Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess is one of the members of the Committee on the Built Environment who heard the public comments today and voted to keep the RDG’s changes to the comp plan from moving forward.

I sent him an email last night, expressing my views and concerns about the RDG amendment, and received the following in return this morning (post vote):

Thank you for your e-mail to Councilmember Burgess. Last year the Council adopted a comprehensive plan amendment that paved the way for implementing a neighborhood plan update initiated by the Roosevelt community.  That process is underway and is moving forward at a good pace. The neighborhood planning process needs to be honored and Tim voted in committee today not to advance comp plan amendment #8 from the Roosevelt Development Group.

Tim appreciates how the residents of the Roosevelt neighborhood have worked hard to plan for the future. He wants to see that process move forward and be completed before considering any stand-alone proposals. The committee agreed and recommended to the full council that the comp plan amendment not advance. The full council’s decision will come on Monday.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Nate Van Duzer
Legislative Aide
Councilmember Tim Burgess

Sallys Clark and Bagshaw did most of the talking in today’s meeting, so it was nice to hear Burgess’ thoughts on the matter as well.

Want to speak out about the Sisleyville rezoning mess, but are having a hard time finding the words?

USE OURS.

The following is a letter drafted by the Roosevelt Neighborhood Blog and the Ravenna Blog (with credit to Jim O’Halloran, chair of the Land Use Committee of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association, for the pieces from his recent blog post on the subject [the July 27th entry]) that you can send on to City Councilmembers. If you oppose the Roosevelt Development Group’s rezoning plans, LET THE CITY COUNCIL KNOW.

Read it over, change it up if you’d like, substitute in the appropriate Councilmembers’ names, and send it off.

The meeting to add the RDG’s Comp Plan amendment is TOMORROW MORNING at 9AM.  If you feel strongly about the proposed changes to the zoning in YOUR neighborhood, we urge you to email the City Council TONIGHT.

[Note about Subject Line: Do NOT use the term “rezone”, because this may cause your e-mail to be screened out of Councilmember’s mail.   The RDG contract rezone process is now considered “quasi-judicial”, which means that Councilmembers cannot have any direct communication with affected parties.  The Comp Plan amendment process, on the other hand, is openly conducted.]

Send to:

Sally Clark, sally.clark@seattle.gov
Sally Bagshaw, sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov
Tim Burgess, tim.burgess@seattle.gov
Tom Rasmussen, tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov

Jim O’Halloran, the chair of the Land Use Committee of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association, also recommends you write to Councilmembers Jean Godden (jean.godden@seattle.gov) and Bruce Harrell (bruce.harrell@seattle.gov), who each seem to have taken a special interest in Roosevelt land use issues.  Of course it can’t hurt to contact each of the nine City Councilmembers (individually is best, but it’s OK to “cc” councilmembers).

_______________

Subject Line: Reject amendment #8 from the 2010-2011 Seattle Comp Plan

Dear <Councilmember>,

As a resident of the Roosevelt/Ravenna neighborhood, I am writing to urge you and all other City Council members to reject amendment #8 from the 2010-2011 Comprehensive plan policy docket.

The Roosevelt Development Group (RDG) has submitted an application to City Council, to amend the Seattle Comprehensive Plan. The RDG proposal, among other things, would annex several properties in Ravenna near 15th Ave NE and NE 65th St to become part of the Roosevelt Urban Village. Moreover, the RDG Comp Plan amendment does not meet all of the necessary criteria, and would change some of the key provisions in the recently updated Roosevelt Neighborhood Plan, especially as it relates to the preservation of single family housing.

1.      The RDG Comp Plan amendment does not meet Council’s requirement that the applicant has conducted “outreach” with the affected community. A key criterion for docketing this item is to engage the neighborhood in the review process before final Council consideration of this amendment. Neighbors were only aware of the existence and content of the RDG’s 2009 and 2010 Comp Plan amendment applications after they were filed with the City. No Comp Plan outreach has occurred. The applicant listed a series of community meetings as evidence of outreach, but in none of these meetings, or at any other time, did specific discussion of the Comp Plan amendments take place between the applicant and the community. As a resident of Roosevelt/Ravenna, I am offended that this has been misrepresented by the applicant.

2.      An existing neighborhood planning process has already taken place and rezoning recommendations were presented by the community in July 2006. The Community’s land use recommendations cover the entire station area, unlike RDG’s Comp Plan, which would address only a corner of the community. To accept a developer’s proposal—even just for study—ahead of and around a longstanding community request, sends a very discouraging message to neighborhoods across the City about the value of our volunteer efforts in neighborhood planning.

3.      The applicant does not have the neighborhood in its best interests. The Roosevelt Development Group (RDG) and Hugh Sisley (the property owner) have allowed their properties to become run-down to the point where they are an eyesore, a danger to the community, and hurt property values in the surrounding area. They have had little regard for the Roosevelt and Ravenna communities in the past, and cannot possibly have the well being of the neighborhood in mind for the future. This type of behavior should not be rewarded.

