Finding Beacon Hill Stories

On most days, I search the Seattle P-I and Seattle Times websites for "beacon hill," hoping to find all the news stories about our neighborhood. However, the reporters sometimes misidentify Beacon Hill (even its western edge) as "Rainier Valley," and more often they just don't even bother trying to identify the neighborhood and just call it "South Seattle."

Yesterday they pulled a new one, identifying an area east of Rainier Avenue as Beacon Hill.

The story is only credited to "staff," so I won't bother trying to get this corrected. But these reporting inaccuracies make it hard to try to find out what's really happened in our neighborhood over the years. Do they screw up this badly in other neighborhoods, or are local reporters particularly ignorant of areas south of I-90?

SE Seattle Pics at Good Taste Chronicles

Fellow Beacon Hill blogger Catalina Vel-DuRay has been going around Southeast Seattle snapping pictures of things that would already have been demolished in tonier parts of the city. Like the New Holly Safeway. And a cool-looking church that I believe is on Orcas in Hillman City, a little bit west of Rainier?

CvDR also posts YouTube clips that I would never have found otherwise. Like this.

It's Morning on Beacon Hill

The Letter I Sent to Rudeen About the Christian Restoration Center

I'm a resident of Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood, and I'm writing you first of all to express concern about the sad state of the property you'll be developing here in the summer at 4351 15th Avenue South. I've taken some photos to show you the extent of the damage.

1. There's a lot of graffiti. A lot.



2. There's also a broken toilet and empty liquor bottles.



3. There's garbage and broken glass scattered all over the place.



4. There's an overflowing garbage can that the local rats are probably enjoying, but the neighbors, not so much.



5. There are boxes full of (presumably dead) fluorescent blubs. These contain mercury and possibly lead. According to Seattle Municipal Code 21.36.025 (Unlawful Disposal), these bulbs cannot be taken to city transfer stations; you can read about proper disposal at this King County website.



Anyway, the Beacon Hill community would like you to please clean up your property as soon as possible. I know your company is headquartered in Spokane, and I understand how you might not be aware of the way things are going over here in Seattle. But I'm happy to provide you with photo reports whenever you like -- please just ask.

We'll also want to provide input as to the design of the new building. Apart from work that appears to be going on at the VA Hospital, this will definitely be the largest new construction on Beacon Hill in many years and will have a huge impact on the community. We look forward to working with you on this project! Have you planned any community meetings yet?

Please let me know as soon as possible about your plans for site cleanup. I've already reported the graffiti to the city just to get that in the system, and I'm so concerned about all the illegal dumping that I should report that as well. But I'd prefer to work directly with you on all this. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

--JvA

Blog Tournament: Vote for Blogging Georgetown

First off, a huge thank you to everyone who voted for me. I know I ended up getting over 150 votes altogether, and I am honored and energized by your support.

I checked the blog tournament last night around 7:30, saw that Blogging Georgetown had taken the lead, and mentally conceded defeat to him. I was actually glad that it looked like I'd be taking a strong second place. I'm a huge fan of Blogging Georgetown, so I felt good about getting almost as many votes as he did. Besides, coming in second meant that I wouldn't feel like I needed to campaign anymore!

However, this morning I see that they advanced both of us to the next round, where we face Seattle Daily Photo. I understand that Metroblogging Georgetown wanted to give me the benefit of the doubt because of the problems that they had with their poll over the weekend. But I'm pretty sure Blogging Georgetown was on his way to victory last night, and that he deserved to win outright.

So, anyway, I would like to announce my support for Blogging Georgetown in this race. I'm going to vote for him, and you should too.

Even though it usually lacks photos (and occasionally humor), Blogging Georgetown is the best, and the most important, neighborhood blog by any non-professional blogger in Seattle. He covers not just Georgetown but the largely ignored areas of Seattle, like South Park and the rest of the Duwamish area. And he seems completely fearless about speaking plainly about things that others will only tiptoe around. I don't always agree with him, and his outspokenness can sometimes seem uncharitable, but I always admire his courage and frankness. And he's one of the few local writers whose 1,000-word screeds I will actually read all the way through.

So, again, thanks for your votes in the first round, but let's stop splitting the South End vote -- instead, let's get Blogging Georgetown into the next round.

Vote now for Blogging Georgetown!

Last Chance to Vote for This Blog

As you probably already know, I was recently nominated for Best Neighborhood Blog in a Metroblogging Seattle tournament.

Many of you voted for me (thank you!), and your votes--and everyone else's--were accidentally erased.

So I ask for your vote again, now that we're just about down to the last 24 hours for this round (and I actually have a chance of winning):

http://seattle.metblogs.com/archives/2008/02/blarch_badness_28.phtml

I know this contest is silly, but it's really gotten me excited about neighborhood blogging again. Over the last year, this blog has evolved from a personal/gardening blog into a blog that's really pretty focused on Beacon Hill and Georgetown.

And even though Beacon Hill and Georgetown already had some good political bloggers, I think what I'm doing here is worthwhile too. And I'd like to thank you again for supporting me.

Lead Paint Peeling Off in Sheets at Van Asselt Elementary

Saturday's caucus at Van Asselt was the first time I'd ever been inside a school on Beacon Hill. I was thinking it looked pretty shabby, but it sounds like the situation is worse than I thought.

From Sunday's Seattle Times:

And while district officials say health and safety issues are always a priority, just last week lead-based paint was flaking onto the playground at Van Asselt Elementary School — a problem the district identified 10 years ago. ... Tests have shown the paint contains up to 30 percent lead, well above the federal standard of 0.06 percent.

According to the story, district spokesman David Tucker said that lead paint is common on old buildings and isn't a problem until it begins to peel.

Yeah, well...



The school district is claiming to have fixed some of the problems at Van Asselt already:

Over the past several years at Van Asselt, the district has replaced the roof and flooring and fixed windows and broken bathroom-door locks. But it hasn't blocked access to the roof, which has been subject to vandalism, and tetherball poles on the playground are in bad shape.

But from first-hand experience three days ago, I can say that the bathroom door locks are not fixed.

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Like this post? Please, please vote for me in the Metroblogging Seattle "Best Neighborhood Blog" tournament.