Clean and Green Event on Beacon Hill Draws 130

Craig Thompson's Beacon Lights blog has a photo of some of the 130 volunteers who worked to clean up the Jose Rizal Park area back on March 15. Thanks to every single one of you!

I swear to God, someday I will help out at one of these Beacon cleanup events. But ever since we moved here and inherited a jungle from the previous owner, I've felt that I want to finish cleaning up my own yard first before helping out with public spaces.

A picture of the jungle before we started cleaning it up (that much-abused willow tree was about to fall over and possibly kill someone):



And after we started working to tame it:



It's coming along. But the ivy continues to be a formidable opponent, especially along the neighbor's chain-link fence.

Yet Another Asian Woman Attacked in South Seattle

The assailant pushed her to the ground and attacked her in her driveway around 2:30 this morning. A neighbor heard her screaming and scared off the attacker, who then drove away. The P-I story about this 23rd attack.

(In the headline -- "Another Asian woman assaulted on Beacon Hill" -- the P-I identifies the site of the attack, the 4200 block of South Webster Street, as Beacon Hill, though I consider that MLK/Renton Avenue area to be Rainier Valley instead.)

The police are asking for help finding this guy:

The suspect was described as black, 20 to 30 years old, possibly 6 feet tall and slender. He wore a green jacket, Jamieson said. Anyone with information is asked to call the Special Assault Unit at 206-684-5575.

Let's all keep our eyes and ears open. Beacon Hill residents have complained on this blog about how unfriendly their parts of the neighborhood are. Even if you've never met the people who live around you, please look out for them, like this woman's neighbor looked out for her. If you see or hear anything weird, investigate. You could be the one to stop this guy.

Developer Follow-up (Beacon Ventures, Sabey)

1. The Beacon Ventures folks still have not responded to my Saturday e-mail about when they plan to paint out the graffiti I originally alerted them to in mid-February.

2. Jim Harmon did write me back about my Friday e-mail about which "historical preservation principles" made saving the freestanding Brew House wall undesirable.

It's the piece of wall sticking out here in this photo I took in January:



From his Friday e-mail to the neighborhood:

Regarding where we are, the demolition of the Stock House will be
completed in the next few weeks. We have not reached a conclusion as to what to do about the remaining façade wall attached to the Brew House. While that wall does not pose an impending danger like the Stock House did, it does pose the matter of design and cost, as it looked to be several million dollars to retain it. In our discussions with the Landmarks Preservation Board, certain members expressed their desire to keep this façade. Additionally, certain neighborhood members expressed their concern and very much wanted to keep it. However, landmarks regulations recognize that the preservation of certain landmarked elements may be uneconomical and can grant an exception to the preservation rule. Our assertion is that it is not only uneconomic, but that it is undesirable from a design and historic standpoint (and there are certain historic preservation principles that this is based upon).

And from his response to me:

In response to your questions, the principle in question is termed façadism. Below are excerpts from submittals we previously made to the Landmarks Board and posted on our website:

* “We do not believe that retaining this wall is true to historic preservation and constitutes façadism since there is no structure behind it, historic or otherwise. We understand there to be divergent opinions, but façadism is not supported by many and is contrary to federal and local tax incentives, further indication of its standing.”

* “...we do not believe that retaining the North Wall is within the spirit of historic preservation as it constitutes façadism[1], and we see the removal of that wall as an opportunity to open the remaining historic structures to sight from Airport Way as well as reasonable vehicular access into the historic areas.”

* "[1] This point is emphasized by the fact that significant tax incentives are provided to retain historic structures by both federal income tax and local real estate tax credits; however, no such economic incentives are provided for retaining a building façade."

It’s also referred to as facadomy. See Wikipedia reference and citings here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facadism.

Hmm. I'm no expert, but that Wikipedia link about facadism seems to suggest that preservationists believe that maintaining an entire building is preferable to maintaining just a facade. However, it does NOT seem to suggest that preservationists believe that destroying an existing freestanding facade is preferable to maintaining it. Maybe someone more knowledgeable about historical preservation would like to weigh in?

