March / April 2006
Public Events
Eastlake Bouledrome at Louisa Street End
Ron Hilbert (Zadesqideb) 1943-2006
Lake Union’s Southeast Shoreline—Help Enhances Habitat and the New Pathway
Be a Graffiti Ranger
Air Mail on Lake Union—Part I
Welcome New County Councillor Larry Phillips, and Discuss Buses, Streetcars, & Parking on Eastlake Ave. at May 9 Meeting
Most Popular Place in Town
April 18 - Your Suggestions and Involvement Needed for the Eastlake Art Walk/Art Show and the Eastlake Shake Festival
Eastlake Joins Fight Against Invasive Weeds
Volunteers Needed for Eastlake’s Parks
The Other Side of the Ocean
Eastlake Community Land Trust
Entering Eastlake — What Should the Signs Say and Look Like?
ECC Needs Volunteers & Donations
Emergency And Police Numbers
Classified Ads
Membership Information
Advertisers
PUBLIC EVENTS
Sat., April 8
Louisa street-end work party, 10. to 4 (769-8278).
Sat., April 1
Lake Union Southeast shoreline work party, 10-3 (322-5463, cleman@oo.net). Also on April 2, 9, 15, 16, 23, 29, and 30. (see article)
Tues., April 18
ECC public meeting on the Eastlake Art Walk & Eastlake Shake 7-9 p.m., TOPS-Seward School, 2500 Franklin Ave. 7 p.m. Art Walk/Art Show, 7.30 p.m. Neighborhood festival
Sat., April 22
Earth Day work parties: Louisa Street-end (10 to 4, 769-8278); Fairview Park (2900 Fairview, 9:30 to 2, 328-2161), and Good Turn Park (3149 Fairview, 10 to noon, 261-4271).
Tues., May 9
Public meeting with County Councilmember Phillips, and about improving transit. 7-9 p.m., TOPS-Seward School, 2500 Franklin Ave Topics will include ways to introduce Eastlake stops for express buses that currently use Eastlake avenue without stopping (see article)
Wed.., May 17
Good Turn Park work party, 6-8 p.m. (261-4271).
Fri., May 19
TOPS-Seward School Arts Fest, 5:30-7 p.m., 2500 Franklin Ave. E.
Fri., Sat., May 19, 20
TOPS-Seward School Elementary School Play, 7 p.m. in the gym (252- 3510)
Wed., June 14
Good Turn Park work party, 6-8 p.m. (261-4271).
Eastlake Bouledrome at Louisa Street End
by the Friends of the Eastlake Bouledrome
Have you taken a walk along Fairview recently? During the last month, neighbors and friends have done an astounding job of transforming the Louisa street into a beautiful park. And you may wonder what the heck is that court for? It’s a pétanque court! Pétanque is a game played with metal balls called ‘boules’ – it’s related to bocce and lawn bowling – the goal of these games is to throw your balls closest to a smaller ball that is thrown out first. The game is simple, relaxing, lots of fun and a perfect way to make new friends. It’s a social event, and this Bouledrome is a great spot for neighbors and friends to meet.
The park is being made possible by hundreds of volunteer hours from Eastlake friends and
neighbors, contributions from local and area businesses, and a matching grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. (More details later when the project is complete).
The park will be completed in the next few weeks. Watch for flyers announcing the grand opening! Come and relax, enjoy views from the shoreline – and bring your boules!
Rules of Pétanque
The game is always played in teams, for example:
· Singles - one player per team (three boules per player)
· Doubles - two players per team (three boules per player)
· Triples - three players per team (two boules per player)
When there are an uneven number of players on teams, the number of balls per team must be the same.
A coin toss determines who starts the game. The winner draws a circle on the court with a diameter of from 14-20 inches (35 - 50 cm). Both feet must be inside this circle, touching the ground, when playing. The player then throws the small wooden ball (jack) to a distance of between 20 – 33 feet (6 - 10 meters) from the starting circle. The jack must be visible and at least 3 feet 3inches (1 meter) from any obstacle or boundary, otherwise it must be thrown again.
A player from the team that wins the toss then plays the first boule, trying to place it as close to the jack as possible. Then the opposing team must get closer to the jack and keeps playing until they succeed. When they do, it is back to the first team to do better, and so forth. When one team runs out of boules the other team plays their remaining boules. A player may choose to ‘place’ a boule (get it as near as possible to the jack) or ‘shoot’ it (attempt to displace another boule).
