Going, going...nope. Not yet.It's the great Seattle question in these developer-driven days: How long can the charmingly disheveled last? When the object in question is a bookstore the question is usually a no-brainer. Rumors have been circulating that Horizon Books, residing in the old house at 425 15th Ave. E. since 1971, is about to close. Maybe speculation has been fueled by Horizon's continuing, big-discount book sale. Still, rumors of Horizon's impending death aren't entirely exaggerated.
When we're not busy uncovering the high jinks of our mayor and his wealthy backers, or striving to save low-income housing from destruction by developers, or urging the city council to hold Seattle Authority accountable for its use of public funds, we both have a pastime for relaxation and renewal - watching birds.John likes to do his birding at the Montlake Fill, observing pheasant chicks hiding in the grass, ducks in their breeding plumage glory and killdeer faking broken wings to distract from their young. Carolee has been known to go farther a field, most recently to Alaska, but she loves to watch birds in her yard here in Rainier Valley. Right here in the city a secret world unfolds to those who know how and where to look. Anna's hummingbirds, the males with shining magenta heads, guard their favorite flower patches. Flickers drum on light poles and hollow trees and even gutters in the spring to announce their courtship. Sharp-shinned hawks swoop down to seize an unsuspecting chickadee. In migration, flocks of warblers flit through treetops heading north. In June the downy woodpeckers bring their young to the suet feeder in Carolee's yard - like taking the kids to McDonald's.
Greg Nickels did something amazing recently: The man who would be pothole king asked the public what it thinks about our crummy roads and decrepit bridgesSure, he's using a public survey of the so-called "dirty dozen" worst street scenes to promote a 20-year $1.8 billion tax measure. I mean, the guy is seriously into pricey legacies. Take the Seattle Big Dig (sorry, Viaduct tunnel), for example.But the fact that hizzoner wants to get advice from the citizenry means a lot, especially since he seems supremely disinclined to do the same thing for the city council. I suspect Seattleites will have plenty of ideas on their own. After all, complaining about the city is such an integral part of "The Process" here. The survey (sorry, complaint) results will be released in July, and the top 12 get on someone's priority fix-it list, pending approval of the hard-sell funding package. There are bound to be some obvious favorites, such as pretty much any bridge in town. But I worry that tackling some of the other problems could change the character of the city for the worse.Take a streetscape issue dear to a lot of people's hearts: buckled sidewalks. They're literally everywhere, thanks to all those wonderful street trees the city has promoted with such ecological zeal. True, an obstacle course of cracked and tilted concrete was created because the roots grew over the years, along with the rest of tree. But who could've known that would happen?Thanks in part to personal-injury lawsuits, Seattle has already been talking about doing something about all the root-impaired walkways. It mostly involves taking out the old tree, fixing the sidewalk, and replanting a new kind of tree - one with roots that will never, ever grow too big. They promise! Still, for a long time we'll be left with a bunch of spindly, poor excuses for trees. And think of the loss of oxygen to counter all that pollution coming from SUVs. I don't know about you, but it pains my sense of greening something awful.
It's not a stretch to say the people who call Southeast Seattle home represent humanity across the globe. When talking to folks not familiar with the South End, I often find myself describing it as the most diverse collection of neighborhoods in the country, according to the 2000 United States Census, with more than 70 languages spoken in our little slice of Seattle.You can verify Uncle Sam's census results for yourself simply by attending any of the various community events taking place in the South End this summer. My perennial favorite is the Wednesday afternoon Columbia City Farmers Market, recently honored in Audubon Magazine (magazine.audubon.org) as one of the nation's top 10. Whenever I'm shopping for groceries at the market's stalls, I inevitably find myself lingering in the shade of a vendor's canopy to watch all the different people strolling by speaking a variety of languages. It's harmonious diversity in the flesh.However, soon after June 9 rolled around and the 2006 FIFA World Cup kicked off in Germany, I began to doubt the strength of my world-in-a-neighborhood assertion about the South End. Football, or, depending on your mood, soccer, is the world's most popular organized sport, and every four years the planet's nations vie for one of the 32 spots at the FIFA World Cup. To say this is an important event for humankind is not an understatement. If you think I'm exaggerating, just mull over this: the civil war currently ripping the Ivory Coast apart came to a halt so the north and south factions could join together and celebrate their team's first trip to the World Cup. When was the last time you can remember a friendly sporting match stopping an armed conflict?
