randy_byers: (2010-08-15)
Fremont Universe reports that the mud pit on Stone Way has finally been purchased by Prescott Homes of Kirkland. According to the Seattle Times article quoted, 'The Kirkland firm received a new land-use permit from the city last year for a five-story building with 150 apartments, a 15,000-square-foot “multi-purpose convenience store,” a 2,000-square-foot restaurant and a 189-stall underground garage, city records indicate.'

I'll believe it when I see it. I'm also curious what a multi-purpose convenience store is. Isn't the 7-Eleven across the street enough?
randy_byers: (2009-05-10)
Well, call me late for breakfast. I can't remember when I first saw a couple of signs in different areas indicating something named something like Cheshiahud Loop (although I wouldn't have been able to remember the name until today). The signs were near the Burke-Gilman trail, but I couldn't figure out what the hell they referred to. Now I learn that the city is in the middle of trying to create a multi-use trail around Lake Union. It will be called the Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop. I'm probably the last one to hear the news.

I've looked at the Master Plan (via the website linked above), and it looks good. I now also understand some changes that were recently made to Burke-Gilman near the corner of 40th and 7th, which I pass through all the time on the way to and from work. More changes are ahead, all around the lake. The changes along Westlake and Eastlake (or Fairview) are pretty extensive, as you might imagine. Lake Union is very much an industrial, commercial area (the lake itself is badly polluted), and this could open it up quite a bit. I will be fascinated to see what the finished development looks like. It's a major undertaking.

While reading about this new trail development, I also got a Seattle history lesson. Cheshiahud was a Duwamish Indian born in a village on the shores of Lake Washington around 1820 before the white settlers had shown up in numbers. He lived until 1910, by which time the local tribes had long since been dispossessed of their land and their lifestyle. He was one of the few who, through his friendship with powerful white men such as David Denny, was allowed to live in and around Seattle after most of the tribal members had been pushed out to reservations elsewhere.

One of the things he lived through was the Battle of Seattle of 1856. This was part of an uprising of tribes called the Puget Sound War that was a reaction to the Point Elliott Treaty, which forced the tribes in the territory onto reservations. (The Yakima east of the mountains participated in the attack on Seattle.) The Battle of Seattle lasted only for a day, and the settlers took out a horrible vengeance for it afterward. The Duwamish people, however, had warned the settlers of what was going to happen, so Cheshiahud was spared the backlash. By 1865, American Indians were banned from living in Seattle, but Cheshiahud escaped the ban due to his friendship with Denny, who even gave him some property on Portage Bay in 1885.

A strange little corner of American history, and now it's the name of a trail around a strange little polluted urban lake.
randy_byers: (2009-05-10)
I think the last time I mentioned the traffic circle at the bottom of the hill I was bemoaning the removal of the cedar tree and then noting in passing a week or two later that I'd seen some folks tearing out all the other plants and replacing them with new plants, including a new, more traffic-circle-appropriate tree. I've been meaning to mention that they've been doing great work on the circle since then. The latest thing they've done is to add a bunch of big, jagged rocks around the perimeter to keep assholes in trucks from driving over the circle, which assholes in trucks have been doing ever since the circle was installed three years ago. They've also put one of those watering bags on the tree, which I believe provides a slow, regular trickle of water to the rootball. There are a fair number of flowering plants, and it all looks a lot more gardeny than it used to.

In short, they've got an idea and they're going with it, and I'm actually happy to let somebody else do the work. I do still feel somewhat dispossessed, it's true. It feels like three years of (occasional) work went out the window with no acknowledgment. The perils of working in a semi-commons, I guess. How would they have known to contact me? It's not as though there was a sign with my contact info. The way I had gotten involved myself was through a neighborhood e-mail list that sprang up around the petition effort to get the traffic circles installed in the first place. The membership of that list was pretty random, and people who didn't sign the petitions or newer residents on the street would have no way to know it exists.

It does seem to me that this is a higher maintenance landscaping job than what we originally planted (which was all native plants, with ground cover that was just finally getting established when it got ripped out), but so far the maintenance has been immaculate. They're doing a much better job of keeping up with the weeds than I ever did. That circle of rocks is what really won me over. Instead of just gnashing their teeth at the assholes in trucks, they've done something about it. They really seem to know what they're doing. So I tip my hat to them, with some lingering chagrin.
randy_byers: (Default)
Some of you may remember that for the past couple of summers I've been watering a cedar in the traffic circle at the bottom of our hill. I've heard that it's important to water freshly-planted trees for the first two years, otherwise many of them die. So I've been hauling water down to the tree every summer. The winter before last the cedar was knocked slightly askew by a car that plowed into the traffic circle, which pissed me off, but it survived.So this morning I walked past the circle and saw that the tree was gone. Just a bare patch of earth where it had been. It was a complete shock.

I'm pretty sure I know what happened. Last year, Ed -- the neighbor who organized the plantings in that traffic circle -- told me that the city had asked him to trim the lower branches on the tree because the tree was blocking the sightlines for drivers. We agreed that it was too early to do this; the tree was still too small to trim in that way. It's true, however, that it was a pretty bulky tree already, even if most of the bulk was down near the ground. It was a squat tree, almost as broad as it was tall. It blocked the sightlines for drivers approaching the circle. I'm pretty sure the city removed it for safety reasons.

I don't consider myself a tree-hugger, but I find that I was pretty attached to that cedar. I had personal investment in it. I looked forward to one day telling my non-existent grandchildren that I had planted that towering cedar. Hauling that water down to the tree was a labor of love for me. Now it feels like I wasted my time. It actually makes me angry. To hell with it. I weeded that traffic circle the past two years too, but I'm done with it. Let somebody else waste their time.
randy_byers: (colma 1987)
So much for longer days! Today is the Solstice Parade and the beginning of the Fremont Street Fair. The neighborhood is already buzzing with activity, and Roxy's was jammed with strangers. I'm looking at my To Do list. So far I've only crossed off "download Firefox 3". Seems to work fine so far.