A point is scored for each boule that is nearer to the jack than the opposing team’s nearest boule. The team that wins a round starts the next one by drawing a new circle where the jack was in the previous round, and tossing the jack. One game is usually played up to 13 points.
Ron Hilbert (Zadesqideb) 1943-2006
Born at Tulalip but a life-long Seattle resident, Ron Hilbert (ancestral name Zadesqideb), passed away on January 24, 2006. Ron was a well-known artist, storyteller and educator who melded his interests in fine art with his dedication to arts education. He was encouraged by his mother and step-father, Vi and Don Hilbert, as well as by Lummi storyteller Pauline Hillaire and anthropologist Pamela Amoss.
In the 1970s Ron realized his grandmother’s wishes for him to be a teacher and attended the UW and Pembroke State University in North Carolina. He was also embarking on what would be an anchor in his art career - book illustration - and in 1978 provided illustrations for Amoss’ book Coast Salish Spirit Dancing (UW Press), following in the 80s and 90s with illustration for several of his mother’s books for UW Press and Lushootseed Press.
By the mid 1980s his desire to concentrate on painting and sculpture coalesced with a profound urge to give visual form to traditional Puget Sound Native ritual activities, including the First Salmon Ceremony, Treaty Day celebrations and the intense experiences of winter dancers in practicing their ancestral religion. Although some of Hilbert’s work has been seen as controversial due to its spiritual content, the imagery collapses time and reminds us that these traditions form an unbroken continuum from the long-ago past to the present.
While Hilbert worked in sculpture, creating talking staffs and other three-dimensional sculpture, his real forte was in relief sculpture made from cedar planks to which repoussé copper or bronze has been added, then painted. Some of the larger works, over eight feet long, contain hundreds of figures. Although hammered bronze and copper are known to have been used by many cultures since ancient times, Hilbert breathed new life into the technique, as the subtly modeled forms invoke the atmosphere of metered song, explosive dance movements and communal respect.
Hilbert said that “the spirit has given me inspiration to create the truth of our past and present, and to bring it forth from the heart.” Although many examples of pre-contact Puget Sound Salish art have been lost due to unbearable pressures on Native customs, Hilbert’s work epitomizes the spiritual teachings and philosophy that underpin the culture, perhaps more than any Salish artist of his generation. Unlike some contemporary Salish artists who go to books or museum collections to learn, Hilbert got his ideas from personal remembrances, dreams and spiritual messages. He did not make art to be commercially successful, but rather to fulfill a personal imperative and to teach others.
Notable exhibitions of Ron Hilbert’s work were at the Burke Museum in 1989 for the state centennial exhibition “A Time of Gathering,” and more recently the Seattle Art Museum in the show “Song, Story, Speech: Oral Traditions of Puget Sound’s First People,” and at the Stonington Gallery in “Awakenings: Contemporary Coast Salish Art.”
A remarkable carved and painted salmon story mural by Ron Hilbert can be seen on the width of the building at 3125 Eastlake Ave. His other notable public works include a series of paintings on spirit dancing (originally in the Seattle Center and now in the Convention Center), a design for the bus shelter mural program, a major piece at Daybreak Star Art Center, and a multi-artist commission for the UW Allen Library entitled “Raven Brings Light to this House of Stories.”
Ron’s artistry was nurtured and appreciated by a large extended family, including his mother, step-father, sister Lois Schluter (and husband Walter), nephew Jay Sampson (wife Bedelia, children Damoss and Lilly), and niece Jill LaPointe (husband John, children Sasha and Beau, grandchildren Orion and Schyler) as well as numerous friends and art patrons.
Lake Union’s Southeast Shoreline—Help Enhances Habitat and the New Pathway
A wild remainder of the Lake Union shoreline is the southeast bank along the 1500 and 1600 blocks of Fairview Avenue E., between NOAA and Lake Union Dry Dock. Please join neighborhood volunteers in removing a century of trash and invasive plants like blackberries, ivy, clematis, and scotch broom in favor of donated native trees, shrubs, and ground cover.
