Graffiti Paint out Wednesday, June 5th

Resident Chuck Dickey will be leading a crew of community court "volunteers" to paint out graffiti in Lake City on Wednesday, June 5th. But you don't need a court order to help out. If you are available please stop by and lend a hand.

They will be meeting up at the Lake City Community Center ( 12531 28th Ave NE ) at 9:30 a.m. Water, doughnuts, and cookies will be available to fuel you through to 3:30 pm if you choose to stick it out that long.

Help make Lake City a little nicer by removing tags and enjoying some good company.

Lake City Live previously wrote about Dickey and his neighborhood cleanup crew. You can read that story by clicking here.

Organizers planning to move Eva's rocks Saturday morning (June 1st)

Recently we wrote about Eva Sismaet, a resident that lives on NE 130th Street and 27th Avenue NE. Because of a sidewalk that will soon be installed in front of her home, the retiree will have to move the garden that she has spent years perfecting along her property.

Read the full story here.

Eva moves the rocks in her garden.

Eva created the garden to deal with runoff that was draining onto her parking area and to beautify the drainage ditch alongside her property on 130th. She also worked to beautify the area for her, and our enjoyment.

She was told by city officials that anything left in her garden once construction of the sidewalk starts would be swallowed up by heavy equipment.

The outpouring of support and offers to help to move the large amount of river rock that serves as drainage along her property were inspiring. Dozens of neighbors offered to help. So many people offered help that people organizing the effort consulted with Eva and decided they did not want to overwhelm her yard with too many helpers. About 10 of the first people that volunteered were organized to help with the rock relocation.

The volunteers plan to start moving Eva's rocks Saturday morning (June 1st) at 9 a.m.

Neighbors are still encouraged to stop by and say hi, and to help carry a few buckets of rocks if you feel like getting some exercise. Rock movers probably also wouldn't mind some refreshments or snacks as they form a bucket brigade to help move her rocks.

Mrs. Sismaet has also offered her elephant ear plants to neighbors that are willing to give them a good home.

YMCA for a Day in Lake City

The YMCA is looking to provide programming in Lake City. They are currently working with Olympic Hills Elementary to provide after school programs and are looking to provide additional programming at our community center. 

Tomorrow, the Y will be providing a sampling of what they have to offer at the Lake City Community Center. The schedule is as follows:

SATURDAY, JUNE 1st, 12-3 p.m. 

Lake City Community Center, 12531 28th Ave NE 

FREE FITNESS PROGRAMS 

12-12:40 Zumba 

A high energy Latin dance workout. 

12:45-1:25 Barre 

A new workout style inspired by ballet exercises. 

1:30-2:10 Salsa 

Have fun and learn the basics of salsa! 

2:15-3:00pm Yoga 

Breathing exercises and poses to promote flexibility, strength, relaxation. 

Classes are appropriate for all ages and abilities. 

HIP HOP STUDIO PRODUCTION 

From 12:00-3:00, kids and teens are invited to learn to make beats and produce hip hop records in a fun, interactive workshop with a local hip hop artist and producer. 

Reminder: Douglas Park Cooperative garage sales this Saturday

We posted the following on May 1st and handed out leaflets. This post is to remind you that this coming Saturday, June 1st, we plan to host the second annual Douglas Park Cooperative neighborhood garage sales. Information is below:

One of the sales from 2012 on 25th Avenue NE.

Douglas Park Cooperative neighbors are again planning a coordinated neighborhood garage sale.

Last year we had a handful of homes participate in the sales, which were advertised on message boards and with signs along NE 125th Street. At one point we had so many people stopping to look at items for sale on 25th Avenue NE that it wasn't possible to drive down the street.


On Saturday, June 1st 2013 we again plan to sponsor a community-wide garage sale. And you are invited to participate.

You can:

• Set up your own garage/yard/carport sale
• Partner with a neighbor for a bigger sale
• Set out free items in front of your home
• Have your kids set up a refreshment stand
• Visit your neighbors' sales

We will advertise the neighborhood sales on Craigslist, social media and other website. We will also set up signs on Lake City Way, NE 125th ST, 15th Ave NE, and other areas to point people in our direction.

You can email us the address of your sale, or just the nearest cross streets, and we can add it to a map we plan to create for the neighborhood sales.

Check back here on the Douglas Park Cooperative website for details as we get closer to the date.

Tell your neighbors! And pass along this information to anyone we missed.

Eva's beloved garden needs to be moved for new sidewalk, neighborhood plans parade of wheelbarrows

Eva moves a rock in her garden on NE 130th Street.

Eva Sismaet is proud of her hard work. And she should be.

Like so many streets in Lake City, the road on both sides of her corner lot lacked basic infrastructure. There is no curb. Runoff from the street on the west side of her property would pool on her blacktop driveway, turning the area into a dangerous ice rink during the winter.

