Montlake Families Turn Out for
Community Night at MOHAI
More than 60
Montlake families turned out at the Museum of History and Industry on December
13 for the “Montlake Community Night at the Museum,” which MOHAI director
Leonard Garfield hopes will become an annual event. The front page of The Montlake Flyer was all anyone needed for admission, but
according to MOHAI Director of External Affairs, Feliks Banel, all Montlake
residents were welcome, even if they couldn’t come up with a
copy of the newsletter. In addition to the regular galleries and exhibits,
visitors were treated to the seasonal exhibit entitled, “Home for the Holidays.”
The exhibit presents a nostalgic look at holidays past in Seattle through
displays of antique toys, festive decorations, and artifacts from Frederick
& Nelson department store. The exhibit runs until Sunday, January 14.
MCC Resolution on Broadmoor Golf Club Street Closure To Be Considered
A resolution to oppose the request of Broadmoor Golf Club for a street
closure has been proposed and will be considered at the General Meeting of the
Montlake Community Club, Wednesday, January 13, 2001. The December issue of The Montlake Flyer contained an
article on the history and background of the issue.
In brief, Broadmoor
thwarted past efforts by MCC and individual community residents to create a
trail that would run along the north end of the Broadmoor Golf Club property,
improving nonvehicular travel
between Montlake and Madison Park. It was proposed that the easement for the
trail be granted as a remedy for the closure of a street right of way that runs
through the Golf Club’s driving range. The Golf Club opposed this exchange and
has now requested closure of the street, proposing a remedy that does not offer
significant benefit to the public. (Full text of the proposed
resolution appears below).
President’s Comments
We are sorry to announce
that Mimi DeBurle resigned recently from the MCC Board of Trustees. We will
miss her kind enthusiasm in our little group. Thank you, Mimi, for your devoted
work to the Montlake Community Club. Jonathan Dubman has agreed to serve out
the remainder of her term. Jonathan currently manages our website. We are
grateful for his increasing involvement in neighborhood issues.
Please join us at the
January general meeting, when we host LuAnn Johnson of the City of Seattle
Emergency Operating Center. LuAnn will describe ways in which Montlake households
can become better prepared for disaster response.
Board Meeting Minutes
December 6,
2000 The Board of Trustees of the
Montlake Community Club convened at 7:40 p.m. at the Montlake Community Center,
with president Clarissa Easton presiding. Members Burgett, Doran, Gibson,
Hutchinson, Leed, Kolb, and Thompson were present.
President Easton reported that she had attended the
most recent meeting of the Seattle Public Library Board and verbally presented
the resolution on Montlake Branch siting that was passed at the November
general meeting. She said that the Board had not yet made a decision on a site.
President Easton asked for suggestions for a
replacement for Mimi DeBurle as trustee of the club, saying that she had
received a resignation after the last general meeting. After a short review of
candidates, Lee Kolb moved that Jonathan Dubman be appointed to fill the
vacancy until the next club election, arguing that crafting a policy for the
club's Web site with his assistance was already one of the major near-term
agenda items. The motion passed.
President Easton asked for volunteers for the
Nominating Committee, whose report is required at the March general meeting.
Shane Doran and Paul Gibson agreed to serve and were appointed. It was
determined that, in accordance with the bylaws, nominees will be needed for the
four officer positions, the three completed three-year trustee positions, and
the final year of the position just filled by Jonathan Dubman. The three-year
trustees, the vice president, and the treasurer are prohibited by the term
limit provision of the bylaws from continuing in the same positions.
Treasurer Scott Burgett provided a report on the
status of the annual solicitation for contributions. It showed 179 donations
totaling $5,655 as of November 29. He commented that the pace was slightly
behind last year's. 23 of the donors also responded with comments or expressed
a willingness to participate in some manner.
Paul Gibson distributed copies of some amendments to
the Northeast District Council bylaws which had been prepared by the Council
and required the approval of 2/3 of the Council's member organizations. The
amendments updated the list of members and relaxed the requirements for joining
the organization and for retaining membership status. Jean Leed moved that the
board approve the amendments for the Montlake Community Club, and, after a
short discussion, the motion was passed.
The secretary reported that the club's newsletter
printer, Ptarmigan Press, will be moving to 143rd and Greenwood Avenue in
mid-February from their present location near University Village, and that they
will probably deliver at no cost to customers in this area because of the
distance of the move. The anticipated impacts, if we continue to use their
services, is a long and inconvenient drive to deliver our copy on Monday
mornings and distribution to delivery personnel in the community on Saturday
rather than Friday afternoon. A motion by the secretary to authorize the use of
a paid courier service for delivering the copy was passed. He was also directed
to ask if the printing schedule could be compressed enough to maintain the
Friday distribution schedule.
