You can make a difference for your neighborhood.

SaferFremont.blogspot.com writes about the Fremont neighborhood’s efforts to improve traffic safety and reduce crime.

Hmmm…I think I know who is stealing those VW beetles.

One of the hardest things for a neighborhood to convey to the city how a proposed development would fit into the neighborhood. Architects are able to convey their vision of this in early design review by showing professionally produced mock-ups of the development as it would fit into the neighborhood. And if you’ve ever seen one of these mock-ups, you know they always look really good.

Now, consider what the neighbors produce - they talk about the neighborhood and what the development will mean to the area - but generally have a hard time showing what it will look like.

However, there is one new tool called Photosynth that could be used to tie photos of a property together to show just how dynamic the location is.

I went ahead and took photos of a property on the corner of 86th and 35th to show what stitching photos together can produce. In this case you can slide along two sides of a building at a variety of different angles.

Think about the cool uses of this, you could show the entire grove of trees at Ingraham High, or all four crossings at a dangerous intersection.

I’m going to add some more of these photos of different projects over the next few days, and if you add any, feel free to let me know.

I guess I should probably put an out-of-blog message up the next time I take some time off from the blog.

So what did I miss?

I swear a candidate could put up a serious challenge to Mayor Nickels by promising to build sidewalks in Seattle. Here’s a great article in the PI about how convoluted the current process is.

Trees killed on the Burke Gilman, how messed up is that?

How’s this for the mayor standing up to his public pronouncements about tree preservation, city lawyers actually prevented the mayor’s statements on tree preservation from being used in Maple Leaf’s challenge to the Waldo Woods development. So, we now know how much his thoughts on trees are worth.

And on the topic of trees, isn’t funny that whenever a tree comes down someone says not to worry because it’s being replaced by 2-3 trees. With the fact that Seattle’s tree canopy has diminished from 40 percent to 18 percent since 1970, you’ve just got to ask, where exactly are those replacement trees being planted?

And, Fort Lawton redevelopment hearings took place this week - I was actually shocked to see the Thursday forum being broadcast live on the Seattle Channel - isn’t the Seattle Channel supposed to focus on giving work to minor Seattle TV celebs, and not on actually showing city meetings?

Action Needed: $750,000 in Pedestrian Safety Funding in Jeopardy 

A spending freeze on Pedestrian Safety measures (among other things) has been proposed by Mayor Greg Nickels.

Reasons cited include health care and fuel costs, though a safer pedestrian environment would reduce costs for both. 

Because more people walking means healthier people and less fuel spent, spending for pedestrian safety is economically sustainable in the long term.

Pedestrian Safety was also the number one priority for the Seattle City Council in 2007. The education and pilot programs in jeopardy are an integral part of efforts to make Seattle safe for pedestrians. They are also integral to Seattle’s Pedestrian Master Plan, which will be available in draft form in the beginning of 2009.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. If you live in Seattle, voice your concerns either by calling or going online.
Tell them you do not support the proposed $750,000 reduction in funding for pedestrian safety.
–Call the Mayor’s office at 206.684.4000.
–OR go online to: www.seattle.gov/mayor/citizen_response.htm and fill in the appropriate fields.
2. Let us know you’ve acted by emailing becca@feetfirst.info.
3. Forward this email to others.

BACKGROUND:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2008115118&zsection_id=2003925728&slug=seattlebudget15m&date=20080815 

--
Rebecca Deehr
Policy Director

Feet First: Building Walkable Communities
2019 Third Avenue, Suite 110
Seattle, WA 98121
206.652.2310   info@feetfirst.info
www.feetfirst.info

KOMO tv reports on a group of Holly Park neighbors who installed speed bumps, and have now just had them ripped out by SDOT.

One quote that I think kind of represents the ‘City Knows Best’ view that the Nickels administration has of neighborhoods is;

“We can’t have residents unilaterally put down their own speed bumps because that would create chaos for us across the city,” said Rick Sheridan with Seattle SDOT.

Maybe so, but it seems like a frustrated last step from neighbors who’ve been trying to get SDOT to do something about it for years. Anyway, hope this catches SDOTs attention to officially fix the problem.