These pictures arrived in our office last week, sent by Mr. Vern Farrow. They may not seem all that spectacular at first glance, but they were greeted with great fanfare. The Farrow family lived at 5120 S. Juneau St., just up the hill from Seward Park, for more than 50 years. The house faces a knoll to the south known then - unfortunately - as "Chink Hill." This racial slur may refer to Chinese laborers brought to the area to work on nearby railroads, who may have had a camp on the hill at one time. A very slightly less offensive etymology holds that the hill was populated by Chinese pheasants, which Mr. Farrow hunted on occasion. Either way, the name certainly says something about the racial climate of the early 20th century.Back to the photographs: we have heard for years that there was an anti-aircraft gun on the hill during the Second World War. According to historylink.org, the Army installed batteries of 3-inch guns in several locations around Seattle in January of 1942, just a month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. These guns were to protect Seattle and its military production from enemy planes that might venture across the Pacific on aircraft carriers. The gun on the hill south of Juneau Street may have been part of this operation.After searching various photo collections, and trying in vain to track down Army records, we had pretty much given up on finding a photograph of the gun on "Chink Hill." But then came the surprise package from Mr. Farrow. Here we see a pile of ammunition partially covered with a tarp, next to one of the tents used by the soldiers camped at the base of the hill. In the upper left corner of the photograph is the gun itself.
At the next meeting on Wednesday, July 5, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., the South Beacon Hill Neighborhood Council will discuss the Seattle Public Utilities plan to take the land between I-5 and the railroad tracks, from Corgiat Drive S. (Southbound Swift/Albro Exit) south for 12/14 acres, to build an intermodal (truck to rail) solid waste (garbage) transfer site.This transfer site will take 100 percent of all solid waste from the entire city. The garbage trucks from all over the city and tractor trailers hauling waste from both the north and the south transfer stations will drop their loads at the Corgiat Site.The waste will be compacted on-site and loaded into shipping containers. These containers will be loaded on railcars. When the train of railcars reaches a length of roughly 6,000 feet, or 100 railcars, the railroad will haul this train to the dumpsite in Oregon. Currently, this occurs daily.Over 350 garbage trucks a day can be expected arriving at the site from the freeway southbound, returning over the Albro I-5 overpass via Swift Avenue to the South Graham Street freeway on-ramp. This will also entail over 250 garbage trucks a day arriving at the site using S. Michigan St., S. Bailey St., 13th Ave. S., and S. Albro Pl. railroad overpass, turning into Corgiat Pl. S. These trucks will go back over S. Albro Pl. railroad overpass to Stanley Ave. S. and S. Bailey St., and finally S. Michigan St. There would be activity 24 hours a day.SPU's criteria for site selection will be presented as well as SPU's preference list based on the criteria, and a number of issues will be discussed. Kathy Nyland from Georgetown Community Council and Henry Friedman from SPU will be in attendance. The meeting takes place at St. Mark's Lutheran Church Hall. For more information, contact Bill Mallow at 722-9197.
Across the park from the Columbia Library's book collection is a valuable collection of another sort: the archives of the Rainier Valley Historical Society (RVHS). The Rainier Valley Cultural Center (RVCC) has housed the society's collection of thousands of photos and other historical documents for more than a decade, but the building's owner's growing need for office space may necessitate a move, said RVHS director Mikala Woodward. SouthEast Effective Development (SEED), an organization that facilitates social, economic, housing, arts and cultural programs in the area, owns the building, and has asked the RVHS for more space within it in order to meet its own increasing needs. "Programs and partnerships at RVCC are expanding, which require adding more RVCC staff," SEED executive director Earl Richardson explained in a letter to the RVHS. "It is critical that staff responsible for programming and operating the Center be on site,""We've got more staff than we've got space," Richardson said in an interview. Richardson declined to comment on whether he'd like to see the RVHS relocate, saying, "Nothing has been decided yet, but we're looking at our long-term needs. I believe there is a way for both [SEED and RVHS] to stay and to make it work."But because "the collection is the heart of our organization," reducing archive space diminishes the RVHS's ability to achieve its mission "to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret the history of the Rainier Valley and its people," Woodward said.
Playground build week - a huge success!What a great time we had last week. The weather was amazing, the power outage short, the food was terrific, and an experience we never imagined was awarded us all. Children are having to be dragged away from the playground with big frowns ... those frowns are very similar to many volunteers last week who had to put away their tools and go home or to work.The Friends of Woodlands Web site is now updated with photos from the build and can be viewed at www.playgroundproject.org/default.htm. Mark Terrano's random and candid photos can be viewed at: http://markopolo.smugmug.com/gallery/1562641You can also view the KOMO TV Web site for the video and text versions of the stories at www.komotv.com/stories/43921.htm and www.komotv.com/news/story_m.asp?ID=43982.There are so many people and business to thank for making this the incredible success that it was. I encourage all readers to visit the Web site for the complete list and if possible to please support the businesses that helped to make the playground what it is today. Just this week the Friends of Woodlands received word confirming Starbucks is contributing $15,000 to the project via the Park Grant program!
