Thornton Creek Alliance Meeting September 27

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Ryan

The Thornton Creek Alliance will be having its next meeting on September 27th at the Meadowbrook Community Center, 10517 35th Ave NE, from 7 PM to 9 PM. The featured topic this month will be “If a Tree Falls In Thornton Creek, Does Anyone Hear It?” Guest speakers Matt Mega (Seattle Audubon, Urban Forestry Commission), Ruth Williams (Seattle Tree Ambassador), and Cass Turnbull (PlantAmnesty) will discuss the importance of trees to the health & well-being of people & wildlife in our community.  Discover what we can do to protect and promote our urban forest canopy.  Learn about Seattle’s proposed tree ordinance (and why it needs to be better) and take action.  Also, get information about Seattle’s free yard-tree program.
The meeting is free and open to the public and a great way to meet your neighbors who are concerned and interested in Thornton Creek.

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Dogs And The City

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Ryan


As I walk around the neighborhood lately, I’ve noticed a spate of homemade signs asking dog owners to pick up after their animals. There are many pets and animals living in Victory Heights and we all need to behave courteously to each other in order to maintain a harmonious community. Nobody would want to find human excrement on their property, dog droppings are no different. Please cleanup after your pet. City law has fines up to $109 for violations.
Along that lines, I heard from Karen on our Facebook page and she wrote,

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed the dog problem at Victory Heights Park. It has become increasingly popular for people to bring their dogs there off-leash even though it is ILLEGAL. My kids love this park, but over the summer we had to quit coming and go to Meadowbrook instead because there were so many dogs. This is very concerning to me especially because my son has special needs & a great fear of dogs. Any ideas on how we can approach this with the city or police department?

Please obey the laws concerning animals, we don’t want to have to call the police about your off-leash pet. Here is a link to off-leash areas in Seattle.

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SDOT Proposes Northgate Way Project

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Ryan

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has proposed the 2013 Arterial Asphalt and Concrete (AAC) Program N 105th Street and N/NE Northgate Way paving project.  The project includes reconstructing the existing roadway along N 105th St and N/NE Northgate Way from Greenwood Ave N to Interstate 5. In addition it would involve installation of new signals, closed circuit television (CCTV), license plate recognition (LPR) and digital mapping system (DMS) cameras and signal and street light upgrades along N 105th St, N/NE Northgate Way, and Lake City Way NE between Greenwood Ave N and Lake City Way NE at NE 120th St.

A 14-day comment period begins on September 13, 2012 and will end on September 27, 2012.  A seven-day appeal period will follow. Plans can be viewed at the Planning Resource Center, 700 5th Ave, Suite 2000, or the main branch of the Seattle Public Library and the Northgate branch.
 

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Fun Meet At The Lake City Farmer's Market Sept. 13

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Ryan

Join Lake City in a special “Fun Meet” expansion of the Lake City Farmers Market this Thursday, Sept. 13th from 3:00-6:00pm.
Representatives from a wide variety of neighborhood groups will be there to answer questions, offer information, and provide fun activities too!
Give input on the Pierre Visioning Project!
Learn about changes to the Community Center!
Come and Play!
Win Market Bucks to spend at the market!
It’s also apple season at the market and there’ll be apples galore. Come play a round of apple checkers. See and sample dehydrated apples from Lake City’s Emergency Hub group. Hear bilingual stories from Lake City librarians. Try your hand at apple printing, apple collage or sumi painting.  Participate in this event  and win “Market Buck” gift certificates to spend at the market!
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Burglar Discovered During Break-In

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Ryan

Julie on NE 107th reports,

Jens and the kids pulled up to our house about 45 min ago to find a black athletic bag to the side of the front steps of the house.  They went inside and found the bathroom window wide open.  On going back outside to the front porch, a young man was running off down the street with the bag.
Description of the man (from the back):
White, in his twenties with dark brown hair cut short in the back, longer on top. Medium height. Wearing khaki shorts, a blue/tan/grey letter jacket, black high tops with white laces.
In the black bag:
a couple movies, a couple audio books, a beer, cigarettes, and some pieces of white cardboard
I’ll report this to the police shortly.

A few neighbors reported seeing suspicious window washers working the area last week.
There were also a number of reports about car vandalisms that occurred on Saturday on 20th Ave NE and NE 105th Street.

