Tag Archives: sidewalks

Seattle’s mysterious Sea Dragonsss artist reveals story behind Capitol Hill’s time-traveling sculptures

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If you have wandered across Capitol Hill, Columbia City, Seward Park, or even Los Angeles, you may have spotted them — colorful, CD-studded dragon faces grinning from telephone poles, their reflective surfaces glinting in the sunlight. Emerging from the imagination of the pseudonymous Sea DragonSSS, these sculptures carry the mystery of their creator with backstories involving time travel that are as deliberately obscure as the artist himself.

The artist — who goes by Eddie after his signature dragon character — shared with CHS the story behind his decade-long journey from obscure noise musician to guerrilla sculptor, his installation mishaps, and his ambitious plans to bring his time traveling dragon universe to life through animation.

FROM FAILED MUSICIAN TO STREET ARTIST: THE UNLIKELY ORIGINS OF SEA DRAGONSSS

Long before dragons adorned Seattle’s streets, Sea DragonSSS was a struggling experimental artist.

“I started as a musician. Was playing music in the 90s, mostly noise, not very popular stuff. Got some grants along the way to put out CDs. I also was a filmmaker too. CDs and DVDs of my work, none of them sold. Well, I shouldn’t say none of them, but not very many of them.”

Faced with boxes of unsold discs, he saw an opportunity. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council: ‘Algorithmic rent fixing’ ban passes, digital kiosks get second ‘yes’ vote

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  • Rent fixing ban: The City Council session Tuesday included a vote approving a Seattle ban on “algorithmic rent fixing” in the city. The final vote by the full council had been delayed a week to give the council time to consider amendments adding language clarifying the new law is not “intended to interfere with standard recordkeeping business practices of individual landlords.” and an amendment requesting that the Department of Construction and Inspections “conduct outreach efforts to educate landlords about the provisions of this bill.” Continue reading →

City says it had to clean up less trash in 2024 thanks to volunteers and enforcement

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Seattle Public Utilities is out with its 2024 “Clean City” report as it says citizens are volunteering more effort than ever to community clean-ups while its totals for debris collected from the public right of way actually dropped during the year.

“I’m proud we’re doing this work. Keeping Seattle neighborhoods cleaner helps residents thrive,” SPU General Manager and CEO Andrew Lee said in the announcement. “We welcome more residents and community organizations to join us in supporting Seattle’s diverse communities.”

SPU says its crews removed 1,765,421 pounds of debris from 1,550 blocks across the city’s right-of-way in 2024, down 7% from 2023 despite continued increased use of the Find It, Fix It “Service Request Mobile App.”

SPU credits “community engagement and education, enforcement efforts, and collaboration with other City of Seattle departments” for the reduction.

The Find It, Fix It app is focused on issues around cleanliness and rubbish but stats from the show that a bulk of the system’s calls are related to homelessness even though the app’s categories don’t show choices like “encampment” or “tents.” Instead, the calls are frequently reported under general inquiries, or “illegal dumping,” the most frequently used category in Find It, Fix It complaints. UPDATE: In a 2022 update, the app began accepting requests for an “Unauthorized Encampment.” Users are asked to use the category to “Report an unauthorized encampment that includes tents or structures assembled for habitation.” Continue reading →

Cal Anderson’s sidewalk is fixed — Now, city looking at public safety around Capitol Hill’s central park

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Seattle’s new transportation plan makes a big deal about making the city’s sidewalks better and adding new ones to the remaining areas without. Cal Anderson Park is out in front on things.

Capitol Hill’s central park is starting spring with its buckled eastern edge lined by a smooth new sidewalk and new solutions to help save the space’s Red Sunset Maples. Meanwhile, city officials are meeting with area business representatives and organizations with hopes to address larger questions around public safety on the park’s west side.

On the east, the Seattle Department of Transportation’s three-block project combined a variety of strategies including moving some areas of sidewalk, installing metal sidewalks that can leave more space for roots, and planting more trees along the park in an effort to replace cracked and buckled sections of sidewalk while preserving the park’s canopy. Continue reading →

Seattle has a new 20-year transportation plan — Now, about that $1.35B levy…

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(Image: @seattledot) “Nearly one hundred years ago, on April 21, 1924, the first traffic light in Seattle was installed at 4th and Jackson…”

The Seattle City Council Tuesday approved a new 20-year transportation plan for transit, street, sidewalk, and bridge projects across Seattle that will serve as the framework for the planned $1.35 billion transportation levy renewal vote this fall.

While still massive in scale and the result of a two-year process of outreach, bureaucracy, and budgeting, Mayor Bruce Harrell and council leadership are emphasizing the plan’s focus on day to day issues like potholes, sidewalks, and costly infrastructure repairs over the ambitious new initiatives and projects it might eventually spawn.

“It’s time for us to prioritize the bold basics of local government. From filling potholes to expanding access to public transit, this 20-year vision for the future of Seattle’s roads does just that,” District 3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth, vice chair of the council’s Transportation Committee, said in a statement. “Local government can’t solve every problem on its own, but when we put our mind to it, we can build world-class transportation infrastructure.”

