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Wednesday’s What’s Happening

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Events in and around Montlake for the week of September 3rd – 9th and a Save the Date Click the event name to get all the details.

Special Montlake Event – Save the Date

Thursday, September 11th

  • s048956SR 520 – Montlake Design Open House –                4:30 pm – 7:00 pm, Montlake Community Center. Montlake neighbors are encouraged to attend this open house to share their thoughts concerning the Montlake Lid and Multimodal connections.

In Montlake

Thursday, September 4th

Tuesday, September 9th

Limited EngagementsPICT1449

Ongoing

Around Montlake

Tuesday, September 9th

Visit our neighborhood calendar to keep track of upcoming events. All registered users of Montlake.net are authorized to submit events via our Post Your Event tool.

Wednesday’s What’s Happening

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wwh 0827Events in and around Montlake for the week of August 27th – September 2nd. Click the event name to get all the details.

Special Montlake EventsCANG_Website_MapSM

Thursday, August 28th

  • Neighborhood Greenway Open House – 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm, Miller Community Center. Montlake neighbors are encouraged to attend this open house to share their thoughts concerning safe pedestrian passages and fully protected crosswalks.

 

In Montlake

fundamentalsSaturday, August 30th

Limited Engagements

Around Montlake

Wednesday, August 27th

Thursday, August 28thmusic in the park

Visit our neighborhood calendar to keep track of upcoming events. All registered users of Montlake.net are authorized to submit events via our Post Your Event tool.

Wednesday’s What’s Happening

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wwh0820

Events in and around Montlake for the week of August 20th – August 26th. Click the event name to get all the details.

In Montlake8CW9kw_flyerad082014

Limited Engagements

Ongoing

Around MontlakeUV_Concert-Series-2014_Web-Ads_MECH_450x200

Wednesday, August 20th

Thursday, August 21st

Tuesday, August 26th

CANG_Website_MapSM

Visit our neighborhood calendar to keep track of upcoming events. All registered users of Montlake.net are authorized to submit events via our Post Your Event tool.

Support Montlake Students with “Real Food” Fundraiser

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montlake-basket-copyPer Montlake Elementary:

Here’s a great way to get healthy, yummy food and support our 5th graders’ annual trip to Islandwood. Each year Montlake has to consider whether or not to continue attending Islandwood because of its cost. “What I love about that camp is how well it connects to so much of what we strive for at Montlake and allows the kids to take their environmental and sustainability knowledge and see it put into place in a larger context,” says Cheri Bloom.

montlake

This spring we are working with an organization called FarmRaiser, who match schools to local farms and food artisans. So instead of buying chocolate or magazines subscriptions, Montlake parents can buy a box of local food products. The profits are split between our school (45%), the farms (45%) and FarmRaiser (10%).We have partnered with FarmRaiser to offer families the opportunity to buy a box of gourmet, local food. The proceeds will support the trip to Islandwood.

The box costs $55 and contains:

  • Macrina Bakery‘s Vollkorn Loaf
  • Bow Hill Blueberry‘s Pickled Blueberries
  • That Brown Girl Cooks Ethiopian Black Eyed Pea Hummus
  • Loki Fish‘s cold-smoked wild coho lox
  • 1/2 lb spinach from Willie Greens Organic Farm
  • A special selection of two 60mL bottles of olive oil & vinegar from Queen Anne Olive Oil Company

The deadline to order is May 15. The food will be available for pick-up at the Eat Real Food & Art Walk event on May 30. To purchase a box, please visit the FarmRaiser website: http://farmraiser.seeyourimpact.org/montlake/

 

Op-Ed: Speak out about backyard and sideyard homes

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The Montlaker blog reported on the issue of backyard and sideyard homes back on 9/2/12. It now comes down to a public hearing this Friday (4/18) and a letter writing campaign to city council members to ensure that permanent restrictions are put on the height of these towering structures and the minimum lot size for large-scale building on a lot where a home already exists. Because this issue started in Montlake, you may have an interest in learning the status of the issue and how your voice can be heard.

The feature article in the current issue of Seattle Weekly dives into the subdivision controversy that fired up Blaine residents earlier this year. View on montlaker.com

For background on the issue, visit www.onehomeperlot.com.

City council members are hearing a lot from developers (and their lobbyist) on the issue, and we don’t want our voice as concerned homeowners to be drowned out so it’s critical you make your voice heard in the next few days.