You’d be surprised how cool an older adobe in New Mexico can be. Nice thick walls, verandas and shady courtyards help keep you cool in summer…

(photos from ohjoy.org)

Or I could see myself in this pool…

Hi, the following is a special appeal from the group that has been working so hard to ensure that the Seattle School District follows the same development steps with their Ingraham High project that any other developer in the city would need to follow.

The special appeal is due to the fact that they have to submit a $7,500 bond today, and are currently $2k shy away from this goal. If they don’t file it today, the temporary restraining order will expire and you know the school district will fire up the chain saws as soon as they can.

Even if you’re not invested in this project - you should be invested in it from a policy point of view - does a major public institution have the right to do whatever it wants without first going through city permitting processes?

Finally, I just want to point out that it’s hard not to be amused at the irony the School District faced as a result of withdrawing their permits to speed up the tree cutting. During yesterday’s hearing with judge the district said they’d face a financial hardship of up to $400,000 if the project was delayed - but the judge said that without any permits for this project filed that the school really didn’t have any project to delay, so how could there be any financial hardship?

Special Appeal for fundraising Help from Save the Trees

Save the Trees won a two week TRO to stop the logging by the Seattle School District at Ingraham High School this Friday.This allows the case to be heard. Unfortunately the judge also put a financial burden on Save the Trees.

Things are moving forward having scored this underdog victory.

Save the trees won the Temporary Restraining Order when Judge Erlick agreed that the case would be mute if the trees are cut down. He also turned down the School District’s request for a $400,000 bond with the school district arguing that was the inflation cost of not being able to build the project. The Judge noted that with no MUP application pending and no timeline they had no project.

The Judge did somewhat buy the Seattle School District’s bogus contract that the School District signed with Weiss Trees to be used against Save the Trees. The Seattle School District signed a contract that paid them $33,000 for the trees with a penalty of $10,000 to $17,000 if the trees aren’t cut on Friday. It’s a contract Save the Tree’s Attorney Keith Scully of Gendler and Mann argued that no businessman would sign such onerous terms, noting that the issue of a pending lawsuit would also have prevented the trees being cut down.

Keith Scully argued well and got an initial $20,000 bond reduced to $7500. If Save the Trees does not post the bond by tomorrow they can’t stop the trees being cut down. If they lose the case they also lose the bond money. Some deal right.

As of the end of Wednesday night Save the Trees has received pledges of over 2/3 of the needed bond money - some $5500 of the $7500 needed.

Anyone reading this can help with a contribution to Save the Trees to come up with the bond money by e-mailing Steve Zemke at stevezemke@msn.com and pledge what you can send to help cover the rest of the bond. You can even deliver your pledge to Steve’s house Thursday. His address is 2131 N 132nd St one block off of Meridian N.

You can also call Steve at 206-366-0811 to make or leave a pledge. If he gets the money pledged and put in the mail, Save the Trees can cover the bond deadline.

But it is up to you. If you want Save the Trees to go forward, now is the time for you to step forward. If you don’t like the extortion tactics the Seattle School District is doing, respond with a pledge. They are trying to intimidate Save the Trees and neighbors to go away. This is all planned out on their part to crush Save the Trees and their right to judicial review. But we can fight back.

So dig deep and let Steve know what you can help with. Thanks

Send checks to:
Save the Trees
c/o Steve Zemke
2131 N 132nd St
Seattle, Wa98133

Judge blocks tree-cutting at Ingraham
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008111148_webtrees13m.html

Judge Prohibits School District from cutting Ingraham High Trees
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/374851_trees14.html

Kudos to the Save the Trees team, you’ve done a great job of working the system to make sure things are done according to the system.

Next step - August 25th for a temporary injunction.

You can get the entire update over at Save the Trees about Seattle School District’s decision to cut down Ingraham High trees, and the temporary restraining order Save the Trees filed that will be heard at 3pm today.

Breaking News – Press Advisory

The Seattle School District has just informed Keith Scully, the attorney for Save the Trees, that they will not halt their decision to cut down the trees at Ingraham High School while the environmental issues are being reviewed by the King County Superior Court. A hearing has been set for Sept 2, 2008 but the Seattle School District intends to ignore it and proceed with cutting down the trees this Friday, August 15, 2008.

Keith Scully will be filing a request for a temporary restraining order before the King County Superior Court at 516 Third Ave in Seattle before the Ex Parte division at 11:30 this morning

You can check at the front desk for the location of the hearing.