[Update/sidenote: Here's a 3/25/08 Crosscut article about Seattle's historical landmark designation process.]

Beacon Hill: Now Serving Queen Anne

A few weeks ago I think I mentioned that I regularly search the P-I and Times sites for mentions of "Beacon," in the hopes of catching a reference to the hill or avenue.

On an average day, the search returns no news stories. But today I happened to find a Beacon Hill reference in a story titled "Residential parking zone divides neighbors on Queen Anne."

The Beacon Hill mention comes from a quote from the coordinator of the Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce. It turns out that some Hilltop residents are sick of competing for street parking with the customers and employees of local businesses. Here's the business-side quote:

"We believe a single mom working at one of the restaurants has as much of a right to park as anybody else. Taking a bus from Beacon Hill isn't really an option for them," said Margaret Irvine, coordinator of the chamber.

I wonder if she's thinking of someone she actually knows who's a single mom who lives on Beacon Hill and would have to take the 36 (and a transfer) if she couldn't find free parking for more than two hours.

Or I wonder if she just made that up to make it sound like she's protecting the relatively disadvantaged here in the South End, as opposed to the relatively wealthy who like to spend more than two hours at trendy bars, fancy breakfast spots, and posh boutiques.

And I wonder if she named Beacon Hill to gain some extra sympathy for her cause because any woman who takes the 36 and walks home may have to fend off that increasingly bold assailant/groper/asshole.

Anyway, it's just funny to me that the Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce representative called out Beacon Hill in that ridiculous quote in which she pretends to represent the interests of restaurant workers instead of their employers. It's been a pleasure to serve you, Hilltop merchants! Just let us know if you need anything else from us today.

Daffodils in Comet Lodge Cemetery

I went to go investigate that fairy ring down in Comet Lodge Cemetery.

It's not really a ring. More like a U.



And fairies probably didn't put it there.





I'm not particularly superstitious about this supposedly haunted place, which I've written about before, but this 1-year-old's epitaph does creep me out a little.



I think it says: "Weep not, father and mother, for me, for I wait in glory for thee."

New Photos of the Christian Restoration Center

Bummed around the neighborhood this morning, snapping some pictures. Noticed that the Beacon Ventures folks have not yet painted out the graffiti at the Christian Restoration Center.





I just sent them a quick e-mail asking what's up with that. I'll give them a chance to respond before following up with the mayor's office. I submitted the original complaint about the graffiti to SPU on February 13 or 14, well over a month ago.

Broken Walk Signals?

A local jogger recently wrote to the P-I about a broken walk signal at Beacon and Spokane. From the 3/16 P-I:

Question: Eric Meltzer says his usual jog takes him to the intersection of Beacon Avenue South and South Spokane Street, where his run comes to a halt.

"I always press the walk button, but I have never seen the walk sign illuminate and end up crossing against the 'don't walk' symbol," he says.

He wonders if the button even works.

Answer: Marx of the Transportation Department says the button wasn't working -- but it works now. Marx said a Department of Transportation crew went out last week and fixed it.

Wow, that was fast. Has anyone else noticed any other broken signals around the neighborhood that we can report and get fixed?

"Beacon Hill Groper"?

In a comment on a recent post about the Beacon Hill Groper, Kim said she was tired of hearing the media call him by that name because it downplays the severity of his crimes.

I've been calling him a "groper" because it's a specifically sexual reference; he's not randomly attacking people for no clear reason. No, the sick asshole is targeting only women, specifically Asian women. The term "South Seattle assailant" isn't meaningful. South Seattle is full of assailants.

Another commenter, apparently a Seattle Times employee, pointed out that his/her paper has not called him a "groper."

Out of curiosity, I looked up the term "Beacon Hill Groper" to see who all has been using it.

KOMO has. (That link goes to a story that recaps last night's Beacon Hill Elementary PTSA meeting, where police spoke about the incident. As I figured, they didn't say anything noteworthy. Just "walk in pairs," "scream," "call 911," "maintain extra vigilance," etc.)

King 5 has, but they feel guilty enough about it to put it in quotes. They've also called him the "bus stop groper."

