An election night tour has inspired two of Seattle’s urban journals to pen essays on the present — and future — of Yesler Terrace. Meanwhile, the Environmental Impact Statement for an ambitious overhaul of the area has been released. You can access the document here (pdf).

The Seattle Housing Authority’s has been working since 2007 on a future vision for the nearly 70 year old development that sits on 38 acres of land above I-5 and south of Harborview hospital. The plan would add market rate housing and office space to fund the replacement of the existing 561 extremely-low-income housing units and create additional units for low income and workforce housing. CDN documented some of the early steps in the planning process here and again here.

The future Yesler Terrace as envisioned in the EIS document would be a major overhaul of the area

• 5,000 apartment units

• 1.2 million sqft of office
• 88,000 sqft retail
• 50,000 sqft services
• 7 acres of open space

Here is the information submitting comments on the EIS. You can also read more about it in this release from the Seattle Housing Authority.

Comments on the Draft EIS may be submitted in writing by December 13. Comments may be e-mailed to [email protected] or sent by U.S. mail to: Seattle Housing Authority, ATTN: Stephanie Van Dyke, 120 Sixth Avenue North, P.O. Box 19028, Seattle, WA 98109-1028.

Comments may also be delivered orally at a public meeting on November 30, 2010. The meeting will be held at the old Yesler Terrace Gym at 835 East Yesler Way, from 6 to 8 p.m.

For inspiration, here are those two write-ups from the tour we mentioned. In typical Crosscut fashion, their reporter focused on Yesler Terrace’s past in an attempt to tell us something about Seattle’s future:

Seattle, a spread out city of houses, has never liked the idea that it might have slums. It has never needed to like the idea because it doesn’t have large blighted areas — even Hooverville in the tideflats didn’t take up much space and was seldom seen. On the western slope of First Hill and Capitol Hill were streets of abandoned houses and run-down apartments whose major business was prostitution.

Environmentally-focused site Grist focused on the potential for increasing density in the city’s core:

A city planner, when he heard I wrote for a “green” news site, wanted to tell me about the mini-parks and indigenous landscaping in the plans. That sort of greenery is great — essential, in fact. But the main environmental win is simply doing infill that allows more people to use a central, well-connected location.

After two legendarily upholstered years on Capitol Hill, the Couch Fest Film Festival is expanding to the Central District for the first time in 2010, organizer Ryan Davis tells us.

Grab a schedule and location line-up here http://www.couchfestfilms.com/

ANNOUNCING THE THIRD EVER
COUCH FEST FILM FESTIVAL

HIGHLIGHTS & PROGRAM

Seattle, WA — Couch Fest Films proudly announces the lineup of the 3rd annual Couch Fest Film Festival, to be held November 7th, 2010 in residential homes around Seattle. Couch Fest Films is a traveling festival of sorts: moviegoers enjoy movies shown in Seattle residents’ living rooms. The festival includes over thirty short films, presented in six programs throughout the day, beginning on the hour at 12pm through 6pm.
Highlights this year include the regional premiere of several films, including “Fledgling,” by Tony Gault and Elizabeth Henry; “TAK,” directed by Jon Shibata (both in the experimental program); Jo Meuris’ “Without Wings” (in the animation program); Stewart Copeland’s “Jennifer” (documentary); as well as the world premiere of Tacoma-based filmmaker Christopher Wood’s comedy “Buzz Off” and Seattle filmmakers Katheryn Reed and Jeff Axtman’s “Plan Z.” Also included is the comedic documentary “Battle of the Bozos,” which recently won a “Best of Fest” awards, distinguishing it as in the top 5% of films playing at film festivals in 2010, and the Sundance Film Festival hit “The Poodle Trainer.”
As with every year, the festival includes the crowd-pleasing “Inappropriately Awesome” program, with several raucous and bawdy short movies rarely included in more traditional festivals.
The exact house locations and program schedule will be announced on the festival website several days in advance of the event (). The website will also include maps, driving directions, parking information and transit options for each home.
 
 Fledgling (dir. Tony Gault and Elizabeth Henry, Glenwood Springs, CO)Forty Foot (dir. Leticia Agudo and Paul McGrath, Dublin, Ireland)The Herd (dir. Ken Wardrop, Dublin, Ireland)Here and Gone (dir. Zachary Gore, Seattle, WA)Jennifer (dir. Stewart Copeland, Tullahoma, TN)Lucky (dir. Darcy Prendergast, Victoria, Australia)MARS! (dir. Joe Bichard and Jack Cunningham, London, UK)Mother of Many (dir. Emma Lazenby, Bristol, UK)Parade (dir. Sarah Karlina, Bar Harbor, ME)Peter in Radioland (dir. Johanna Wagner, Edinburgh, UK)The Poodle Trainer (dir. Vance Malone, Culver City, CA)Plan Z (dir. Katheryn Reed and Jeff Axtman, Seattle, WA)The Shop That God Built (dir. Rachel Tracy, London, UK)Six Hours (dir. Martin Fossum, Seattle, WA)The Surprise Demise of Francis Cooper’s Mother (dir. Felix Massie, Bristol, UK)TAK (dir. Jon Shibata, Berkely, CA)Trick of Light (dir. Jen Forbes, Seattle, WA)WCF? (dir. Katie Gregg and Cassidy Dimon, Seattle, WA)Without Wings (dir. Jo Meuris, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Canada)

