November / December 2004
Content:
Public Events
The ECC needs You!
Donations needed for expenses of August 17 crime victim
Some children allowed access to TOPS-Seward School
Meeting to examine designs for street-end under University Bridge
Volunteers needed for Community-Buidling
ECC position on I-5 noise walls
Neighborhood kids wanted!
Most Popular Place in Town
Neighborhood plan volumes sought
ECC: making a difference for Eastlake
How will the mayor respond on Possible Street Car and L.I.D.?
Zoning and Land Projects to be Featured at January 25 ECC Public Meeting
Greening Up Planting Strips and Clearing Sidewalks
Membership Information
Advertisers
PUBLIC EVENTS
Sat., Nov. 20 --- Good Turn Park work party 1-3 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 27 --- Fairview Park work party, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (between Eastlake Ave. and Fairview Ave. at Shelby St.)
Sun., Nov. 28 --- Seattle Marathon, half marathon, marathon walk, and kids marathon. Wave as the multitudes run or walk up Del Mar Drive, cross I-5 at Roanoke Street, and follow Boylston Avenue East to Lakeview Blvd.
Info: www.seattlemarathon.org, 729-3660.
Mon., Dec. 13 --- Fairview Green Street (Newton to Roanoke streets)—committee meets 6 p.m. at 2510 Fairview Ave. E. (enter from back upper level) (check eastlake.oo.net web site to confirm this meeting)
Tue., Jan. 25 --- Public meeting to discuss land use and zoning issues for the Eastlake neighborhood,
7-9 p.m. in the library at TOPS-Seward School, 2500 Franklin Ave. E.. --- (see article page 11)
Wed., Jan. 26 --- Public meeting about designing a green space under the south end of the University Bridge ,
7 p.m. at Pocock Rowing Center, 3320 Fuhrman Ave. E. — (see article previous page)
January 2005 --- Self-Defense Workshop, please check website for updates and specific time and date.
January 2005 --- Crime Prevention Meeting, please check website for updates and specific time and date.
The ECC Needs You!
by Erica Smith
The Eastlake Community Council needs you! With some 4000 residents in Eastlake and another 4000 people working here, the ECC has many constituents and issues to cover. What issues are important to you? Crime? Parks? Schools? Parking? Neighborhood-serving businesses? Land use? preservation? The ECC listens to and represents the Eastlake community on such issues and needs your ideas and support to succeed!
The ECC Board invites you to join us in our mission to enhance and preserve this neighborhood. The ECC needs dues-paying members to accomplish this mission! Whether you are new to the neighborhood or have lived or worked here many years, please join us! Annual household memberships are just $35, business memberships are $75, and senior citizen, student, or low-income resident memberships are $10. Additional donations of any amount are also welcome. You can be sure that your dollars will go directly to improving and preserving our community, because ECC is an all-volunteer organization.
The entire community benefits from the efforts of the ECC and we need your ideas and support. NOW is the time to contribute! NOW is the time to make suggestions and let us know how you would like to get involved. Many changes are afoot in our neighborhood because, as we are very aware, Eastlake is a very scenic and desirable location for Seattle residents and businesses. As Seattle grows, Eastlake will grow. How this growth impacts our neighborhood depends on the ECC—and you! So, please do not delay! The ECC membership application is on the back cover of this and every issue of The Eastlake News. Submit your application and payment to the Eastlake Community Council, Lake Union Mail, Box #1, 117 E. Louisa, Seattle WA 98102.
Marjorie Nelson Steinbrueck (center, in black) helps neighborhood children and others blow out the candles on the 100th birthday cake for her house on Franklin Avenue East, at the 1993 Eastlake Centennial street fair. Steinbrueck is a former Vice President of the Eastlake Community Council. Her late husband Victor also once served on the ECC board and did the drawing above that has long distinguished this newsletter’s front page.
Donations needed for Expenses of August 17 Crime Victim
Donations are still needed for the continuing expenses of the victim of the August 17 assault. Checks should be made out to “Lake Union Mail—Victim Support Fund,” and may be taken or mailed to Lake Union Mail, 117 E. Louisa St., Seattle 98102. Also, in the album there, please write some encouraging words to the victim. Thanks to those who have already donated.
