A volunteer opportunity (received from Ray Hoffman at Seattle Public Utilities):
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is seeking community members who would like to serve on a Sounding Board to help guide the development of a long-term plan (LTCP) to control Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) in the City of Seattle. The Clean Water Act requires that Seattle reduce CSOs. Seattle Public Utilities is developing a comprehensive Long-term Control Plan (LTCP) to lay out the capital investments necessary to meet that goal. These actions will include retrofitting the system for greater efficiency, building storage facilities, and green stormwater infrastructure where appropriate. The Sounding Board will provide a diverse set of perspectives from across the City. We seek individuals who can see the big picture, as well as effectively represent a particular point of view and provide constructive advice about important investment decisions. We hope to identify people from each quadrant of the city (northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest) to represent interests in those geographic areas.
Turn out your light, show support. Saturday March 27th, 2010, 8:30-9:30 PM
In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support by turning off their lights for one hour.
Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future.
Crown Hill Neighborhood Association, monthly Board meeting. All neighbors are welcome.
We meet starting at 7 PM April 25th, 2011Â in room 4 of the Crown Hill Center.
Call 206-706-7663 for more information or to suggest an agenda item.
Upon moving to Crown Hill in 2002, I noticed many blank walls on buildings, often tagged with graffiti, painted out graffiti, re-tagged, re-painted out, etc. What is it about a blank wall that encourages vandals to leave their marks? Our major streets, 15th Ave NW, Holman Road, and NW 85th Street appeared quite tired, even dreary. As new businesses have moved in, old businesses and new alike have taken to spiffing up their storefronts with bright colors, and … murals. Most recently the Value Village relocated a couple of doors south on 15th, and engaged the services of Seattle muralist, Ryan “Henry” Ward. Henry’s murals drew much attention in the press (MyBallard article, and even some television and radio coverage). It has certainly sparked lots of discussions among neighbors and passerby (as I snapped photos early on a Saturday morning, 6 people volunteered their opinions, four very positive, one negative, one shrug).
Traffic Information Sign, 14th and Holman, click to enlarge
The sharp-eyed among us will have noticed Seattle Dept. of Transportation crews hard at work along Holman Rd and 15th Ave NW this week. MyBallard.com gave advance notice of the work here. The work is being done to provide more information for drivers and transportation agencies during the Alaska Way Viaduct Replacement Project. During the life of the project, SDOT and Washington State DOT expect that Holman Rd and 15th Ave traffic will increase dramatically. These projects are supposed to allow drivers to make better decisions, smooth the flow of traffic, and provide real-time information to SDOT and WSDOT on traffic conditions.
The first change was the installation of a traffic information sign over the southbound lanes of Holman Rd at 14th Ave NW. The sign will be used to inform drivers of accidents and road conditions ahead to the Ballard Bridge and beyond. This is similar to the informational signs on I5. The sign is approximately 1 block east of the radar speed sign located near Mary Ave NW.
Traffic monitoring camera 85th and 15th, camera is just below the "NW 85th St" sign, click to enlarge
The second change was the installation of traffic cameras at the intersection of 15th Ave NW and NW 85th St. These cameras will allow monitoring of traffic conditions. The cameras will not be used for red light enforcement like the cameras at 15th and 80th. SDOT previously announced the traffic cameras here and at other locations city-wide as part of their traffic information system. We will soon be able to view traffic images from the cameras showing current traffic conditions on the city’s Traveler’s Information Map. These cameras are supposed to go live this month (March 2010) according to the MyBallard article from last year.
The Alaska Way Viaduct replacement project is expected to be completed shortly after the demolition of the Viaduct. The Viaduct will be demolished in 2016 according to preliminary estimates. A timeline for the replacement project is available at WSDOT’s web site here. There will be a multi-year period during which traffic normally handled by the Viaduct will be diverted to I5 and surface streets such as Elliott Ave W, 15th Ave NW, and Holman Road. We can expect significant traffic impacts during the construction. Once completed, SDOT estimates it will take a Crown Hill resident 4 or more extra minutes to get to the southern end of the tunnel than it does today. This is due to the fact, the northern entrance to the tunnel will be located further East than the current route to the viaduct.