This is great exercise, and very satisfying. Songbirds quickly arrive to celebrate. Cormorants and wood ducks come and go offshore. Kingfishers dive from the madrones for their fishy dinner while the volunteers enjoy their own free snacks. (And beavers began munching on the newly liberated trees, so we’re protecting the trunks with wire.)
Thanks go to the more than 70 volunteers who have helped at one of the many work parties, and to the following businesses for hot drinks and snacks: Cuppa Joe On the Go, Starbucks, Grand Central Bakery, Louisa’s, Le Fournil, Eastlake Market, and Chaco Canyon.
The work parties include the following Saturdays: April 1, 15, and 29; and the following Sundays, April 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30. Come for an hour, a day, or a weekend, and make natural history! This project is led by the Eastlake Community Council, and advised by the City’s Urban Creek Legacy program. Let us know if your company or school could help on a different date. Tax-exempt donations to the project may be made to the Olmsted-Fairview Park Commission, 85 E. Roanoke Street, Seattle 98102-3222.
In early January under a $20,000 agreement with the City, the Eastlake Community Council built safer, better-drained, and more usable parking and a first-ever pathway on the west edge of the Fairview Avenue E. right-of-way. This project is the second phase of Fairview shoreline improvements called for in the 1994 Eastlake Transportation Plan and 1998 Eastlake Neighborhood Plan. As the first phase, the Seattle Public Utilities Department re-graded and graveled the parking area in front of NOAA in 1997, adding parking spaces and the first segment of pathway. Still in discussion is a future third phase, from the existing Lake Union Dry Dock sidewalk south to Fairview Avenue North.
The silt fence that was required during construction has been removed, leaving black filter fabric, part of which is needed as a weed barrier. While we could cut off the currently visible part, the City has advised us to leave it in place as a weed barrier border between the new pathway and the native plantings. It will eventually be covered over (largely by cedar logs), but we are concentrating our scarce volunteer hours on removing the ivy and blackberry roots in the flatter areas and replacing them with native plants.
While we’ve removed some ivy, blackberries, and clematis on the slopes to save the trees and to make room for native plants, their roots on the slopes are so deep amidst the huge concrete blocks that underlie much of the lake bank that they will never be fully eradicated. Under our permits and agreements with the City, we are doing our current work with hand tools (not with power tools or herbicides), and are being very careful.
Be a Graffiti Ranger
Going along Boylston Avenue East or under I-5 to Lakeview Boulevard in January meant being confronted with a wild proliferation of graffiti.
Taggers even hit some of the new sound barriers along I-5, and parts of Colonnade Park.
Those in the know say that quick removal of graffiti is important, and leaving it in place only encourages the taggers. City laws require private landowners to remove graffiti promptly, and public agencies are committed to removing graffiti from public property. On both private and public property, you can offer a gentle reminder or can offer to help in graffiti removal.
There are two main City numbers for reporting graffiti -
the Graffiti Hotline: 206-684-7587 #2 or the Police non-emergency line: 206-625-5011.
Be sure to provide as accurate a description of the location as possible, including what the tag has been painted on, the cross streets, which side of the street, etc.
But just reporting graffiti won’t do the job. Other neighborhoods, including nearby Roanoke Park, are well organized to paint out graffiti (free paint is available) and they work continuously with authorities for quick removal of graffiti that volunteers cannot reach.
At present Eastlake doesn’t have someone to take calls about graffiti, encourage other volunteers, and follow up with agencies with property in the neighborhood. We also need people who just enjoy painting out graffiti when it is reported. Please step up to help in some way! For information, contact Chris Leman, (206) 322-5463, cleman@oo.net.
Air Mail on Lake Union—Part I
by Paul G. Spitzer
During 1919 and again in 1920 something of international significance occurred in Seattle—and it happened on Lake Union.
In March of 1919, letters bearing Canadian postmarks traveled from Vancouver to the Boeing Lake Union hangar described in the last issue of the Eastlake News. The flight was a one-time event and the first instance of airmail crossing the American border. In October, 1920 something quite different occurred when letters intended for the Orient began regularly crossing the border on flights between Lake Union and Victoria. These flights met transpacific ships in Victoria and deserve to be called the first U.S. international postal service.