In response to her article about the assault in our last issue, Colleen McGrath received the following letter (and permission to reprint it here) from the victim’s mother. These gracious words are certainly meant for everyone who has been a part of the caring, supportive neighborhood response.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Good afternoon! My name is Barbara and I am writing to you regarding your article on the front page of the Eastlake News. The victim you speak of is my daughter, the oldest of our five children. I want to applaud you on writing such a caring article without exposing her or using gory details. You show by the article what an incredible community you have in Eastlake. No wonder my daughter loves it so much there!
Thank you for your efforts in starting a fund to assist her with expenses that she has yet to discover an end to. Every little bit helps. We have a large family and she is well loved by all of us and it is so comforting to know she has such a great support system in her own neighborhood. The family is trying as well to help with some of her costs, but the extra assistance by friends and neighbors is heart warming. Living at a distance from our daughter is difficult during this trying time, but knowing how much her community cares and is working on establishing neighborhood watches is truly reassuring.
Thank you again for the exceptional article. Please know you are all appreciated by her family! God bless.
Some Eastlake Children Allowed Access to TOPS-Seward School
by Linda Furney & Michelle Buetow
On November 3rd, the Seattle School Board voted to apply a distance tiebreaker to 20 percent of kindergarten seats for the
TOPS-Seward school, after siblings of current students are accommodated. The change is intended to serve neighborhood families who list TOPS as their first choice.
Before this decision, children in Eastlake did not have a meaningful reference school. Technically Montlake and Stevens are our reference schools, but since they fill up with children who live closer Eastlake children can not get in and often receive mandatory assignments to far away schools. The amendment allows a geographic preference to a few seats at TOPS for neighborhood families that choose it – next year two or three kindergartners at TOPS can be kids from Eastlake or Roanoke Park.
This is good news for Eastlake – both its residents and TOPS-Seward! It is the first tangible step in healing the rift of the last several years. A direct result will be increased community and parental involvement in the school - and TOPS will become more integral to its host community. The amendment offers much-needed encouragement for the communities to carry on constructive dialog with the District in the coming years as it continues to examine the school assignment process. The amendment is a compromise: it is only a one year trial, it only affects Kindergarten, it’s only a handful of seats, and neighborhood residents are not guaranteed admission. Continued neighborhood involvement is absolutely crucial from here on to assure a long term solution.
The proposal that the school board passed is on-line at http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/resolutions/100604babutlerwall2.pdf.
Of the nine proposals voted on (see http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/resolutions/resolutionsmatrix.htm), the board passed only one other - an amendment that will allow parents to put their children on waiting lists for schools other than their first choice.
Eastlake is deeply grateful to all the School Board Members (it passed unanimously); especially to Brita Butler-Wall for proposing the amendment; Dick Lilly for his long and steady support , Sally Soriano who came to Eastlake to hear from parents; and to all of you who wrote and spoke to the Board. We especially want to thank all the parents who have worked hard on this effort for the last five years and whose children did not find a spot in a nearby school.
Please continue to be involved by contacting us at: eastlakeschool@hotmail.com.
Meeting to Examine Designs for Street-End Under U-Bridge
Come Wednesday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. (Pocock Rowing Center, 3320 Fuhrman Ave. E.) to discuss possible improvements in the street end under the south end of the University Bridge.
The office development just west of this site donated $20,000 for its improvement. The funds are being held in trust by the Eastlake Community Council.. Proposals include a viewing platform, bypass sidewalk, improved parking, landscaping, and/or a wetland.
Bring your ideas and see what others are proposing. For information, contact Lou Daly, 324-3260, loudaly@nwlink.com.
Volunteers Needed for Community-Building
As an all-volunteer organization, the ECC can achieve its mission of building community and enhancing the neighborhood only with your help. Here are some volunteer opportunities, or suggest your own:
- Help plan and produce next summer’s Eastlake Shake
- Organize a tour of Eastlake homes, gardens, businesses, etc.
- Help with the upcoming Eastlake auction and dinner
- Weed in parks or organize new tree-planting efforts.
- Help clean up a street—especially Boylston, which suffers from freeway debris.
- Review proposed land use projects and help develop ECC’s recommendations on them
- Help make Lynn Street between Boylston and Eastlake avenues safer and more beautiful
- Distribute the Eastlake News on your block or nearby
- With latex and plaster (provided), make a cast of the plaque on the southwest corner of the University Bridge; the 1919 plaque dedicated the bridge’s original name as the Eastlake Avenue Bridge.
- Help organize a block watch on your street for crime prevention and disaster preparedness.
