Here’s a roundup of various neighborhood and city news:
The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas, our neighborhood’s nonprofit writing and tutoring center, is hosting its annual People Eating and Giving fundraiser at 6 p.m. Friday at Fremont Studios, 155 N. 35th St. Tickets are available online. Special guests include renowned librarian and author Nancy Pearl, writer Lindy West, poet and novelist Karen Finneyfrock, and rock band Tacocat.
The Seattle Preschool Program is adding 20 new classrooms beginning in the fall, to help low-income 3- and 4-year-old students get ready for kindergarten. Seven of those classrooms are in North Seattle, including four in or near our neighborhood: Head Start program at Broadview-Thomsen K-8; Creative Kids at Carkeek Park Environmental Learning Center; Sound Child Care Solutions at Northgate Community Center; and B.F. Day Elementary in Fremont. Applications for next school year are now being accepted online or by calling 206-386-1050. Seattle Preschool Program is a pilot program currently serving about 600 students. The additional classrooms will bring that total to about 1,000 students.
A reminder that you can recycle your old unwanted clothes – even the ones that are stained and torn or socks without a mate – at several area outlets. The Threadcycle program is a joint project of King County Solid Waste Division and Seattle Public Utilities. It accepts any textiles that not wet, mildewed or contaminated with hazardous materials. Participating Threadcycle organizations include: Big Brothers Big Sisters Puget Sound; Goodwill; Northwest Center; The Salvation Army; SightConnection; TexGreen; USAgain; and Value Village.
The Department of Ecology is seeking public comment through April 18 on a draft work plan for an environmental project at Gas Works Park. Seattle Parks and Recreation will be doing maintenance and renovations at the play area, comfort station, and entry areas this spring, and will also conduct additional studies of the contaminated groundwater, and install part of a system in the play area that will clean up contamination at the site. You can see full details and comment on the plan on Ecology’s website.
Metro Transit is asking for public input on simplifying fare payments to make them more consistent across agencies that use ORCA (One Regional Card for All), and ways to speed up boarding, improve driver safety, increase ridership, and reduce barriers to using transit for vulnerable populations. You can learn more here and take a survey by April 7 here.
The city’s Street Tree Management Plan is asking people to take a survey to help it decide how Seattle Department of Transportation will prioritize street tree work through 2024.
Seattle Audubon Society and the City of Seattle are hosting a free symposium from 2-7 p.m. on Thursday, April 6 at City Hall to discuss Seattle’s urban tree canopy levels. Seattle Audubon has developed a four-year Neighborhood Flyways campaign to restore local and migratory bird habitats by connecting the tree canopy across Seattle. Speakers from Seattle Audubon, the City, Seattle Public Utilities, the Nature Conservancy, Seattle Parks Foundation, and Urban Forest Carbon Registry will discuss urban forestry opportunities and challenges; Seattle’s density policies and tree ordinances; environmental justice and community engagement; and restoring urban and natural habitats for birds, wildlife, and human communities. You can find more details and pre-register here.
The National Recreation and Park Association is collaborating with The Walt Disney Company to revitalize parks across the U.S. through its “Meet Me at the Park” program, which provides a $20,000 grant to a park project in each area. The three Seattle projects include one at Carkeek Park, just north of Greenwood.
- Connecting kids to nature at Carkeek Park: This project will restore a vital environmental education connection trail between the salmon-bearing creek in Carkeek Park and the Viewlands Elementary School that sits adjacent to the park. The project will connect kids to nature by rebuilding and rerouting parts of the trail to provide safe, equitable access for the school and the surrounding community. You can vote for this project starting April 1 by texting carkeek to 35350.*
- Urban Fresh Food Collective: The Urban Fresh Food Collective is a partnership between community-based organizations and Seattle Parks and Recreation to develop local foodshed leadership and workforce opportunities, enhance community health, and increase access to fresh, culturally relevant food. This project will support five community leaders in receiving stipends for their roles mentoring and instructing a team of youth in hands-on growing of food, and bringing it to market and table. You can vote for this project starting April 1 by texting urbanfresh to 35350.*
- Rock the Park at Magnuson Park: Rock the Park is a program that enriches the lives of formerly homeless youth living at Solid Ground Housing at Magnuson Park. The program focuses on healthy living and offers youth a variety of activities including nutrition classes, nature walks, field trips, rock climbing, tennis lessons, sailing and more. You can vote for this project starting April 1 by texting magnuson to 35350.*
The Seattle Fire Department is giving away free smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to Seattle homeowners who are seniors or have a disability. Detectors should be replaced if they are more than 10 years old. One detector should be installed on every level of your home and inside each bedroom. To request installation of detectors, call the Seattle Fire Department’s Public Affairs unit at 206-386-1337 or e-mail [email protected].