And someone on MySpace is calling himself the Beacon Hill Groper.

Anyway. I'm happy to call him something else if there's a more accurate term -- I just hope that doesn't end up being the "Beacon Hill Rapist."

And Here's the Times Story About the Groper

From today's Seattle Times:

Seattle police bike officers have increased their patrols of the Beacon Hill neighborhood in response to the latest in nearly two dozen sexual attacks on Asian girls and women.

Police say the man has groped, chased and even knocked down 22 girls and women in Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill since August 2006. The victims have ranged from teenagers to a 52-year-old. No victim has been raped or critically injured, and police said the man normally runs off after his victims have screamed for help.

The cops quoted in this story are unusually frank, saying "We're highly unlikely to catch this guy," and that the intention of their stepped-up patrol is to make people "feel" safe.

The principal at Beacon Hill Elementary invites the public to come to the PTSA meeting at 7:15 tonight at the school; some police will be there to discuss the incidents.

Feel safe!

Beacon Hill Groper Attacks 22nd Victim

I don't even know what to say about this anymore.

In the middle of the day on Thursday, this man attacked his 22nd (reported) victim, this time right by the 76 station on the 2400 block of 14th Avenue South.

From yesterday's P-I:

"The victim, a 28-year-old woman, was walking home from the store when a man approached her from behind, covered her mouth, knocked her to the ground and assaulted her. Two people nearby saw the attack. When the assailant noticed them, he broke off his assault and fled."

"[The perpetrator] has been described as a black male of medium height, thin build, in his 20s or 30s. He has worn a variety of clothing and in some cases has hidden behind a green ski mask or red scarf."

Interesting that the Seattle Times didn't think a 22nd sexual attack in South Seattle by the same asshole warranted a mention in the local section.

A Neighbor's Take on the Design Review Last Night

I couldn't make it, but a nearby neighbor named Steve told me I could post his e-mail to me about what happened at the design review meeting for the development of the old Christian Restoration Center site at 15th and Oregon. Thanks also to L.T., who provided me with a similarly thorough account of the proceedings.

From Steve's e-mail:

I think the developer and the architect showed they're taking a relatively responsible approach to the development and trying to be as respectful to the neighbors as possible while still creating a project that'll be profitable and makes sense them (the developer). I mean, they're not proposing a green roof (yet) or anything with low-income housing, but it looks like a pretty good project for what the zoning code allows. The project looks very familiar--much like what you'll see if you drive around Ballard, Wallingford, the U-District, and any other of the higher density neighborhoods in the city that are years ahead of Beacon Hill in terms of densifying and gentrifying old rundown "business centers." In some ways that's a bit disappointing, but I think there's not a whole lot they can do to make it unique--later in the design process we'll have a chance to suggest specific exterior design finishes that might create something that is more of a departure from some of the other recent developments around the city. The area where they're proposing the development is zoned for slightly higher density and higher allowable bldg heights, and I think it's reasonable to expect that both sides of the street in the higher density zone will be redeveloped in the next several years, and this project should help build some much-needed momentum. My experience with progress on Beacon Hill tells me it'll be a long time, but maybe things will take off, who knows.

The members of the design review board asked some good questions, and some that seemed ridiculous, such as asking the architect about other massing configurations. I think it's clear that the configuration they've chosen is the one that's most respectful to the neighbors and shields them as much as possible from the development, while providing nice open space for the new building's residents that will have decent views and won't overlook a busy neighborhood street.

The public included maybe 25-30 residents, many from within a block of the bldg. I live 4 blocks away and I think I was the most distant of anyone there. Some had some good questions about the design, many of which concerned the traffic impacts, which the DRB put off as not relevant for this meeting. It's an SDOT issue that will have to be covered later.

I'm glad I went to the meeting, but you didn't miss much if you looked over the info on that website you forwarded yesterday. Probably the most noteworthy thing design-wise that came up was the fact that there are two separate parking entrances, including one off Oregon that will provide 5(!) parking stalls for the retail space and also parking for residents. The arch justified having separate parking entrances by noting that if a ramp configuration were used it would cut into the retail space quite a bit, leading to most likely less desirable retail. Everyone there was united in saying we want some decent retail and I think if the city pushes too hard on things that are going to affect the quality of the retail space, the residents will push back.