This story begins with Eddie Hubbard and William Boeing carrying the first air mail to cross the U.S. border. Boeing was, of course, the founder of the airplane company which owned the red three-plane hangar with white trim on Lake Union at the foot of Roanoke Street. It was where the firm had early on assembled a few trainers before serious production in World War One caused all work to be moved to a true manufacturing plant. Afterwards little happened at 56 Roanoke Street. Finding a profitable use for the hangar proved difficult.
Eddie Hubbard was a very able test pilot for William Boeing at the time. The two tried selling joy rides and local trips around the Puget Sound region, but the business showed few signs of becoming profitable. At best the airplanes attracted a lot of what they called “non-productive spectators” who interfered with business. Boeing put up barricades, signs and even turned an empty airplane bay into a visitors’ gallery. The visitors however bought neither rides nor airplanes. More business was needed. At this point, Boeing had invested nearly $10,000 in just the building and gotten very little use from it. He hoped to sell it, but no buyer could be found.
In December, 1918, Boeing and Hubbard started working on the idea of flights to Victoria and Vancouver. Given this, it is surprising that someone else came up with the idea of airmail crossing the border. Airmail had already been tried a few times before in the Pacific Northwest and international service had even occurred in Europe. In early 1919 Canadian officials asked Boeing to carry mail from Vancouver to Seattle. The one-time-only event would be recognized as the America’s first international airmail, but to call the incident American is misleading.
Unofficially the flight started at Lake Union in February, 1919 when the two men set off north, but they experienced a mishap on landing at Anacortes and had to turn back. The plane was a Model C, an open-cockpit, two-place military trainer on floats personally owned by Boeing. Although it lacked satisfactory range, it was used again on a second try in March. They carried a small number of letters that would get postmarked in Vancouver for the return trip south. These northering letters, unofficial though they were, are the first international airmail in North America. Altogether only sixty letters total went on the official south-bound trip, March 3, 1919, carried in a rough canvas mailbag that was far from full. Stenciled on it is “Canada P.O.” clearly visible in the photo taken in front of the Roanoke Street hangar.
Despite the cold—there was little flying in the winter in the Pacific Northwest—Hubbard became serious about airmail and worked to establish a year-round airmail service for himself. On Oct. 3, 1920, the U.S. post office awarded him a regular mail route to Victoria, B.C. For there to be a route at all, there first had to have been the lobbying of government officials. William Boeing, in fact, had been in Washington, D.C. trying unsuccessfully for a much longer route to Alaska and presumably another one to Canada. Official flights to Victoria began Oct. 15th, just twelve days after the route was awarded to Hubbard Air Service. Again he used the Model C trainer and, at first, flew out of Lake Washington from Renton. Hubbard’s winning bid was for $200 per round trip with each trip 84 air miles one way.
Early on Hubbard had a wreck, but service continued with few accidents. He replaced the Model C within months with a more modern Boeing B-1, a forest green flying boat with a hull constructed of laminated wood veneer. Its construction was similar to that used in building crew racing shells for the University of Washington. In fact, the workers who built the B-1 were undoubtedly Lake Union shell builders George and Richard Pocock who were Boeing employees at the time. The sturdy construction resulted in an airplane that flew more than 300,000 miles and went through half a dozen engines before finally coming to rest in Montlake at the Museum of History and Industry.
Hubbard’s first flight carried 150 pounds of mail bound for the Orient aboard the steamer Africa Maru in Victoria. The whole point of the route was transpacific mail unlike the previous border crossing mail to Vancouver. Seattle postmaster Edward McGrath, who grandly declared it a “day to remember,” assisted with the loading of the four or five mail sacks before a small, bedraggled crowd described as “mildly interested.” Hubbard departed in a beating rain at 2:15 pm with a less than common takeoff toward the north over the gas works. In Victoria, he was met by the local postmaster at a wharf in the Inner Harbor. Coming home, he carried one passenger and one sack of mail, although mail service quickly increased on later flights with a contract limit of 600 pounds. His return trip took 80 minutes, 22 more than the trip north, and he landed at 7:20 pm.
To many, even then, the service seemed marginal, but Hubbard knew how to make money on a payment schedule that ruined other early carriers. Besides using the economical B-1 and avoiding costly accidents, he kept the fuel cost at a minimum by not flying any higher than was necessary, namely under the overcast and often just a few feet above the waves. Some who accompanied him described it as too low for comfort and when fog made it necessary, Hubbard would taxi for a while at forty m.p.h. He did not believe in wasting gas or wearing out his engine just for altitude. An airplane mechanic, Mike Pavoni, who was occasionally a passenger, described meeting ships in the fog and having barely enough time to avoid a collision.
