Dumping Trash As "Free"

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Ryan

When it comes to getting rid of unwanted household items, a tired-and-true solution is to put them out in front of your house with a “Free” sign (see last week’s post)–at least until garbage day–then get rid of it! But when you put it on someone else’s property, that’s considered dumping and it’s illegal.

Alfredo Estrada on 23rd Ave NE reports someone left a plastic bin on the corner of his property with various miscellaneous items and a waterlogged piece of paper taped to it saying “Free.” He said, “It is not very neighborly to leave trash at someone else’s house. I assume it must have been someone passing by.”
Please keep an eye out for this kind of dumping.

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Then and Now: Lake City Way

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Ryan

Looking north at Lake City Way from NE 98th Street: 1955 & 2012


The “Then” photo (click to enlarge) was taken on August 22, 1955 by the City of Seattle to document the construction of the Victory Heights sewer in the newly annexed (one year earlier) part of the city. Note the crosswalk: it would take an extremely brave pedestrian to walk across a four-lane state highway at an uncontrolled intersection (or did people drive slower back then on Lake City Way?–doubtful).
The “Now” photo was taken from approximately the same spot, looking north at Lake City Way from NE 98th Street in front of what is a bus shelter on the west side. The Eagle gas station has been replaced by the Italian Spaghetti House on the east side; Les Schwab, Summa and the ActivSpace on the west side have replaced the sea of billboards along the highway.
Visit the Seattle Municipal Archives site for many fascinating period photos.
Do you have a historic photograph of Victory Heights or information about our neighborhood’s history? Please write and share with us.

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Link: Victory Heights – Initial Sale in 1920

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Ryan

The Pinehurst Seattle blog has reprinted the newspaper ad from The Seattle Sunday Times on May2, 1920 announcing the sale of lots in Victory Heights. Check out those low, low prices!
 

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Thornton Creek Alliance Meeting April 26th

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Ryan

The Thornton Creek Alliance announced its annual meeting and elections will be held on Thursday, April 26th from 7PM to 9PM at the Meadowbrook Community Center, 10517 35th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98125.

The meeting will feature a representative from the National Wildlife Federation who will provide an overview and share information about how a community can become a Wildlife Habitat team. Community Wildlife Habitats are organized by a team of people, who not only help create habitat, but also hold workshops about gardening for wildlife and organize community events such as stream or trail cleanups. Can the Thornton Creek Watershed become a Habitat team? Join the conversation.

Following the Educational Program there will be a brief annual review update on programs that affect the watershed and you:

  • Meadowbrook Pond and Confluence Projects
  • Beaver Pond Natural Area Grant
  • Northgate Light Rail
  • Hubbard Homestead Park

Committee Reports and elections will also be held.

For more information, see their Facebook page: 

facebook.com/Thornton.Creek.Alliance

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A Week And Some Change

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Ryan

Today is the one-week anniversary of the blog and already change is in the air! Apparently I wasn’t the only Victory Heights resident who thought having a blog was a good idea. Unbeknownst to me, several months ago the Neighborhood North District Council had gotten the ball rolling on starting a blog here and even paid for a domain (victoryheights.org) to be purchased for that use. I was blissfully unaware when I beat them to the punch by going live first.
Next Monday I’ll be attending a meeting with our Victory Heights Community Council representative, Shammara Estrada, and somehow we’ll consolidate all these efforts into one awesome Victory Heights blog (either here or at the new domain). Stay tuned, your friends and neighbors are dedicated to keeping you informed on the latest news for Victory Heights residents.

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Democratic Caucuses Sparsely Attended

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Ryan

No one from Precinct 2316 attended the Democratic Caucus.


The turnout for Democratic caucuses today in the 46th District was extremely low compared with four years ago. Only three people from Precinct 2309 (the area between NE 100th and NE 105th east of 20th Ave) and none from Precinct 2316 (between 105th and NE Northgate Way) turned up to select delegates that will move on to the Legislative Caucus and Country Conventions to be held later this month.
To the surprise of no one, President Obama had the unanimous support from the few attendees.

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While They Last: Free Chairs

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Ryan


There are four free chairs sitting at the corner of NE 102nd and 21st Ave NE. First-come, first-served.

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New Construction Nears Completion

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Ryan

The new house at 10718 19th Ave NE, set behind the house on 19th Ave, is nearly finished construction. The driveway still needs to be paved, but according to permits issued by the city, the electrical and sewer work has been completed. A small shed had been demolished in 2008 to make room for the new building located on a “porkchop” lot familiar to Victory Heights residents. The project had been delayed several years due to the housing crunch, with the building permit renewed in 2009 and in February 2011, when work finally began. Port Gardner Architects in Everett were the original applicant.
 

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Do rates go down by half if garbage pickup goes biweekly?

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Ryan

If you saw the article earlier this month in the Seattle Times, Seattle Public Utilities is starting a pilot program in July to only pick up garbage every other week rather than each week. It would follow that the cost should go down 50% too, right?  Maybe not.
Following an inquiry by a neighbor, they received this reply from the city:

Thank you for contacting us regarding our planned project to test every other week garbage pickup later this year in a few neighborhoods. If the City decided to implement this Citywide, we would not be able to reduce customer bills by half, unfortunately. The City would save about 30% of the garbage collection costs, or $6 million per year, but that represents a small share of total costs covered by customer garbage bills. Other costs include payments for disposal, recycling, clean city efforts, billing, customers service and other system costs. The savings with these costs included would be approximately 10%. We hope to get more feedback from customers through our test project regarding these limited bill savings and other potential challenges. Any consideration for citywide change is a couple years away.
 
Thank you again for contacting us with your question.
 
Hans Van Dusen
Solid Waste Contracts Manager
206.684.4657

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Follow us on Twitter

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Ryan

Follow the official Victory Heights Blog twitter feed. We’ll update you whenever a new article, or breaking news in our neighborhood occurs.
http://twitter.com/victoryheights2

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