson Park Playground – Freddie Merrell or representative
Jefferson Park Reservoir Gatehouse Historic Designation – Mira Latoszek*
Lewis Park Re-Forestation – Dee Dunbar and Vinh Nguyen*
*These groups have asked for letters of support by the Council and will be given extra time on the agenda.
7:55 Vote to approve submitting Council letters of support for Gatehouse Historic Designation and Lewis Park’s Parks Opportunity Fund Grant
8:00 Steve Louie, Neighborhood Coordinator and Judith Edwards, Chair – City Budget Cuts: Loss of neighborhood service center, cuts to Neighborhood Matching Fund, impacts and strategies
8:10 Upcoming Meetings and Events
Saturday, October 16, 9:00 – 12:00, Beacon Lutheran Church:
Small group action planning for our town center. This link allows you to review the areas prioritized at the Mercer Middle School open-house earlier this summer.
Other announcements
8:15 Executive Board Meeting/Closure
The next NBHC meeting will be held Thursday, November 4, at 7:00 pm.
The Joint Greater Duwamish District Council/Southeast District Council meeting is Wednesday, October 27, at 7:00 pm at the Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th Avenue South in Columbia City. Stella Chao, Executive Director of the Department of Neighborhoods and a representative from the City Budget Office will take questions and input on the Mayor’s proposed 2011-12 budget and the cuts which are proposed for the Neighborhood Service Centers and Neighborhood Matching Fund.
The postponed-due-to-the-week-long-library-closure September North Beacon Hill Council Meeting is happening this Thursday at 7pm in the Beacon Hill Library Community Room. Everyone is welcome, and if you’ve been to at least one meeting, you’re eligible to vote!
The agenda as posted on the NBHC website with some added emphasis:
7:00 Introductions and Welcome
7:05 Allison Schwartz, Transportation Planner, Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Mike Podowski, Planner, Department of Planning and Development (DPD) will give an update on light rail station area parking and get feedback on the Restricted Parking Zones – how are they working for us. Q & A follows five minute presentations by each.
7:40 City Councilmember Mike O’Brien, Chair, Seattle Public Utilities and Neighborhoods Committee: CC member O’Brien’s City Council Committee will be making a decision this month on the Neighborhood Plan as presented by DPD; he has asked for this opportunity to receive neighborhood feedback. Mike will also be soliciting members for the Action Teams which are forming to implement the Neighborhood Plan.
8:10 Neighborhood updates
Beacon Rocks
Beacon Hill Business Association
Nomination of new North Beacon Hill Council Board Member
Resignation accepted from Shelly Bates, Board Member – thank you so much, Shelly, for all you have done for us!
Other announcements, events
8:30 Executive Board Meeting (open to all, however only Board Members are allowed to speak and take any needed votes. If you choose to leave at this time, it’s understood!)
Election of new board member(s)
Updates on plans made at the August Board Social meeting