Parking, anyone?I recently met with Downtowner Glenn Peterson. Glenn is the chairman of the Parking Advisory Board and is quite a personable, high-energy person. Living downtown he is well aware of the parking challenge. I visited him at his home. Not only is parking there tight, it is hard to get into traffic with all the cars parked so close to his driveway. Our conversation was enlightening and educational. At my next meeting I mentioned parking. I found I did not need to ask parking questions. People were ready to talk about parking.Downtowner Trisha Lee, points to a pin she wears: "This is my parking angel. I always pay more for parking because I pay my parking tickets. Employees are not allowed to park in Kirkland. Windermere has a policy that employees must park on the street to save the spaces for customers. Try walking in high heels. All it is frustration driving around looking for a space."
Those that know me would say I am a bit of a political junkie. I love politics- always have and always will. I remember campaigning for Jimmy Carter while I was in elementary school, canvassing the playground with handouts. I was more excited to turn 18 so I could vote than I was to turn 21 so I could legally drink. Yep, a political junkie.Living down in the South End has brought that interest to a new level. I feel like city council members are my pen pals and City Hall is my home away from home. But that's what happens when you live some place where you are constantly putting out fires. Whether that fire is a proposed dump or a red-light district or a change of zoning for single-family homes, you do what you have to do when your neighborhood is in jeopardy. It's a sad day, however, when you have to cash in vacation days to sit in on a utility committee or attend some other meeting at City Hall. I look forward to the day that I can use my days off to actually go somewhere, perhaps bask in the sun with some fruity drink in hand. Someday.City Hall has so much influence over our community, I figured it was about time our community had some influence over City Hall.
"Joey's out playing," my mom would say when friends called looking for me. When it came time for her soaps, she would take the phone of the hook and tape the "Joey's not home" sign to the front door.My literately challenged friends who rang the doorbell during this inopportune time were greeted by the uncharacteristically frosty side of my generally warm and loving mother.My penchant for play has not waned throughout the passing decades. I still enjoy hoops with other "has-beens"; dominoes with an 87-year-old curmudgeon; bridge, in contrast, with a polite group of septuagenarians and octogenarians; chess with my equally inept friend; and card games with my Dr. Seuss-like niece and nephew, "Thing One" and "Thing Two." It still stands that "Joey's out playing."As a kid playing was all I knew to do. As an adult, I know too much not to play.
Every Fourth of July I imagine the Founding Fathers getting up and preparing to declare themselves independent of England. Every one of them was dressed and fed by an African slave who must have wondered about this notion of freedom and how it seemed to be reserved for one race of people.It took 87 Fourths of July before African people could be included in a celebration of freedom. Eighty-seven years of wondering about this notion of freedom every year that slave owners told African people to cook some food so they could celebrate.Now we have no excuse. On this Fourth of July we should give the notion of freedom a new look.Because of 9-11, freedom has a narrower look. The federal government looks into our mail, bank accounts and e-mails. Eavesdropping and cameras violate our right to privacy. Our definition of freedom has been replaced with a concept to keep us safe from harm.So freedom has been reduced - for the sake of personal safety, and it hardly resembles what it meant in 1776.
What makes a community?Last month, at an event at the Jefferson Park Lawn Bowling Club hosted by Seattle Parks and Recreation for park volunteers, I was asked by Cheryl Fraser, South Region Parks resource manager, to speak on creating partnerships with city agencies at a meeting of the Uptown Alliance, a community council for lower Queen Anne. Residents and business folk face something akin to what my neighbors and I did on Beacon Hill in 2003. They have a chance to rescue a wood and make a community safer.Thirty gathered at the Uptown Community Service Center on Roy Street - to talk about homeless encampments, crime, and a proposed off-leash area for dogs at Kinnear Park. Eight were staff from Parks and the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct. Before the meeting, we schmoozed a bit. One city employee identified herself to me, a former Beacon Hill resident.She spoke of a clique that tried undermining El Centro de la Raza. I shook my head, rolled my eyes."That's all in the past," I said.Where politics begin, community ends.
A proposal before the City Council would help restore the historic Georgetown City Hall and provide community meeting space in the neighborhood. The proposal would provide $695,000 to help remodel the first floor of the storied 97-year-old building, owned by the nonprofit Puget Sound Neighborhood Health Centers (PSNHC). In exchange, the city would get a 15-year agreement to provide 1,000 square feet of meeting space for the Georgetown community. 
A 39-year-old South End man was walking to his home last month in the Dunlap neighborhood when a group of young adults approached him and asked for $10 and a cigarette. He refused, and at least one of the youths began beating and kicking him while the other dozen stood by watching.The victim slipped out of consciousness and woke up with memory loss, a minor concussion, broken teeth, a bruised tailbone and a mangled ear - torn where his earring was ripped out. A 17-year-old boy was arrested for assault and booked at Youth Service Center.The victim is unable to work, undergoing physical therapy and praying his memory will return so he, his wife and baby daughter can resume normal life. He's also wondering why he was attacked by strangers; they were ostensibly going after his wedding ring, yet continued to beat him after he passed out.This assault is just one example of youth aggression terrorizing the South End.