Greenway alternatives

City planners will meet with the community tonight to talk about a fantastic opportunity to overhaul a major connection between the Central District, eastern Capitol Hill and Montlake. Here’s what Seattle Bike Blog has to say about the process to plan a $46 million overhaul of 23rd Ave including a proposed greenway system for bicyclists and walkers to travel across the area:

A neighborhood greenway is simply not a replacement or alternative to building safe bike lanes on commercial streets. These commercial streets should be places that bring neighbors together, not walls that split a neighborhood in half. People should be able to walk and bike safely from their homes to the doors of neighborhood restaurants and cultural centers. A neighborhood greenway might get you a block or two away, but that’s a block or two short of the goal.

So yes, let’s build a great neighborhood greenway (or two) in the Central District. But let’s also keep working to make sure investments in the city’s planned remake of 23rd Avenue put neighbors first.

Wednesday’s meeting will focus on potential paths (seen on the map above) for routes parallel to 23rd Ave where a bike friendly greenway could be implemented.

You’re Invited!

The city is seeking input on where the 23rd Avenue Corridor greenway should be constructed. Please join us at a community open house to discuss the route and some of the features it will include. Be a part of creating a great greenway for all!

Community Open House

Wednesday, November 6

5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Nova High School auditorium

300 20th Avenue East

Seattle

To request an interpreter, please call (206) 733-9990.

You can also provide feedback to planner [email protected].

Potential features of the greenway include:

• Pavement markings and signage to alert motorists to expect people bicycling

• Improved crosswalks and ADA curb ramps to make pedestrian mobility easier

• Way-finding to provide guidance along the route, letting people know where the greenway goes and what’s nearby, like parks, schools and business districts

• Median islands, traffic circles, curb bulbs and speed humps to help reduce vehicle speeds and discourage drivers from avoiding arterials by cutting through on neighborhood streets

• New signage to control traffic crossing the greenway and make crossings easier for pedestrians and bicyclists

Planning for the bike and greenway component is part of the 23rd Ave Complete Street initiative being pursued by SDOT:

Supporting Multi-Modal Improvements to the 23rd Avenue Corridor: The 2014 Proposed Budget allocates $2.9 million of Real Estate Excise Tax and state grant funding to support improvements to the 23rd Avenue Corridor. This investment supplements an additional $13.8 million in other funding sources supporting the project. A vital multi-modal corridor, 23rd Avenue connects much of southeast and central Seattle with Capitol Hill, the University District, and other northeast Seattle neighborhoods. In response to community feedback, SDOT will change the street from four lanes to three lanes between East John Street and Rainier Avenue South and develop a parallel greenway route for bicyclists.

The three-lane design allows for substantial pedestrian improvements by reconstructing sidewalks and reducing the curb-to-curb width by eight feet in most places. It also allows SDOT to adjust the traffic lanes to conform to lane- width standards, as opposed to the narrow lanes existing today. SDOT will reconstruct pavement and upgrade signals to meet transit signal priority needs and accommodate ITS features, such as travel time information.

With state Bridging the Gap funding pushing the budget above $46 million, the project is now being planned to change the corridor from Rainier to 520 by transitioning 23rd Ave’s four pinched lanes into a new three-lane layout south of John. Meanwhile, the entirety of the route is planned to be repaved and enhanced to improve traffic flow from the south of the CD to Montlake and 520. Oh, and, yeah, Seattle Bike Blog, god bless its hard-pedaling little soul, wants bike lanes on 23rd Ave, too.

The City is pushing for the first phase of the greenway between Jackson and John to be completed by the end of 2014.

An SDOT presentation on the project is below.

