The Pollinator Pathway is a plan to create a series of pollinator-friendly gardens along a mile-long stretch of Seattle’s Columbia Street in Seattle. Standard twelve foot wide planting strips (typically a grass-covered area between the sidewalk and curb) will be transformed into gardens, offering viable food and habitat to pollinators. 

Thanks to a grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and the labor of dozens of volunteers, a demonstration Pathway garden is in place at 27th Avenue and East Columbia, as well as a newly planted garden at 17th. Landscaping plans and plant selections for the entire Pathway have also been completed, and we are now seeking additional funding and labor donations to complete the next 16 gardens along the Pathway.

How to Participate: The project is looking for volunteers to pledge time to the project- helping prepare soil and plant the gardens at our planting party days this fall. Any number of hours pledged will help this fantastic project. We’re also interested in help with planning and outreach from now until fall. Please email us for details at [email protected]. Website: www.pollinatorpathway.com

Last night a crowd of almost 300 people sat down in groups inside the Garfield Community Center gym to talk about the challenges faced by youth and their families. 

Mayor McGinn told the assembled crowd that his focus on family issues comes from direct feedback he heard in other town hall events during the campaign and transition. He said the overall goal is to bring people together and “identify the biggest obstacles to allowing youth to succeed, and then see what needs to change” to  resolve the issues.

According to the mayor, a variety of data shows that we’ve got serious problems. There’s huge gaps in school achievement across the city, with disparities that based on geography, income, and race. One example cited is that citywide, 40% of school kids mis ten or more days of each school year. He told that crowd that we need to better support our youth and let them know that “no matter where you live, where you come from, you can succeed.”

Each group in the gym the broke out and complied a list of challenges, and potential solutions, and the group’s vision for what things should look like in the future.

The top 5 issues identified by my group included:

• Equal access to health care resources
• The high school dropout crises
• Lack of jobs for parents and kids
• More parenting support
• Equal access to and knowledge of  resources in our communities

We then brainstormed a list of possible solutions:

• More money for city programs
• Provide thousands of paid internships every year for teens
• Put young people in charge of designing programs
• More community meetings with youth involvement
• More support for varied learning styles
• Identify what works (organizations & programs) and the replicate them

Each group elected a delegate that will take that groups ideas and combine them into a citywide plan at a Youth & Families Congress event that is to be held in June.

The police beat in Seattle’s East Precinct:

As CD News readers may recall, Yesler Terrace is a 28 acre public housing development situated between First Hill, Little Saigon and the Central District.  A couple of years ago, SHA acknowledged that the Yesler Terrace buildings were crumbling and that a redevelopment was warranted.   In order to cut down costs and to abide by current urban planning principles, SHA announced that it would partner with private developers and greatly increase the density in Yesler Terrace’s redevelopment.  While the new development will continue to provide housing to very low-income people [those making less than 30% of Seattle’s median income ($17,243)], it will also allocate a significant portion in the envisioned 4000 units for market-rate and workforce housing.

In April 2009, the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) presented three concepts for the redevelopment of Yesler Terrace.  Taking a look at the concepts pictured below, you will note that none of the envisioned plans encompass areas east of Boren.  Last week, Real Change noted that SHA now plans to develop land it owns along Yesler east of Boren for the Yesler Terrace redevelopment.  In fact, SHA may use the old Pizza Time location at 12th Avenue South and Yesler as an initial redevelopment site. 

SHA Development Director Stephanie Van Dyke said the agency owns several properties along Yesler Way east of Boren, including an old Pizza Time location at Yesler and Twelth Avenue. The agency may use that site to start building replacements for some of Yesler Terrace’s residents, Van Dyke said.

Between Twelth and Fourteenth Avenues, SHA has emptied and may tear down an apartment building called the Baldwin to do the same, or it may try to strike deals with King County and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle to acquire a neighboring warehouse and office building. Any units built east of Boren, Van Dyke said, would count toward SHA’s promise of one-for-one replacement for today’s 561 low-income units. 

When it was built in 1939, Yesler Terrace was the first racially integrated housing project in the U.S.. It currently houses about 1,200 people.

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This morning President Obama is signing the first part of healthcare reform in front of a large audience in the East Room of the White House, and 11 year old Central District resident Marcelas Owens is in the audience and will be on the podium when the President’s leaves his signature on the legislation.