Stranger Post on Christian Restoration Center Development

The Stranger folks are way savvier than I am and contacted the architects about this project instead of the developers/owners.

From the Stranger blog:

15th Avenue South and South Oregon Street

This exquisite parking lot is located next to the former Christian Restoration Center, which is now vacant. In its place, a four-story mixed-use building with up to three retail units at the ground level and 30 residential units above has been proposed by Rudeen Development. No decision yet on condos or apartments, according to Carlos De La Torre of architecture firm H+DLT Collaborative.

The location is a crossroads between Beacon Hill and Columbia City, so like an evangelical density zealot, I’m pro-life—for this intersection. However, this design is stillborn. “It is purposefully boring,” explains De La Torre. “This is the early design, and there are very specific rules to early design guidance. [The design-review board members] don’t want to see a lot of design,” he says. “As architects, we have something in our heads and we’re very excited, and we’d like to get people geared toward that goal.” Attend the meeting and goad them on.

Please do attend (leave now) and let me know what happens. I'm too sick to go.

Fairy Ring at Comet Lodge Cemetery

Yes, I know that real fairy rings are made of mushrooms, but I like to think of this circle of daffodils as a fairy ring.

Sorry about the faraway photo. I didn't feel like stumbling down into the cemetery because I'm sick and headachy and disoriented (not used to wearing glasses after both my eyes got infected, and not used to only hearing out of one ear because of this horrible sinus congestion) and big and pregnant and clumsy.



I wish I could believe that elves or fairies or spirits created this ring, but I have a limited imagination. I mean, I could see them floating around, sprinkling wildflower seeds in a circle in middle of the night, but I just can't see them digging the holes to plant all those bulbs.

Christian Restoration Center: City Meeting TONIGHT

Wow. I guess tonight there really is an official meeting about the Christian Restoration Center development. I honestly thought that the property manager and the property ownership group would warn me about public meetings, as I've asked them to do this about a dozen times. I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt, but obviously this doesn't speak very well to their interest in community engagement.

The meeting is at 8:00 p.m. at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center (at the corner of Alaska and Rainier) at 3515 S. Alaska St. Here's the PDF of the Design Review application, which I just found on the City of Seattle website. I encourage you to take a look -- it has some drawings of what the building might look like.

I'm home sick today with a hateful, endless cold and might not be able to make it. Is anyone else going to go?

Here's the e-mail I got from the developer today. Apparently everyone involved has been out of town without e-mail access for a week. Hmm.

Jon and I have been out of town for the last week. Jon doesn't return until today and I returned yesterday, so we are sorry for our delay in our response to you.

Jon did want me to let you know that he tried to reply to your response last
night but was having connection problems so he was unsure if you received
his message as I did not so he asked me to reach out to you.

The meeting tonight is part of the overall permit process. The meeting
itself is for the City of Seattle Design Review. This is where we go to the
city, take our site proposal to the city and answer questions they might
have.

So to answer your question the people who set up this meeting was the City
of Seattle and it is there agenda. I will be attending along with our
architect and depending if Jon is back in time he will attend as well.

If you have further questions please feel free to shoot me or Jon an e-mail.

Thanks.

Rudeen Development, LLC
Kyle Kappen

Neighborhood Meeting About Christian Restoration Center?

Does anyone know anything about this? I got forwarded this message today, but no one knows who's organizing the meeting. I know that the property ownership group planned to notify me when they held a meeting, so this must be some other meeting.

An alert Block Watch member passed on word that there is a meeting tomorrow evening (3/11/08) @ 8:00pm specifically to discuss the project at the Christian Restoration Center. There's a small flyer stapled to the telephone pole at the site. The meeting will be at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center (corner of Alaska and Rainier):

3515 S Alaska St
Seattle, WA 98118
(206) 725-7517

Beacon Hill Groper Still Groping

From today's P-I:

One man suspected in attacks on 21 females
Police beef up hunt for brazen assailant in South Seattle

Seattle police say a man who has forcibly groped women in South Seattle may be responsible for as many as 21 attacks over the past three years, including four in the past two months.