Interested? Write to ECC, 117 E. Louisa Street #1, Seattle 98102, cleman@oo.net.
ECC Position on the I-5 Noise Walls
by Colleen McGrath
Boylston Avenue East suffers some of the state’s highest levels of freeway noise. The Eastlake Community Council, an all-volunteer neighborhood association, has been working for many years to secure I-5 noise walls along Boylston. Noise walls were a high priority in the 1998 Eastlake Neighborhood Plan, which committed the City’s lobbyists to seek this funding in the state legislature. Eastlake’s state legislators have worked hard on our behalf, and no one made more of a difference than our Rep. Ed Murray (chair of the House Transportation Committee) in obtaining the current funding of $3.5 million.
A committee of Boylston stakeholders led by Jules James worked for more than a year with WSDOT to develop a neighborhood consensus in support of a 1900 foot wall design. The ECC board supported this proposal, with the condition that further engineering and funding efforts be made to extend the wall south to Newton and north to the “wedge” between the upper and lower decks of the Ship Canal bridge just north of Shelby Street. The full set of noise walls that ECC is seeking would total about 3800 feet; in addition, we support efforts to retrofit the I-5 ship canal bridge to reduce noise there.
This summer, WSDOT announced that it could not afford to build the first 1900 foot Boylston wall with existing funds, and proposed to build a 900 foot portion of the Boylston wall (beginning just north of Louisa and extending to just south of Lynn). At that time most, if not all of the residents and property owners on Boylston that we heard from urged the ECC board to adopt a position, which it did, urging WSDOT not to construct the 900-foot noise wall this year, but rather to build the full 1900 foot wall the following year.
Then ECC began to hear from people who disagreed with that August position. The board designated me (an ECC board member who lives, owns, and operates a business on Boylston) to work with the City on a jointly sponsored public meeting on Sept. 22 to encourage public discussion and to collect input on forms, faxes, and e-mails. As a result, ECC and the City have heard from many more of the people who live or own property on Boylston.
ECC is committed to grass roots democracy, and to doing what those who live, work, or own property on Boylston want to do on this issue. We are delighted to have heard from so many Boylston stakeholders. As a result of the new input, the October 13 ECC board meeting changed its August position and now supports WSDOT’s immediate construction of the 900-foot noise wall.
In recognition of the legitimate fears that the 900-foot wall would not be extended once built, we have obtained from WSDOT headquarters a signed letter committing that the 900-foot installment would not cause a reduction in the fund rating for completion of the full 1900 feet. The board has also urged the City to include this additional wall funding in its state legislative lobbying program, as it did when the funds were first sought.
Thank you to all of you who have voiced your opinions, and especially to the volunteers on all sides of this important debate. This has not been an easy issue for the ECC board, because those on Boylston were not united on what is the best strategy. However, we know of no one on Boylston who is opposed to the noise walls. The only real issue has been how best to get the maximum length of noise walls. If WSDOT builds the 900 foot noise wall immediately, let us all work together to make sure that funding is set aside for the longer walls that we all support. Comments and suggestions are always welcome, to colleen@colleenjanemcgrath.com.
Neighborhood kids wanted!
By Carsten Stinn
How about a regular play-date? In the hood, rain or shine?? Meet new friends in the neighborhood!! Let’s get together for the “Eastlake Play Date”. We will meet at Roger’s Playfield on Wednesdays at 5:30 for an hour or two starting Nov 17th and every Wednesday night from then on! Kids can play and parents can get to know each other as well. See you on the 17th!!
Serafina, the rustic Euro-Italian restaurant and bar (2043 Eastlake Ave., 323-0807) hosted on October 24 at its own expense a fourth annual neighborhood appreciation party, featuring gourmet cheeses, hors d’ouevres, home-made sausages, and lots of wine. All in the neighborhood were invited. In the invitation, owner Susan Kaufman wrote, “I am grateful to this neighborhood, and feel lucky to live, work, and raise my daughter in a place that feels so ‘right’.” … Innovative Fitness has opened a second Seattle location at 1616 Eastlake Avenue (324-7200, www.innovativefitness.com). The business bills itself as the “largest strictly personal training company in North America.” … And we understand that in the same building (by the Bank of America), Grand Central will be opening as early as February a bakery and café like what it has in Pioneer Square. See our next issue for more details.