About Couch Fest Films
Seattle filmmaker Craig Downing founded Couch Fest Films in 2008 with the goal of sharing the love of film and video in an unpretentious environment. The festival aims to build kinship among movie lovers in a comfortable and cozy setting, and to share exciting new works of short film with the Seattle area. Couch Fest has built a passionate following in the city thanks to its reliably high quality, entertaining film programs, and its open-minded “do it yourself” ethic.

Image courtesy Northwest Film Forum

Why your cable is slow
Originally uploaded by It Thinks It’s People

Another forum to talk broadband in the CD is coming up later this month, thanks to advocacy group Upping Technology for Underserved Neighbors. A previous forum in March garnered a large set of upvotes here on the site if nothing else. CDN advertiser Broadstripe is the sole provider of cable broadband in the neighborhood and, like any good cable company, they draw their fair share of criticism.

I live in a Comcast zone — trust me, grass is not greener — so tell me, Broadstripers, are the forums making a difference?

Details on the November 16th forum below.

Seattle and Broadstripe: Closing the Service Gap

Upset with your Broadstripe cable service? Want to know how your service stacks up to your neighbors in Seattle and Tacoma, or what fiber broadband might mean for cable and Internet service and pricing?

Upping Technology for Underserved Neighbors (UPTUN) announces its Third Quarter meeting sponsoring a panel discussion with representatives from Broadstripe, Reclaim the Media, City of Seattle, and City of Tacoma. The event is focused on Broadstripe’s lower quality and higher priced services within a franchise agreement with the City of Seattle. With other communication carriers in all other city neighborhoods, there is no similar contract. Meeting held at 5:30 pm – 7 pm, the Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Ave. South 98144.

“Digital redlining” is the term UPTUN uses to describe the current franchise agreement which binds consumers to using Broadstripe and discourages competition by other internet, cable and phone providers. The meeting is open to customers, businesses and residents within the boundaries of the franchise agreement between the city of Seattle and Broadstripe. Affected areas include parts of the Central District, Beacon Hill, Leschi, Queen Anne, downtown, Pioneer Square and Judkins Park. These are “underserved” neighborhoods for obtaining competitive digital cable, phone and internet services.

The UPTUN volunteer advocacy group holds meetings each quarter to ensure that improvements promised to the community are completed on schedule. Since 2007, UPTUN’s group of volunteers from within underserved neighborhoods have worked with the City of Seattle and Broadstripe to obtain reliable cable, phone and high-speed internet services at an affordable cost, similar to other neighborhoods in Seattle and other cities in the United States.

“This is economic and racial injustice left over from previous decades and everyone wants it fixed! We are committed to getting better internet, cable and phone service which is competitively priced. Our neighbors, households and businesses in parts of the Central District, Capitol Hill, Judkins Park, Leschi and Beacon Hill have suffered many years with lesser services than any other areas in Seattle”, says UPTUN Coordinator Tracy Bier.

Broadstripe is a Missouri based privately held company providing residential and business customers digital cable and broadband internet communication products. www.broadstripe.com

For more information contact UPTUN Coordinator Tracy Bier via phone 206-227-2369 or email [email protected] or visit www.uptun.org For more information about the Broadstripe and city of Seattle contract, visit City of Seattle web site http://www.seattle.gov/cable/franchises.html

When     November 16th, 2010 5:30 PM   through   7:00 PM

Location    

Central Area Senior Center

500 30th Ave. S.

Seattle, WA 98144

United States

Contact     Email: [email protected]

When it comes to crime prevention, law and order can only go so far. Sometimes, you need a little elbow grease. A group of neighbors, community leaders and East Precinct representatives including commander James Dermody fanned out across the streets around 23rd and Union last weekend in a neighborhood clean-up effort that netted 130 pounds of trash and put feet on the street in an area that could use the attention. Operation Safe Union has become operation Safer Union. Here’s the media release from SPD on the clean-up. More are scheduled for coming weeks. We’ll check in to make sure you get forewarning before the next scheduled “operation.”

