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Projects being considered for funding by the Neighborhood Street Fund/Cumulative Reserve Fund

I posted the complete list of projects submitted for Neighborhood Street Fund/Cumulative Reserve Fund at the Safe Walks blog here.

The bottom line is that there are far more project ideas than there is funding.

Response to question about Victory Creek

An anonymous commenter to this post asked:

Hello. Does anyone know why all the brush (and a few lovely trees) were completely trampled down in the area just NE of Victory Park/QFC? We use the short cut path through this mini greenbelt to get to QFC and its now totally ugly and useless to the wildlife that fed there. The blackberries were a summer favorite. Are there plans for improvement? Was this a knee-jerk security measure? Why couldn’t hungry goats be used instead?

Here is more information from Eric Madis, Creek Steward for Victory Creek Park:

The city (in the Clean and Green Event) brought in the Department of Corrections to take the invasives from that area, while I worked in the central and south area of the park.

I agree, I was a little taken back by the devastation that they seem to have brought to the area. However, they took out all invasive vegetation, albeit not permanently. The blackberries will grow back, but if they are to grow back at all, we want to get feedback from people in that immediate neighborhood, so we can plan to quarantine their growth. Otherwise, they will take over everything, as will the morning glory, the ivy, the holly, and other invasives. It does look rather bleak over there, I agree. However, the green belt that the person is referring to was primarily invasives. We will be planting in that area now. I was shocked to discover a budding camelia in there, something I didn’t notice all of the time I worked in there, because of its location and its being surrounded by ivy and blackberry.

The reason why hungry goats weren’t used was because this was a one-day event and the city pretty much took control over parts of this. In addition, much of the deforesting took place after 1 PM, which is when Alika and I had to leave. I was as shocked as the person in the email, but the fact is, that work was needed. I only hope that we can plant enough trees and shrubs to fill the area nicely and eventually pull a lot of those invasive’s roots out.

As for wildlife, the only way we will get any wildlife back in there is to help restore a healthy enviroment. In the three and a half years that we have been creek stewards (and I go through the area almost every day), I have seen very few animals, other than a few squirrels, rats and a few birds. Sometimes there are ducks in the wetland marsh in the south side of the park, which is an area that has been improved. I would like to see the entire unimproved portion of the park (the wetland) be healthy, so we can see the return of more animals and birds. I prefer a wild, natural environment to a city park like environment, and it is the intention of Seattle Parks and Seattle Public Utilities to keep most of that area like a green belt. But it was a mess, a big unhealthy mess, despite its green appearance at glance.

So yes, we plan to plant in that area, and of course, we can always use more volunteers. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact me at (206) 362-8331 or emadis@juno.com. We are there the 2nd Sunday of each month from noon – 2 PM.

Gang related shooting north of Pinehurst last night

From the Seattle Police Blotter:

On 3/26/09 at approximately 1:00 AM King County Sheriff’s Office advised SPD that they were investigating a shooting in the 14800 block of 15th Ave. NE. They provided a description of the suspect vehicle. North Precinct Officers located a possible suspect vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed, but were never able to catch up to it. A short time later, gang unit officers spotted the vehicle. The suspect vehicle fled and was pursued into the county, then ultimately back into the city ending at NE 143rd and Lake City Way NE. Just prior to the pursuit ending, an officer was attempting to deploy spike strips when the suspect vehicle intentionally swerved toward the officer. He narrowly missed by struck by the vehicle by jumping out of the way.

Two suspects were taken into custody from the car, while the third suspect fled eastbound over a fence. Lake Forest Park K9 unit and Edmonds PD located the third suspect a short distance away. All suspect’s were taken into custody without incident further incident. Witnesses were transported to the scene that positively identified the suspects as being involved in the shooting.

MEET THE MAP!

For the Northeast Seattle Trails (NEST) project:

Thursday, April 9th
6-7:30 pm
Lake City Library
12501 28th Ave. N.E.

Community members have created a draft trail network for northeast Seattle. This trail network will connect commercial areas, parks, local destinations, and neighborhoods. Come give us your feedback and find out how you can get involved in this unique project, see the draft trail network, give us feedback and explore your neighborhood

Karen Rogulja, karen@feetfirst.info or (206) 652-2310

click on the image below to enlarge

No Soliciting

I just received an email from a neighbor about someone presenting himself as a gardener selling installation of fertilizer sticks for evergreens. He is charging $125 for this “service” and is supposedly performing the work without a contract and then demanding payment. He appears to be targeting older people. Be cautious.

Northgate’s Thornton Place is feeling the challenges of the current economy

photo: Seattle Times

Sounds like Thornton Place (the new development just south of Northgate Mall) is having some challenges in selling units.

Square Meal? Good Deal?

Has anyone been to the new restaurant that replaced the Burrito Express (one of my personal favorites in the neighborhood – I was really sad to see it go) on 15th Ave NE across from Safeway?

A walk home from the 41 on NE 125th…

between 5th Ave NE and Roosevelt Way NE. Actually, the first part is not so bad, especially since it is light in the evening now.
The south side of the street is clearly much easier to walk on – at least on the west end of the block.






This is my favorite property. The developer for this condo building installed this sign in the public right of way. Don’t worry about being towed. The sign is illegal.

This is my second favorite part. I need to double check, but I am pretty sure this is not a curb cut and it is also the public right of way. This is a recent addition.

Okay, nice way to end the walk. And, I only need to cross Roosevelt now (which gets tricky in winter but is easier again now that it is daylight in the evening) and I am pretty much home free.

Remember the problems people had reporting power outages to Settle City Light?

In January.

It happened to others. And (read the comments) it is still happening.

This is the last update we received from City Light on the issue (back in January) is here.

Letters written on behalf of the Pinehurst community

One issue that we would like to start a discussion about is how folks feel about letters written by Pinehurst Community Council on behalf of the Pinehurst neighborhood. Many community councils, district councils and similar organizations are often asked to write letters in support or opposition of various issues.

Some examples of recent requests that Pinehurst Community Council has received for opinion letters include: a request to oppose cutting of trees at Ingraham High School and a request to support a landmark status request application for Lake City School. The issues that are the subject of these requests are often controversial and the support letters are usually requested to show community support on a specific side of the debate.

Recently, we made a decision to not write any new letters representing the Pinehurst neighborhood until we have a community discussion and get input from as large a group of neighbors as possible. We wonder about the appropriateness of writing letters representing the community as a whole on issues on which many of us within the community have different thoughts and positions.

Feel free to comment below. We are listening. And, we will likely have this as an agenda item at our next Pinehurst community meeting on May 4th.