Volunteers paint over graffiti during the 2013 Spring Clean
Robin from the Victory Heights Co-op Preschool wants us to know:
In February, Victory Heights Cooperative Preschool applied for a City of Seattle neighborhood grant for park and playground improvements at Victory Heights. Great news: the City has invited us to make a presentation at the North District Community Council meeting on April 1st – no foolin’! 🙂
To help show your support, please take two minutes of your time to answer a 5-question survey by March 31, 2015. Link to the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MGGM5DT
Upcoming events calendar:
Saturday, February 21st, Northgate Pedestrian Bridge Project Meeting, North Seattle Community College cafeteria, 10 AM. The proposed bridge across I-5 to link the school with coming Link Light Rail station is still looking for funding. The Licton Springs Community Council is sponsoring this meeting to help raise awareness. More here.
Thursday, February 26th, Thornton Creek Alliance meeting, Meadowbrook Community Center, 7:15 PM. Seattle Public Utilities staff and scientists will discuss E. coli pollution in Thornton Creek, including results of a two year study and further action that will be taken.
Tuesday, March 10th, NW Solar Now workshop, Northgate Community Center, 7:15 PM.
Tuesday, March 17th, Victory Heights Community Council Meeting, Co-op Preschool Building in Victory Heights Park, 7 PM.
Wednesday, March 18th, Department of Neighborhoods Large Project Fund Applicant Workshop, Northgate Community Center, 6 PM. Up to $100,000 in matching grants is available for neighborhood projects, but you need to attend a mandatory meeting to get all the details. To attend a workshop, RSVP at surveymonkey.com/s/LPFWorkshop2015 or contact us at NMFund@seattle.gov or 206-733-9916.
The monthly meeting of the Victory Heights Community Council is Tuesday, February 17th, starting at 7 PM at the Co-op Preschool building in Victory Heights Park. Among the topics for discussion will be the house on NE 105th Street that has recently been the subject of police activity and this story that ran on KIRO TV earlier this week. Everyone in the neighborhood is encouraged to attend. Bring your own chair if you don’t want to sit in the small children’s chairs at the school.
Here’s a look at upcoming events of interest to residents of Victory Heights:
UPDATED JANUARY 16TH
Tuesday, January 6th: Legislative Town Hall Meeting. 6:30 PM – 8 PM, Nathan Hall High School, 10750 30th Avenue NE. Join Representative Jessyn Farrell, State Senator David Frockt, and Rep. Gerry Pollet, our state representatives to the Washington Legislature, as they preview the upcoming session down in Olympia.
Tuesday, January 6th: Cedar Park Renovation Project Public Meeting. 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM, Lake City Presbyterian Church, 3841 NE 123rd Street. Seattle Parks and Recreation invite the community to join this third community meeting on the Cedar Park project.
Saturday, January 10th: Lake City Emergency Communication Hub. 9 AM – Noon, Lake City Fred Meyer parking lot. See this demonstration of the communications set up that volunteers would be manning in case of a city-wide emergency.
Sunday, January 11th: “The Hundred Foot Journey” screening, 1 PM, Northgate Library. Rated PG-13.
Tuesday, January 20th: Victory Heights Community Council. 7 PM – 8 PM, Pre-school building in Victory Heights Park. Monthly community meeting that will feature elections of board members and officers.
Thursday, January 22nd: Thornton Creek Alliance Meeting. 7:15 PM, Meadowbrook Community Center, 10517 35th Avenue NE. Special guest John Marzluff (“Welcome to Subirdia”) will be the speaker.
Tuesday, January 27th: NW Solar Now Workshop. 6 PM – 7:30 PM, Laurelhurst Community Center. Learn more about equipping your house with solar energy. Registration can be done on the phone at (866) 376-5272 or online at http://www.nwwindandsolar.com/registration/
Despite steady rain Tuesday night, the annual Victory Heights caroling party went ahead. Fourteen people (plus a few infants) met up at Monica Harris’s house at 6:30 for cookies, apple cider, and a quick rehearsal. Then, umbrellas deployed, they headed out into the streets, this time along NE 107th Street going east, and a section of 23rd Avenue NE. They chose houses to sing for on the basis of how many Christmas lights were on display and the likelihood that someone was home. In a few cases, the carolers sang to a closed door, only to have someone appear after they were finished! At the houses where the residents answered the door there was surprise and joy, and it was nice to hear applause. The worst thing about the rain was it resulted in soggy song sheets, but next year Monica says she’ll have them laminated! Thanks to everyone who participated.
