If your spring cleaning efforts have turned up some old computers, cell phones, refrigerators or the like, you might want to make your way to the Rainier Community Center’s northeast parking lot at 4600 38th Ave. S. on Saturday, April 27, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., for free electronic recycling and paper shredding.
Items accepted for recycling include appliances, electronics, lawn equipment, bikes (to be donated to BikeWorks), metals, batteries, and more. See the official flyer for details and a list of restricted items. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Windermere Foundation and the Rainier Community Center’s youth scholarship program. Donation receipts will be available.
Making tamales. Photo by Noema of Intercultura y Cocina, via Creative Commons.El Centro de la Raza has a lot going on in upcoming weeks at their building at 2524 16th Avenue South, including cooking and language classes, free tax prep, and electronics recycling.
Graciela Gonzalez, El Centro’s Human Services Director, is teaching a class on making tamales. The class fee is $50, and students will be able to take home a dozen tamales along with the recipe. Each class is limited to six students. The class dates are Saturday, March 20, from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm, or Saturday, April 17, also from 10:00 to 12:30. Sign up at Brown Paper Tickets.
El Centro’s conversational Spanish classes will begin on Monday, April 5, and will continue on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm until June 9. Students will be able to learn Spanish with other adults in a relaxed, yet professional setting. The class fee is $300. Here is the registration form.
All proceeds from these classes go to support El Centro’s human service, child and youth, and education and skill-building programs.
As we wrote in January, United Way of King County is providing free tax preparation services to low-income taxpayers at El Centro. Tax assistance is provided in English and Spanish by volunteers who are trained and certified by the IRS. The free tax prep services will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00 – 9:00 pm and Saturdays from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm until April 15.
Those eligible for the free service include anyone whose household made less than $50,000 in 2009, and who is filing a basic tax return only (no rental income, business taxes, or sale of property or stock).
Lastly, El Centro has joined up with Cartridges for Kids to collect used electronics. Cartridges for Kids recycles the used goods, and then gives a
small donation to El Centro. You can contribute old iPods, cell
phones, video game consoles, printer cartridges, digital cameras, DVDs, and more.
The Cartridges for Kids box is in room 304, on the top floor of the El Centro building at 2524 16th Avenue South. If you have a large amount of stuff to drop off, or if you are unable to come up to the top floor for medical reasons, please call Elliott Jones at 206-957-4652 to work out the logistics.
Kevin on the mailing list wants to know about a hum:
“Has anyone else noticed a humming noise that occurs at night? It doesn’t
occur all the time, but when it does it sounds like a large vacuum or leaf
blower. If I stick my head out the window it’s impossible to pinpoint — it
sounds like it’s coming from all directions. I live near McClellan and
23rd.”
Glenn Herlihy writes with news of the first Jefferson Park Community Garden meeting, on Tuesday February 2 (Groundhog Day), from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm at the Lawn Bowling Club House, 4103 Beacon Ave South.
Herlihy says,
“A Community Garden in Jefferson Park would be a meeting place where people can grow nutritious food to reduce their food budget or share what they grow. It would provide a place for the unemployed or underemployed, to grow food and help provide for their family. A community garden would stimulate social interaction between neighbors and provide opportunities for intergenerational and cross cultural connections. It would increase security by having more activity in the area.”
The proposed site for the garden is on the western slope of Jefferson Park, south of South Columbian Way, east of 15th Avenue South. All who are interested in community gardens are invited to the meeting.
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El Centro De La Raza is holding a poker tournament and fundraiser on Saturday, February 20. The tournament is a Texas Hold ’em tournament with professional dealers, and the first prize is a $1,000 prepaid entry in the World Poker Tournament, (or an optional Visa Gift Card). There will be prizes for the top five finalists as well. The cost is $35 in advance, or $45 at the door. See http://www.elcentrofundraiser.com/ for more information and registration.Â
Still got some forlorn holiday foliage? Take it to the transfer station. Photo by wetwebwork.Still got your old dead Christmas tree? You can still recycle it for free, if you hurry. If you subscribe to curbside food and yard waste collection, and yours hasn’t already been picked up this week, you can put your tree out on your regular collection day at no extra charge until January 10. Trees should be cut into sections of six feet long or shorter, with branches trimmed to less than four feet. Sections should be bundled with string or twine.
Trees with flocking or tinsel, or ones that are plastic, aren’t recyclable. They have to go in the trash, cut into three-foot pieces, and each piece will be charged as extra garbage.
If you missed the yard waste pickup, there’s one other option. You can drop off your tree for free until January 10 at the South Recycling and Disposal Station, located at Second Avenue South and South Kenyon Street, and the North Recycling and Disposal Station in Wallingford. The stations are both open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Trees brought to the recycling stations must be cut to eight feet or less in length and the trunk must be four inches or smaller in diameter. The limit is three trees per vehicle. Only trees without flocking or decoration may be disposed of free of charge.
A new Grocery Outlet is coming to nearby SoDo. Photo by Jason.The Grocery Outlet just off Rainier Avenue, next to the Mount Baker train station, didn’t survive long enough to see the station open. It closed last year, its business hampered by ongoing station construction right in front of its parking lot.
Fans of Grocery Outlet shopping will soon have another nearby option, however, with a new store opening in the former state liquor store site on Fourth Avenue South in SoDo. The new site is not as convenient to pedestrians as the old one, however; the nearest Link station, instead of being right next door, is about a half-mile walk around a huge block and part of the Metro bus base.
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Mayor-elect McGinn is hosting three town halls this week to hear your thoughts and ideas about the future of the city. Two of the town halls are reasonably close to us here on Beacon Hill.
Curbwaste poster from SPU. Click for a larger, readable version.
From Jenna Franklin, Strategic Communications Advisor with Seattle Public Utilities:
Seattle Public Utilities is looking for a few good candidates to appoint to the Seattle Public Utilities Garbage, Recycling, Yard and Food Waste Community Advisory Committee.
Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply to become community advisors — committee members advise the utility on how to increase program offerings, reach the Seattle’s recycling goals, and provide better customer education and information.
“We hope the open slots attract a varied group of candidates, committee members reflect on the many issues the utility and its ratepayers face, and that includes a variety of operational, economic, social, environmental, and language issues,†said Program Manager Aurora Mendoza, it’s so important to have a mix of people that can represent the diverse perspectives and concerns of the wider community.
From discussions on utility policies, business strategies and performance goals to conversations centered on operational issues, language translation and environmental justice, the committee spends 6-8 hours a month examining the utility’s ability to deliver services that meet the needs of Seattle and the people who live here.
Committee member should have interest in conservation or environmental issues, waste reduction, community outreach, utility operations, or public affairs. To apply, please fill out a Citizen Advisory application online at www.seattle.gov/util/cac. For additional information about participating contact Aurora Mendoza, Program Manager, at (206) 733-9687
In addition to providing a reliable water supply to more than 1.3 million customers in the Seattle metropolitan area, SPU provides essential sewer, drainage, solid waste and engineering services that safeguard public health, maintain the city’s infrastructure and protect, conserve and enhance the region’s environmental resources.