I support the position outlined by the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association (RNA) and strongly oppose further consideration of Comp Plan amendment #8.

Thank you,

<your name and email address here>

Why tweet when we could blog?  Well, a lot of this stuff just doesn’t warrant a full post (ex. Klingons in Ravenna Park).  And some of it are links to articles that we didn’t write (but you should read nonetheless). And some of these things are quite ephemeral and don’t keep well. AND, we shall admit, some of it is just us being wacky.

So, once again, for your reading pleasure, the notable tweets of the week:

• @ravenna3rdplace Looks like Nellie’s got a book, too. Seems a bit more, juicy. A fair and balanced interview: http://tinyurl.com/2ad3x6z
• MTV’s MADE is casting at University Village on MON, 6/21 from 12 -4 pm! Check out www.madecasting.mtv.com for details! (via @UVillage)
• Just so you know: Searching for ‘Ravenna’ in twitter nets you a LOT of Italian. And one reference to Klingons.
• We’ve been meaning to tell you: If you and yours are holding a garage sale, we’d be happy to spread the word for you.
• Land Use meeting scheduled for July 21 (Determ. of Significance). Land in question? Sisleyville. Bulletin link: http://tinyurl.com/2efkys4
• Get your organization to sustainability RT @SeaNeighborhood Neighborhood Assist. Cent. offers free community workshop http://bit.ly/bnxL7N
• No off-leash area in new Maple Leaf Res. Park? Better make room for one on your reservoir, @roosiehood.
• GREAT synopsis. LOVE that guy. RT @roosiehood [New post] Notes from the North Link Light Rail community meeting: http://bit.ly/ds3Mei
• Zoo Tunes added a show: CYNDI LAUPER! September 2. Here’s more info: http://www.zoo.org/Page.aspx?pid=1320#lauper
• Good news: The McDonald’s on 25th is closed! Bad news: It’s just going to be a McDonald’s again.
• RT @udistrictdaily Farmers market feast! Big event in Aug: http://www.udistrictdaily.com/2010/06/15/u-district-hosts-farmers-market-feast/
• Univ Presbyterian Church is holding some gatherings for 20-30yo in Ravenna Park this summer. Schedule, info here: http://tinyurl.com/265klom
• May I recommend our local @zeekspizza for your World Cup viewing? Sound on TVs was turned OFF and KEXP was playing. Not a horn to be heard.
• Dahl wading pool will be open 3 days a week, Ravenna wading pool to be CLOSED this year. See page 9 here: http://bit.ly/bfReuM

Some pictures of what people have planted in the community garden so far:

Since I’m on the tour myself this year, I’ve had a sneak peak at the garden descriptions list.

Here are some of the things you can see if you take the tour (on Sunday, May 23, from 11am-5pm):

• raised vegetable beds
• bees (honey and mason)
• worm bins
• CHICKENS
• wear-round gardening
• “squish” gardening
• DUCKS
• composting
• a 20,000 square foot garden (no foolin’!)
• vertical gardening
• a Hugelkulture mound
• GOATS
• a cob oven
• Forest Gardening
• fruit trees
• the Lawn Gone house (see the YouTube videos [part one and part two] of the process)

Children’s activities include: Potting up seeds, feeding ducks, soil in a microscope, making plantable pots crafts, and urban farm BINGO!

A few UW events in the area you might be interested in/affected by, traffic-wise and Dawg fan-wise:

Friday, April 30 – Friday Night Lights, the first spring night game for the Husky football team starts at 6:30pm. And it’s free!

The format (out just a coupla hours ago) will be the one offense and two defense against the one defense and two offense. This should make sense to those of you who know about such things.

There’s also some stuff for kids (13 and under) on the East Practice Field, adjacent to the stadium. The Husky Kids’ Zone opens at 5:30 with free food and beverages and “a number of football-related activities.”

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Saturday, May 1 – The Opening Day of Boating and the 2010 Windermere Cup

If you want to see the racing, be at the Montlake Cut by 10:05, the start of the Dragon Boat Exhibition Race.

If you’re just in it for the parade, line the cut by 11:45 to see the crews make their way back through, followed by the decorated boats.  The theme this year is Out of This World, which might not stop the Bremerton Yacht Club from busting out Elvis again. Elvis is good with everything.

More info about the parade than you’d ever be able to read available in pdf form at the Seattle Yacht Club website, HERE.

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TRAFFIC TRAFFIC TRAFFIC

Friday: More than usual in the Husky Stadium area in the PM. Nothing on the scale of a regular Saturday game in the fall.