FINAL_June2013_23AveCorridor_WebUpdate.pdf by Chs Blog

“CRIME FACTS OR RUMORS?  AN UPDATE ON CRIME IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD” – Community Meeting
Wednesday, November 6, 2013 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.)
The Central (500 – 30^th Avenue South)—one block south of Jackson at King Street
For more information call 206-322-8613 or email [email protected]

23rd AVENUE ACT (Advisory Core Team) – Monthly Meeting
Monday, November 25^th (5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.)
The Central (500 –30^th Avenue South)
For more information, contact Kerry Wade ([email protected] or call 206-733-9091)

A GREAT BUSINESS COMMUNITY – 23^rd Avenue Action Team Monthly Meeting
For more information contact, Karen Estevenin ([email protected])

NEIGHBORHOOD TRAFFIC SAFETY MEETING – 23^rd Avenue Action Team Event
Coming soon!!  Date/Time TBD
The 23^rd Avenue Livable Streets for All Action Team is working with SDOT to put on this event

For more information on these happenings, please contact Kerry Wade ([email protected] or call 206-733.9091)

In September, City Librarian Marcellus Turner began a series of 12 community conversations throughout the city. The goal is to provide an update on the implementation of the Library levy and to hear from the community about how the Library can better serve our city’s neighborhoods.   (You can find the full schedule here.)

Two Community Conversations will be held in Central Seattle:

Douglass-Truth Branch Library
Wednesday, November 6
3:30  – 4: 45 pm

Capitol Hill Branch Library
Thursday, February 13
5:30 – 6:45 pm

Light refreshments will be provided.

Police say a man was stabbed in the chest and suffered life threatening injuries in an ice pick attack late Monday night near 22nd and E Cherry.

Seattle Fire reports transporting a 56 year-old male to Harborview with a stab wound to the chest in the attack first reported just after 10:30 PM.

Police said they were still looking for suspect information and investigating the circumstances that lead to the attack.

UPDATE: We have more information from SPD:

A man was sent to Harborview Medical Center last night after it was discovered that he had been stabbed in the chest after an unknown suspect punched him.

At about 10:20 last night, the male victim was approached by two unknown men in the 2300 Block of East Cherry Street.  The victim reported to a witness that one of the men punched him in the chest.  The victim soon discovered that he had actually been stabbed in the chest just above his heart.  Officers arrived at the location and immediately requested Seattle Fire Medics to the scene.  The victim was transported to HMC. Officers did not locate any witnesses to the actual assault, and were unable to determine the actual circumstances surrounding the stabbing because the victim had been admitted to the Emergency Room.  Officers believe based on the size of the wound that the item used in the stabbing could possibly be an ice pick.  The only additional information on the suspects is that they are black males.  Detectives are handling the follow up investigation.

If you value this coverage and want to support the continued independence of Central District News, please subscribe today for as little as $5/month — DRIVE ENDS SEPTEMBER 30.

With Labor Day weekend came the deadline for Seattle’s “Nickelsville” to move from its longtime Marginal Way encampment. The solution is to split the camp and its more than 100 residents into sites across the city. As we reported last week, two encampments are in the Central District. A third is located in Skyway.

A resident checks out the Jackson site (Image: Nickelsville Works)

This weekend, crews set up the two new CD camps: South Jackson at 20th and the empty lot owned by Good Shepherd Church, on 22nd and Union. Residents near the area were informed of the incoming campers in recent weeks. The West Seattle Blog covered the main camp’s big moving day. In June, the Seattle City Council approved funds to help “transition” campers off of the city-owned lot the group had called home after evicting them for illegally squatting for two years.

Residents of the Central District have had mixed reactions to living near a homeless encampment. Some are glad to see the residents find a new camp, while others are reacting negatively, wondering how this population will affect the neighborhood. But the camps are a regular part of the environments around local church properties including seasonal camps at St. Mark’s and St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill. Residents must abide by a code of conduct which includes a ban on alcohol and drugs, weapons and abusive behavior. We’ll continue to watch how these more permanently-planned encampments fit into the Central District.

If you’d like to help, check out Nickelsville Works on Facebook.

If you value this coverage and want to support the continued independence of Central District News, please subscribe today for as little as $5/month — DRIVE ENDS SEPTEMBER 30.

Hope to see everyone there!

It’s time for another round of “who wants to make a public comment?” and you’ll get a chance to win civic props — or change the course of CD development — during a Thursday July 11 meeting of the City Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee.

In this edition, the committee is looking over nine submitted proposals – one in our hood – and the council wants your feedback before they take the proposed comprehensive plan to bat next year – making it official.

Proposed measure #4 that will impact the Central District comes from the Department of Planning and Development. The proposal states:

Amend the Future Land Use Map and goals and policies for this neighborhood plan to update the neighborhood’s goals and policies to reflect the current aspirations of the neighborhood’s residents and business owners, including potential Future Land Use Map and zoning changes at the key nodes of 23rd at East Union Street, East Cherry Street, and East Jackson Street.