The Seattle School Board obviously decided last night in their special executive session to ignore the unresolved legal issues and also the position of Mayor Nickels, the Seattle City Council, many Seattle citizens and neighbors opposing cutting down the trees at Ingraham. The School District is opposing letting this issue be resolved on its merits through a court of law and has decided instead to use the chain saw to just get its way.

This news just came in tonight from Save the Trees. They’ve filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court against the Seattle School District’s decision to proceed with cutting down 68 evergreens. According to the press release on the Majority Rules blog:

The lawsuit alleges that the Seattle School District has violated the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), RCW 43.21C and SEPA Rules, WAC 197-11, by deciding to proceed with the Ingraham High School Renovation, Demolition and New Construction Project without adequate environmental review

This press release also has some really interesting information, for example - for those who just think these are just a bunch of regular old trees prized only by the neighborhood - well, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources values them too.

Overlooked by the Seattle School District and discovered by the plaintiffs during their review of the project was that the grove of 130 Douglas fir, Madrone and western red cedar trees on the west side of Ingraham High School was a unique environmental habitat. Unknown by the Seattle School District was the fact that the Washington State Department of Natural Resources under their Natural Heritage Program had classified the plant habitat actually present at Ingraham as a rare plant community in King County.

Next steps in this saga, the school board is meeting tonight to discuss this lawsuit (by the way, kudos to the neighbors for grabbing their attention with both the publicity and the lawsuit). And if the school district continues to move forward with its plans, there appears to still be time for a restraining order to be issued.

If the Seattle School District decides not to cancel the tree cutting, Ron English (attorney for Seattle School District) said that the plaintiffs would have time to go to King County Superior Court to request a restraining order as the District had no intent of cutting the trees down before Friday.

The alert below was prepared by Chris Leman, but for anyone who follows neighborhood planning and land use in Seattle - you know that the DPD managing neighborhood plans is an extremely bad idea. Why? because planning efficiency and standardization are their main goals - not encouraging and maintaining neighborhood identity.

- Greg

Alert prepared by Chris Leman

The City Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Neighborhoods Committee (PLUNC) has just released proposals for neighborhood plan “updates,” featured on the front page of the City Council’s web site at http://www.seattle.gov/council

The documents are (1) The latest proposal from the executive branch (although erroneously dated 7/30/08, it has a lot added that was not in the version that was released on 7/30/08); (2) an ordinance releasing funds and focusing the updates on station areas; and (3) a resolution creating a Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee. Your suggestions on these latest proposals would be most welcome. Some preliminary thoughts:

(1) The neighborhood plans to be updated in 2008 and 2009 would be those with light rail stations, with the first ones being Othello, Mt. Baker, and Beacon Hill. These updates would be “managed” by the Department of Planning and Development, a more centralized process than how these and other neighborhood plans were first developed. There is no mention of the Approval and Adoption Matrices–honoring and adding to them as commitments to the neighborhoods.
(2) There is no assurance that, as it did in the past, the City will, for those neighborhoods that want to, contract with them to do their own planning and to hire their own consultants. Instead of standing up for this right for neighborhoods, the City Council is leaving to a new Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee to recommend “whether to allow neighborhoods to use an outside City-approved consultant to draft their plan updates.”
(3) There is no encouragement of neighborhood planning in neighborhoods where it was not done before.
(4) NPAC is not guaranteed the power to adopt its own procedures and choose its own officers. Only 12 of the 13 district councils would be allowed to designate a representative to NPAC, as one would come from CNC. The district seats could be increased to 13, without eliminating the CNC seat.
(5) The proposals for outreach in each neighborhood are centralized and not inclusive. There would be only an initial mailing, and then heavy reliance on the City web site and on public meetings, with other outreach efforts going mainly to “hard to reach or underrepresented communities.” There is no assurance of neighborhood-specific advisory groups, regular meetings, or meetings with existing organizations.
(6) After more than a year of discussion, these proposals have still not been sent out to the 38 neighborhood planning stewardship groups, which should be partners in this process.
(7) The schedule would have full City Council action just three business days after the PLUNC committee acted. The Council should not take action until at least ten days have passed since committee action.

