Calendar and Blog updates

(you've seen some of this before. This is to get back on a regular Thursday schedule, after the recent listserv outage)

Everything gets posted to the Miller blog, and I remind you that you can get E-mail notice of blog updates. Click on "Get blog updates by E-mail" on the "Miller Links" section on the right side.

Calendar items :

• Sunday, April 29, 2:00pm Bike repair self-help
• Monday, April 30, 6:00pm Capitol Hill Panel Discussion (at CHHIP Annual meeting)
  
• Monday, April 30, 6:30pm City Neighborhood Council: talk with TWO Councilmembers
  
• Wednesday, May 2, 8:00pm Design Review - 305 24th Ave E
  
• Thursday, May 3, 6:00pm Neighborhood planing: Central Area
  
• Friday, May 4, 4:00pm Farmers' Market opens for season at MLK/Union
  
• Sunday, May 6, 2:00pm Bike repair self-help

For details (and some bonus entries), visit the calendar at:

http://ical.mac.com/andrew_taylor/Miller

and click on an entry for details and links.
You can subscribe to the calendar at:webcal://ical.mac.com/andrew_taylor/Miller.ics if you have a Mac and iCal or a PC and Office 2007 ( http://tinyurl.com/35wy3s).
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Recent items on the Miller blog ( http://millerparkseattle.blogspot.com/ ):

• Sustaining a vibrant and diverse neighborhood

• Power Pole down: East Madison Street blocked

• East Madison Street Redevelopment

• Fratelli's Cow Mural: enjoy it while you can

• Administrative Design Review: 2311 E. John Street

• Supplemental Early Design Guidance Meeting: 305 24th Ave E

Sustaining A Vibrant and Diverse Neighborhood

Dear Friend of Capitol Hill Housing,

As you may know CHH has its Annual Meeting in April each year. This year it will be on April 30th at 6:00 at the Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Avenue. The event will mix a little organizational business and a panel discussion we think you will find interesting about development and change for Capitol Hill.

The business items will be brief, but important. We elect two community members to our Board, provide a summary of the organization’s activities for the year, and ratify the selection of our independent auditor. People who are residents or property owners in Capitol Hill are eligible to vote.

Our panel-“Sustaining A Vibrant and Diverse Neighborhood”-will feature representatives of some of the most current developments on Broadway, Pike-Pine, and 15th East. These projects are place makers for Capitol Hill’s future and include examples of new construction and preservation. How does the “market” see Capitol Hill? How do they connect with Capitol Hill’s character? The panel will be hosted by Channel 21 and Capitol Hill resident, C.R. Douglas. He will also moderate a question and answer segment from the audience.

Panelists: Dana Behar, HAL Properties, Cameo & Braeburn Projects at 14th and Pine

Anne Michelson, Pike/Pine Neighborhood activist/developer with project at 12th and Pike.

Maria Barrientos, Developer with three projects currently in development on Capitol Hill.

Chuck Weinstock, Capitol Hill Housing, just completed Broadway Crossing and Silivian.

Bob Burkheimer, owner of the former QFC/Bartells site currently under redevelopment.

We hope you will take the opportunity to check in with us, help us take care of some organizational business, and take part in an important community conversation. Space is limited so please rsvp to rsvp@chhip.org as soon as possible.

Sincerely yours,

Chuck Weinstock

Executive Director
Capitol Hill Housing
1406 10th Avenue, Suite 101
Seattle, WA 98122

Here's a colorful meeting flyer to download, print and share.

Power pole down: E. Madison Street blocked

It's the block of East Madison Street just east of 23rd. Lots of Police cars but no drug dealers: it's a downed power pole, hit by a truck, that's causing all the action on Madison. The P-I initially said a car did it, and there's a crushed little car on the street, but it's hard to believe that such a little thing could bring down such a sturdy looking pole (and the P-I update mentioned a truck) . And we heard a Police officer telling someone that it was a truck.

Sadly, the Bottleneck has lost power for the evening, and Crush looks closed also.

East Madison Street Redevelopment

The closing of Deano's Grocery Store may herald a great wave of redevelopment on East Madison Street in our area.

Marching east down the street, here's what I know:

1) 1700 E. Madison Street: the Trader Joe's building. Permits for the apartments at the rear of the Trader Joe's building are still pending?

2) 1818 E. Madison Street: the "Fratelli's" site. Val Thomas is a very well respected Seattle architect and builder, who built the 19th Ave lofts a few years ago. His plans for the redevelopment of the "Fratelli's" site were approved years ago (but not implemented) but he recently noted:

....the status of our project at 19th and Madison. We are now fully permitted and hoping to proceed. I will let you know as things fall into place.

His presentations at Miller neighborhood meetings, and the Design Review meetings, are exhaustively documented on the old Miller website. I think it will be a fine addition to our neighborhood. Here's the DPD page. Project will have 134 apartments, 170ish parking spaces and retail on 19th.

Go see the cows before they go away.

3) 2040 E. Madison Street: Dean Falls' property. Bar and store closed, site pretty much empty. Rumors abound about Dean demolishing and building, selling etc. Just checked the County website: still belongs to DEF Inc. No bulldozers yet. Here's what I know about plans for the property, here are pictures of the models and plans. and here's another Miller page about it.

4) 2051 East Madison Street (the new "Twilight Exit") had "For Sale" signs on the building for some while, and now does not. Property had been sold (check the King County website) but no signs of planning for redevelopment yet.

5) 2216 E. Madison Street (the Madison Temple site ) also had "For Sale" signs for a long time, but now does not, but has not been sold (according to the King County site). The site has been fenced: somebody may have an "option" on it, although the realtor's website is still active. The Miller website has details of all the Design Review Hearings etc (in 2001) that led to the Master Use Permit for the project.

Note that the rezoning of the property from 85' to 65' means that the exisiting plan for an 85' building (and no other) is "grandfathered in".

Fratelli's Cow Mural: enjoy it while you can!

For about 20 years we've all been enjoying the cow mural that's painted on the old Fratelli's ice cream factory at 19th & Madison. The site will probably be developed soon (details), so I suggest you all go and admire the cows while you may.

In 1992 the owner of Fratelli's, Mr. Peter Morse, shared with me some details of the mural, which was painted by his brother, and I'd like to share them with you now, so that you can better enjoy the mural.
Here's a Seattle Times art critic's column from 1987 about the mural and its creation and here are some notes from the artist about his work, and here's a link to a Seattle Times article about the Fratelli's ice cream company.

The Quicktime VR files I made of the whole wall doesn't seem to work well anymore.

Here's a link to a folder containing all the photos I took of the cows (in April 2007)

Below is my amateur attempt to preserve the mural: a Quicktime VR panorama of most of it. It no longer works in Quicktime on the Mac but does work with the (old) RealPlayer on my Mac. (seemed more high-tech in 2007!)

Here's the Quicktime VR file: cows.qt

I recall cycling to work to the Hutch on First Hill, back in 1987, and watching the mural evolve a little every day. It's been a wonderful addition to our neighborhood, and I'll be very sad to see it go. Let's hope the developer manages to incorporate the image into the new building.

Update: July 2017

Occasional interest in the Cows continues. The Fratelli's building was demolished and replaced (in ~ 2011) with an apartment building (the Lawrence Lofts). Architect Val Thomas honored the cows both on the construction crane (and apartment website) but also in a little mural on the Madison side of the building.

Streetview version of the new cows: https://goo.gl/maps/4jgPbZgFdzk

Orignal cows on Streetview: https://goo.gl/maps/BeTj48vjCi12

Better Streetview version: https://goo.gl/maps/xESLym3u2y92

New cows are pleasant but no substitute for the originals.

Construction pictures:

Notice of Administrative Design Review: 2311 E John St

The proposal is for a triplex townhouse building with accessory parking. This proposal has been submitted voluntarily for Administrative Design Review in exchange for departures from the following development standards (based on the preliminary design concept):

• Open space
• Structure depth
• Setback

OPPORTUNITY FOR COMMENT:
The Director will accept written comments to assist in the preparation of the early design guidance through April 25, 2007.

Link to DPD (Department of Planning and Development) notice on the project and to a DPD page explaining Design Review.

Administrative Design Review is handled at DPD offices by DPD officials. I personally think there should be a provision to expand the review to a full public Design Review if enough neighbors request it.

Supplemental Early Design Guidance Meeting: 305 24th Ave E

The Director of DPD is convening the Design Review Board for a 2nd early design guidance meeting.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 8:00 p.m.
Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway, Room 3211

Link to details of the meeting.