A draft revision to the standing Newsletter Policy,
which had been prepared by the secretary to reflect last month's decision to
accept paid subscriptions, was distributed for board approval. After some
modification, the sentence "Subscriptions delivered by U. S. Mail to
domestic addresses shall be taken at a price of $10 for one year, payable to
the Club." was added.
Paul Gibson reported that he had received copies of a
number of well-written comments to Seattle City Council members regarding the
Broadmoor property exchange that he had argued against in the December
newsletter. He indicated that he is considering drafting a club resolution
opposing the exchange.
Scott Burgett asked the secretary to review the
records and provide to him the amount approved for the current Beautification
Committee budget. He also suggested that the board consider adjusting the newsletter
advertising rates at a future meeting.
The secretary passed on a message from the Fisheries
Research Center that they plan to alleviate a space shortage by erecting a two
story double-wide modular building south of their main building. Longer term,
they hope to erect a permanent building in the same general location, replacing
the modular building and some existing structures. They are also concerned
about the potential impacts of any SR-520 construction on their parking lot,
some of which is under the existing highway. There were some questions about
the specific location of the building sites and affected parking, and about the
status of the mooted waterfront trail across the property, but no action
planned.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
General Meeting Minutes
December 13,
2000 There are no minutes to
report for December because the business meeting was vacated for the MOHAI
event.
Proposed MCC Resolution
Whereas the Broadmoor Golf
Club has for several decades closed off access to a street right-of-way known
as East Lakeside Boulevard and used said right-of-way as a portion of its
driving range; and Whereas the Broadmoor Golf Club has applied for a
street vacation of said right-of-way which if granted would legalize the
exclusive use of the land by the golf club; and Whereas the Broadmoor
Golf Club has offered in exchange certain wetlands and a parcel which includes
the path used by the public for many years to reach Foster Island; and Whereas
the wet lands are protected from development so that ownership by the City
would have no impact on the future use of these lands; and Whereas the
public access to Foster Island could always be assured, either under the
doctrine of adverse possession or by condemnation by the City; and Whereas
retaining the right-of-way would allow the City to collect an annual street-use
fee from the golf club and preserve the possibility of someday using the
right-of-way as part of a pedestrian connection to Madison Park; Then be
it hereby resolved by the Montlake Community Club that the proposed street
vacation offers no significant public benefit and should not be granted.
CUCAC Report
The City University Community Advisory Committee held its monthly
meeting on Tuesday, December 12, 2000. The committee spent the entire meeting
reviewing the University's Draft Campus Master Plan and discussing merits of
various comments on the Plan that the members have submitted on behalf of their
respective constituencies. An extra meeting has been scheduled for December 19
to continue this interesting and lively activity.
The next regular meeting is scheduled for
January 9, 2001 and it is anticipated that the committee will all but wrap up
its Draft Plan review at that time. The official comment period for the Plan
and the accompanying Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been extended to
January 10, 2001. Everyone (not only community councils) is encouraged to
review this new Campus Master Plan. Its stated vision is to guide the look and
physical growth of our institutional neighbor to the north through the year
2012.
Volumes of comments have been received by the master plan coordinator
to date. Students, staff workers, faculty, government agencies and university
neighbors are having their say! Some of the Plan's features that have generated
comments include:
·
Lack
of specifics on kind of buildings at particular sites.
·
Redevelopment
of Campus Parkway. (This is a hot issue.)
·
Proposed
plaza over NE Pacific St. to link upper and lower campuses.
·
Plans
for relieving congestion on surrounding streets.
·
Uncertainty
of Sound Transit light rail through the University District.
And on and on. To be continued!!
NEDC Report
At the December meeting
we heard from a representative from Sound Transit and King County Council
member Cynthia Sullivan, who had come to update us on the situation following
the recent announcement that bids for a tunnel under Portage Bay and Capital
Hill had come in hopelessly over budget. Several salient facts were brought
out. Much of the reason for the high bids was the insistence by Sound Transit
on severe penalties on the builders for any failure to complete the project
within the time parameters. This caused those bidding on the work to allow for
ample overtime, which drove up the bid prices. Council member Sullivan seemed
to believe that relaxation of the time constraints could make the tunnel
affordable. It was also pointed out that the $500 million of Federal money was
only available for light rail technology. Also, though a high-level bridge over
Portage Bay is being discussed, the adverse environmental impacts (noise) make
it a long shot. Finally it was observed that a monorail in the I-5 right-of-way
would do little to serve the current planning vision of mass transit
connections between centers of urban density, such as downtown, the University
District and Northgate. Following the presentation the NEDC passed a motion to
reiterate support for a mass transit system that directly serves the major
institutions and business districts of northeast Seattle through an underground
alignment.
The
NEDC also passed a motion to opposed reconfiguration of the I-90 bridge that
would reduce the bike lane width across Lake Washington from 10 feet to 8 feet
and eliminate the automobile break down lanes. The proposed reconfiguration
would create more auto lanes which could also be accomplished by discontinuing
the access Mercer Island drivers now have to the express lanes.