Great Starts Birth and Family Education (2517 Eastlake Ave., Suite 102, 789-0883, www.GreatStarts.org) offers courses on labor and birth, getting ready for baby, preparing grandparents and siblings for a birth, newborn care, adoptive parenting, infant and child CPR, and (through Children’s Hospital) teen and pre-teen skills. Telephone consultations on breast-feeding (615-8078) are free. … Kumon Math and Reading Center (3209 Eastlake Ave., 726-8880, www.kumon.com) offers after-school training, using placement tests to identify and achieve more than 20 skill levels, using hundreds of short assignments spanning material from preschool all the way to college. “With each assignment, your child advances in small, manageable increments.” The Eastlake location is one of six in Seattle. … Home Instead Senior Care (2633 Eastlake Avenue Suite 206, 622-4663, www.homeinstead.com) offers non-medical in-home care for senior citizens. Services (offered for from 3 to 24 hours a day, including sleepovers) are meal preparation, assistance with bathing, light housekeeping, medication reminders, and so on. The company is a national franchise operation, and the Eastlake office’s territory covers most of Seattle south of the Ship Canal.
Blue Ribbon Culinary Center (2301 Fairview Ave. E., 328-2442, BlueRibbonCooking.com) was featured in the Sept. 3 Puget Sound Business Journal. The Center has three kitchens, to accommodate separate groups simultaneously. In addition to its events for corporate and other groups, Blue Ribbon offers adult and youth cooking classes and a Sunday morning family brunch class. … Eastlake’s celebrity librarian Nancy Pearl is now the host of “Book Lust,” a monthly TV show on the first Friday of the month at 8 p.m. on channel 21, the Seattle municipal channel. … Early Music America (2366 Eastlake Ave., Suite 429, Seattle 98102-3399, 720-6270) is a national organization that promotes the use of period instruments in historically-informed performances of music from the medieval, renaissance, baroque, and classical periods. To subscribe to its quarterly magazine or become one of its 3000 members, go to the web site at www.earlymusic.org. … Local cellist Paige Stockley Lerner teaches at Cornish College of the Arts and performs with the Saint Helens String Quartet, www.SaintHelensQuartet.com.
In a recent P-I, a customer wrote about a good experience with Sam’s Steakhouse (2947 Eastlake Ave., 957-7777): “The general manager comes by and tells us we have a big spike in our tire. ‘Not to worry,” he says, ‘We just called AAA, and they are on the way, and we will take care of it.’ Indeed they did, and their top chef is the person who noticed it. After the easy and kind repair, we tried to give the head chef a tip, and he said, ‘I am happy to do this for you. This is the service we like to provide.” … Two 2003 restaurant reviews had escaped us: The Seattle Times reported that Hiroshi’s (2501 Eastlake, 726-4966) is a “bustling Japanese restaurant and catering service” with a “fervent following.” “I was struck by the quality of chef Hiroshi Egashira’s wares, impressed by a well-turned hand roll pleasantly salty with pollock roe, and by a simple array of sashimi. Sweet translucent ama egi (raw shrimp) arrived alongside crunchy, deep-fried shrimp heads, compliments of the chef.” … And a Stranger review enthused about Le Fournil (3230 Eastlake, 328-6523): “The employees at Le Fournil are welcoming and beautiful, but in both regards they’re outdone by the food they make and serve. … Sitting at the window counter on my last visit, I listened as two dark-haired women conversed animatedly in French at the interior tables.” … Le Fournil also was mentioned in the Food Lover’s Guide to Seattle as having the “best baguette in town.”
In February, the Seattle Times featured an admiring profile of Mort’s Cabin (3202 Harvard Ave. E., 323-6678, www.mortscabin.com). Owner and artist Darold Andersen (who named the shop after his father) sells his own lovingly handmade lampshades and many other unique items in the Northwest rustic cabin style. Andersen’s work is attracting attention and customers from as far away as New York City. … Cards, Gifts, Etc. (2366 Eastlake Ave., 329-9202, cardsgiftsetc@aol.com) offers a variety of gifts for birthdays, holidays or any day. Buy nine cards, and the tenth one is free. It appears to be the only place in Eastlake that sells helium balloons, or that can special order whatever you wish from gift catalogs. … Things (2701 Eastlake Ave.) sells an eclectic range of antiques, electronics, and collectibles. … Starbucks has opened at 2344 Eastlake Ave. (324-5144). A community bulletin board is expected to be installed soon; until then, community notices and newsletters will not be available on the premises. … Volunteers are still welcome for the mercy trip to Uganda; contact Ellen Henderson (324-2981, ellenmfh@msn.com). … Best wishes to Ruth Presler, longtime resident and former Eastlake News volunteer distributor, on her recent move. You can write or visit Ruth at Anderson Plaza, 17201 15th Ave. NE, Shoreline, WA 98155.
