Tag Archives: Lake City Greenways

Olympic Hills Pocket Park Opportunities

Design discussions at the park site (photo courtesy of LC Greenways)

Design discussions at the park site (photo courtesy of LC Greenways)

Volunteers are hard at work creating a new pocket park in Olympic Hills. The project is funded through a Department of Neighborhoods matching fund grant.

Organizers are looking for community involvement in a variety of ways, listed below. Neighborhood grants like this one rely on matching volunteer hours, so please consider participating. Even if you don’t live in Olympic Hills, this opportunity can provide a template for how to accomplish a similar project in your own neighborhood. Project coordinator, Janine Blaeloch, and other project volunteers are happy to share their expertise and insights.

 

Weigh in on the design of the pocket park
Wednesday, May 21, 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Lamb of God Lutheran Church, 12509 27th Ave NE
At this meeting, design professionals will present two or three concepts for the neighborhood to consider.

 

Volunteers help clear brush at a park work party (photo courtesy of LC Greenways)

Volunteers help clear brush at a park work party (photo courtesy of LC Greenways)

 

Work party in the park
Saturday, May 31, 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at the park site (NE 133rd between 27th and 28th avenues)
This work party will be less strenuous than previous; no digging, but there will be weed pulling, grass-whacking, and mulching, mulching, mulching. There will also be lively conversation about what is wanted in this new park. Displays of the design concepts will also be available for feedback.

 

Final meeting and presentation of design
Tuesday, June 17, 6:30-8:00 p.m. at the park site (NE 133rd between 27th and 28th avenues)
Come see the results of this grassroots, community-led effort to improve the neighborhood!

 

Advocating for Safe Streets Along LCW

Neighbors were out promoting pedestrian safety along Lake City Way late yesterday afternoon. Participants wore reflective gear, carried signs and repeatedly crossed the intersection at NE 130th St and Lake City Way between 4:00 and 5:00pm.

 

This was the first of several public outreach efforts as part of the Lake City Way Traffic Safety Corridor Project. The Traffic Safety Project, announced last December, is a multi-year effort to improve traffic and pedestrian safety along Lake City Way (LCW)/St. Route 522 between NE 75th and NE 145th. It is a collaborative project between WSDOT, SDOT and community representatives.

 

The project includes three elements 1) Enforcement – as the project proceeds, look for increased traffic patrols to begin along the Lake City Way corridor and known cut-through streets, 2)Engineering – WSDOT and SDOT will focus on community-identified street improvements, and 3) Education – which includes public outreach efforts like the one you see here.

 

Many of the participants holding signs yesterday are part of Lake City Greenways, a local advocacy group working to develop safe streets for pedestrians, bicyclists and cars. To learn more, visit the Lake City Greenways’ Facebook page.

LCW trees get some love

courtesy photo

courtesy photo

Seattle’s Department of Transportation had a crew out on LCW in recent days working on the medians on Lake City’s main thoroughfare.

The crew cleaned out leaves and spread mulch on the tree strip in the LC commercial core.

“You don’t notice these trees until you notice them— leafing out in spring and turning bronze and burgundy in the fall,” said neighborhood resident Janine Blaeloch.

“They are lovely and they deserve care,” she wrote in an email thanking SDOT for working on the tree strip. Blaeloch is the leading force behind the Lake City Greenways project.

Residents discuss Lake City Greenway proposal at meeting

Janine Blaeloch gives a presentation during the meeting.

 Lake City residents gathered for a meeting on February 21st to discuss a proposal for a pedestrian- and bike-friendly "greenway" along 27th Avenue Northeast.

The route, which would run from NE 145th Street to NE 125th Street, has been proposed by the Lake City Greenways project with the help of community members searching for safer ways for pedestrians and bicyclists to negotiate our neighborhood and its lack of pedestrian infrastructure—sidewalks.

Most of the people that attended the meeting were residents that live on 27th Avenue NE and wanted to understand how the proposed greenway would affect them and to voice concerns about altering the quiet neighborhood street.

People were vocal at the meeting, both in support of the project and with many concerns—mostly about speed humps, emergency response times and the expense of altering the road.

Residents worried that the addition of speed humps, elongated and gentle traffic slowing devices, would encourage drivers to drive over gravel parking easements in an attempt to avoid the humps.

Residents discussed adding stop signs and speed-detecting cameras along the street. The benefits and issues with both were discussed. People at the meeting said they wanted safer access to the Lake City Hub Urban Village for elderly and disabled people. And proposals for street murals in Lake City were met with support during the meeting. There were many strong opinions shared during the community meeting.

"People want to understand better what it might mean for their street," said Janine Blaeloch, a neighborhood resident working with other community members to bring safe routes via greenways to our neighborhood. "Most people just want information," she said.

A presentation on the Lake City Greenways proposal is posted below. You can read a previous story we wrote about Lake City Greenways and how it can help transform some of our streets here.