Several fire trucks, including the biggest one we’ve ever seen, just pulled up to Holy Names Academy on 21st. Real Time 911 reports a fire in the building. Hope it’s nothing serious, but the response is pretty impressive.
UPDATE: So the big fire truck already left and the firefighters from the other three trucks are just milling around, so everything is probably ok.
We mentioned last week the school closure plan for Seattle Schools, and our nearby schools are definitely taking a hit. A recap: Lowell Elementary closed and the advanced program split up and moved south, T.T. Minor Elementary closed, Meany Middle School closed, NOVA Alternative and Bilingual Orientation Center moved to Meany. This leaves Stevens Elementary. SSD summary is here.
The school district message is that 1) we have no money, 2) school buildings are totally falling apart due to no money, 2) we’re going to start bussing kids south because north-side schools are overfull and south-side schools are under-enrolled and, that’s right, we don’t have money for schools where the kids actually live. This is not going to get better any time soon. (Side note to Gates Foundation – any interest in sponsoring a local school? We’ll even call it We Love Bill and Melinda Elementary.)
Chatter on the mommy networks is that Seattle schools are a mess, but no one likes the changes. There is pretty big push back on the T.T. Minor and Lowell closings, with save our schools efforts underway. Sounds like private school applications will be up in the next few years. We’re big public school fans, but we get that it’s a huge bummer when your kid moves from one falling apart school to a falling apart school further away. Start converting in line with your religious school of choice now.
I haven’t heard much of an uproar about the Meany closure. Which probably only means that middle school kids are not as cute as elementary kids. It’s the same reason we care about saving the cutie pie baby polar bears but aren’t so interested in the endangered local mud slug.
So the take away is that even though one of the no brainers about living in a dense urban neighborhood is that your kid could walk to a local school, it’s not going to happen. Or that’s going to be quite a walk. And fancy pants parents, you aren’t getting your kid into Stevens. Accept it now. The classes are almost filled by siblings of kids that are already there. At least with home schooling your kiddo can win a spelling bee.
Public hearings on the closures are Dec. 15 for T.T. Minor and Dec. 18 for Lowell.
Is it ok to take a few straws from a major corporate coffee chain when you didn’t buy anything? What if you regularly buy drinks? Better or worse than buying a drip coffee and filling it 1/2 full of cream because you’re too broke or cheap to pay for a latte? It’s an ethical minefield, really. Also, did you know that hotels think it’s stealing to take the little shampoos?
One day only! The City is sponsoring a Pike/Pine neighborhood clean up day. You are invited to join your friends to clean up (pick up trash), green up (plant flowers) and rainbow (???). Mayor Greg “I hate water bottles” Nichols will be there, so BYOWB and it will be filled with delicious seattle water straight from the mountains. You don’t have to pay $.25 for the trash bags. I think. Here are the details: TOMORROW, July 12 8am-noon Meet at Rosebud – 719 E. Pike
I saw several squirrel carcasses on the sides of arterials recently, more than the typical urban road kill. It certainly seems like it’s a bad year to be a squirrel on Capitol Hill. Does the hot weather leads to rash decisions by squirrels as well as people? Are this year’s teenage squirrels are venturing out alone without the street smarts to make it back to the nest in one piece? I can’t say. But it’s pretty gross.
It’s official – Saturday is the big day. Break out the swim diapers.
Parking can be tight on the hill, but there are some streets which are just too narrow for on-street parking. I’m totally ok with the one lane/two way side streets, but some of the arterials are too teensy. My pet peeve too narrow section is the stretch on Aloha between 23rd and 22nd. One parked car got completely mashed last week. The parking on Roy/Belmont gets a little sketchy too. Maybe we could designate these blocks as Mini/scooter parking only?