The Harrell administration plan was little changed by the council and some of the few additions underlined what is being positioned as a more neighborhood-focused approach. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council notes: ‘Net-zero’ big building bill, sidewalk repair legislation, small business lease protections

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Under one new bill up for a vote Tuesday, sidewalk repair and installation would be a mandatory part of any major paving project (Image: SDOT)

It is the final week of the legislative calendar for the Seattle City Council in 2023 — and the final days at City Hall for some outgoing incumbents including District 3’s Kshama Sawant who will wrap up her years on the council with a “Ten Years of a Socialist in Office” celebration Thursday night on Capitol Hill. In January, the Central District’s Joy Hollingsworth will be sworn-in for Sawant’s D3 seat after her decisive victory in the November election.

In the meantime, there is some final work to attend to including Tuesday’s final full council meeting for the current members. The winter recess will run from December 18th through January 1st when staff will be working to get the new council offices up and running.

  • Climate change bill: Tuesday’s full council meeting will include a vote on legislation officials say will “dramatically lower the carbon footprint of existing large buildings in Seattle.” The bill aims to achieve net-zero building emissions by 2050 by establishing emissions reduction targets for buildings greater than 20,000 square feet, measuring and verifying greenhouse gas emissions, helping building owners create decarbonization plans, and establishing fees. The proposal impacts around 4,100 existing buildings around the city including a handful of school, health, and residential buildings around Capitol Hill and the Central District. The standards would be phased in over five-year intervals with the city’s largest structures first on the list. Continue reading →

Work set to begin to repair Cal Anderson’s buckled sidewalks and save park’s Red Sunset Maples

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(Image: SDOT)

Amid the the major challenges facing Capitol Hill’s central park, this is a small one. But work could start next week on a plan to save Cal Anderson’s Red Sunset Maples while also making it easier for everybody walking and rolling along the eastern edge of the popular park.

The Seattle Department of Transportation says work is tentatively scheduled to start Monday on a three-block project that will combine a variety of strategies including moving some areas of sidewalk, installing metal sidewalks that can leave more space for roots, and planting more trees along the park in an effort hoped to be wrapped up before the end of the year to replace cracked and buckled sections of sidewalk while preserving the park’s canopy.

“When this project is completed, we’ll have safer, smoother sidewalks for people walking and rolling, especially people with disabilities,” SDOT said in a statement sent to CHS. “At the same time, we’ll have more space for the street trees.” Continue reading →

Over a decade in the making, $4.3M Melrose Promenade’s final pieces include new bike lane, better Capitol Hill connections to Seattle’s growing network of safer streets

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By Kali Herbst Minino

Construction on the $4.3 million Melrose Promenade project, aiming to make walking and biking safer, accessible, and attractive along Melrose Ave on Capitol Hill, is planned to be completed in June.

Seattle Department of Transportation crews have been working on the final pieces of the project: a new protected bike lane between E Pine and Denny, reconfiguring street parking on the west side of Melrose, new crosswalks on Pike and Pine, new curb ramps, and sidewalk repairs. Melrose at Pike and Pine’s decorated community crosswalks will be re-constructed later in the summer.

The project is one piece of a community vision of a “Melrose Promenade.” Central Seattle Greenways, an organization comprised of community members who advocate for safer streets, helped work on that vision alongside the Melrose Promenade Advisory Committee (MPAC) 10 years ago. Creating a series of events titled “Muffins on Melrose,” CSG advocates talked with passersby about the street’s potential over free muffins and coffee.

MPAC’s website has been lost due to age, but a 2013 document lists their ultimate goals: improving pedestrian safety, new bicycle connections, additional connections to other forms of transit, and creating pedestrian green and gathering spaces. Continue reading →

‘Tree retention evaluation’ — City sorting out how to keep Cal Anderson’s maple trees and fix the sidewalk around the park

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Thanks to the many readers who have alerted us to the signs (Image courtesy a CHS reader)

Ominous “tree retention evaluation” signs that have gone up on the dozens of Red Sunset Maples surrounding Cal Anderson Park have caused a stir as Seattle experiences record May heat.

A city spokesperson’s words about the signs probably won’t do much to cool things down though the representative wanted it made clear the notices do not — necessarily — “indicate that we intend to remove these trees.”

“We value our tree canopy and all the benefits it provides. The purpose of the postings was to share information with the public about an upcoming evaluation and scheduled maintenance activities that have the potential to impact the trees,” the spokesperson tells CHS.

The City of Seattle’s transportation department says that the trees, many decades old, are being evaluated “to consider possible solutions to address sidewalk damage with minimal impact to the trees.”

The Seattle Department of Transportation says it is looking into whether the sidewalk alignment can be adjusted around the trees and is also considering “other possible solutions to preserve the trees in any areas where this is not feasible.” Continue reading →

‘Is this a bus stop or a DoorDash pick up zone?’ — New hub collecting feedback and ideas for next Seattle Transportation Plan

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Have thoughts on Seattle’s transportation needs and priorities? City Hall has launched a new Seattle Transportation Plan Online Engagement Hub where residents can “take a new survey to share their transportation priorities, come to an upcoming event and tell the department what they see places for change.”

You can visit the hub here.

The effort comes as city leaders set out to shape the next Seattle Transportation Plan for the city, the high level, 20-year planning process used to prioritize and shape street and sidewalk projects. Continue reading →