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.
Neighborhood Plan Volumes Sought
Many people helped produce the various Eastlake planning volumes, and thus many people have copies. Are you no longer using your copy of the 1994 Eastlake Transportation Plan, the 1998 Eastlake Neighborhood Plan, or the neighborhood plan’s shorter 2000 implementation and stewardship volume? We are particularly short of the 1994 and 2000 volumes. Please consider returning any extra copies for the benefit of volunteers who are new to the neighborhood. You may return the volumes to the ECC’s box #1 at Lake Union Mail, 117 E. Louisa Street. Thanks!
ECC: making a difference for Eastlake
Have you ever lived in a small town? You do, you know. Oh, it’s not incorporated, and no road signs announce the town borders. But it’s here, Eastlake, a community with a heart and a conscience, its own tiny budget, town meetings, and a growing number of volunteers who are willing to stand each year and say, “We care; we’ll give a few hours a month to the neighborhood; count on us.”
—Dick Arnold, former ECC board member
If the Eastlake Community Council did not exist, it would have to be invented. Volunteer action has preserved and improved this wonderful neighborhood. Long before ECC’s 1971 founding, Eastlakers organized in 1910 to defeat a proposed Northern Pacific rail line along the east shore of Lake Union, and again in the 1920s to protect the same shoreline from becoming a four-lane arterial, Fairview Avenue. The North Capitol Hill/Eastlake Community Club worked for neighborhood improvement from the 1920s to the 1950s; had the club been active when I-5 was being planned, that freeway might have demolished fewer homes and businesses, and might not today be such a source of noise and a wall between neighborhoods.
The Eastlake Community Council is one of the most praised of neighborhood associations. The 1979 National Commission on Neighborhoods called attention to its effectiveness, and in 1993, the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition honored it as the “Community Council Decade,” observing that ECC “consistently through the years has demonstrated an outstanding ability to reach into its own community and beyond for ideas, people, and solutions. They have set a standard for developing partnerships with government and the diverse interests that exist within their jurisdiction. They have been pro-active and inclusive of all people and needs in their area.”
- Community-building. ECC’s first-listed official purpose is to “foster and encourage a sense of community among people who live and work in the Eastlake community.” Toward this end, we publish the Eastlake News (4000 circulation), which is distributed to homes and businesses through a network of volunteers unmatched in Seattle. (One of the many volunteers is Dick Arnold, whose wonderful quotation begins this article.) The newsletter is also available on the Eastlake web site (eastlake.oo.net). ECC holds regular general meetings that bring Eastlakers into dialogue with one another and with civil servants and elected officials on a wide variety of topics. . In every election year, ECC holds a public forum for people in the neighborhood to debate ballot measures, and to question candidates for public office. ECC never takes positions for or against candidates for public office, so it can work with whoever is elected.
Community-building is a lot of fun. Over the years, ECC has organized banquets, pot-lucks, picnics, softball games, clean-ups, paint-outs, cruises, walks, dances, concerts, holiday parties, art shows, auctions, rummage sales, pet parades, street fairs, festivals (most recently, the 2003 and 2004 Eastlake Shake), tree-planting, weeding, plant exchanges, park dedications, centennials, reunions, a farmer’s market, and a tour of homes, businesses, and boats. What we can do is limited only by having someone—maybe you—who can organize such events.
- Schools. Although ECC usually avoids positions on ballot measures, it has regularly endorsed ballot measures for school funding. At a time when the School District was considering the sale of Seward School, ECC fought to keep it a school. When the Seward School program closed, ECC welcomed the Colman School program to temporary quarters at Seward while encouraging the permanent relocation of TOPS alternative school to the Seward School building. The ECC has a representative (now Linda Furney, 325-3756, TeamEnzo@hotmail.com) on the TOPS Site Council, which advises the school administration. ECC members worked closely with the School District on the renovation of the Seward buildings, and ECC is working to increase the number of local children admitted to TOPS. For several years, ECC sponsored a community school, based at Seward, funded by the City, and taught by local volunteers.
