Community Post

Another point of view on East Howell Street…

I don’t own property on East Howell Street, nor do I want to move a craftsman home down it…I have no vested interest in either side. I look at this situation from a different vantage point.
I grew up in Southern California…a third generation Californian I made my first visit to Washington in 1975 with my fiancee…a third generation Washingtonian. It was love at first sight. Open spaces…room to breathe.
I saw “Don’t Californicate Washington” bumperstickers all over, and I had to agree.
To have a decades old corkscrew willow tree is a true gift. There are MANY well preserved Craftsman-style houses throughout the Puget Sound region, as well as the entire United States
Please take a trip and look at Southern California before taking the gift of greenery so lightly…while there is still time to control the “Californication.” Ten to fifteen years is a long time to wait to recover the natural beauty of “an unusually large and soothing urban canopy.”
We are stewarts. Let’s leave some breathing space for our children…especially those in urban neighborhoods.

0 thoughts on “Another point of view on East Howell Street…

  1. Thank you for posting this. I grew up in rural Alabama,and the tree canopy of Seattle, and in particular, Madrona, really reminds me of the south. Not every city has this.
    The potential owners of the house moved have been quoted as saying their house move plus remodel and foundation will cost about $600,000. Add the property value to that and you’ve got a substantial amount for a home. I say, sell the lot and put all that into an existing craftsman, with existing landscape. No moving required. My guess is that in this market you’d get something pretty nice. And then who ever buys your lot could build very green and everyone would be happy. Don’t rip out trees and canopy so someone can get a ‘good deal’. Its a shame those houses have to go to waste, but much of their materials can be salvaged. The floors, and framing can all be saved and reused. its done over and over. So, very little will go to the landfill.

  2. about the Madison Valley ending point. Six large trees need to be cut down to place the houses? Yet supposedly there are new controls on removing trees if one want to build new….

  3. not “stewarts” – the former is someone who takes care of something or is responsible for taking care of something. The latter is a Scottish last name and clan :)

  4. seems like a great campaign issue for our green mayoral candidates – this can be solved.

  5. I’m from Northern Ca.
    I love the trees in all our neighborhoods and feel quite ill at ease in neighborhoods deviod of greenry. TO remove trees so you can move a house is ridiculous! With all the craftsman houses on the market why not buy a nice one without needing to move it??

  6. Doods, please calm down with this tree business. Yes, the overhead canopy on that street is nice, and it will be trimmed back some. But those are huge trees on the south side of the street and I gotta think that plenty of the canopy will remain after the trimming and of course it will grow back. The little street trees on the north side will only be removed temporarily, as I understand it. Let’s save these beautiful old houses from going to the landfill!

  7. For God’s sake. Stuff grows here like wildfire. Move the house. Another tree will grow before you know it.

    They don’t make houses like that anymore, but they still make trees.

  8. OK, just saw this blog. The lot is INCLUDED in the $600K, and that’s a high estimate. Please, show me the 100-year craftsman with a new, daylighted basement in a neighborhood as sweet as 30th & Howell that we can get for $550K.