Some personal notes

Links to my Annual Family Newsletter, and to a load of photos of what I've been up to and to the blog about his late wife Meg's journey with brain cancer.

The one paragraph summary is that Meg's death in October was expected, left an immense hole in my life, but was made very much easier by the love and support of everyone around me. I apologize if I have not thanked you all personally for your letters and E-mails of support, your kind inquiries, your offers of help.

My intention in the New Year is to ease back into neighborhood activities, and to inquire gently if there is a desire for more active neighborhood participation in the immediate Miller Park area.

Wishing you all a happy and as prosperous a New Year as circumstances will permit!

Emergency preparedness: your voice is needed

Click to enlarge to readable size

"Deano's" Madison Street Project in the news

The September 17th Seattle Times Pacific Magazine main article, "Architecture 2011" is about local architectural innovations:

Seattle AIA's FutureShack showcases projects by local architects, creative responses to our fast-morphing urban lifestyles, across a wide range of building types, budgets, constraints and social agendas. It is part public debate, part recognition of innovative architecture.

The featured designs can also be seen on the AIA website.

Jim Mueller's design for the large empty lot at Madison and Denny is one of the featured projects.

From the Times' article:

Firm's description: Situated on a corner in the commercial core of Madrona, Pike Station is a sustainable community for residents and the neighborhood. Each live/work unit has a retail space opening to the sidewalk. The units have private rooftop decks for urban agriculture and two-bedroom/two-bathroom living spaces. A community courtyard allows south light into each unit and nurtures a living wall. The property owner, an artist, seeks to create a community of artists, environmental activists and architects.There is groundwater recharge with permeable paving, cisterns and a living wall for graywater reuse. Rainwater will be stored in underground cisterns to service rooftop irrigation, toilets and laundry appliances. Photovoltaic arrays provide power for community lighting. Each unit is designed to accommodate photovoltaics and incorporates energy-efficient assemblies to reduce heating/cooling loads.

Jury comments: Promotes sustainability and demonstrates how it can be done within small-scale infill. The idea of live/work combined with sustainability is commendable; reinforces the idea of sustainability with life/work balance. Many live/work units are just lofts, so this could be more flexible. It fits in with the neighborhood despite different style. There is value in keeping artists in the city, not pushing them out.

When will it be built? Maybe Jim will comment on this post!

Madison Street closure, Sept 26th - 30th

Madison Valley Stormwater Project Update – September 19, 2011

Reminder: Stop by a drop-in session to learn more about the planned temporary intersection closure at E Madison St and 28th Ave E starting September 26 for pavement restoration:

Wednesday, September 21, 9:30 – 11 a.m.

Café Flora

2901 E Madison St

The temporary intersection closure to complete this work will require crews to:

·         Detour traffic off of E Madison St to local streets. Detour routes will be one-way and clearly marked (see below and attached map for details).

·         Place no park signs along the detour route.

·         Work extended hours, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., starting Monday, September 26. Traffic is planned to be restored on E Madison St on Friday, September 30.

SPU is working to provide temporary load and unload zones along E Madison St to accommodate deliveries to businesses and garbage pick-up to the neighborhood. Emergency vehicles will always have access during this work.

Aegis of Madison (2200 E Madison) Neighborhood Meeting

(links to older posts about this application)

Aegis Senior Communities, the owner of the proposed Aegis on Madison Assisted Living Community, is hosting an Open House for the neighborhood next Tuesday, September 20^th at the Elizabeth James House Community Room (109 23rd Avenue E) starting at 7:00 PM.  

Aegis is proposing a six-story 103-unit assisted living and memory care community with a 1,400 sf retail space on the corner of 22^nd and Madison.  The project will have underground parking.  The project has completed two “Early Design Guidance” submissions and will have its first Design Review meeting the next night, Wednesday the 21^st.  Details of that meeting are located at the bottom of this note.

Representatives from Aegis Senior Communities and Via Architecture will provide an update on the project design and schedule and be available to answer any questions.

As of this posting, design drawings are not available yet on the DPD website.  Aegis will have images to present at the Open House.

(The applicant's presentation slides will probably be available soon at this link. Andrew)

Some essential project information is as follows:

DPD Project Number 3001064

Design Review Board Presentation Information:

Project: 2200 E Madison St

Design Proposal available at review meeting

Review Meeting:	September 21, 8:00 pm
	SU Alumni Relations and Admissions Building
	824 12th Ave  map
	Meeting Room
Review Phase:	Recommendation past reviews
Project Number:	3001064 permit status | notice
Planner:	Lisa Rutzick

Link to the DPD Land Use Bulletin: http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/LUIB/Notice.aspx?BID=644&NID=12617

Link to Aegis website: www.aegisliving.com;

Michael J. Derr

Vice President of Development

Aegis Senior Communities LLC

17602 NE Union Hill Road
Redmond, WA 98052

(O) 425.861.9993

(C) 425.749.2990

www.aegisliving.com

19th & Mercer development meeting

(development site is just south of Kingfish, on east side of 19th: former funeral parlor, a gift store and a hairdresser, Capitol Hill Hair)

Urban Life, Heavy Sigh...