Still service was remarkably safe and it was very unusual when Hubbard did not fly.
There were always rumors of bootlegging, but at the prevailing twenty dollars for a fifth of bootleg whiskey, Hubbard didn’t have much incentive. If he did, the government officials were talking to the wrong party when they asked him to watch out for aerial “rum runners.” Pavoni, who talked of getting booze on other occasions, would probably have mentioned it. Flying into Lake Union, in the center of town, hardly favored anything illegal. Besides, the plane went through customs. Hubbard was not unaware of the bootlegging possibilities since his mechanic, Les Hubble, worked for two Seattle bootleggers as well. Their high-powered speedboats used big 400 hp Liberty aircraft engines, just like the B-1. Maybe Hubbard was involved; maybe not. Even at the time people didn’t know what to conclude. However, he died in1928 and there may have been something implied in the astonishment of others that a 41 year old aviator left an estate of over a million dollars.
In 1922, amazingly, more than half the air freight officially carried in the U.S. went in mail sacks through the Lake Union hangar. Hubbard, unfortunately, lost the route in ‘23 to a bidder who embarked on a great expansion of business built around a larger plane. Hubbard, meanwhile, continued to work in his well-paying sideline as a test pilot for Boeing. Instead of profits, the intruder incurred losses and was forced to subcontract the mail to Hubbard, who went on to win back the route in the next bidding. Also, he continued carrying passengers as was allowed in the contract. The B-1 had loads of capacity that the mail route did not usually need. Often two fares at $25 each rode in the open, but relatively plush, second cockpit. Hubbard, himself, certainly did not live the highlife; instead he resided with his wife, Mildred, in nearby modest dwellings on Shelby and Franklin streets. His successors on the route, however, were sometimes reduced to living in the Lake Union hangar.
The business itself was marginal in another, non-financial way because it responded to a special circumstance. Transpacific steamers put in at Victoria to unload the Canada-bound part of their cargo before continuing on to ports on the Sound. Sometimes putting an incoming sack of transpacific mail on Hubbard’s plane at Victoria could save a day or more and sometimes only hours. Flying the mail, which often consisting of banking papers, letters of credit or bills of lading for huge silk shipments, was a great money saver for Seattle businessmen. Even hours could save a lot of money. Outbound flights meant that U.S. mail that had just missed a departing steamer in Seattle could occasionally catch up with the vessel instead of waiting a week or more for the next ship.
Through the 1920s people along the lake became familiar with the B-1, watching the green flying boat depart between 2 and 2:30 in the afternoon. Flights occurred usually twice a week on a schedule determined by the ships, not the calendar or the weather. Before departure a Post Office truck arrived at 56 Roanoke Street with the outgoing mail and another would be there to unload the plane when Hubbard returned before dark. He and his substitute pilots were delayed often enough that they became adept at landing in the dark using just the faint city lights reflecting off the lake. Even a daylight landing was not easy on a “working lake” cluttered with floating debris and vessels moored everywhere. “Eddie” was now relatively famous, widely admired and he continued flying until July 1927 when he decided not to bid the contract.
See the next issue of the Eastlake News for the concluding half of this article. A retired history professor, Paul G. Spitzer formerly was corporate Historian at Boeing and Curator at the Museum of History and Industry.
Welcome New County Councillor Larry Phillips, and Discuss Buses, Streetcars, & Parking on Eastlake Ave. at May 9 Meeting
ECC’S public meeting on Tuesday, May 9, 7-9 p.m. at the TOPS-Seward School library welcomes our new King County Councilmember Larry Phillips, a distinguished former legislator who now chairs the Council. Also included: updates on a possible streetcar line on Eastlake Avenue, how to implement the Seattle Transit Plan’s priority for some Eastlake stops by all express buses that use Eastlake Avenue, and what the City is doing about the Eastlake Neighborhood Plan’s call to restore peak-hour parking to Eastlake Avenue.
Volunteers are needed to help ECC on these issues: cleman@oo.net, (206) 322-5463.