The Seattle Police Department partnered with other City Departments, local property owners, community groups, Casey Foundation, Seattle Neighborhood Group and Feet First to remove more than four-thousand, one hundred-thirty pounds (4,130) of green debris and litter. Community participants included Jean Tinnea, Tom Bangasser, Derryl Durden and Ian Eisernberg. East Precinct Commander James Dermody spoke at opening ceremonies and painted out graffiti.

Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle Office of City Auditor, Seattle Department of Transportation, the Department of Correction, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and Seattle Public Utilities also assisted in the effort. In coming weeks, the “Safer Union” project will hold mini-cleanups and other community building activities.

On Saturday, October 30 more than forty Seattle residents picked up litter, painted out graffiti and removed invasive plants along 23rd and Union streets. The event marked the kick off of a 90-day SPD inspired project designed to eliminate blight and diffuse crime at this well travelled intersection.

bike polo – 1
Originally uploaded by gaijinrunner

Judkins Park is poised to become the headquarters of bike polo in Seattle after a decision the city’s parks board decided last week to run an 18-month trial allowing “emerging sports” like polo and dodgeball on the city’s sports courts.

The Judkins courts join one court at Cal Anderson as the only parks locations in the city that will officially allow the wheeled sport.

Organized bike polo matches already take place at Judkins as well as TT Minor Elementary School and at the Green Lake park and ride. Players gathered recently at Judkins Park for the Emerald City Open.

While the trial seems to represent an embracing of alternative sport uses of the facilities, the actual logistics for players to utilize the courts is looking a little fuzzy, SeattleBikeBlog reports:

The plan would also create a permit process that any non-tennis use would have to go through in order to use the courts. Organizers would propose their use to Parks, Parks would determine if it is “suitable” for the courts, Parks would post a public notice of the change-of-use, the public would have 30 days to respond to the proposed use, comments would be reviewed, then a decision would be made about whether that use can occur.

A bigger issue is the lack of lights at Judkins. With a parks department that is already struggling to make ends meet, there is unlikely to be a solution for that put in place any time soon.

Here’s the announcement on the decision from Parks.

SEATTLE PARKS TO ALLOW DODGEBALL, BIKE POLO

AT ONE CAL ANDERSON PARK TENNIS COURT

Bike polo to be allowed at Judkins Park courts

Following a public process and a recommendation from the Board of Park Commissioners, Seattle Parks and Recreation Acting Superintendent Christopher Williams has decided to allow dodgeball and bike polo at one of the two Cal Anderson Park tennis courts for 18 months starting today.

The second court at Cal Anderson Park is for tennis only, and Parks will post signage stating that. Bike polo and dodgeball are also allowed at the two concrete courts at Judkins Park, 2150 S Norman St., for 18 months. The Judkins Park courts are not separated by a fence.

“We believe we’ve forged a reasonable compromise that will accommodate both tennis players and people who participate in newly popular sports and need a place to play,” Williams said. “In the coming weeks we will work with representatives of all these groups to draft a courtesy code that will make sure all players show each other mutual respect and that they care for this public property.”

At the Cal Anderson Park tennis court, 1635 11th Ave., and at Judkins Park, dodgeball and bike polo play will take place on a first-come, first-served basis. Players can call the Parks Athletic Office at 206-684-4062, to reserve the courts at either park. All other tennis courts are for tennis use only.

At the end of the 18-month period, Parks staff will conduct an evaluation of the success of the arrangement, and will make a recommendation to the Park Board on whether to continue it.

The 54-year-old man accused of murdering his girlfriend at their 28th Ave South apartment last December has pleaded guilty. The Seattle Times reports that Dennis Hart pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and faces a possible sentence of just over eight years. He originally faced a charge of murder in the second degree.

From our December 2009 report:

According to court documents, 911 operators received a call from a phone booth in the 2600 block of South Jackson Street, where a man identified himself as Dennis Hart and said that “he had just stabbed his old lady.” Officers were dispatched to the suspect’s apartment, where they found Regina Calip-Elix laying in a pool of blood near the open front door. A bloody knife was also recovered from inside the apartment.

A neighbor of the suspect and victim told police that she saw Hart run from the apartment, leaving the door open, shortly before the 911 call was made.

The suspect was arrested 20 minutes later when he placed a second 911 call from another pay phone at 23rd & Jackson. After hearing his Miranda rights, he asked officers “How’s my girlfriend Gina doing?”, and in later interviews he said that had gotten into an argument with the victim over money and her crack habit. He said that the argument escalated and she came at him with a knife from the kitchen, and he ended up stabbing her in the chest. According to medical examiners, that wound went straight to the heart, killing her within seconds.

