Tag Archives: green space

Upgrades planned for Capitol Hill’s densely packed Tashkent Park

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Workers take a break from fiber installation at a new apartment building built next to the park (Images: CHS)

Workers take a break from fiber installation at a new apartment building built next to the park (Images: CHS)

IMG_5791Part of some of the most densely packed blocks in the Pacific Northwest, Capitol Hill’s pockets of public open space play many roles and give us all a little breathing room when we need it.

Tashkent Park on Boylston between Republican and Mercer just a few blocks below Broadway is more tightly packed than most. Built in the late 1980s and named in tribute to Seattle’s Uzbekistani sister city, the park sits near thousands of neighbors and is ready for a major refresh.

Thursday night, you’re invited to be part of the planning for a new project hoped to begin construction this August:

Tashkent Park Improvements
Seattle Parks and Recreation invites the community to a public meeting for the Tashkent Park improvements. This is an opportunity to learn about the proposed new landscaping and small plaza. The Sr. Landscape Architect from Seattle Parks will present the proposed plan, answer questions and gather community feedback.

Seattle Parks is applying for funding through the Community Development Block Grant and anticipates construction to begin in August 2015.

Thursday, May 28, 2015
6:30 – 7:45 p.m.
Capitol Hill Branch
425 Harvard Ave. E

IMG_5808“Our main goal for this project is to improve the landscaping with more shade tolerant plants and make the park plaza ADA accessible,” a Seattle Parks rep tells CHS. Continue reading →

All Pilgrims ready to grow $200K Same Love Garden on Broadway

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Next week, Broadway’s All Pilgrims will host a forum on anti-LGBTQ hate crime. It’s the kind of community role the venue often plays in the busy commercial core of Capitol Hill. The 1906-built house of worship is also ready to move forward with its new plan to create a different kind of community space — a Same Love Garden green space surrounding the Broadway at Republican church “that has been a leader in the recognition of the full acceptance of persons of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender identities.”

“With increased residential density on Capitol Hill, and the coming of light rail and trolley service to our neighborhood, All Pilgrims wants this garden to be a reflection of the character of our neighborhood and a place of celebration that will serve our growing community,” All Pilgrims pastor Greg Turk said in the announcement of a new fundraising campaign to help pay for the project.

All Pilgrims is seeking to raise $100,000 from the community to match the $100,000 it is putting into the project with a name inspired by the Macklemore and Ryan Lewis song celebrating marriage equality. Part of the community campaign includes a $20,000 online giving goal — You can give here via Indiegogo:

We seek $100,000 from friends like you to match our own $100,000 investment to create a garden memorial to the success of the marriage equality movement and the hope it represents for positive social change. Continue reading →

First Hill group makes final push to stop preservation of Harborview art deco building

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Harborview Hall, on the left, in 1935.

Harborview Hall, on the left, in 1935. (Image: King County)

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King County’s Harborview Hall preservation plan. Plans initially included leveling Harborview Hall for a plaza. (Image: King County)

It’s rare that a neighborhood group in Seattle would push for a historic building to be demolished, but the fight over First Hill’s Harborview Hall is not a typical one.

Members of the citizens advisory committee for Harborview Medical Center’s major institutions plan say they are on the ropes in a last ditch effort to have the art deco hospital building torn down to make way for some much needed public open space.

On Friday, a city hearing examiner will hear testimony over whether plans should move forward for a Harborview Hall preservation project. Continue reading →

3,000 new residents and the need for ‘open green space’ on First Hill

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Screen Shot 2015-01-24 at 7.19.36 PMFirst Hill might get a whole lot greener — at least in the spring and summer. 

Earlier this month, more than 150 residents of the First Hill community and representatives from the Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Parks & Recreation, and the Department of Planning and Development gathered at Town Hall Seattle to discuss ideas for revamping certain streets in the neighborhood to allow for more dynamic and multi-purposed public open green space. 