How you can help:

  • Show your in-person support at City Hall at 2pm on Friday, 4/18 (see details below)
  • Write a letter (sample below for your customization)

Resources and more info:

Here’s the contact information for the land use committee members:

Time and location of public hearing:

The public hearing will be part of the committee’s regularly scheduled meeting: This Friday (4/18/14) at 2:00 p.m. in City Council chambers, City Hall (600 Fourth Avenue, downtown Seattle). The committee wants to hear from all citizens (you don’t have to understand the technical details in order to share your opinions on this issue). Couple things to keep in mind:

  • Each speaker is limited to two minutes of speaking time.
  • It’s first come, first served — and if there’s a large crowd, not everyone will be provided a chance to speak. You have to arrive early and sign up before the meeting starts if you want to speak. (Plan to arrive by 1:30)
  • When you arrive, line up in front of the council chamber doors (which will remain locked until 1:45)

Thanks in advance for your support.

Neighbors on behalf of One Home Per Lot

Op-Ed: Seattle Parks Needs Your Help

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Image: Flickr: Laurel Fan

If our Seattle Parks are important to you, it’s time to tell the Seattle City Council how you feel. Parks need your help more than ever.

Please consider attending a Public Hearing on Monday, April 7 at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 600 4th Avenue to let the Council Members know how you feel.

The Parks funding proposal now before the Select Committee on Parks Funding was developed by a 15-member citizens committee I co-chaired. We spent 9 intensive months looking at the needs of the Parks System. Our recommendations were enthusiastically supported by Mayor Murray and with only a few minor changes he sent it to the City Council for their consideration. The Council now needs to decide the final package and pass an Ordinance placing it on the August 2014 ballot for a public vote. Here is a link to the full recommendation.

The funding proposal will provide $54 million in annual funding to address a $270 million major maintenance backlog; keep community centers open longer to provide more programs for kids and seniors; improve ballfields and playgrounds; fix crumbling infrastructure at the Zoo and Aquarium; preserve open space for our growing city; ensure safe connections between our greenways and parks; and restore our urban forests.

In the past, the Parks Department has been reliant upon levies to make up for huge cuts in their budgets and this is not sustainable.  Community center hours have been cut drastically and there basically aren’t any funds for new projects, e.g. connections to greenways, development of land-banked sites, community center programming, natural area restoration, etc.

Unfortunately, our backward and regressive taxing system doesn’t allow cities to provide basic services and parks is a basic service. Recreation programs are mostly for those who can afford to pay. In my mind this is all unacceptable.

Not only do we need to take of what we have, but we need to plan for the future Park System. Our city is growing and neighborhoods are becoming more densely populated. We need to ensure all residents have equal access to the benefits of physical activity, the natural environments, and community connections. All citizens deserve to have opportunities to lead healthy lives.

If you cannot come to the meeting, please send an email to the Council Members letting them know about your support.  Here are their email addresses:

sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov
tim.burgess@seattle.gov
sally.clark@seattle.gov
jean.godden@seattle.gov
bruce.harrell@seattle.gov
nick.licata@seattle.gov
mike.obrien@seattle.gov
tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov
kshama.sawant@seattle.gov

I urge you to support the creation of a parks district with sufficient revenues to meet the overwhelming needs of the Seattle Parks System.  If we don’t fix them now, they will continue to deteriorate and be more expensive to fix in the future.

Thank you so much for supporting Parks.

Barbara Wrigtht

MCC’s Fundraising is Ongoing

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Since November of last year when our current fundraising drive began, donations both large and small have been made by 166 of our Montlake neighbors for a total so far of $9,488.47.   For sure, no donation is too large or too small!

Fundraising continues as many other neighbors have perhaps pushed those donor envelopes to the side, planning to make their donations at a later date.  Please remember that you can send in your tax deductible donation at any time during the year.  The many special projects of our club are funded by your support.

Can’t find your donation form and envelope? 

Send a check payable to Montlake Community Club to:

Montlake Community Club
4616 – 25th NE #446
Seattle, WA 98105

OR donate using PayPal.   We are also grateful for Employer Matching Funds.

Connie Bain
Treasurer, Montlake Community Club

Montlake Historic District process moves forward

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Montlake_Aerial_1940s

Submitted by Jon H. Decker, AIA

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has started the final phase of assembling the necessary information for the designation of Montlake as a Historic District, under the provisions of Section 106 of the National Preservation Act. This phase is estimated to be completed in 2015 and will include a detailed review of over one thousand properties, within the district, to confirm their status as “contributing” to the national designation for the district and also their eligibility as individual buildings. Also included will be public meetings for the community, with WSDOT, to review and discuss related issues, including discussions with owners of properties that are eligible, to confirm their interest in being included in national registration. Section 106, stipulates that approval from owners must be obtained.