Police fear that the man is becoming increasingly violent after he tried to drag a woman into a dark driveway last fall and targeted two teenage girls walking together in January.

...

Many of the attacks last fall were reported on Beacon Avenue South, from South Columbian Way to South Cloverdale Street, and near 45th Avenue South, police said.

Two Photos: Beacon Hill, Georgetown

I didn't have my good camera on me, but I liked the light.

The view from the Beacon Hill Library parking lot.



The Stock House.

Neighborhood Notes

Drive carefully, please. The victim (and, sounds like, cause) of a fatal car crash on MLK near Jefferson was a carpenter who lived on Beacon Hill. From today's P-I:

Jackson, 43, was driving a Mazda MX-6 on Martin Luther King Jr. Way near East Jefferson Street about 8:20 a.m. when he tried to make an illegal turn onto Temple Place and collided with a pickup, police said.

Jackson and his daughters were taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.

The girls were upgraded to satisfactory condition Friday, hospital officials said. The driver of the pickup was treated for minor injuries, police said.

Relatives say Jackson — a carpenter who lived on Beacon Hill — was rushing to drop off his daughters, ages 10 and 7, at school in Madrona.

Christian Restoration Center: just one big retail space? From a 2/26/08 e-mail from Jon Hager, the property manager:

The square footage as of now is just the entire bottom at just over 6,000 sq ft. To my knowledge there has not been discussions with anyone in regards to leasing out the space. We are still in the early stages as you know so the main goal is to get approval from the city on everything first.

With that said when submitting the paperwork with the city one thing is to set up a community meeting, I hear that there is one in the works, but the exact date hasn't been set. When I hear of it I will for sure pass it along to you.

Theater in the works at 13th and Shelton? I've been told there's a story in the latest Beacon Hill News about the development of a theater space at the old deVos corner store at 4951 13th Ave. S. Here's the MySpace page about it. The Beacon Hill News website doesn't seem to have last week's edition online yet, and I don't have a paper copy -- sorry!

Cerveza coming to El Quetzal? According to Jennifer, rumor has it that the El Quetzal owners have decided to make the world a better place -- apparently they're applying for a beer/wine license. I don't see them on the list of King County liquor license applications from the last 30 days, but maybe they applied some time ago.

What's up at Beacon and Hanford? Jennifer reports that the Soleil salon at Beacon and Hanford has closed (and that her cool neighbor has already emailed the Pagliacci's, Spiro's, and Mad Pizza joints asking them to look into moving into that space). What would you folks like to see there?

Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess coming to the North Beacon Hill Council meeting on Thursday at 7 at the library. I really should go to this -- I owe Tim Burgess an introduction at least. A few months ago, I was standing in front of him in a lunch line and he looked so familiar to me that I automatically said hi to him as if I actually knew him. Then I realized who he was, and that I'd never met him before, but I didn't bother explaining myself until later, over e-mail. Anyway, here's Judith Edwards's agenda for the meeting:

Tim is the chair of the Council's Public Safety, Human Services and Education committee and V. Chair of the Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee. I've asked him to tell us what his vision and goals are, and also to be available for Q&A. Following Tim's presentation is your opportunity to input to the Park's Department's selection of playground equipment for Jefferson Park. All our welcome, so come let your voices be heard! Thursday, March 6, Beacon Hill Library Community Room, 7:00 - 9:00 PM.

Knitting classes at Buggy. The cute little kids' store on Beacon is hosting a series of knitting classes, including a beginners class, for making cute little kids' things. Check out their website for full details, including price and dates.

In other girly class news... Alaska Silk Pie Co., just south of the Tully's headquarters on Airport Way, is offering a dessert-making class on March 8, at their bakery. The cost is $75, and everyone brings home a dessert. Read more about their offerings (and make yourself hungry) at their website, www.alaskasilkpie.com.

And an administrative note. Sorry I haven't been good about posting or returning mail. I've been really horribly sick since Wednesday, when I missed the Manny's celebration at Jules Maes. (Which is why I didn't stop by FTB, either, Erika!)