“Not only do streets need to function as mobility, but they need to be the front door, the place where people go to meet. They’re social spaces,” said Susan McLaughlin, project manager for the First Hill Public Realm Action Plan. 

“Over the last decade First Hill has grown by over 3,000 new residents,” said Lyle Bicknell, principal urban designer with DPD and one of the speakers leading the town hall. “These new residents and workers need quality green space, in addition to those who already live here.”

During the session, First Hill residents gleaned insights into how parts of their neighborhood might be transformed within the next few years. Continue reading →

Who will create the first ‘play street’ on Capitol Hill?

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A Capitol Hill "play street" pioneer (Image: CHS)

A Capitol Hill “play street” pioneer (Image: CHS)

Seattle loves a pilot program — especially one that is low cost and creates benefit with little or no effort. A new Play Street pilot program for the Seattle Department of Transportation enables a neighborhood’s residents to close off an area street for a period of recreation and frolic.

We’re interested to see how the program might play out in dense, apartment-rich aresa of the Hill — the Seattle Bike Blog reports that a test has already played out near a school in the Madrona neighborhood:

(Image: SDOT)

(Image: SDOT)

What is a play street, you ask? Essentially, it’s a brilliantly simple way to temporarily expand or create park area: Close a nearby street to traffic. While this may not seem like a big deal, it can be revolutionary in neighborhoods with parks that are either too small, too crowded or too far away. As SDOT puts it on their website: “Think of a play street as an extension of all the front yards on your block.”

You can read more about the details of the program and how to sign up here. The basic requirements open up much of the Hill to the program — if your neighbors are on board.

  1. The play street should be no more than one block long.
  2. The street should be a non-arterial street (click here to learn your street classification).
  3. There must be clear visibility from each intersection.
  4. The play street must have neighborhood support.

How that “neighborhood support” will be measured isn’t clear. The application form handles it with a simple check box:Screen Shot 2014-06-18 at 10.37.10 AM

We’re assuming SDOT is prepared to deal with any issues on a “complaint basis.” And who is going to complain about your pop-up roller skate rink, right?

Meanwhile, some of you might want to consider putting your alleys to better use, too.

Seattle Night Out
While we’re talking about putting your block’s streets to better use, it’s time again to register for the annual Seattle Night Out block parties. On August 5, the city makes it even easier to close down your street for a barbecue party with neighbors. If you’re lucky, a fire engine or police are might drop by the party and let you turn on the siren. Here’s a look at a few Capitol Hill block parties from 2013.

A 2013 Night Out dance party in the street at 11th and Denny (Image: CHS)

A 2013 Night Out dance party in the street at 11th and Denny (Image: CHS)

All Pilgrims plans mystical labyrinth, improved connection to Broadway

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Today, All Pilgrims is fenced-off from Broadway (Images: CHS)

Today, All Pilgrims is fenced-off from Broadway (Images: CHS)

IMG_4778What years ago was shrouded in a thicket of blackberry brambles may soon again yield fruit for Broadway’s All Pilgrims in the form of a labyrinth as well as a landscaped, more accessible front lawn and plans to fill the moat-like embankment that separates the 1906-built house of worship from the bustling street it calls home. Still in a conceptual phase, the church’s plan needs designs and funding.

“It’s one of the only green spaces on Broadway… we see that as an asset to the community and we’d like to present it as such to be a welcoming space,” said Pastor Greg Turk. Around back, All Pilgrims intends to better utilize an empty to plot to create a a labyrinth. “Right now it’s a pile of dirt,” Turk said. “We know we can do a better job with that landscape.” Visit First Hill’s First Baptist if you’re in need of a wander through the maze in the meantime.

The church already has a city permit lined up and plans to complete the entirety of the work in one phase. A preliminary $100,000 budget has been attached to the project but Turk said the scope of transformation for the church’s land is still being worked out.

Continue reading →