Also, the law stipulates that, if designated, there are no “controls: granted to the State that would prevent owners of designated properties from making either minor or major alterations to their homes.”

The above process is under the direction of Steve Archer, Cultural Resources Manager for WSDOT, along with two retained consultants; Connie Walker Gray and Mimi Sheridan, both historic preservation consultants. They will be working directly with selected representatives from the Montlake Community. Currently that includes Julee Newhart, MCC President, myself, and Craig Soper, who together assembled the necessary information for preliminary designation approval. If there are any residents of the community who are interested in being involved in the process or have questions or comments, please contact me: jdecker@deckerarchitects.com.

Montlake Neighbor to Seattle School Board: “Don’t Split Montlake!”

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Montlake Montlake resident, Kerry Clayman delivered  a strong plea to preserve Montlake Elementary’s southern boundary along the edge of Interlaken Park, at the Seattle School Board meeting on Wednesday night, with a contingent of Montlakers cheering her on.

Seattle School Board is currently considering a proposal to shrink the southern boundary of Montlake Elementary. The new boundary would split Boyer Avenue in half, assigning a small number of Montlake families whose homes line the south side of Boyer or border Interlaken Park to Stevens Elementary, instead of our neighborhood school.

There’s still time to speak up to protest this change. (For more information about what’s happening, see this earlier post.) The school district’s  online feedback survey will be available through Monday, October 21st,  to take feedback.

To get to the survey, click here. The number on which you are providing feedback is 41. You may cut and paste the form letter here or write your own. If you live in the impacted area, please personalize your comments to say so.

Don’t wait! Numbers matter—even if you are not directly impacted by these changes, the more neighbors who weigh in, the more the school board will understand the importance of keeping our community intact.

Fill out the survey now!

Don’t Let the School District Split Montlake

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Proposed changes to Montlake Elementary's attendance area. Area 41 would move to Stevens, Area 39 to McGilvra.

Proposed changes to Montlake Elementary’s attendance area. Area 41 would move to Stevens, Area 39 to McGilvra.

 

Seattle Public Schools wants to shrink the Montlake Elementary school boundary to the north side of Boyer Avenue. Please take a moment now to ask Seattle Public Schools to change their proposal.

The proposal would assign certain homes that sit squarely within Montlake to Stevens Elementary. The affected areas are the south side of Boyer Avenue; Eaton Place; 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd Avenues south of Boyer; and other streets south of Boyer. See a map of the proposed changes here.

The proposed boundary would go right down the middle of Boyer Avenue. Imagine standing at the entrance to the Greek Church on Boyer Avenue and looking across the street: the families in those homes would no longer be part of the Montlake Elementary community.

Children in these areas would no longer have a short, safe walk to school. The district’s plan ignores the natural boundary of Interlaken Park at our southern edge.

The school district has asked for feedback via an online survey, available for one week, beginning today (Oct. 14-21). To get to the survey, click here. The number on which you are providing feedback is 41. You may cut and paste the form letter below or write your own. If you live in the impacted area, please personalize your comments to say so.

Numbers matter—even if you are not directly impacted by these changes, the more neighbors who weigh in, the more the school board will understand the importance of keeping our community intact.

Sincerely,
Julee Neuhart, President, Montlake Community Club
Amanda Williams, Montlake PTA/MCC Board Liaison
Kerry Clayman, Montlake Neighbor
Nina Hess, Montlake Neighbor

To submit your feedback:

Access the survey by clicking HERE.

1. Select the numbered area on which you are providing feedback: 41

2. What is your feedback?

As a Montlake resident, I am concerned about proposed changes to the Montlake Elementary School boundary.

The new boundary would fall in the middle of Boyer Avenue. This change would send a small section of Montlake families, living on the south side of Boyer Avenue—and the few streets south of Boyer that back up to Interlaken Park—to Stevens Elementary instead of Montlake. The children and parents in this area are deeply rooted in the Montlake community and isolating them from our neighborhood doesn’t make sense.

Although Stevens may appear to be close as the crow flies, the steep, heavily wooded Interlaken Park is a natural barrier. Designating Stevens as the school for these children goes against the district’s own guiding principles of a safe route to school. Walking or biking to school would not be possible. There are no sidewalks on Interlaken Ave. as it extends down the very steep north slope of Capitol Hill toward Montlake. The trails in Interlaken Park are secluded and unpopulated. They are not safe for school children. A safe route to Montlake Elementary School already exists: a 10-minute, safe, flat walk for most of our kids.

I encourage Seattle Public Schools to keep the children of Montlake together. Don’t split the Montlake community and keep the boundary where it belongs, at Interlaken Park.