April 18 - Your Suggestions and Involvement Needed for the Eastlake Art Walk/Art Show and the Eastlake Shake Festival
Help plan two summer events at a public meeting on Tuesday, April 18 (7 p.m. in the library at TOPS-Seward School, 2500 Franklin Ave. E.). In the first segment, offer your ideas and involvement in Eastlake’s art walk and outdoor art show, to be centered at North Gateway park (where Eastlake Avenue intersects with Harvard Avenue). Organizers Patrick Howe (322-5540, patrick@patrickhowe.com) and Craig Ogle (920-8544, oglecraig@yahoo.com) seek artists who will exhibit as well as people to help put on and publicize the event.
Then at 7:30, we will discuss plans for the Eastlake Shake neighborhood festival which for the past three years has been held on an August Saturday between Seward School and Rogers Playfield. Without some new volunteers, the Eastlake Shake will not happen this summer. Please come and help brainstorm how to improve the event and make it happen. For background on previous Eastlake Shakes, see www.eastlakeshake.com, and to offer ideas and involvement for this one, write to ECC, 117 E. Louisa #1, Seattle 98102, phone 322-5463, or e-mail to cleman@oo.net. If you can’t make it to this discussion or the earlier segment about the art walk/art show, we especially want to hear from you.
Ericcé Seattle (2345 Eastlake Ave. 325-8882, www.ericce.com) is a new boutique for women and men that is attracting customers from throughout the region. Clothing, accessories, and jewelry are offered from such brands as Diane von Furstenberg, Theory, and Good Religion. … Welcome also to Sitka & Spruce (2238 Eastlake Ave.) a restaurant founded by Matt Dillon of Herbfarm, Supreme, and Stumbling Goat fame. Sitka & Spruce’s phone is 324-0662, and their web site is www.sitkaandspruce.com. … Hiroshi’s Restaurant (2501 Eastlake Ave., 726-4966, www.hiroshis.com) offers live jazz sponsored by the Pony Boy record company on Friday nights 7:30 to 10; there is no cover charge. … The Floating Homes Tour will be September 10. To volunteer, or for information on tickets, contact coordinator Melissa Ahlers, melissa_ahlers@hotmail.com.
Piper Davis, daughter of founder Gwen Bassetti co-owns the Grand Central Bakery (1616 Eastlake Ave. E.) and is the café product development manager. She is behind the new menu that emphasizes seasonal and local produce and ingredients such as certified-organic eggs from Rickman Gulch Farm in Eastern Washington, cheeses from Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, and salami from Salumi (both based in Seattle). Special sandwiches for spring are Eruben, Tofuben, Cubano (pork loin), Tofu Cubano, and Meat and Potato. … Eastlake Framing (1520 Eastlake Ave. E. #108, 322-5080) offers custom framing as well as handmade jewelry and pillows. … Friends of Uganda Seattle (ellenmfh@msn.com, 324-2981) seeks volunteers to teach reading for grades 1-3 in two Kampala schools, one of them mostly AIDS orphans. Eastlake resident Ellen Henderson and her husband will be there from late May through June, and can help arrange for you to visit for as short or long as you wish.
The Tudor Choir (2366 Eastlake Ave #335, www.tudorchoir.org) is recording an album called Simple Gifts, and will perform from it a concert featuring Shaker tunes, folk tunes, and settings of serene transcendentalist and devotional texts from the Anglo-American tradition on Saturday, April 8 (8 p.m. at Town Hall, 8th and Seneca., $25 general admission, $20 seniors, $15 students). … Orchestral and solo works of Vivaldi are featured as the Seattle Baroque Orchestra (2366 Eastlake Ave., 322-3118, www.seattlebaroque.org) performs April 22 and April 23 in the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall. Sunday afternoon concerts are free for kids 7-17 if accompanied by an adult.
Participating in one of the Lake Union southeast shoreline work parties were volunteers from the Northwest Tree Alliance. The Alliance aims to integrate environmental education and the arts, and is organizing a Northwest Tree Festival for spring 2007. Members, donors, interns, and volunteers are sought. For more information: http://www.nwtreealliance.org.
Although sidewalks are typically located within the adjoining road right-of-way, State law holds the abutting property owner responsible for sidewalk maintenance. Homeowners can request that the City provide a temporary asphalt path to cover dangerous sidewalks. Liability can shift to the City if sidewalk damage is caused by a tree that is installed or maintained by the City. For information, contact Charles Bookman of the Seattle Department of Transportation, charles.bookman@seattle.gov, 233-0044.