On the north side, along NE 130th Street, the ditch cut into the shoulder of the road would become a mucky, overgrown and litter-filled mess when it rained.

The retiree on a fixed income decided to act and beautify her little slice of our community.

Eva, who has lived in her home with her husband Romeo for 33 years, turned the mucky ditch into a rock-lined garden. She planted elephant ear plants, kept down the overgrowth with tree bark and added colorful plants into the visually appealing mix that lines her property.

Eva

Most days she can be seen out there, with a wide brimmed hat, meticulously keeping her garden manicured for her —and our— enjoyment. (If you ever stop to chat she will engage you in friendly conversation)

Eva gardens to keep her mind from the troubles she has faced in recent years. Her husband, a veteran of the Vietnam War that served in Saigon, battled lung cancer and now suffers from coronary obstructive pulmonary disease. Things got worse when her home was recently burglarized, robbing her of a sense of security that we should all be able to enjoy in our homes, our havens.

Change comes to Eva's garden

The stakes with pink surveyors flags were the first indication of what was going to happen to Eva's garden.

You see, members of our community have been advocating for needed sidewalks for decades. Recently, funding for a new sidewalk on NE 130th, right in front of Eva's home, was secured.

The new sidewalk is part of efforts to have a safe path for students to walk from Olympic Hills Elementary to the Lake City Library. The sidewalk and curb will bring drainage and a safe path to an area that Eva created drainage and beauty in her own makeshift way.

The City of Seattle has told Eva that she needs to remove the years of work she put into her garden before sidewalk construction begins this summer. Once construction starts, anything left behind from her beloved garden would be swallowed up by tractors and dump trucks.

Eva then started to move her massive garden and drainage. Rock by single rock.

Offers of help

Recently a neighbor approached Eva as she was in front of her home lifting rocks. The neighbor suggested she ask the community for help.

At first she was unsure and said she didn't know what community the neighbor was talking about. When approached later by another neighbor, offering the same help, she became emotional.

You see, neighbors are for so much more than politely waving to occasionally or visiting with once a year at a block party —or telling that their dog barks too loudly. (This is where you enter this story)

"I am really fortunate to find out that the community we're living in has people with helping hands. I am proud of you guys," Eva said of the neighbors that have offered help. She also offered her elephant ear plants to anyone that wants to give them a good home.

Parade of wheelbarrows

So here is what WE can do.

Grease up the wheel of your wheelbarrows, get your shovels and work gloves ready. Douglas Park Cooperative is planning a parade of wheelbarrows to move the massive amount of river rock in Eva's street-side garden into her yard.

This is not an easy task as there is quite a bit of large river rock in her garden. But with enough man-woman-kid power we should be able to knock this out in a few hours.

We are still working on a date to accomplish this in the next couple of weeks, before construction of the sidewalk starts. It will likely be a weekend day in the middle of June. So check back here and we will post all the info when we have a date firmed up with Mrs. Sismaet. We will post the info on our Facebook Page, on our email list-serve and here, on our blog.

So who is ready to rock Eva's rocks and move them into her yard?

Results of Port a Pot Survey

Below are the results of the Port a Pot survey. Thank you for taking the time to vote.

The results will be sent to the Department of Neighborhoods and we will follow up with them to work out an action plan from the city. Stay tuned.

click to enlarge

Survey - What should we do with the Mini Park Port a Pot?

Current location of Port a Pot at the Lake City Mini Park.

New property acquired by Seattle Parks and Rec on 33rd. 

The Lake City Mini Park sits in the heart of Lake City’s business district at the corner of 125th and Lake City Way. Visually, the park consists of a paved area, an archway and a Port a Pot.

Lake City businesses and property owners would like the Port a Pot to be removed. They cite ongoing health and safety issues associated with it, including public urination and defecation —despite the availability of the Port a Pot in the center of the Lake City business district.

Homeless advocates have said in the past that the Port-aPot is the only place some have to use during the night.

A survey is being conducted to find out what the Lake City public would like to see happen with the Port a Pot. Both the park and the Port a Pot have a storied history. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the Port a Pot’s background before completing the survey. More info is below the survey.

Background 

Prior to 2003, the Lake City Mini Park included a water feature, plantings, and structural features. These provided quiet spaces at a busy intersection. However, they also provided limited visibility. Criminal and nuisance behaviors (drug use and dealing, public inebriation, urination and defecation) were a regular daily occurrence.

In 2003, the city spent $340,000 to redesign the park. During the redesign phase, the primary concern was how to reclaim the park from negative behaviors. The city’s solution was to remove all features that blocked visibility - hence the wide concrete open area that exists today. 

When the park’s redesign was completed, the negative behaviors returned to the park. Lake City businesses documented a significant increase of human feces and urine found on their business doorsteps daily. The business community requested a Port a Pot be installed at the Lake City Mini Park to help end this public defecation/urination.

