(preamble: YES I did encourage you to submit your thoughts online, and YES, many of us did do so, but the City has relented and offered us an in-person make-up session, to make up for the very slim attendance at the earlier meetings. The City is promoting the meeting for the Central Area, which includes Madison-Miller, but will bring left-over handouts for the nearby areas: Capitol Hill, Pike-Pine, 12th Avenue. Should be a good chance to discuss ideas of joint interest.    BTW: note that after the meeting we can all retire to the nearby Bottleneck Lounge to celebrate their expansion and continue the discussion.)

Miller Community Center, 330 19th Ave. E 98112, 6 – 8 PM, Thursday, September 3rd.   Please join members of the Seattle Planning Commission and the Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee on for an important community meeting.

These two citizen groups want to hear your thoughts. Come and tell us how the Central Area, Pike/Pine and Capitol Hill has changed since the creation of their Neighborhood Plans. Your comments and input at this meeting will help the City of Seattle complete a status report that will look at how well your neighborhood plan is achieving its goals and strategies.   More details, and links to plan documents are available here.

Everybody knows that the Central District starts at Madison St, right? Then congratulations – we’re getting a fancy new gay bar this week. 

Our friends at CHS first confirmed the rumors that Acacia Flowers at 13th & Union was about to be replaced by Pony, the resurrection of the lovably trashy bar that temporarily occupied a spot on Pine before the block of businesses there was demolished.

They’ve been working on the site for a couple of months, most recently adding the street sign cladded wedge of a patio on the west side. And now CHS reports that Pony will open this Thursday, 9/3.

Refer to our business listings for other barely-in-the-cd gay establishments.

Sadly, our long summer days and warm nights are coming to a end for this season. Last night we found a good way to savor what’s left, with what must be the best sunset view within walking distance:

I’ve traveled to places like Key West Florida where people stake out strategic positions hours ahead of time to watch sunsets half as good as this one. But you can grab this one for free, with a nice bench to sit on, while supplies of late daylight last.

Find it at the new Mt Baker Ridge Viewpoint Park at 1403 31st Ave S, walkable within 45 minutes from 23rd & Cherry, on the #14 bus line, or via car with on-street parking in the area.

Sunset is at 7:49pm today, losing about two minutes per day from here through December. Full schedule here.

And while you’re in the area, businesses on the block include That’s Amore (with patio seating), Dog Mania, Sweet & Savory pastries & espresso, and Dahlia Spa

what was going on here between 630-7pm

Join the Leschi Community Council at its Summer Land Use Forum: Development & Trees

September 2 @ 7:30, Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Ave So (30th & King)

A healthy urban canopy and great design in new development – Can we have both?

As the Emerald City has grown up in recent years, concern is emerging about the dramatic loss of trees.  Tomorrow night, come hear about new regulations for tree removal on private property, learn about innovative, creative development practices that preserve trees and join your neighbors in a discussion about the challenges of development and tree preservation in our neighborhood.

Speakers will include Mark Mead, Department of Planning and Development, Brennon Staley, land use planner, and Nolan Rundquist, Department of Transportation City arborist.

Is it really September already? Here’s the word on the streets of Seattle’s East Precinct:

I have lived at 15th & Yesler for seven years. Two months ago, I began to see and hear loud, constant airplanes from early morning to late night. The planes are flying North or South right over 15th Avenue South. A search on the Internet led me to a carefully written and researched blog by a Capitol Hill resident.

http://capitolhillflightnoise.blogspot.com/

Also follow the thread in response to the Seattle Times article “Quieter Skies Ahead, Seattle at Forefront of High Tech Plan to Begin Changing Air Traffic, Cutting Noise and Emissions”, 8/30/09

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/reader_feedback/p

I learned that since 2002, the North-South flow of airplanes descending and ascending from Sea-Tac follows a North-South pattern over Capitol Hill, the Central District and Beacon Hill 70% of the time.

Also since 2002, the planes’ altitudes have become lower and the engine noise has increased.

Finally, the author pointed out that despite this heavy aviation exposure, none of these neighborhoods has received a noise monitor to quantify the frequency, duration and intensity of the noise occurrences so that the Port of Seattle can mitigate the impacts on these communities. Twenty-five noise monitors are found throughout Seattle such as Mercer Island, Hunt’s Point and West Seattle, however, they are not under the Sea-Tac flight paths. The Port of Seattle on behalf of the FAA is supposed to work with neighborhoods to mitigate noise occurrences (Part 150).

My observations show additionally that the flight path has shifted over the Central District from 19th to 12th, 14th and 15th Avenues South.