- Public safety. ECC efforts with the police and fire departments help keep this a safe neighborhood, especially by the promotion of block watches in which neighbors help identify and prevent crime risks, and we are currently organizing self-defense workshops. We have worked to ensure full fire and police coverage during the Fourth of July, when approximately 30,000 people jam our neighborhood to see the fireworks display. .
Social services. ECC has worked to ensure that our social service institutions enhance the neighborhood. An ECC board member worked with a steering committee of senior citizens to research the nutritional and social needs of the elderly.
- Art. ECC has worked with the Seattle Arts Commission on competitions that produced such art works as the three “dreamboats,” the many glass cornerstones, and the steel sculpture at the corner of Fairview and Eastlake. ECC has sponsored several art shows and an art auction. The masthead of the Eastlake News was drawn by civic icon (and former ECC board member) Victor Steinbrueck. Eastlake posters have been designed, among others, by Dick Arnold, Robert Rudine, and Karen Berry, who also drew ECC’s letterhead. ECC has encouraged formation of an Eastlake Arts Council, which hopes to organize a monthly arts walk.
Driving, parking, walking and bicycling. ECC has worked to ensure that pass-through traffic does not overwhelm Eastlake Avenue and other streets and to ensure the safety of local drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. Our defeat of two private skybridge applications prevented the overshadowing of Eastlake Avenue and refocused attention on safer crosswalks. ECC successfully campaigned for traffic signals (stop lights) along Eastlake Avenue at Fuhrman, Newton, and Garfield, and pedestrian-friendly timing for the traffic signal at Louisa. We prevented the proposed widening of Lynn Street, and are working to beautify it. ECC spearheaded installation of the traffic circle at Franklin and Hamlin, and is supporting local efforts for additional traffic circles on Franklin. Years of ECC effort produced the Residential Parking Zone, which gives residents priority for on-street spaces, but in its design is friendlier to our neighborhood businesses than any other RPZ in the city.
- Bus and rail. ECC has repeatedly gone to bat for Metro bus riders, working to preserve and improve routes and shelters. We helped achieve the re-electrification of bus route 70, which was diesel from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. The ECC board supported a county sales tax increase that helped make up for revenues lost when voters slashed the motor vehicle excise tax. ECC has closely monitored the light rail, monorail, and street car debates in order to ensure that Eastlake’s welfare is recognized.
- Noise and pollution. Decades of effort by the ECC helped fund and plan for the I-5 noise walls that are soon to be constructed. ECC helped broker an agreement under which float plane companies avoid early-morning takeoffs, and avoid routes that are most likely to disturb nearby residents. We have worked to resolve noise issues between taverns and nearby residents. We successfully overturned a permit the City had issued for a helicopter port at the corner of Eastlake and Garfield. And we secured a Metro policy restricting the idling of diesel buses in the neighborhood.
Freeway expansion. ECC has worked to prevent expansion of I-5 and SR-520 into the neighborhood, such as an off-ramp proposed in the 1970s that would have destroyed Seward School, and recent proposals to take street, sidewalk, and even homes along Boylston Ave. E., as well as a possible new tunnel opening that could damage the Eastlake business district, the shoreline and the new “colonnade park” under I-5.
- Green space. Working with other organizations, ECC volunteers helped build Lynn Street Park, Terry Pettus Park, Roanoke Street Park (1970s), Hamlin Street Park (1980s), Fairview Park and Good Turn Park (1990s), and Franklin Green Street and the renovation of Rogers Playfield (2000s). When we began the struggle for Fairview Park, few City officials thought we could succeed at assembling the state, county, and city dollars to purchase the property from developers who were preparing to build a huge office complex shadowing the P-patch and devastating the natural area.
- History and landmarks. ECC has worked to preserve our past through an oral history program and historic documents and photographs (see narrative and photos at www.eastlake.oo.net). We worked for City landmark status for Seward School and the Lake Union Steam Plant and Hydrohouse, and to ensure that this landmark status was respected in the buildings’ renovation. An ECC appeal of a six-unit condominium proposal at 2819 Franklin Ave. E. prevented demolition of an old Victorian house, which is now a City landmark and was restored by its new owners. A similar ECC appeal of a bulky apartment proposal at 216-20 E. Lynn saved an old house, which was tastefully expanded into three apartment units.