Around the same time, the Mennonite Church (located one block away on 125th) welcomed homeless individuals to use their church property. The Mennonites installed a Port a Pot on their property, but later removed it. The Mennonite Church continued to expand their work with homeless, many with addiction issues. They opened a drop-in facility for homeless individuals near the corner of 125th and 33rd Ave and are currently working with Community Psychiatric Clinic to provide a new and enlarged homeless drop-in facility.

Today, the issue of public defecation and urination in Lake City’s business district continues, even as the Port a Pot sits available. Businesses adjacent to the park report routinely cleaning urine and feces from their properties. Eye witness accounts document open urination and defecation within yards of the Port a Pot, as well as drug dealing associated with the Port a Pot.

There are only three other permanent Port a Pots in Seattle, one of which is in a business district - Pioneer Square. The service contract on the Port a Pot costs the City of Seattle $7,800 per year.

'Harp to Heart' concert coming to Two Dog Yoga on Saturday, May 11th

Two Dog Yoga is rolling up the yoga mats and bringing in the harps this Saturday night (May 11th) for a concert at the Lake City yoga studio on Mother’s Day Eve!

Folk musician Martha Gallagher will collaborate with local harp players Seumas Gagne and Leslie McMichael during the Saturday evening concert at Two Dog Yoga Studio (12549 28th Ave NE).

Gallagher’s career includes solo national tours sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, performing with six-time Grammy winners The Chieftains, and teaching as a visiting artist at prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Describing the ebullient Gallagher’s personality and music, North Country Public Radio host Todd Moe summed her up by saying, “Martha Gallagher is Janis Joplin-Joan Baez-Jean Redpath all rolled into one. She's a treasure; her music lifts up the spirit and reminds us why we're here."

Seumas Gagne is a Scottish Gaelic teacher, singer and harp player with strong ties in both Seattle and Vancouver, B.C He is a frequent guest musician for local choirs such as Puget Sound Revels, City Cantabile Choir, the Vancouver Gaelic Choir, and others. Gagne’s debut album “Baile Ard” was released to acclaim in 2012, and when he is not playing his harp, he blogs about gay rights, polytheism, cooking and sewing.

Vashon Island harpist Leslie McMichael is well-known as a Suzuki teacher at Music Center of the Northwest and as a performer of original scores with vintage silent movie screenings. For the Mother’s Day weekend concert, she plans to share a sampling of her film scores, as well showcase her witty original songs on Celtic harp.  

What: Harp to Heart Concert 

When: Saturday, May 11th, 7 p.m. 

Where: Two Dog Yoga Studio (12549 28th Ave NE)

Tickets to the Harp to Heart concert are $15 general admission, or just $40 for a Friends & Family Four Pack. Brown Paper Tickets has advance tickets, and the link for the 7 pm Saturday event is http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/365552

Any questions, call Leslie Mouton at 206-661-5182 or Leslie McMichael at 206-898-4972.

Douglas Park Cooperative neighborhood garage sales scheduled for June 1st

One of the sales from 2012 on 25th Avenue NE.

Douglas Park Cooperative neighbors are again planning a coordinated neighborhood garage sale.

Last year we had a handful of homes participate in the sales, which were advertised on message boards and with signs along NE 125th Street. At one point we had so many people stopping to look at items for sale on 25th Avenue NE that it wasn't possible to drive down the street.


On Saturday, June 1st 2013 we again plan to sponsor a community-wide garage sale. And you are invited to participate.

You can:

• Set up your own garage/yard/carport sale
• Partner with a neighbor for a bigger sale
• Set out free items in front of your home
• Have your kids set up a refreshment stand
• Visit your neighbors' sales

We will advertise the neighborhood sales on Craigslist, social media and other website. We will also set up signs on Lake City Way, NE 125th ST, 15th Ave NE, and other areas to point people in our direction.

You can email us the address of your sale, or just the nearest cross streets, and we can add it to a map we plan to create for the neighborhood sales.

Check back here on the Douglas Park Cooperative website for details as we get closer to the date.

Tell your neighbors! And pass along this information to anyone we missed.

Mayor McGinn looks to spend part of Spokane Street Viaduct savings in Lake City

Mayor McGinn after a recent bus tour of LC.

The City of Seattle's recently-completed Spokane Street Viaduct, a $163 million project in Sodo, came in under budget. In March Mayor Mike McGinn announced that part of the $11.75 million saved would be invested in other Seattle transportation, infrastructure and pedestrian-related projects.

McGinn, who in recent weeks participated in a bus tour of Lake City, has announced that he hopes to invest $1 million of that money in Lake City.

"This funding will allow the City to begin design work on pedestrian projects currently being identified through the Lake City Way Traffic Safety Corridor Project and other community processes, and additional pedestrian mobility improvements along the length of the corridor and intersecting streets," McGinn said to community members in a recent email.

The $1 million would be written into McGinn's proposed 1st Quarter Supplemental Budget. The City Council will likely be considering this proposed supplemental budget in May.