Category Archives: Sustainability

Sustainability

Trees for Seattle Neighborhoods

Here’s an opportunity to get some free trees from the city of Seattle. The city Department of Neighborhoods (DON) administers the Tree Fund to enhance the urban forest. Since 1972 the city estimates that Seattle’s urban forest tree cover has decreased from 40% to 22%. Trees play an important part in holding back stormwater surges, reducing erosion, retaining carbon, absorption of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and improving the aesthetic qualities of the urban environment. And we’ve lost some very large and some very old trees in Crown Hill in the last several years.

The DON Tree Fund has planted more than 20,000 trees in 15 years. This year’s program requires a group of neighbors living on a block or street get together and agree to plant between 10 to 40 trees. Each participating house can then choose a fruit tree.

Full details are available at the tree fund web site. Applications are due by August 16th, 2010.

Sustainability, Volunteers

Summer Tree Fruit Tree Pruning Class

CityFruit Logo

“City Fruit works neighborhood by neighborhood to help residential tree owners grow healthy fruit, to harvest and use what they can, and to share what they don’t need. City Fruit collaborates with others involved in local food production, climate protection, horticulture, food security and community-building to protect and optimize urban fruit trees.” They have developed a mapping application to show the location of fruit trees within Seattle. If you would like to add your fruit trees to the map, or become a member of City Fruit, or volunteer to help, please visit their web site at http://cityfruit.org

City Fruit will be hosting two Summer Fruit Tree pruning classes in Seattle this summer. These are hands on classes taught by some of the most experienced teachers in the area. To register: click on the link of the class you want to attend (These link to the class registration at  Brown Paper Tickets). You can also send a check, with the name of the class and your contact information to City Fruit, PO Box 28577, Seattle 98118.   Cost is $15 for City Fruit members, $20 for non-members.  After registering, you will receive confirmation and the address of the class.   If you can’t afford a class but really want to learn, email us at info@cityfruit.org.

July 17  Summer Pruning, North Seattle. 10:30  am – noon.  Summer pruning discourages excessive new growth and “can be used to slow down overly vigorous trees or trees that are too large” (P. Vossen).   It is most effective between June and late September.  Learn the proper techniques at this workshop located in a heritage urban orchard.    Ingela Wanerstrand is the owner of Green Darner Garden Design, specializing in edible garden design and coaching.  She has been pruning fruit trees professionally for 14 years and leads the urban agriculture guild of Sustainable Ballard.

Comments on Ingela’s last class: “I wish I had taken this class 10 years ago.  It was the best two hours I’ve spent learning about pruning ever.”

Continue reading Summer Tree Fruit Tree Pruning Class →

Government, Sustainability, Transportation

Walk Bike Ride

WBR Logo

Walk Bike Ride is a Seattle initiative to:

  • Create an equitable transportation system for all by providing more affordable travel choices
  • Focus on the places where people want to be and add qualities that make them want to stay
  • Prioritize right-of-way space to emphasize walking, biking and riding

The initiative emphasizes the transportation choices we make each day and encourages us to walk, bike, take public transit more often to: 1) save money; 2) improve our health; 3) improve the health of our communities.

The city wants your input and has scheduled a series of meetings:

Continue reading Walk Bike Ride →

Sustainability, Volunteers

Cityfruit Program for Crown Hill

Cityfruit Logo

Crown Hill Fruit Harvest

City Fruit works neighborhood by neighborhood to help residential tree owners grow healthy fruit, harvest and use what they can, and share what they don’t use with others.   www.cityfruit.org

Donate fruit . . . If  you have more healthy fruit than you need and would like to donate some of  your harvest, contact Jen Mullen, Harvest Coordinator, at crownhill@cityfruit.org or (206) 352-9580.

Help harvest fruit . . . If  you would like to help pick fruit and deliver it to food banks and community centers, contact City Fruit at crownhill@cityfruit.org.
Need fruit . . . If  you or your organization need fruit and can’t afford to buy it at the market, contact City Fruit.

Support us .. . Join us in building community and strengthening our local food system by becoming a member of  City Fruit.  See www.cityfruit.org/membership/htm.

This project is funded in part by a Neighborhood Matching Fund award from the City of Seattle, Department of Neighborhoods.

Sustainability, Transportation, Walkability

Sidewalks in Crown Hill — Are We Getting Any Closer?

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In the last round of project submissions for the Bridging the Gap Levy funds, the Ballard District Council recommended three Crown Hill Projects for funding. The three projects are: 1) Walkway along 13th Ave NW from NW 90th to Holman Road, plus walkway along 90th from 13th Ave NW to 14th Ave NW; 2) Walkway along 13th Ave NW from NW 95th to NW 100th; and 3) Walkway on 18th Ave NW from NW 85th to NW 89th. It is estimated there will be approximately $340,000 to spend within the entire Crown Hill/Ballard area.

On Wednesday, May 19th, 2010, the Seattle Department of Transportation released their preliminary cost estimates for the three projects. The first two projects (originally submitted in 2007) come in at $994,000 and $480,000 respectively, and the third project (submitted in 2009) comes in at $480,000. You can see all the projects costed out by SDOT on their website.

Clearly any of the three projects, as estimated by SDOT, exceed the Ballard District’s fair share of the pot city-wide. The estimates are for traditional sidewalks, rather than less expensive walkways or paved paths, and there is the possibility that some of the cost of the walkway on 18th could be offset by funds available for Combined Sewer Overflow abatement (that project location is in the North Beach CSO area).

What’s next? The Ballard District Council will reconvene its committee to look at the projects, and possibly change the scope so that one or more can be built within the allotted funds. Then a final recommendation will go forward in June. The recommendation will go forward to the city-wide Bridging the Gap oversight committee to assess which projects will be built over the entire city. The oversight committee’s recommendations will then be forwarded on for approval by the Mayor and City Council.