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North District Council Meeting September 5th

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Ryan

The North District Council meeting this month will be held Wednesday, September 5th at the Lake City branch of the Seattle Public Library, 12501 28th Ave. N.E., at 7 PM.
Want to know more about the North District Council? Read our articles about it:
Part 1: Introduction to the North District Council
Part 2: How Representatives Are Chosen
Part 3: Is the District Council a squeaky wheel or just public relations?
Part 4: Representing Victory Heights

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Thornton Creek Kingfisher Work Parties Resume Sept 2

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Ryan

Rick invites you to the resumption (after a summer break) of biweekly (1st and 3rd Sundays of each month) Thornton Creek restoration work parties starting with this Sunday, September 2nd at 10 AM.

What to Bring

Hand tools, gloves, eye protection, water, dress for the weather, sturdy boots and long sleeves. Extra gloves and tools may be provided. **We currently do not have a need for power tools**

Where to Meet

Meet at the creek where it intersects with the 17th Ave NE trail

Where to Park

Street parking near trailhead located at intersection of 17th Ave. NE & 104th St.
**17th Ave is only accessible from the North and East**

Date & Time

September 2, 2012 10am – 12pm

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Goats Want Your Yard Trimmings

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Ryan

L to R: Thelma and Louise


Terri Bell on Victory Lane has hungry goats and they would love your garden trimmings. If you have pesticide free plants destined for the city compost, consider saving them for her goats, Thelma and Louise. Tasty morsels include: pea vines, prunings from fruit trees (not cherry) – including leaves and twigs, carrot and beet tops (roots too, if you haven’t eaten them), chard, kale and other greens you aren’t eating, pumpkin vines (not as tasty as the pumpkin itself), sunflowers, etc.
Goats cannot eat plants of the nightshade family: tomato, potato, eggplant, peppers, and tomatillos. Nor should they eat leaves from cherry trees, rhododendron, azaleas, or hops.
If you attack a blackberry patch or scotch broom, goats would take care of the cuttings. Leftover pumpkins after Halloween are a gourmet treat. Excess fruit and prunings from the fruit tree and many other trees as well as the dried, fallen leaves.
If you have a pile, Terri will pick-up. Or, if you want to meet the goats, you can bring the goodies by. Terri (and the goats) are located at 10538 Victory Lane NE (where the Block Party was held) or you can e-mail her at bellt@seattleu.edu. Come see the daily milking at 5 PM each day.
 

Posted in Community, Gardening | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Graffiti Returns To Victory Heights Park

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Ryan

Over the weekend, vandals struck Victory Heights Park yet again and tagged both sides of the basketball backstop as well as the side of the community center.  A report has been filed with the City of Seattle which promises to remove it within 10 days.

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The Seattle That Wasn't: Freeways Through Victory Heights

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Ryan

In 1960, city planners proposed three north-south freeways through Seattle, one of which would have crossed Victory Heights right over Thornton Creek!
Long-time residents might recall the proposed R.H. Thomson Freeway or at least seen the “off ramps to nowhere” on the west side of the Evergreen Point floating bridge that would have connected with it. It would have been the eastern of three parallel north-south freeways cutting through Seattle that appear on a 1966 planning map that is available from the Central Library.
The big map shows the entire city, the thickest black lines denote freeways. The Northwest Freeway followed Highway 99, cut over to Fremont, headed north to Holman road, then back to following 99. What is now Interstate 5 would have been called the Central Freeway, and the R.H. Thomson freeway would have run through the Arboretum (!), intersected 520 (the off ramps that still exist), tunneled under the ship canal, and then run up 25th Ave NE, Ravenna Ave and then Lake City Way out to Bothell. An east-west connector between the Northwest Freeway and the Thomson would have run along N. 110th Street (Northgate Way). If you click the blown up section, at Roosevelt Way, the crosstown freeway would have turned southeast and traveled down Thornton Creek to connect with the R. H. Thomson Freeway at NE 98th Street.
It’s unimaginable now to think how our city (and our neighborhood) would been impacted by all these freeways. We would have been no better than Los Angeles. Fortunately, public protests at putting a freeway through the Arboretum in 1969 led to a vote in 1972 that canceled the projects forever.

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