Mention in this column does not imply endorsement by the ECC, writer, or editor. Send your news to Chris Leman (cleman@oo.net) or c/o ECC, 117 E. Louisa St. #1, Seattle 98102.
Eastlake Joins Fight Against Invasive Weeds
The songbirds, salmon, and other wildlife once common in Eastlake would be more numerous if they found more habitats. Unfortunately, the native plants that used to shelter and feed them have largely been pushed aside by more vigorous Himalayan blackberry, English Ivy, Scotch Broom, clematis, and Japanese knotweed.
These invasive plants fill the soil with roots, and their thick foliage makes it all but impossible for native ground cover and shrubs. Himalayan blackberry kills off the wild blackberry. As the Lake Union southeast shoreline project has cut back Himalayan blackberry and English ivy, we find wild blackberry, ferns, red currant, and Oregon grape—all native plants that can grow again.
Even trees are overcome with ivy and clematis. The ivy in a single tree can weigh more than a ton, catching the wind to bring it down, while blocking needed sunlight and views, and depriving songbirds of a place to perch or nest. If the ivy stems are cut, the vines will die and the treeward leaves will eventually fall off. Any tree on public land that has ivy or clematis should be freed of it, as this is now City policy. Private landowners are usually unaware of the damage that ivy and clematis do to trees, and may be happy to give you permission to cut the stems.
Japanese knotweed is particularly aggressive. Once deeply rooted, it should not even be dug up, as the chopped-up roots resprout resplendently. Japanese knotweed can be cut off or pulled out—but don’t put the greens in with other garden debris, or they will sprout again. Knotweed specialists are sought, so this problem doesn’t become more widespread in Eastlake.
Eastlake joins with City and state agencies (and even the Forest Service, which is finding these species in the National Forests) in fighting invasive weeds. Volunteers and suggestions are most welcome, to cleman@oo.net, 322-5463.
Volunteers Needed for Eastlake’s Parks
Eastlakers enjoy a growing number of parks—large and small. All of these parks need our love to keep them clean and weeded, and to work with the City on needed improvements Please help out at work parties—or better yet, volunteer to coordinate one yourself. The Parks Department’s maintenance budget has been cut, so even the biggest parks need us. Plus, the City allowed us to build some of our shoreline parks only on the condition that the community maintains them. Parks that need a coordinator include Rogers Playfield (Eastlake’s oldest) and Colonnade Park (Eastlake’s and the City’s newest), the Lake Union southeast shoreline project, and North Gateway Park (under I-5 where Harvard and Eastlake intersect), but all parks need more volunteers. To find out more, or volunteer: cleman@oo.net, (206) 322-5463.
The Other Side of the Ocean
The Other Side of the Ocean, a book by Eastlake resident Barbara Heather is a must-read for anyone interested in trans-atlantic history and personal experiences. Heather’s is the remarkable story of growing up in a Quaker family in Germany and several moves across the Atlantic ocean in the years before and during World War II.
The book is is a very personal and honest account, providing insightful pictures into the joys, hopes and difficulties during those times. In addition the book is peppered with interesting historical facts.
Coming from the other side of the ocean myself, I couldn’t put the book down until I read the final page. By Usch Engelmann.
Barbara Heather, The other side of the Ocean - A Family Chronicle 1899-1946,
ISBN 0-9758765-0-3, barbaraheather@hotmail.com.
Eastlake Community Land Trust
Founded in 1990, ECLT exists to protect the interests of renters and to preserve and reclaim Eastlake’s historic economic diversity. The Land Trust is seeking an apartment property to be operated with permanently affordable rents. In Eastlake’s hot housing market, properties often sell soon after (or even before!) being listed. Thus the Land Trust appreciates the opportunity to make an offer before a property goes on the open market. As ECLT is tax-exempt, the donor of properties can realize significant tax advantages. If you have or know of a candidate property, please contact board member Paul Hanson, paul.kari@mac.com, 971-5610.
Entering Eastlake — What Should the Signs Say and Look Like?