This is a weekend when we dare not drive away from the house, because we'd never find parking anywhere near here again. So I'll be sticking close to home, most likely, and I'll see a few of you in the wild streets of Fremont.
randy_byers: (Default)
Last night carl and I traveled by bus and foot to the Über Tavern on Aurora. It was the second time I've been there with him. This is a relatively gentrified area of Aurora, although Butch's Gun Shop is nearby in case you get pissed at your drinking partner and decide to shoot him. Anyway, the tavern is a nice little hole-in-the-wall that serves nothing but imported and microbrew beer, and they handle kegs too. We each had a glass of the Oud Beersel Framboise Lambic -- more or less the reason for the visit, since carl is a big fan of it. I'm still pretty much a novice when it comes to lambics, but it tasted okay to me. Kind of cidery.

Then carl suggested we stroll down the block to the Duck Island Saloon. This was a brilliant idea, since I've wanted to go there ever since he first told me about the place a few years ago, but I'd never gotten sufficiently motivated. It's a slightly larger space than the Über with a bit less polish to it. Has a small pool table and a couple of pinball machines. The beer selection is very similar to the Über's, and in fact they had the Oud Beersel on tap as well. Seemed like a place where young hipsters hang out, and they played albums by the Specials and the Ramones while we were there. Felt very homey to this old hipster. Some of the people there were ordering food delivered from Beth's Cafe next door.

Afterwards, we walked past the Kangaroo and Kiwi Pub on the way back to my place. The Kangaroo and Kiwi is another place I've always wanted to visit. It's an Australian -- or Anzac? -- pub. Looked like they had a pub quiz there last night. It would make a nice third stop on an Aurora pub crawl -- or tavern to saloon to pub crawl, as the case may be. Maybe next time.
randy_byers: (Default)
I just walked past the old International House of Pancakes building at 43rd and Brooklyn, and it was already mostly rubble, with a large machine busting up what little was left standing. I'm not sure what's going to replace it, but I believe all that property now belongs to the University. ("All that property" including the Safeco tower and related buildings also on that block.) I never ate at the IHOP all that much, but I've always liked the name of the chain. I kind of hoped that the University should re-open it as the Universal House of Pancakes.

Anyway, this has been an eye-witness report. You heard it here first. Don't let them tell you that there isn't any real reporting on blogs!
randy_byers: (Default)
Well, I've been kind of a busy boy today. The main thing is that I went downtown (in the pouring snow!) to the Nordstrom Rack and bought a charcoal grey knee-length wool and cashmere coat. After lunch at the Westlake Mall, where the huge windows in the food court made me feel like I was in a snow globe, I decided it was perfect weather for a snifter of Old Woolly barleywine, so I hopped on a bus to the U District. The Big Time was packed with happy barleywine drinkers.

Earlier in the day was an expedition to the post office to mail a copy of Way to someone in Singapore who inquired because of a review in [livejournal.com profile] profgeek's Askance. Think that's the first time a complete stranger has asked for a copy of one of my zines because of a review in another zine. Pretty cool!

Walking home from the post office and other errands, I headed down Wallingford and then down the hill on 36th, which is not only the street I live on but a section of it I walk everyday to and from work. Very familiar ground. I was lost in thought, as usual, but I said howdy to a guy I vaguely recognized as living in that block somewhere. As he passed behind me, I heard him say, "How did you quit smoking?"

Was he talking to me? That seemed pretty weird, since I didn't know him, so he couldn't know that I used to smoke. I looked back, and he was clearly talking to me.

"How did you know I was an ex-smoker?" I asked, puzzled. I couldn't imagine how he'd read that just by looking at me.

"Oh, I've been watching you for years," he said. "Used to be that I thought you were in pretty good shape for a smoker."

I laughed, suddenly getting it. "Able to climb a hill while smoking!"

It was a little unnerving to realize that I've been observed so closely over the years. After all, I stopped smoking six years ago, so he certainly has been keeping an eye on me for a while, but I don't know him from Harry. Ah well, he seemed friendly enough.

"I just quit cold turkey," I told him. "But I did some mental preparation first."

"Yeah, that's the tough part for me: getting my mind set on it."

"They say it's one of the most addictive substances out there," I said, shrugging.

"I'd hate to think there's anything worse," he said ruefully.

And I continued on my way home. I guess the whole damn street is my home!
randy_byers: (Default)
So the call went out a couple days ago asking if people could water the trees that we planted in the new traffic circles not too long ago. We've had a little bit of rain, but not enough for thirsty young trees. So yesterday over the course of a couple of hours I hauled my two-gallon watering can down to the cedar in the Woodland circle three times. I wasn't sure how much water it needed, so I posted a query to the group receiving the e-mail notices, explaining what I'd done so far and asking if it was enough. The woman who had offered to water the tree in the Linden circle replied, "You're that tree's savior!" Unfortunately she went on to say, "I think that 6 gallons every three days would be minimal when there is no rain." Not sure I can actually manage that level of watering, but it's good to have an idea of the ideal.

There was a story about urban forestry on NPR a while back that quoted the director of a program in Seattle who said that it's not enough to just plant trees. Too many of them die in the first couple of years because they don't get enough water. It's relatively easy to dig a hole and wrestle a tree into it. The hard part is keeping up with the watering, because that requires people to take responsibility for an ongoing chore. So how the hell did I get stuck with this job? Well, I dunno, but I'm actually looking forward to watching that tree grow up real big.

Besides, I need another excuse to procrastinate when I should be working on editing or writing for fanzines.

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