(from a neighbor on 22nd, near Madison)


For the second time this year, my ancient station wagon has been broken into and things stolen.  More times than not, I street park the car on 22nd.  As with the first time, either I had left windows down to allow for easy access, or simply not locked it, for even easier access.  This is in good part my own damn fault.  There is definitely the "Big City Car Prowl" argument for leaving ones cars unlocked to avoid malicious persons breaking windows, which can come with a big repair cost, but regardless, leaving things of "Value" in the car is never a good idea.  First time the car was gone through it was mostly just rifled through, not much taken.  This time, however, they cleaned me out. Including the car's owners manual, an emergency kit, and the very odd theft of a bag of my dogs' toys we keep in the car to keep them entertained on longer trips.  And a pair of "Crocs", shoes so unpleasant I don't like them in my house, relinquishing them to reside in the car in case of emergency.  Also taken, a set of inclement weather gear, gloves/hats/sweatshirts, that sort of thing - including a nice hooded rain jacket.  Doh!  

One assumes the theft of a crate of engine oil, transmission fluid, and assorted car tools put the neerdowell's off stealing the actual car, which is clearly on it's last legs.  

Upshot of which is - although the neighborhood is so very much improved since the bad ol' days of drugs & guns in the street - it's still urban living and one should still lock one's doors and not leave anything of any even visual interest in one's car, even in the event one owns a very old and rustic car full of dirty gloves, oil, ugly rubber "shoes", and dog toys.  

Sidewalk Repair on Thomas: trees could not be saved

My name is Lou Stubecki. I’m the Arboriculturist for SDOT Urban Forestry working on the sidewalk repair project in your neighborhood. We gave our best efforts, but unfortunately, we were only able to save 3 of the 15 trees involved in the sidewalk repair. We were lucky to have been able to move the sidewalk over at the park, otherwise we may have lost all of the trees. Removing 12 trees is a significant loss of canopy that is inconsistent with the City’s goals for increasing tree canopy. We would love to put trees back in the 1900 block of E Thomas St, but we can’t because the right of way has effectively been shortened from 12’ wide to 8’ wide due to property encroachment. We would like to find spots in the neighborhood where we can plant new trees, and I thought, with your intimate knowledge of the neighborhood, you would able to help me identify spots in need of trees. Please contact me and let me know if we could meet to look over some sights. I look forward to meeting you.

All Best,

Lou Stubecki

Arboriculturist

Certified Arborist /Certified Tree Risk Assessor #483

Seattle Department of Transportation-Urban Forestry

PO Box 34996

(206) 684-7570 office

(206) 423-1837 cell

lou.stubecki@seattle.com

Bilingual Students' Dance and Artwork Show on Saturday

The Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center (the SBOC) is Seattle's and Miller community's own World School - home to middle and high school newcomer students from all over the world.  Sharing the Meany School with NOVA students, SBOC students are learning English and adjusting to their new country.  They bring with them wonderful traditions and each year students perform their traditional dances at the Folklife festival, and this Saturday, for their families, friends, and the larger SBOC community.

We invite the Miller community to the SBOC this Saturday for an informal presentation of multicultural dances, artwork by SBOC students, a show of 

fabulous photos from SBOC students' Club Photo (recently showcased at Seattle Symphony's Benaroya Hall) and a sale of students' art cards to raise funds for student scholarships.  We would love to share our wonderful school with our neighbors - come meet our students, staff, and friends of SBOC.

The dance program is Saturday, June 18th, from 12:30 - 2 -- come at 12:15 to see the art and check out our beautiful art cards. 

any questions:  890-8897 or 784-0843 

Madison Street neighbors in the news

Sunday, 5/22/11, Seattle Times Pacific Magazine "Then and Now" features a streetcar crash at 19th & Madison: the building involved, which now houses the Capitol Hill Alano Club and which recently suffered a fire, seemed little harmed by the collision and looks pretty similar today.

Monday 5/23/11 Seattle Times NW Monday has a big feature about 22nd & Madison fixture , and Central Area Chamber of Commerce Chair, DeCharlene Williams. She's also featured in this interesting book about race, basketball, gentrification and the Central Area (in which I get a cameo appearance).

Bonus (just south of us):  Seattle Times Pacific Magazine article about upcoming June 4th  Central Area Garden Tour.