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When will Cal Anderson fountain come back, fences come down? — Plus, giant Denny building wrap news


_D046768-Edit.jpg, originally uploaded by photosbysomeguy.

Lest you become alienated by the mysteries of the city, here are two briefs related to your Capitol Hill physical environment. Please do what you can to get over any other mysteries you encounter on your lonesome. First, we asked Seattle Park what’s going on with the still-not-working Cal Anderson Park fountain. Parks tells us the water feature is not going to start running again for another week. Here’s the note we received from a Parks rep:

Two things: 1) plumbers are people of few words; 2) it’s a pretty short story.

After some prodding, here are the answers I got:

From the plumber: It’s the pump parts we are waiting for. From the plumber’s supervisor: The pump lasted from project completion in September 2005 to this point. It’s German, and on its way.

That solves *some* of the mystery. But now we need to know more about those German pump parts:

The pump is about 6 years old. It runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It stopped working a few weeks ago. The Central area team, including Plumbers and Electricians disconnected the pump and took it to a repair facility in South Seattle. They are a vendor and a excellent repair facility. They rebuild and refurbish most all of the Parks Dept. pumps.  They are waiting for parts from Germany to rebuild our pump. I talked to them this morning and They don’t understand why it takes so long to get custom made parts from Europe.

The Parks rep also says the department is currently planning to take down the fencing protecting the park’s turf repair project in the second week of July. Just in time for Bobby Morris playfield to be closed for the summer for lighting replacement.

Meanwhile, you might have noticed the giant wrapped building on Melrose along the Denny Way entrance to Capitol Hill. That’s the Seattle Housing Authority’s Denny Terrace. SHA says the wrap will begin coming down today to reveal a building covered in scaffolding. It’s all part of an overhaul of the low income public housing facility’s exterior: “…when the scaffolding comes down, it will reveal a new exterior finish to the formerly beige brick building.”

Via @Seattle_Housing


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poseur
12 years ago

Wow, only in Seattle. I had to move out of the city because I couldn’t afford it, yet these people get stellar views and a prime location.

As a liberal, I now understand why people say you become a Republican as you get older.

Friend
Friend
12 years ago

I think we need our local band of anarchists to tear those fences down some night. It’s crazy to have about 1/2 of the park closed through July right during the period when people would be most likely to be using it. The park system — which is supposed to serve residents — has now closed off 1/2 of the park since September to fix an issue that really didn’t exist. Sure, the grass may have been somewhat muddy when it rained, but it was still completely usable and never looked like the eye sore it is now.

randolph
12 years ago

I had a friend that lived in that building. Yes, the view was amazing. But the noise from being that close to the freeway was beyond loud! Also, the entire place is made from concrete cinder blocks, so it feels like a prison. I wouldn’t be jealous of the place.

John
John
12 years ago

What Randolph said. Not to mention the fumes and other fun stuff that come off the freeway mean you pretty much don’t ever want to open your windows…

Glasses
12 years ago

Lovely sentiment about ‘these people’ you’ve got going. As folks have already pointed out, although the views are amazing, you’re still in a massive complex of 220 units right above the freeway. The studios are 395 sq.ft., one bedrooms are 475, and the few two bedrooms are 570. Livable, but certainly not luxurious.

Maybe we should start building subterranean hovels under the city for the poor so they don’t take away any of our view but are still close by to work the minimum wage jobs with no benefits that make our lives so much nicer.

oh ho ho
oh ho ho
12 years ago

“As a liberal, I now understand why people say you become a Republican as you get older.”

Ignorant upper-class privilege is a bitch, ain’t it, poseur?

yeah right
yeah right
12 years ago

“I think we need our local band of anarchists”

It’d be nice if anarchists actually created something in their lives, rather than trashing the community under any guise.

Tom
Tom
12 years ago

Randolph: wah! The building is noisy. The city just replaced the windows in the building. in spite of the CMU walls and cramped apartments, the residents now have better windows than almost every building along Melrose.

John, I call a bit of B.S. on the fumes. I live on that street and there’s really not as many fumes as you might think. I’ll give you dust, but that comes from any busy road.

where I take exception to this is the fact the City replaced the windows with things that barely open so the residents can’t easily get air.

Glasses
12 years ago

Tom, Denny Terrace is being worked on using an American Recovery and Resinvestment Act (ARRA) grant. It’s stimulus funding. City has nothing to do with it. http://www.seattlehousing.org/redevelopment/arra/

2/3rds down the page is a little blurb on the project.

kdglg
12 years ago

News flash, you aren’t a liberal if you are making statements like these. You know who lives in SHA buildings? Elderly, disabled, and low-income working folks. You are right, they deserve to live far far away from the City because only rich people deserve views and well located dwelling units. Total ignorance.

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

I sure hope your suggestion about the anarchists is “tongue in cheek.” They are vandals, pure and simple.

And, speaking of cheeky, your whining about the closure there is very short-sighted. It’s called basic maintenance and I’m glad the Parks people are doing something about a significant problem. It has to be closed now to allow the new grass time to get established. Have a little patience, for god’s sake!

calhoun
calhoun
12 years ago

Yes, that building has great views, but that is not typical of most Seattle Housing Authority buildings. I would guess the initial land cost there was quite low, being next to the freeway. And, if you have ever been inside an SHA building, you would know that they are anything but luxurious….very bare-bones, reminiscent of a college dorm. The Seattle Senior Housing (a separate program) residences are much nicer.

To Tom: there have been at least two suicides at the SHA building near the Harvard Exit in the past year or so…residents jumping out windows. It seems prudent to not allow the windows to fully open, as a preventive measure.