As we told you earlier in the month, Marcelas’s mother lacked health insurance and died of a treatable illness.

The President specifically mentioned Marcelas in his opening remarks, saying:

I’m signing it for 11 year old Marcelas Owens, who is also here. Marcelas lost his mom to an illness. She didn’t have insurance, and couldn’t afford the care she needed. So in her memory, he’s told his story across America so that no one else would have to go through what his family has experienced.

The next step in the healthcare saga is for the Senate to pass the reconciliation measure that contains various fixes and changes to the original legislation. That’s anticipated to happen late in the week, with the President signing the final piece into law before the end of the month.

Tonight is the last of Mayor McGinn’s town halls to gather ideas and comments on his upcoming Youth and Family Initiative. And conveniently enough, it’s being held right in the middle of our neighborhood, at the Garfield Community Center.

The previous events have reportedly been well-attended and productive. And if you can’t make it, CDNews be there to give you a full report on what happens.

It starts at 7pm, at 2323 E. Cherry St. See you there.

Happy sunny Monday from the streets of Seattle’s East Precinct:

According to a recently released police report found on SeattleCrime.com, on March 6th residents in the 1400 block of Spruce were awoken by the sound of gunshots that struck one apartment, causing $500 worth of damage. Everyone in the house was asleep at the time and no one was injured.

The bullets struck the front window 3 times and the front door once, with all four rounds lodging inside an interior wall.

No suspects were seen, and the victim residents did not have any suspect information.

Here’s the text of the report:

On 03-06-10 Officer Okruhlica and I were working a two officer unit as
3G12. At approximately 0235 hours we responded to the area of 14 AV and E
Spruce St for a report of shots heard(10- . An area check was
completed and nothing suspicious was found. We did not locate any shell
casings, damage or victims in the area. One caller said they saw a dark
colored suburban driving out of the area but officers were unable to locate
any vehicle matching the description.
At 0307 hours C/  called 911 stating she had 3-4 bullet holes
in her apartment, 14  E Spruce St . She said she was too scared to call
earlier when the original shots call came out. Inside of her apartment at
the time of the incident were: , ,
, and . All individuals were asleep at the time and none of
them were injured. They all stated they had no idea who would want to shoot
at their apartment or try and harm them. They also did not have any suspect
 information.
The front window of the apartment had three bullet holes through it. The
front door had a single bullet hole through it. Inside we observed four
separate holes in the living room wall. We were able to recover two of the
four bullets and submitted them to evidence. Pictures were taken of the
scene and were submitted for processing at the SPD photo lab.
The estimated damage was $500 to replace the window and door and fix the
holes in the wall.

Healthcare reform has just passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a three vote margin, leaving only President Obama’s signature before it becomes law.

Here’s the speech given on the floor by our representative, Congressman McDermott, a few hours ago:

Mr. Speaker, there are times in history that action is demanded. In 1935 we needed social security and unemployment insurance. The Democrats answered. In 1965 we needed healthcare for senior citizens. The Democrats answered. In 2010 the country needs healthcare reform, and the Democrats will answer tonight.

It was never in doubt. Business wanted a change. The medical profession wanted a change, and labor wanted a change. And the Republicans brought an economic collapse to make it clear to everybody that we all are in danger if we don’t change the healthcare system in this country.

Update: And now the Reconciliation Bill has passed too. The next step is for Obama to sign the original legislation, and then for the Senate to take up and pass the reconciliation measure.

I’ve got to say that I’m not normally at all into CSPAN, but I spent much of today watching the proceedings and being really into it (at least when the Fightin’ Texas Aggies weren’t playing in Spokane). So often it’s just a congressman talking to an empty room. But having everyone on the floor, participating, debating was great. But boo on the endless “unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks.”

BTW – Regular readers might be surprised by the anti-reform comments so far, given the nature of our district. Evidently we were at the top of Google News results for a bit for “healthcare reform” and “obamas speech.”  Here’s the unusually geographically diverse map of traffic from the last hour:

Out in the suburbs, housing association rules would probably prevent something like this from happening. I’m glad we live in a neighborhood where people put interesting works of art along the sidewalk.