The meeting will be held at City Hall this Thursday at 5:30 pm (Council Chambers, 2nd floor). If you cannot make it written comment can be submitted to Sara Nelson – [email protected] — or to Council member Richard Conlin. Details on the public hearing follow:

Every year the City Council considers amendments to the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Each spring the Council invites proposed amendments from the public and from City departments. In the summer the Council adopts a policy docket that lists which of these proposed amendments it will consider for adoption the next year.

The City Council’s Planning, Land Use and Sustainability Committee will hold a public hearing to take comments o n the proposed Comprehensive Plan policy docket on Thursday,July 11, 2013, at 5:30 p.m., in Council Chambers on t he 2nd floor of City Hall, 600 4th Avenue. Entrances to City Hall are on the west side of 5th Avenue and the east side of 4th A venue between James and Cherry Streets. For those who wish to provide comments, sign-up sheets will be available outside the auditorium at 5 p.m.on the day of the hearing.

The Chambers are accessible. To request accommodation, please contact Sara Nelson at 206-684-5337 or mailto:[email protected] as soon as possible. Directions to City Hall, and information about transit access and parking, are available at http://www.seattle.gov/council/visiting_city_hall.htm.

WRITTEN COMMENTS 
Written comments on the proposal will be accepted through 5:00 p.m. on July 11, 2013. Please send comments to Sara Nelson at [email protected], or to:

Councilmember Richard Conlin
Legislative Department
600 Fourth Avenue Floor 2
PO Box 34025 Seattle, WA 98124-4025 
[email protected]

• Man shot in robbery at 26th and Thomas — Police were called to the 2600 block of E Thomas late Friday night to a report of shots fired and a man yelling in a nearby alley. SPD arrived to find an empty alley but eventually tracked down a victim with a gunshot wound to his side blocks away at MLK and Thomas. Police and gang units responded to the area for a robbery investigation and were searching for a vehicle seen speeding away from the scene. They eventually located an olive green Ford Explorer matching that vehicle’s description at Dick’s on Broadway not long after the shooting. One person was detained but we don’t yet know if that person was booked for the robbery and shooting.
• Armed robbery at Pike/16th: Three people reported being robbed at gunpoint early Saturday morning while walking near E Pike and 16th. SPD responded to the call just before 2 AM where a male and two female victims told police that a male armed with a gun and an accomplice held them up before fleeing in an older gray sedan with a mismatched hood. The suspect with the gun was described as a black male in his teens wearing a dark gray hoodie and dark pants. The immediate search for the suspect vehicle was not successful.

Seattle Police and Fire departments responded to a car crash at 400 23rd Ave Monday afternoon.

According to Seattle Fire Department tweets, a car collided with a pole on 23rd Ave, next to Garfield High School.

Medics transported a female child to Harbor Medical Center to be treated for trauma. Medics evaluated the driver, who declined treatment, and a male child in the back seat, who suffered minor injuries and is not being transported.

Update: SPD called a “drug recognition expert”officer to the scene during the crash investigation, according to police radio dispatches.

UPDATE x2: Details from SPD:

Detectives are investigating a one-vehicle collision that resulted in two children being transported to the hospital with injuries. At approximately 4:09 p.m. officers responded to 911 reports of a vehicle that collided into a pole just south of the intersection of 23rd Avenue and East Jefferson Street.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the adult female driver was traveling northbound on 23rd Avenue approaching East Jefferson Street in a blue Honda. For reasons yet to be determined she lost control of the Honda, drove up on the sidewalk and collided into a light pole. The driver was not injured as a result of the collision.

There were two young children on board, both of whom were injured. Fire department medics responded to the scene and transported a 7-year-old female child to Harborview Medical Center for treatment of her life-threatening injuries. Another child was transported by ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries (this second child was in a child safety seat).

Drug Recognition Expert officers responded to the scene to assist with the investigation of the driver, which remains on-going.

The northbound lanes of 23rd Avenue have been completely shut down while officers and detectives conduct their on-scene investigation.

The road is estimated to be back open to all traffic at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Traffic Collision Investigation Squad detectives responded to the scene and continue to actively investigate.