There is also incredibly an amazing amount of air traffic from private planes to two-prop planes to float planes to 4-prop military planes, all criss-crossing the skies above our neighborhood.

There are Air Lift NW and many other helicopters to and from Harborview Medical Center bringing patients. These fly directly over the Squire Park area day and night.

The commercial flights begin as early as 0500 and don’t often end until as late as 0130 or 0200 the next day, sometimes flights in between.

I often hear loud jet noise which the blogger points out is “engine revving” right overhead in order to stay maintain altitude because the planes are so incredibly low.

Finally, I discovered that in 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 ordering all Federal agencies to account for the effects of their actions on minority and low-income communities. The FAA is aware of this order and has a section on it in their Desk Manual.

These observations raise a lot of questions.

The biggest question is why is there so much, constant, noisy and low-flying aviation traffic filling the skies right over these neighborhoods and what can we do about it?

Without a noise monitor, we cannot quantify the frequency, duration and intensity of these noise occurrences.

Without quantification data, there is no recourse to mitigation by the Port ofSeattle and the FAA.

The Central District, Beacon Hill and parts of Capitol Hill are minority and low-income neighborhoods that should come under the jurisdiction of Executive Order 12898 yet we suffer a disproportionate amount of airplane traffic and noise pollution over our neighborhoods compared to other parts of Seattle without mitigation assistance from the Port of Seattle or the FAA.

I am forming the Coalition for Environmental Equality. I am seeking the support of individuals and organizations in Capitol Hill, the Central District and Beacon Hill who are currently affected.

With the support of the Squire Park Community Council, I have invited the Port of Seattle Noise Abatement Office to come to the SPCC quarterly meeting on October 11 to respond to the above observations and work with us in the Central District to achieve mitigation, fairness and environmental justice as mandated by Executive Order 12898.

A good start would be noise monitors for each of these three neighborhoods affected by the current flight path.

Another goal would be for the Port to recognize and redress the current inequalities in noise occurrences affecting these neighborhoods,as mandated under Federal Act 12898 of 1994. Let’s start with Squire Park and the Central District.

Sincerely,

Patty Fong

Squire Park Plaza Apartments is having an open house starting this week! Take advantage of leasing specials Sept. 3rd to Sept. 10th. Apartment rents start at $844 per month. We are now offering two months free rent! Please pass along this info. We also have Workforce Housing! Squire Park Plaza has reserved some studios and one bedrooms that are priced for households between 60%-80% of the Seattle area median income.

The two month rent concession can be used two different ways. You can have the first two months of your lease term rent free. Or you can spread out your two month rent concession over the term of the 12 month lease. Also note that if you “look and lease” during this week, you can actually move in at a later date, this month or next, and still receive the rent concession. Squire Park Plaza has great apartments central to Seattle! Visit Today!

For more info: www.squireparkplaza.com or (206) 860-5000 or 1710 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98144.

I imagine that a lot of Central District neighbors took advantage of our warm summer weather with backyard dining and entertaining. And I bet that they also had more than one conversation interrupted by jet noise during those events.

As we talked about last year, our neighborhood lies due north of the SeaTac runways, with planes lining up for descent roughly along 12th and 20th Avenues. 

But according to a Seattle Times article this week, that could be changing sometime in the next 15 years when a new GPS-enabled automated air-traffic control system takes over. The added precision of the system would allow some jets to take a new path over Elliot Bay instead of lining up further north on the course that brings them over Seattle neighborhoods. Additionally, the system would allow planes to glide all the way in, reducing engine noise during descent.

Here’s a video that helps explain the plan:

Of course timelines are the tricky part for a big project like this. 80% of the SeaTac fleet would be capable of using the system by 2013, but problems integrating the automated system with existing one could push things further out. The entire NextGen air-traffic control system is supposed to be in place by 2025.

In the meantime, capitolhillflightnoise.blogspot.com has some helpful links and numbers where you can report problems with jet noise.

Out of town comments left in the previous CDNews post about the Colman area’s “Neighborhood University” pointed me to this Seattle Times article about the unique educational effort:

“Neighborhood University,” as it’s known, operates in the Colman community near Judkins Park. It started in the spring after longtime resident Richard Wells floated an idea: Why not create a forum — “a university, of sorts” — where neighbors can tap each other to learn something new? He envisioned a free-flowing educational exchange, minus the baggage and costs of a traditional school.

 The program includes an academic all-star cast of Central District residents, including the Perry brothers.

Want to sign up for a class or teach one? Contact [email protected] by September 18th.