Saturday: Oy. Montlake Bridge CLOSED from 10am-4pm.  Also, the 520 ramps in the Montlake Bridge vicinity also CLOSED at those times. And if you are visiting friends in the area, good luck finding street parking!

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EXTRA: I also want to mention that the Husky Baseball team is playing Stanford at Safeco Field on Saturday, May 1 at 6:30pm. Home plate gates open at 5:00pm, free trading cards for first 1,000 kids AND kids get to race around the bases after the game. You do need to purchase tickets for this one, though.

Thank you to Katie Silva at UW Intercollegiate Athletics for the baseball and tackleball info. And to the WSDOT for the traffic stuff.

No times listed yet, but you still might want to get the home game days on your calendar: Who doesn’t love Husky game traffic?!

• September 11 – SYRACUSE
• September 18 – NEBRASKA
• October 9 – ARIZONA STATE
• October 16 – OREGON STATE
• October 30 – STANFORD
• November 13 – UCLA

Full schedule here.

And, if you happen to be new ’round these parts, the City of Seattle has a Husky Stadium Football Game Day Traffic Information page. But I would say that the biggest effect on our local traffic is the last point:

• At the conclusion of the game, NE 25th Street between Montlake Blvd NE and NE 75th Street becomes one-way northbound for approximately two hours.

Well, that and all the people sneaking up the side streets trying to get to 75th.

Anyway.  GO DAWGS.

I did this feature for a while on the now-deceased Ravenna Nation blog, and I kinda miss it.

Here’s a couple of recent-ish local restaurant inspections:

• PAIR (March 18) – Proper Consumer Advisory not posted for raw or undercooked foods, inadequate equipment for temperature control, and improper cooling procedures
• SUBWAY 7347 35th Av Ne (February 25) – In-use utensils improperly stored

Can’t speak for the SUBWAY as I’ve never eaten there, but I’d still take PAIR over them ANY DAY.

Here’s the homepage for King County’s Food Protection Program, should you want to use your facebooking time in a more constructive way.

Now that I’m old — okay, just mid-30s, but it seems old to me — I’ve decided that I should start taking better care of myself. So I joined a gym, which I attend semi-frequently…when I’m not on the Cadbury Mini-Egg diet that I seem to be following this week.

My gym-of-choice had to be nearby, cheap, and have childcare. And the Northgate 24 Hour Fitness (above Pacific Fabrics, next to the post office) fit the bill. It’s teeny, has no showers, but I can get there quickly, work out, and get out, which is what I wanted anyways.

The bad news: It’s closing.

The good news: Later this year, it’s relocating about a block away, and getting four times bigger.

Woo hoo!

Here’s the original article from the Seattle Times about how gyms around the Puget Sound region and beyond are stepping up to fill empty retail space during this current economic retail pullback.

Ah, nothing like spending a bracing, blustery morning at a composting toilet opening!  Pictures of the exterior, and a bit of info, here. Also in attendance were several key members of the 10-year-long effort to get the thing, cameras from KOMO and KING, and one Ciscoe Morris.

And, yes, there was a toilet paper tearing ceremony.

All the hoopla aside, here’s what you really want to know: HOW TO USE THE THING.

• The toilet will be unlocked at all hours, at all times of the year (though, once inside, the door is lockable, of course). A motion-detecting security light will pop on at night, and nearly University Prep will be leaving some of their outdoor lights on as well.
• If you only need the station for urination, use the toilet as you normally would (80% post-consumer content TP is provided), note your contribution to the tally sheet, hit the hand sanitizer, and you’re on your way.
• If a number two is what you’re there to do, there’s another step: a scoop of wood chips atop your dooty, once you’ve done your duty. The system is designed to break down waste aerobically (in the presence of oxygen); the wood chips provide some space in the waste for the bacteria to do their thing. Again, note your contribution on the tally sheet, sanitize, and go on your way.
• Should you leave a “personal mess” in the facilities, or track in dirt or such, environmentally-friendly cleaning products and a broom are located inside the facility as well.
• As for odors from the toilet, there is a solar-powered fan which keeps the people section under negative pressure and vents the poo section out the roof.

Here is a diagram of the toilet at the manufacturer’s website.

Now, before you go driving across town with a stomach full of bran muffins, the Picaloo (we voted on the name today, too) is not openly looking for “donations.” But, should you happen to be in the neighborhood, or checking out the Picardo P-Patch, and your chili dog lunch has met its untimely end, then, well, by all means…you know.

Should you, dear reader, want to know more about the entire endeavor, whether from a usage standpoint or from a How Can I Get One For My Own P-Patch/Backyard/Year-Round Outdoor Preschool, here are two contact points for you:

• Gwen Hestercamp, Chair of the Composting Toilet Committee: gwenhestercamp (at) hotmail.com
• Trent Elwing, resident composting toilet know-it-all: trelwing (at) gmail.com