As residents of Victory Heights are used to every Thanksgiving, we will have trash pickup this week and next done on Friday, December 26th and January 2nd respectively, due to the holidays falling on Thursdays this year. Put your cans out by Friday morning. And when it’s time to finally get rid of that tree, the city says:
Free Holiday Tree Composting: Seattle residents who subscribe to curbside food and yard waste collection can put their trees and greens out on their regular collection day at no extra charge from Dec. 26, 2014 through Jan. 1, 2015.
Multi-family buildings can put out one tree next to each food and yard waste cart per collection day at no extra charge during this time.Trees should be cut into sections of six feet long or shorter, with branches trimmed to less than four feet to fit into the collection trucks. Sections should be bundled with string or non-plastic twine. Metal, plastic and ornaments in trees and wreaths must be removed.
Trees that are flocked and/or have tinsel or ornaments will be collected as extra garbage. Customers will need to cut the tree into three-foot pieces and each piece will be charged as extra garbage. Each unit of extra garbage costs $10.20. Plastic trees are not compostable.
Seattle residents can also drop off holiday trees and greens for free at Seattle Public Utilities’ South Recycling and Disposal station from Dec. 26, 2014 through Jan. 11, 2015. The tree sections 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 and wreaths without flocking or decoration may be composted free of charge.
Last night’s meeting of the Victory Heights Community Council was a mixed bag of different topics, including a presentation by Alex Vallandry of Seattle Neighborhood Group.
Read the complete minutes of the December meeting.
Alex spoke about the recent spate of car prowls and thefts and what can be done to reduce them (don’t keep anything valuable–or frankly stealable–in your car, park in well-lit areas, don’t drive 1990s era Hondas). But the silver lining if your car is stolen is it’s usually opportunists looking for a quick trip somewhere, 86% of cars are recovered, most within 12 blocks from where they were stolen. Mail theft came up, definitely a hot topic at this time of year (in fact, I found stolen mail alongside the road today and returned it to the owners, the packages had all been torn open and the contents stolen. The mail had been removed from unlocked mailboxes). Possible deterrents include finding a neighbor who stays home and having packages delivered to them instead of sitting on your doorstep, getting them delivered at work, or going in with neighbors to buy a group locking mailbox.
Caroling will return to Victory Heights again this year, starting at 6:30 PM next Tuesday, December 23rd. Meet up at the Harris house, 10512 17th Avenue NE (enter on the NE 106th side), where music sheets, cookies, and hot cider will be offered before everyone heads out into the streets. Read about last year’s caroling event.
Finally, elections are coming for the board members and officers of the Victory Heights Community Council. These two year positions include the search for a new President and Vice-President. You might think this sounds like a lot of work, but mostly the President delegates the work to someone else and just has to run the meetings once a month, which pretty much run themselves. Interested in running or being on the council’s executive board? Write to Ardith Lupton.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 20th, 2015 at 7 PM in the usual location at the preschool building in Victory Heights Park. Happy holidays, everyone!
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) began erecting “temporary” fencing around the Knickerbocker Thornton Creek site today in order to keep out “people and dogs” to allow the young vegetation a chance to grow. When construction was completed in October for the floodplain project and the construction fencing was removed it was assumed the site would remain open with clear sight lines to the newly restored creek. Alas, worries about foot traffic (both human and canine) around the sensitive new tree plantings on either side of the creek has altered plans, and new fencing will be erected around the entire site except for a gap to allow access to the pedestrian bridge. The fencing will probably remain through the winter and possibly be replaced by trees or some other type of wood barrier eventually.
UPDATE Dec. 10th: John Crawford-Gallagher, SPU’s Community Outreach Specialist, responds:
