Where on Beacon Hill Am I? #1

I thought it would be fun to take photos around the neighborhood and ask you guys to guess where the photo was taken.

We'll start with what I think is an easy one. Where was this shot taken?

The 1992 Washington State Caucus

I just posted about the locations for the upcoming Democratic caucus. And I got all mad about it because I hate the caucus system.

I've never actually participated in a caucus. I was out of town for the 2004 caucus. I was registered in Oregon (which has a meaningful primary system, as Washington should) in early 2000 and in 1996. And I was shut out of Washington state caucus in 1992 -- the first year that I was old enough to vote in a presidential race -- because I had to work.

I'm less indignant about it now, but I remember at the time, I was outraged that young/poor people like me who had to work in the evening had no opportunity to cast a vote.

And it's not like I didn't have an opinion. I was so intensely excited about Bill Clinton's candidacy that I attended all his rallies, which were like super-crowded rock shows. I'd transcend my claustrophobia and politely push my way to the front so I could be as close as possible to him. And when he got close, I'd thrust my hand out and hope he'd grab on, preferably with both his hands, preferably with a local photojournalist capturing it for a feature story in the paper several days later.

11th District Dem Caucus Locations Announced

As The Paper Noose noted today, the 11th District Democrats have posted the locations for the caucuses on Saturday, Feb. 9. The 11th District encompasses most of the west side of Beacon Hill (though not north of Holgate); you can find your 11th District precinct on this map.

If you're not in the 11th here on the hill, you're in the 37th, which seems to cover everything north of Holgate and most of the hill east of Beacon Ave. The website for the 37th says they'll be posting their caucus locations tomorrow. You can find your 37th District precinct here; you can find all the district maps for the county here.

Flat Tire in Georgetown

January in Seattle is glum. It's wet, it's cold, it's dark. It's an especially lousy time of year to get a flat tire and have to pull over into a pawn shop parking lot to deal with the spare.



Grr!



Since my web search on them comes up nil, I'm assuming that dairy no longer exists. Hope they didn't go out of business because of milk crate theft.



I like to think I could do this on my own if I ever had to. If we ever get a flat on a warm summer afternoon, maybe I'll volunteer to try to change the tire.



Beautiful Georgetown. So hip, so happening.



He's kneeling on a Goretex jacket I last wore in the 1990s. I figure it's a good thing to have stashed in the trunk.



Those are called lugnuts.





The first time either of us has even verified the existence of the spare.



Ta-da!

The Stock House Isn't Long for This World

This lovely view just isn't going to be the same with a new office building across the street.

City of Seattle NEWS RELEASE
Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor

For immediate release
January 4, 2008

Contact: Alan Justad, DPD
206-295-1123 cell: 206-295-1123

Emergency Demo Approved for Hazardous Structure in Georgetown
Stock House, Portion of Rainier Cold Storage, Needs to Come Down

SEATTLE – The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) has approved an emergency demolition permit for the Stock House, a part of the Rainier Cold Storage site in Georgetown. The emergency permit was approved due to the accelerating sinking of the structure.

The owner’s engineer, KPFF Consulting Engineers, has determined that the continuing structural deterioration of the Stock House has created a public safety hazard and that the building must be demolished as soon as possible. DPD engineers, after visiting the site and reviewing engineer reports, agree with this assessment. While the wall adjacent to the Stock House to the north is currently more stable, it is anticipated that a portion of that wall may also need to come down in order to demolish the Stock House safely. That portion of the demolition plan is still being prepared.

The site, at 5900 Airport Way South, is under review for a major re-development by the Sabey Corporation. The Stock House is a City of Seattle landmark as is the Rainier Cold Storage complex. In August 2007, the owners applied to the Landmarks Preservation Board seeking approval for the demolition of the Stock House. The Board and its Architectural Review Committee have been briefed over the past few months. Although the Board has not had the opportunity to act on the Certificate of Approval, the Board and the community have been aware of the tenuous condition of the structure.

The tentative plan is for Airport Way South adjacent to the structure to be closed the weekends of January 12-13 and January 19-21. Specific details are still under review.

Preparations for the demolition will start this weekend and the sidewalk in front of the structure has been closed.

Second Saturday Georgetown Art Walks Start February 9

Starting Saturday, February 9, Georgetown is finally going to have its own neighborhood art walk -- "Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack."

Georgetown graphic artist Mike Poetzel (whose works are now the best part of our living room) is designing the marketing materials for the launch. Fantagraphics dude Larry Reid is coordinating promotion. And Kathy Nyland dug up the funding to get this ball rolling.

More details from Larry Reid:

To participate in this monthly celebration of Georgetown's
creativity, simply [e-mail] your name (as you'd like it to appear in
marketing) and street address no later than Monday, January 7 to
Larry Reid at [studio9b -at- graffiti.net]. Marq Dean has already compiled this
information from most of you. We encourage participants to program
something distinctive for the February 9 launch, but all that's
required is your space be open to the public.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me, Shannon at
Georgetown Tile Works, Chad at Christoff Gallery, or Marq Dean at
Georgetown Records.

Another Metro Complaint

From yesterday's P-I column on transportation in Seattle:

Question: Stephen Jones says that at least a couple of times a week, the No. 306 or the No. 312 bus from Lake City to downtown get too full to pick up more riders.

"Sometimes the (bus) driver calls someone -- the supervisor, I assume -- to say that they had to leave people stranded at the last stops, but that rarely happens," Jones says.

He wonders why there aren't more buses to serve such busy routes.

"Does Metro consider ridership in route schedules?" he asks.

Answer: David Hull, Metro's service planning supervisor, says the farebox tracks how many riders get on at each stop, and Metro changes routes three times a year, in February, June and September.

But Metro ridership has grown by 15 percent over the past several years, he says. That's just under 50,000 more riders each weekday.

Metro doesn't have enough buses, so he says planners have to balance several things. The 306 and 312 buses, for instance, come every seven to 10 minutes during rush hour.

Putting even more buses on the routes means taking them from someplace else. "Waiting for another 306/312 bus, although frustrating, is less of a problem than not being able to get on a bus that operates only every 30 minutes," he says.

Instead of adding more buses, Hull says Metro has been putting its largest buses -- with 64 seats each -- on the two routes.

To comment on service, call 206-553-3060 or e-mail customer.comments@kingcounty.gov.

To me, the gist of the reader's question is this: Does Metro tally up the numbers of riders who get passed by because buses are too full to pick them up, and does Metro then use these numbers to help determine future bus scheduling? Maybe because I don't work for a government agency, this seems like such an obvious question that it shouldn't even need to be asked.

I love Metro's answers:

"The farebox tracks how many riders get on at each stop." Yes, we could have figured that part out ourselves, but the reader's question was specifically about the people who can't get on the bus at a stop.

And this: "Putting even more buses on the routes means taking them from someplace else." Thanks for the explanation -- I've been needing a first-grade math class refresher.

The spokesperson ignores the real comment/question. The system obviously sucks -- what's it going to take for us to get more buses?