MCC board members and residents at the community club’s 5K Turkey Trot and Fun Run.

Final Reminder! Applications to the Montlake Community Club Board are due Monday, April 30th. Join this great group of neighborhood residents working to make Montlake better place to live. There are 2, possibly 3, open board positions, so chances are there is a place for you on the board. Applying is easy: send a short email with a few sentences about why you are interested to secretary@montlake.net by April 30. Feel free to send any questions to secretary Darcy LaBelle as well.

Focus Areas: Board member focus areas include communications, Turkey Trot, annual Yard Sale, Emergency Preparedness & Neighbors Helping Neighbors, welcoming new neighbors, business district improvements, traffic issues, and bicycle and pedestrian safety. (We recently posted about recruiting a volunteer to run the yard sale; the yard sale chair could apply to be a board member or could be a non-board member volunteer).

Meetings: The board meets the second Tuesday of every month at 7 pm at the Boyer Children’s Clinic. Time commitment can vary greatly depending on the board member’s specific area of interest and whether special events/outreach efforts are underway.

Qualification: Applicants must live or work in the Montlake Community Club’s membership boundary, shown here.

Meet and Greet: Come meet us on May 16th at 5 pm at Purr Cocktail Lounge! The MCC is hosting happy hour and drinks. This is open to all residents to get to know the MCC better. Get all the details.

You’re probably seen the new all-way intersection at 19th Ave E and E Lynn St near St. Demetrios Greek Church, which includes stop signs, sidewalk restoration, curb ramps, and other changes, some of which are still in progress. (In case you missed it, here’s a sheet from the city describing the new intersection.) These changes, which were years in the making, should go a long way to speed calming and pedestrian safety in Montlake once completed. At press time, landscaping and street striping are still to come.

Click the image to see the city’s sheet about the intersection

MCC board members giving the University District Food Bank the proceeds from the MCC’s Turkey Trot.

The Montlake Community Club Board is seeking applicants to be on the board of trustees of the MCC. Join this dedicated group of people who all share a common interest in making Montlake a better place to live. There are 2, possibly 3, open board positions, so chances are there is a place for you on the board. Applying is easy: send a short email with a few sentences about why you are interested to secretary@montlake.net by April 30. Feel free to send any questions to secretary Darcy LaBelle as well.

Meet and Greet: Come meet us on May 16th at 5 pm at Purr Cocktail Lounge! The MCC is hosting happy hour and drinks. This is open to all residents to get to know the MCC better. Get all the details.

Focus Areas: Board member focus areas include communications, Turkey Trot, annual Yard Sale, Emergency Preparedness & Neighbors Helping Neighbors, welcoming new neighbors, business district improvements, traffic issues, and bicycle and pedestrian safety. (We recently posted about recruiting a volunteer to run the yard sale; the yard sale chair could apply to be a board member or could be a non-board member volunteer).

Meetings: The board meets the second Tuesday of every month at 7 pm at the Boyer Children’s Clinic. Time commitment can vary greatly depending on the board member’s specific area of interest and whether special events/outreach efforts are underway.

Qualification: Applicants must live or work in the Montlake Community Club’s membership boundary, shown here.

What: You are invited to join WSDOT for an open house to learn about design and construction plans for the upcoming Montlake Phase of State Route 520 reconstruction. Staff from the Washington State Department of Transportation and partner agencies will be on hand to discuss what’s ahead and answer questions.

Construction of the Montlake Phase is scheduled to begin in late 2018. The project will build:

· A new West Approach Bridge South to carry eastbound traffic from Montlake to the floating bridge

· New transit/HOV ramps to and from the Montlake lid

· A new Montlake lid and interchange

· A new pedestrian and bicycle land bridge over SR 520 WSDOT will also look ahead to future phases of the SR 520 Program in Seattle, including construction of a new Portage Bay Bridge, a Roanoke lid, I-5 connections, and a second bascule bridge over the Montlake Cut.

Download WSDOT’s April 17 Open House Flyer

Anna Rudd, Seattle ARCH organizer and former anti-freeway activist, appears on King5.

Seattle ARCH (Activists Remembered Honored and Celebrated) continues to make great progress in capturing how Montlake citizens and other Seattle residents stopped the construction of the RH Thomson Expressway.

The group recently announced a new resource of information about the freeway revolt. Seattle’s Freeway Revolt: A Directory of Historical Resources, hosted on the Seattle Public Library’s special collections online, provides a wealth of information on the intense, multi-year battle to halt plans for an expansive network of freeways in Seattle. It includes an overview of this multi-faceted movement, along with timelines, bibliographies, graphics and guides for finding relevant information. The project was made possible by a grant from 4Culture/King County Lodging Tax Fund, which funded two research archivists who contributed much of the content.

Until now it’s been nearly impossible to uncover this history, say project organizer (and former Montlake resident) Priscilla Arsove and Anna Rudd, since it resides in records of multiple governing bodies and
agencies, as well as media coverage dating back 50+ years. Priscilla’s father, Newton street resident Maynard Arsove, led the revolt.