- Shorelines. One of the six official purposes of the ECC is to “maximize public use and enjoyment of the inland waters and shorelines adjoining the Eastlake community.” ECC helped secure the state’s Shoreline Management Act, and helped shape the City’s shoreline ordinance for Lake Union. Its earliest battle overturned a City-issued permit for a 400-foot-long five-story overwater condominium building at the foot of Roanoke Street. The court case went all the way to the State Supreme Court and established nationally that community groups have standing to sue in the public interest. ECC continues to stand for the public interest in shoreline issues.
- Zoning and land use. Frequently, ECC is contacted by developers before they apply for City permits. ECC facilitates neighborhood input for their plans, and often sponsors open meetings for this purpose. ECC’s review of plans, discussions with developers and with City officials, and in some cases, administrative appeals and court challenges, have reduced the height, bulk, and scale and improved the design of practically every large building constructed here in the last thirty years. In some instances, our input caused out-of-scale building proposals to be withdrawn, among them a seven-story mini-storage warehouse under I-5 at 1700 Franklin, a hotel just north of Eastlake and Roanoke, and a huge apartment building at Boston Street between Minor and Fairview.Proactively shaping zoning rules can create greater clarity for the community and developers alike, so ECC has convinced the City to reduce the potential height, bulk and scale of several residential and commercial zones. We even secured a City Council resolution applying the new commercial standards retroactively to office projects that had already applied for permits, triggering the withdrawal of several project applications. ECC also helped eliminate several large billboards from the neighborhood. In its thirty-year history, ECC has gone to court only five times to seek enforcement of City and state rules and permit conditions, and in two of these cases it did so in support of the City, which had filed the original complaint.
- Neighborhood planning. ECC led a community process that produced the Eastlake Goals and Policies that were acknowledged by a 1979 City Council resolution and helped to shape the neighborhood’s development in the 1980s. ECC also contracted with the City to host a partnership of neighborhood organizations and businesses that produced a neighborhood needs survey (1990), an Eastlake Vision Plan (1993) and an Eastlake Transportation Plan (1994). These efforts served as one model for the citywide program of neighborhood planning, in which we participated by jointly producing with other Eastlake groups the Eastlake Neighborhood Plan (1998; available at http://eastlake.oo.net or on the City’s web site). Adopted by City Council resolution and ordinance, and much-praised for its substance and the unexcelled outreach, this plan works to reduce noise from I-5, revitalize Eastlake Avenue as our “main street,” and make Fairview Avenue E. safer for walking. The plan also works to keep the neighborhood diverse, affordable, and well-designed, and has helped bring many City funds to the neighborhood.
- Neighborhood business. ECC has encouraged businesses that serve neighborhood needs, as with re-establishment of a laundromat at the corner of Eastlake and Louisa, where a new development had displaced the previous one. ECC has worked for retail space in buildings fronting on parts of Eastlake Avenue. Because of its low advertising rates and wide circulation, many businesses choose to advertise in the Eastlake News, which for years has carried a regular business column.
Help write the next chapter. It is quite remarkable that ECC has achieved the above with such a tiny budget. These neighborhood improvements have depended on the volunteer efforts of thousands of Eastlake residents, workers, and business and property owners. Let us know what ECC should do next—and hopefully, how you can help us do it.
Article is by ECC Secretary Chris Leman, cleman@oo.net
Back to top
How Will Mayor Respond on Possible Street Car and L.I.D.?
Readers of our last issue will recall that the City and Sound Transit are studying a possible surface rail street car line on Eastlake Avenue, to be financed partly by assessments on property owners through a possible local improvement district. In August, the Eastlake Community Council wrote to the Mayor and City Council asking for details of the recently passed legislation and expressing concern about not having been consulted. Our letter also discussed the unusual narrowness of Eastlake Avenue (50 feet from curb to curb) and fears that a street car could jeopardize on-street parking, center turn lane, boulevard strips, and bus service. And it suggested that any study of a possible street car should also be integrated with the Eastlake Neighborhood Plan’s priority to restore the on-street parking that is currently prohibited during peak commute times.
City Councilmember Richard Conlin, chair of the Transportation Committee responded on Sept. 9 as follows: “Thank you very much for your very thoughtful letter about the possible street car on Eastlake Avenue. I appreciate the careful analysis, clear articulation of the concerns and possibilities, and cautions about the realities of the street and neighborhood environment. I want to assure you that this is very much in the preliminary stages of exploration. … It sounds as though you had not been consulted prior to the recommendation of the Executive that Sound Transit and the Seattle Department of Transportation study this route and I regret that you were not provided with an opportunity to comment on it earlier. Had I been aware of this, I would have consulted you prior to moving forward with the legislation. Your cautions about the viability of the L.I.D. and the impacts on bus service and parking are very important. … Peak-period parking restrictions [have been controversial] in many areas of the City, from Aurora to Madison to Delridge, and I think that the City should more explicitly consider the conflicts between making key arterials function as rapid transit connections and the impacts on neighborhood residents and businesses.”