Aerial of Central District, 1968, originally uploaded by Seattle Municipal Archives.

Big Changes Coming to Deano’s. Big Changes at Old Dilettante Space. Big changes coming to CDNews. Things change. Central District News is, indeed, changing. While it’s hard to say anything about changing for the better with Scott moving on to his new focus, how about we aim for keeping things good but in a whole new way? Let us know what you would like to see in a new Central District News. We’re not reinventing anything but this is a good time to look in new directions and reconsider what we do every day.

For those of you who haven’t me yet, my name is Justin Carder and I run capitolhillseattle.com and have worked with Scott for 120 Internet start-up years. I’m a trained journalist but I won’t let that get in my way of helping CDN move forward and continue to grow as a small but important piece of the community. I’m reaching out in every which way to get help in doing that. We’re taking small steps this week but have every intention to keep the CDN news machine running at maximum capacity.

You can add your thoughts in comments or drop me a line if you’d like to get involved on the writing end of things. Free labor is swell. But I like to pay reporters. And I find that reporters like to get paid. We’re made for each other, really.

My intention in the long run is to work with somebody who can grow into taking an even bigger role in CDN. Either that or I’m going to move a mile down 23rd so I’m officially in the neighborhood. I know the best coverage of any neighborhood comes from the people who live there. Right now, I’m an acknowledged tourist in the Central District. I hope you’ll forgive me when I screw up my first bit of geography or let my Capitol Hill bias show through when covering news in the Madison border zone.

Fortunately, I already have help on the way from true blue CD residents. Lisa is already hard at work on the Madrona and nearby beat. Tom will join us soon to help shoulder the load on issues civic and crime. The daily scanner report? I’m afraid that’s gone for good. With change, there are always some things you leave behind. We’ll do our best to grab the good stuff. But let us know if there’s something you don’t want us to miss or something to pick up that we may have been overlooking until now.

A power outage that has left most of the International District and parts of Beacon Hill in the dark also has the lights out in portions of the Central District near Jackson and 12th Ave. City Light has yet to provide the boundaries of the outage but says that nearly 3,000 customers are currently without power. Intersections are also operating without stoplights making for a sketchy nighttime road environment. You can track outages using this City Light map. Hopefully for those of you in the dark, the map browses well on your mobile device of choice.

According to SPD radio broadcasts, the bounds of the outage are East Cherry to the north, Spokane St to the south, 15th South to the east down to 4th Ave S in the West. Police are starting to move out to direct traffic at significant intersections like Broadway and James.

KIRO is reporting that power should be restored shortly for a majority of the impacted area.

Vote by mail. Vote by e-mail. Vote by Facebook. It’s all progress. But we still kinda miss the polls and the pictures of people standing in line and one time each year we find ourselves inside a church. Enough nostalgia. If you haven’t voted yet, you have work to do.

• Get a stamp and proceed to your nearest post office immediately or…
• Your closest dropbox is at the King County Administration Building, 500 4th Avenue, Seattle 98104
• Or you can take a drive or a bus on adventure to any of these fine dropboxes in the county.
• Track the status of your ballot here.
• If you lost your ballot or never received it call 206-296-VOTE (8683) and the county will e-mail you your ballot. Yes. E-mail it to you. You live in the future, dude. Enjoy it. (OK, so in the *real* future, you wont’ have to print it out and stuff but this is good start.) UPDATE: We’re hearing that people are being directed to a ballot center in the International District, not being sent the ballot via e-mail.
• See how your CHS Elections Endorsement Board voted here.
• The Stranger’s cheat sheet is here.
• Publicola is going election crazy here http://www.publicola.net/
• If you miss the 8 PM deadline, you still have hope!
• Any last minute notes/ideas/suggestions? Comments please. Happy democracy!

A man was arrested in connection with an early Monday morning shooting that damaged a couple’s vehicle at the gas station at 12th and Jefferson. The couple fled to Seattle University’s campus around 3:30 AM Monday after they say an unknown man opened fire on their car, according to a security bulletin sent to staff at Seattle University:

Today, at approximately 3:30 AM, Seattle University DPS officers & Seattle Police officers were handling a trespass incident at 12^th & E. Cherry when a man and a woman approached in a vehicle; the vehicle rear window had a gunshot in it. The couple reported they had just left the service station at 12^th & E. Jefferson when an unknown male fired a gun shot at their vehicle.  Seattle Police units responded to 12th & E. Jefferson, along with Gang unit detectives. Police officers searched the area, and a suspect was identified and taken into custody. The suspect was transported to the E. Pct.

This incident is being investigated by the Seattle Police Department.  If you have any additional information regarding this criminal intent please call Seattle Police at 911 or the DPS office at 206-296-5990.