A documentary film on the freeway revolt, produced by filmmaker and UW professor Minda Martin, is targeted for release in early summer. In addition to collaborating on the film, Seattle ARCH has worked to preserve a section of the R.H. Thomson “Ramps to Nowhere” as a monument to citizen activists who helped defeat this freeway. In October 2016, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved a resolution, introduced by Councilmember Debora Juarez, to preserve four columns and a crossbeam of the defunct
freeway. The monument is expected to come to fruition when reconstruction of SR 520 is completed in 2028.

In the mean time, enjoy Anna Rudd’s appearance on King5 to talk about the freeway revolt.

Re-striping by the 5-way roundabout at 22nd/23rd and Lynn

Dear Montlake Residents,

Over the last several years, the Montlake Community Club and the Montlake Transportation Committee have been working with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to address traffic and safety concerns in our neighborhood.  The increased traffic on our neighborhood streets (due to the changes with the SR 520 project) has become a safety concern.  SDOT takes our concerns and traffic calming requests seriously. Good progress has been made and we are already seeing some of the traffic calming measures being accomplished. Many more changes are to come.

Early next week you will be seeing a flyer from the City describing the traffic calming projects in Montlake.  The mailer will outline information on the Montlake School safe route, changes to the neighborhood Greenway, and traffic calming projects in the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plant (NTMP).  All these changes will help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in our neighborhood.  In addition, they should limit the cut-through traffic we are now experiencing.

The intersection at Lynn/22nd/23rd has been a topic of discussion in reference to both the NTMP and the Greenways project on 22^nd and 23^rd.  Currently, the intersection at Lynn does not meet Greenways standards.  For pedestrians, and bicyclists, the intersection is not safe.  Children in particular are not safe walking to and from school. Several drivers have complained about the speed and confusion at this intersection.  Others have expressed a need to eliminate, reduce and/or at least slow cross-through traffic.

SDOT is considering a redesign that includes the installation of stop signs as a way to make the intersection safe and to slow the traffic.  Last week, SDOT spray painted the outline of some of the potential changes.  Because this is a five-legged intersection it can be confusing.  To minimize this confusion and to improve safety, SDOT is proposing the intersection would become an all-way stop. To meet SDOT standards, on-street parking is restricted within 30-feet of stop signs. Some of the immediate neighbors have expressed concern over the loss of parking spaces. Most would agree that in Montlake and many other neighborhoods, safety is first.  The Montlake Community Club supports the proposed project with the understanding that stop signs will be added to the design. This intersection is still being evaluated and if you have concerns about this proposal, please share your thoughts, concerns, or questions with Montlake.traffic@seattle.gov .  The mailer you will be receiving will also ask the same question.  This project will be paid for by Seattle Greenways fund.

We have also requested the installation of a signal at Lynn and 24th Ave E. and it is looking pretty promising.  However, it is still being be evaluated by SDOT. Installation would be funded through the 23rd Ave E Vision Zero project separate from the state money for traffic mitigation connected with the SR520 construction.  Assuming the signal moves forward, it must be designed (along with the associated curb ramps), equipment procured, and a construction plan/contract developed. Given the scope, we would not expect work to happen at the same time as 23rd Ave E restriping between Boyer and John this summer or fall.

Finally, through the process outlined in the NTMP, SDOT has received additional traffic-calming requests. These are being evaluated through the SDOT’s Operations Department based on traffic patterns, collision history, street geometry, cost and constructibility. SDOT will update us as decisions are made and enhancements planned. A lot of these projects will be funded through a Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) contribution of $250,000 to SDOT as mitigation measures related to the SR 520 Project.

Please plan on attending the upcoming WSDOT meeting April 17, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the Montlake Community Center to better understand the upcoming Montlake Phase of the SR520 project.  SDOT will also be available to further explain these projects and answer your questions.  Everyone needs to be vigilant to keep our Montlake safe and prevent the neighborhood from becoming a parking lot, a pass-through.

Thank you to everyone who has attended and commented at community meetings, written letters, made telephone calls and advocated for our neighborhood.  By making your voice head, we are finally seeing progress.

The Montlake Community Club

You are invited to join WSDOT for an open house to learn about design and construction plans for the upcoming Montlake Phase of State Route 520 reconstruction. Staff from the Washington State Department of Transportation and partner agencies will be on hand to discuss what’s ahead and answer questions.

Construction of the Montlake Phase is scheduled to begin in late 2018. The project will build:

· A new West Approach Bridge South to carry eastbound traffic from Montlake to the floating bridge

· New transit/HOV ramps to and from the Montlake lid

· A new Montlake lid and interchange

· A new pedestrian and bicycle land bridge over SR 520 WSDOT will also look ahead to future phases of the SR 520 Program in Seattle, including construction of a new Portage Bay Bridge, a Roanoke lid, I-5 connections, and a second bascule bridge over the Montlake Cut.

Date: April 17, 2018
Time: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Location: Montlake Community Center, 1618 E. Calhoun St., Seattle, WA 98112

Download WSDOT’s April 17 Open House Flyer