Prostitution on Beacon Hill, Then and Now

I was just browsing HistoryLink and came across this South End story.

On August 13, 1951, a B-50 “Superfortress” bomber develops engine trouble immediately after taking off from Boeing Field. The plane glances off the Sicks’ Seattle Brewing and Malting Company and slams into nearby Lester Apartments on Beacon Hill, killing 11 people and injuring 11 others.

Sicks' Seattle Brewing and Malting Company is, of course, the Rainier Cold Storage complex on Airport Way.

[Correction: The picture of the Rainier Cold Storage Stock House on the HistoryLink page led me to believe that the bomber grazed that one of the buildings in that complex. However, Jim Harmon of Sabey Corporation (current owners of the property) and other commenters have posted that they believe the plane hit the building that is now Tully's roasting plant, up the street.]

And Lester Apartments? Apparently it was once the world's largest bordello, right here on Beacon Hill.





From the same HistoryLink essay:

Unbeknownst to many, the tragic crash also brought an end to a piece of Seattle’s more infamous past. The Lester Apartments, for years a home for working-class families and fixed-income residents, had an unseemly history that was rarely discussed by the few who remembered it.

In 1910, Hiram Gill (1866-1919) was elected mayor of Seattle in an administration rife with corruption. Gill’s chief of police, Charles Wappenstein, cut a deal with two vice-lords wherein he received $10 a month for each of the approximately 500 prostitutes in Seattle. Business was so good that the men began building a 500-room brothel on the western slope of Beacon Hill to further pad their bank accounts.

A “friendly” City Council cut the builders some slack and gave them a 15-year lease. By the time construction was complete, the local citizenry had had enough of such blatant debauchery at such a high level of office, and a recall petition was circulated against the mayor. Gill was turned out of office -- he was elected again in 1914 after vowing to crack down on vice -- and Wappenstein was sent to the state penitentiary.

What was once proclaimed the largest bordello in the world fell into disuse. Later, the 500 “cribs” were combined into multi-room apartments, and the building’s proximity to Boeing Field led many workers to take up residence there, especially during World War II. Few knew of the building’s history. At some point, it was renamed the Lester Apartments. They were destroyed in the maelstrom on August 13, 1951.

In more recent Beacon Hill prostitution news, the Beacon Lights blogger posted yesterday about the "angels of the morning" who live in our neighborhood.

Neighborhood Notes

Full Throttle Bottles is open for business! The grand opening event won't be held for another week or so, but Full Throttle Bottles, a new beer and wine shop, has soft-launched. Come by and say hi to Erika, Mike, or Aimee (but not today, as they're closed on Mondays). 5909 Airport Way South.

What's up at 13th and Shelton? Has anyone heard about a little cafe and theater that will be going into the old deVos corner store at 13th and Shelton? Do tell!

Whatever happened to Rainier Valley? A reader points out that the P-I has renamed it.

Grow in Georgetown. The Oxbow P-patch has Oxbow P-patch, right by the Hat and Boots, has a few open spots. Sign up for one.

Swing and eat in Georgetown. Somewhere in Time, Unlimited (SITU), a local historic costumed group, will host a 1920's Prohibition era dance with potluck dinner Sunday, March 30th, 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, at the Georgetown Ballroom, 5625 Airport Way S, Seattle, WA 98108. Music to be provided by Chicago 7 (of Beacon Hill), and dances will include the Charleston, tango, Lindy Hop and other early swing dances. Dinner will be potluck, and guests are encouraged to bring a dish fitting the theme. Come in your best flapper dress or zoot suit, as a movie starlet or gentleman in disguise. Cost is $20 for SITU members and $25 for non-members. Non-members may join SITU for $10 per person or household, per year; check the website www.SITUSeattle.com or call Rita Harris at 206-720-7606 for a membership form and instructions on where to send it.

9 Lb. Hammer has a little sister in South Park. The 9 Lb. Hammer folks have just opened Loretta's, a steakhouse and bar at 8617 14th Avenue S. The Seattle Weekly likes it.