Link to a copy of the report from the February 7th meeting.

The developer has requested to change the property's zoning from single family (SF5000) to multifamily (L1 and L3 zoned) zoning, via a "contract rezone" which is being vigorously opposed by many of its neighbors.

I surveyed the Miller neighborhood's views (and gave some background & links) on the project back in February, and then reported a summary, and the details, of the survey (many people supported the project), as well as neighbors views on the process. BTW here's the developer's website.

At the initial Design Review, the volunteer board members had numerous concerns about the project: presumably the applicant will be addressing these at this (unusual) second Early Design Guidance meeting.

As described at length in the meeting notes, the Design Review and rezone issues are handled entirely separately, and so there will be ample time to comment on the actual rezoning in due course: it all ends up at the City Council, which will surely have a Public Hearing for your your comments!

Calendar and Blog items

Calendar items for the next week or so:

• Sunday, April 15, 2:00pm Bike repair self-help
  
• Tuesday, April 17, 6:30pm POSTPONED (new date - April 23rd): CNA Meeting on emergency preparedness
  
• Thursday, April 19, 6:30pm Meth 101
  
• Saturday, April 21, 10:00am Central Area Spring Plant Exchange
  
• Sunday, April 22, 11:00am Madison Valley Plant Exchange
  
• Sunday, April 22, 2:00pm Bike repair self-help

For details, visit the calendar at:

http://ical.mac.com/andrew_taylor/Miller

and click on an entry for details and links.
You can subscribe to the calendar at:
webcal://ical.mac.com/andrew_taylor/Miller.ics
if you have a Mac and iCal or a PC and Office 2007 ( http://tinyurl.com/35wy3s).

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Recent items on the Miller blog ( http://millerparkseattle.blogspot.com/ ):

• Farewell Dan Okada; Welcome Tienney Milnor
  
• City funds available for neighborhood improvements
  
• Official neighborhood song revealed
  
• Young adults (18-29) needed for City Boards and Commissions
  
• Farewell Captain Black; Welcome Captain McDonagh

Farewell Dan Okada; Welcome Tienney Milnor

Our neighborhood has benefited for many years from the City Attorney's "Precinct Liason Program". Assistant City Attorneys, assigned to the East Precinct, have been invaluable in dealing with Liquor License applications and renewals, Good Neighbor Agreements with bars and minimarts, and many other services they can tell you about.

Dan Okada has been our attorney for several years: his masterpiece, for which we will be always grateful, was the negotiations with the owner of Club Chocolate City, which resulted in that bar relinquishing its liquor license. Dan has now returned to prosecuting cases for the City. He has our eternal thanks, although he (very ethically) refused our small gift at a recent cleanup.

His replacement is Tienney Milnor, who worked alongside him for a couple of months to learn the ropes. The City's directory is outdated: Tienney and Dan have essentially swapped jobs and offices, but the links still show their old phone numbers.

Tienney's already hard at work attending neighborhood meetings, and is working on the public safety issues at the 23rd & Union shopping area - things got bad there about the time that Club Chocolate City closed, although the crowds hanging out in the two areas seemed different.

Do contact Tienney (206-684-4375, tienney.milnor@seattle.gov ) if there are public safety issues that might benefit from her help. And don't be shy about dropping Dan a note to thank him for all his help.

City funds available for neighborhood improvements

Bridging the Gap & Neighborhood Street Fund (NSF)/ Cumulative Reserve Fund (CRF) Dollars are Available Now!

Money and resources are available for groups and individuals to get involved in improving their neighborhoods. The City needs your help in identifying Transportation and Parks projects to be completed in the next several years. Your input is essential for ensuring that our communities have a voice in this process and that we get the best results possible.

There are two sources of money for two different types of projects. Applications for both are due May 18th.

1. Funds Available from Bridging the Gap Levy! (Larger Transportation Projects)

2. Neighborhood Street Fund and Cumulative Reserve Fund (NSF/CRF)
(Smaller Transportation and Parks Projects).

All the details and appication forms available on this Department of Neighborhoods webpage:

http://seattle.gov/neighborhoods/btgnsfcrf/

Anybody care to submit the Miller project from the list of proposed but unfunded Parks projects:

(page 3): East Parks -- Miller Playfield - Park funishings. Install tables, benches and other furniture.