Wed., August 13 (9:30 a.m.) Public comment period as City Council committee discusses the proposals
Thurs., August 21 (10 a.m.) Public comment may be possible again at City Council committee
Mon., Sept 8, (5:30 p.m.) Public hearing in City Council Chambers
Wed., Sept 10, (9:30 a.m.) Public comment period as City Council committee revises or adopts the proposals
Mon., Sept 15, Full City Council action

The City Councilmembers need to hear from you! Public comment opportunities are listed above, and here is contact information.

Seattle City Council: P.O. Box 34025, Seattle, WA 98124-4025
sally.clark@seattle.gov 684-8802
tim.burgess@seattle.gov 684-8806
tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov 684-8808
jean.godden@seattle.gov 684-8807
richard.conlin@seattle.gov 684-8805
jan.drago@seattle.gov 684-8801
bruce.harrell@seattle.gov 684-8804
nick.licata@seattle.gov 684-8803
richard.mciver@seattle.gov 684-8800

A friend gave me a heads up about ‘The Blog Readability Test’, a site that analyzes your blog and then grades it according to what level of education is required to understand your blog.

Here’s what the site had to say about Smarter Neighbors - ‘Oy! perhaps I need to start putting that grammar checking option to use more often.’ 

But let’s see - how did some other local blogs around the area do?

WestSeattleBlog.com

MyBallard.com

Rainier Valley Post

CHS Capitol Hill

The Southlake

HugeAssCity

And last but not least, the smartest neighborhood blogs in town.
Pinehurst Community Seattle

Blogging Georgetown

Movie Reviews

I thought this was a really good letter that Nancy Keith wrote - and just wanted to highlight it here for you.

Letter to Seattle School Board Members:

I urge you most strongly to reconsider your decision to cut down a large stand of mature conifer trees at Ingraham. As the major institution in our society dedicated to fostering knowledge, intelligence and ultimately wisdom, your leadership role is much larger than this particular project demonstrates. Our understanding of the climate change enveloping us due to short-sighted development actions of human civilization makes this a crucial time for a new, more far-sighted and thoughtful kind of leadership.

Each of the mature conifer trees you propose to cut down holds thousands of tons of sequestered carbon dioxide. Elimination of those trees will also require hundreds of thousands of dollars in new drainage infrastructure to carry the water that trees naturally suck up in our rainy climate. There are a number of other economic benefits that mature trees provide that will be eliminated by your current plan.

But most disturbing is the negative example you - our primary public learning institution - will set by repeating the same kind of narrow, short-sighted decision about environmental impacts that has led to the global climate challenge we now face. The forest cover of our region is shrinking at an alarming rate because of the cumulative effect of thousands on individual development decisions made within the framework of one project, one place at a time. It’s always the same set of reasons - narrow thinking, lack of recognizing the bigger picture and money.

As a public school system whose primary goal is to educate children to become thoughtful citizens, please consider the example you would set by cutting the Ingraham trees, not only for the students at the school today, but for all citizens of the city - the developers, city leaders, planners, the home owners who want a better view and all the children who are learning in the classrooms about the natural environment and our human affect on the global climate. Give us a reason to hope we can meet this challenge. GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARDS.

Here it is, your visual guide to bagging your own groceries. 

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels Bagging Groceries

If you’ve ever found yourself challenging a project, you probably know that to increase your odds of success and help you work through a complex series of processes and rules - it’s wise to get legal counsel.

And being no dummies up by Ingraham High, the neighbors are requesting contributions to help them in the efforts to save around 70 of our trees.

However, if you’ve ever solicited legal counsel you know that it isn’t always done on a pro-bono basis.

That’s why the Save The Trees! team is asking for contributions to help pay for these legal expenses - and according to their spokesperson.

Send a contribution made out to Save the Trees! to help pay legal expenses. Initial costs are several thousand dollars. More costs are anticipated if the School District digs in further. Send as generous a check as you can to “Save the Trees!” c/o Steve Zemke, 2131 N 132nd St, Seattle, WA 98133 206-366-0811

You may not have much to donate - but receiving contributions (even the smallest) from supporters can be a big morale booster for the neighborhood.

I’m sending over $25 to the team  - I know, it’s not going to pay for everything - but it does send a message to the neighbors and the school district that people throughout the city care.