Eastlake lacks a sign welcoming people to the neighborhood. Susan Savelle, who started this campaign, says, “As a pass-through neighborhood, Eastlake can be forgotten as a community. We need a sign that conveys our special personality.” The signs cost $300 each, and donations may be sent to ECC Sign Fund, 117 E. Louisa St. #1, Seattle 98102. A generous anonymous donor has contributed $300 for the first sign, and we have received another $5 toward the second—please give generously.
Around the city, a lot of the signs are plain and lack illustrations. Can Eastlake’s sign be more distinctive in its words and look? Please send in your suggestions, to Susan Savelle at Bridge Blond Salon, 2373 Eastlake Ave., Seattle 98102 (329-1362) and by e-mail to cleman@oo.net.
We’ve gotten some great designs already, and welcome more. But in the next few months, let’s choose the words and then we will put some of the possible designs in a future issue. Below are is a list of current entries.
Eastlake: In the heart of the city
Eastlake: It’s east of the lake
Eastlake—by the lake (symbol of life preserver)
Welcome to the Lake
Eastlake, the Heart of Seattle
Don’t Honk. We Walk.
Welcome to Eastlake. Enjoy Your Stay.
Welcome to the Eastlake Neighborhood
Welcome Through Eastlake
Eastlake: Get Sidetracked
Eastlake Welcomes You
Eastlake—Where Boeing Began
Eastlake—Boeing ditched us too
Welcome to Eastlake: A Neighborhood Bridge
Welcome to Eastlake, Houseboat Haven
Welcome to Eastlake, Houseboat Heaven
Welcome to Eastlake, Floating Home Paradise
Welcome to Eastlake, Flotilla of Homes
Eastlake: A Lot of Floaters
Eastlake: Stay and Stroll
Stop in and see Eastlake
Eastlake: Neighborhood by the Lake
Head off the Beaten Path to the Eastlake Neighborhood
Eastlake: Neighborhood under and beside I-5
Eastlake Neighborhood: Urban Oasis
Eastlake: Stroll a Neighborhood Oasis!
Eastlake: Stroll and Smile
Eastlake: Make Way for Ducklings (sign in shape of duck)
ECC Needs Volunteers & Donations
The Eastlake Community Council builds community and enhances the neighborhood only with your help. We are all-volunteer, so donations of cash, stock, bequests, or real estate will go a long way. We are also looking for a used digital projector to go along with our old Kodak carousel projector. And we need your volunteer effort in any of the following:
(1) Organize an Eastlake auction or a neighborhood-wide day of yard sales.
(2) Weed in parks or organize new tree-planting efforts
(3) Notify the City about graffiti and help paint it out. Or adopt a block for litter pick-up.
(4) Serve on ECC’s land use committee, helping the board review land use proposals
(5) Help make Lynn Street between Boylston and Eastlake avenues safer and more beautiful
(6) Distribute the Eastlake News on your block or nearby
(7) Interview Eastlake pioneers to preserve our irreplaceable history
(8) Help the Eastlake Arts Council organize an arts walk and art show
(9) Help organize a block or dock watch for crime prevention and disaster preparedness
(10) Represent the neighborhood at the East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition meetings
Interested? Write to ECC, 117 E. Louisa Street #1, Seattle 98102, cleman@oo.net, or phone 322-5463.
Emergency And Police Numbers
911 Crime, fire, health, or other emergency in progress
684-4071 Harbor Police
684-8763 Illegally parked or abandoned vehicles
684-5740 Investigations of burglary and theft
684-5797 Narcotics investigations
684-0330 Domestic violence
625-5911 Crime problems not requiring an immediate response
684-7717 Advice on setting up a block watch
Community police team: Officer Tyrone Davis 684-4373 or tyrone.davis@seattle.gov
Classified Ads
1 Panasonic Fax machine with telephone, works well, model KX-FHD331, $15, (206) 577-7186 (leave message)
Eastlake News Classifieds:
$4 per ad (4 lines, each additional line $1)
To place an ad, call 206-577-7186 or e-mail uengelmann@comcast.net
Eastlake News - a publication by the
Eastlake Community Council
117 E. Louisa Street, #1
Seattle, WA 98102-3278
Advertising & Editorial
Usch Engelmann. Please contact Usch at uengelmann@comcast.net
. We welcome any comments, articles or images for possible
publication.
We would like to thank our advertisers!
Please click on the advertiser's name to go their website (if available.)
