Tag Archives: Walkability

Events, Special Events, Walkability

Come out for our ‘Hood Hunt

Crown Hill 'hood hunt

NOTE: this is now over, please visit the Wrap Up article for the event.

The Crown Hill ‘Hood Hunt is a map-based scavenger hunt with checkpoints that you must find using a map that has no street names. Use your map reading skills to keep track of where you are.

Here’s how it works: Come to the Crown Hill Center at 10 a.m., get a map and question sheet. The map covers about a square mile and contains twenty-five checkpoints from 85th Street to 100th Street. Find as many checkpoints as you can on foot in 75 minutes, and return to the finish. There are no items to “scavenge”, only a question to answer about something you will see at each checkpoint. Afterward, participants will gather for refreshments and share routes, stories, and answers.

You can go solo, or with a team of friends and family. It’s a great event for people who like to walk or jog and it’s a way to get to know your neighborhood and neighbors.

Prizes donated by Swanson’s Nursery and Holy Grounds Coffee Shop will be awarded to the top scoring finishers.

Start and Finish at the Crown Hill Center, 9250 14th Ave NW
$5 donation per team requested, but not required

Garage Sale

Crown Hill Garage Sale Wrap-up

July 24th, 2010 saw our most successful neighborhood garage sale to date. We had 56 participating sales, including a few in Lower Crown Hill (otherwise known as close to downtown Ballard). It looked like everybody was having a good time in the fabulous sunny weather (high temperature of 77 F on my weather station).

Big Sale
Big Sale
Bears & Baskets
Bears & Baskets

Continue reading Crown Hill Garage Sale Wrap-up →

Garage Sale

Crown Hill Neighborhood Garage Sale, July 24th, 2010

Garage Sale Sign
Click to see sale map!

As I write this at 8:30 PM on July 23rd, NOAA is calling for a sunny day on Saturday July 24th with a high of 78 F. The weather couldn’t be better … not too hot … not too cold. Get the sunscreen out, and enjoy a fabulous day buying and selling in Crown Hill!

With more than 55 participating sales, this is the most successful sale to date. If you are cruising the sales, please encourage our youngest entrepreneurs by patronizing their lemonade and refreshment stands. Also please make sure not to block access to other driveways, and most of all, watch carefully for the extra pedestrian traffic.  Maps of the sale site addresses and listings are available here. A limited number of printed maps will be available at Crown Hill Center (9250 14th Ave NW).

And in case you don’t yet have one of our award-winning Crown Hill Neighbors t-shirts, you can pick yours up at the sale being held at 10034 13th Ave NW!  If you live in Crown Hill, you won’t be the first on your block with this fashion statement!

I’ve just closed off the input form, so if you missed getting your sale listed, you can likely just set your stuff out and put up a sign, and there will be traffic.

Best of luck to all! Hope to see you there!

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, 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.