We await the Mayor’s response to the ECC letter, and hope to report on it our next issue. If you have time, please urge the City to include the Eastlake Neighborhood Plan’s priority for removing the peak-period parking restrictions in any study of Eastlake Avenue as a street car route. Write to the Deputy Mayor at tim.ceis@seattle.gov, and the SDOT director at grace.crunican@seattle.gov. And we welcome your ideas, to Street Car, c/o ECC, 117 E. Louisa St. #1, Seattle 98102, or cleman@oo.net, 322-5463.
Zoning and Land Projects to be Featured at January 25 ECC Public Meeting
Come hear the latest on building projects in the Eastlake neighborhood, progress in implementing the Eastlake Neighborhood Plan, and possible citywide zoning changes that would affect the parking and open space requirements, and the uses permitted in the neighborhood’s commercial zones. This Eastlake Community Council public meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 25, 7-9 p.m. in the library at TOPS-Seward School. The meeting will also include updates on the Fairview green street efforts.
On Oct 25th, planners from the City’s Department of Planning and Development presented to the neighborhood a number of proposed changes to the zoning of Eastlake’s commercial and mixed use zones (see http://www.seattle.gov/dclu/news/20041004c.asp). The ECC’s land use committee is helping the ECC board evaluate these proposals and compare them with an Eastlake Avenue Pedestrian District Overlay that is proposed in the1998 Eastlake Neighborhood Plan. The committee is being assisted by Carol Eychaner and Jim Reckers who were instrumental in drafting the neighborhood plan.
The next meeting of ECC’s land use committee will be Tuesday, Nov. 16, 7:30 am in the Eastlake Room at TOPS Seward School. Please join us if you can make it! For questions, contact committee chair Carsten Stinn, teamenzo@hotmail.com or 898-6147.
Readers may also be interested in a Monday, Nov. 15, 5:30–7:30 p.m. downtown event, ‘New challenges for shaping growth and building great urban neighborhoods in the 21st century’ featuring David Dixon, a well known urban planner from Boston, Mass. who will speak about successful neighborhoods in the new urban environment, focusing on the challenges and advantages of density and the needs of our urban neighborhoods. The event will be at Seattle City Hall’s Bertha Landes Room, 601 Fifth Avenue). http://www.seattle.gov/dclu/news/20041101c.asp
Greening Up Planting Strips and Clearing Sidewalks
City-owned street rights-of-way include not only roadway, curbs, and sidewalks, but also strips of land on either side of the sidewalk that in the old days were actually called parkland. Nowadays, the land between the sidewalk and the curb is called the planting strip. Landowners are required to maintain it in greenery, but some no longer keep anything planted there, or even have paved it—a violation of the Seattle Municipal Code. Paving a planting strip encourages illegal parking and burdens the sewers and lake with runoff that cannot filter through the earth to nearby trees.
Of course, existing vegetation should be kept pruned. Mary Elayne Dunphy, a Franklin resident, reminds us that landowners and others need to prune, weed, and sweep to keep sidewalks clear of branches, extra-wide bushes, and fallen greenery. “There are several places where the growth of vegetation makes the sidewalk very narrow. I’m only a couple of inches over five feet tall, but there’s one place I have to actually bend over to miss the overhang. I suspect in some cases the residents enter their homes from the alleys and aren’t aware that the sidewalk is becoming overgrown. Of course there are absent apartment owners, too, but even tenants could do their part. Of course the eye-high prickly bushes can be a true hazard, especially at night.”
A final concern is the need to replace some trees that have been allowed to die from lack of water. This is a great time for tree planting. But in planting a tree, please choose one that you will be able to keep watered, and have a plan to make sure it is watered, particularly in the first few years while it is getting established.
Mike Ferguson (Specialty Coffee Association of America), City Council member Jean Godden, co-owner John Hornall, and Bronwyn Serna at Hines Public Market Coffee Company on Seattle Barista Day to celebrate Bronwyn’s victory as National Barista Champion.
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 ads to go to the advertiser's website.
