Seattle Mayor Paul Schell has come out in support of extending the Sound Transit rail line from the University District to Northgate. The proposed 'do-it-for-less-dollars' rail would be an elevated steel-on-steel line that would travel along I-5, passing within a few hundred feet of, among other things, seven churches between the U-District and Northeast 75th. It will be Chicago's EL, not Portland's MAX. What does the city council think?

The neighborhood plans developed for the areas around Ravenna-Bryant--University, Roosevelt and Greenlake--all attempt to provide for the dense population the City wants in those neighborhoods. The city council doesn't require the plans to consider the impact of growth on Seattle public schools. Why not?

As more people live in the city there is more competition for our common areas--the parks, pools and community centers. All the neighborhood plans call for investment by the City in the common spaces intended to alleviate the crowding that comes with density. How much has the City budgeted for this? How much should the City invest?

The Ravenna-Bryant Community Association, the Laurelhurst Community Club, and Inverness are sponsoring a candidates' forum on Tuesday, October 12 from 7-9 p.m. to try to answer these and other questions facing our city. Four council seats are up for grabs. All the candidates and the pro and con sides of I-695 have been invited. Materials on other issues--the school board race, the Seattle Center levy, and the Port of Seattle races will be available at the forum, which will be held in the Ravenna Eckstein Community Center, 6535 Ravenna Avenue Northeast.

Setup for the meeting starts at 6:30. RBCA is providing the coffee, and Laurelhurst and Inverness are bringing cookies. Come meet, greet, and see what the candidates have to say!

By Robin Jenkinson, RBCA Board

This fall, Ravenna Park is the proud recipient of two monetary grants. One is a reforestation grant from the Department of Natural Resources, and the other is a neighborhood improvement project grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. These grants will support part-time coordinators, $5000 of native plant purchases, community education, and interpretive signage. In order to "match" these grants, we need support from volunteers. For each hour volunteered, each tool donated for a work party, or each native plant gifted, we "earn" the grant money. So pull on your work gloves, grab your shovel, and come on down to Ravenna Park on a work day, and help create a valuable asset for the future.

WORK PARTY DATES

Come for any length of time between 9am-3pm during a work party.

Saturday, October 9: Open Woodland planting, plenty of western red cedar, Doug fir, shrubs such as twinberry and creeping honeysuckle, and more wildflowers like Douglas aster and big-leafed lupine.

Saturday, November 6: Shady Evergreen Forest planting, a wide variety of ground covers like youth-on-age, wild ginger and foamflower, as well as more trees and shrubs.

Other work days may be added later.

If you can attend these work parties or could volunteer either other skills or at other times, PLEASE RSVP to nibor@u.washington.edu or wcbrownc@yahoo.com.

If you RSVP you will be notified by e-mail about any changes to the above schedule and about work party details such as where to meet in the park and what to bring.

If you do not have e-mail, call the Parks Department volunteer coordinator for North Seattle, at 233-3979.

MORE ABOUT RESTORATION GOALS

Reforesting Ravenna Park involves restoring native plant communities and removing invasive, non-native weeds, creating wildlife habitat, education about our unique resource, and building community. The reforestation and weed removal is based on photographs and botanical lists from 1903, before the park was logged, filled and invaded by weeds.

This project will restore certain areas to resemble their past glory. The native plants installed will provide more diverse food and shelter for bugs, birds and other animals.
 

Long-time neighbor Saxe Floral will be closing its greenhouses and developing the property into a mixture of multi-family and commercial uses. While the family plans to keep the florist business, they want to develop the rest of the property.

Zoning along Northeast 65th allows building apartments above retail, while the area behind is zoned for a mix of townhouses (to a height of 35') and neighborhood commercial. The family hopes to start application for permits within the year.

The family said it hopes to continue the parking strip plantings which have graced Northeast 65th and 25th Northeast. While change is inevitable it will be sad to lose the bright colors and calm even a few minutes walk through the greenhouses could bring .

See letter from Saxe Floral for more information on Saxe's development plans.

The University of Washington is making a new long-term development plan to guide its construction and transportation programs for the next decade or so. During that time the Seattle campus and surrounding neighborhoods will grow significantly.

Neighborhood organizations (including the RBCA) are involved in the planning through the City-University Community Advisory Committee (CUCAC), a group set up in the 1970’s which now includes twelve neighborhood groups and four representatives of University students, faculty, and staff. In the past this group has succeeded in promoting agreements between the city and the University to limit traffic volumes and soften other impacts of University growth.

In addition to CUCAC, the University has a program to involve the public directly in designing the plan. Public meetings on values and goals, co-sponsored by CUCAC, were held last spring. This fall there will be two sets of meetings, one on transportation to the Seattle campus, and one on campus development. Both will include presentations by UW staff, discussion groups, and the opportunity to comment.

Transportation, Wednesday October 13

Afternoon: 12:30-2:00 PM
Husky Union Bldg. (HUB)

Evening (repeat): 6:30-8:00 PM
University Heights Community Center

Campus development, Tuesday November 16

Afternoon: 12:30-3:00 PM, HUB
Husky Union Bldg. (HUB)

Evening (repeat): 6:00-8:30 PM
University Heights Community Center

These meetings offer a better-than-average chance to influence the development of this area because a number of the planning decisions will become agreements between the City and the University, and they will actually abide by them. This mechanism has served the neighborhoods well in the past.

Further information on the Campus Master Plan is available online at http://www.washington.edu/community/cmp. The RBCA representative to CUCAC is Bill Clark (525-8961 or bill@iphc.washington.edu).

Upcoming events:

Ravenna Park reforestation work parties, Saturday, October 9, and Saturday, November 6 (see article).

Candidates' forum, Tuesday, October 12, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., Ravenna Eckstein Community Center (see article).

UW transportation planning--public meetings, Wednesday, October 13 (see article).

RBCA monthly board meeting, Wednesday, November 10, 7:00 p.m., Ravenna Eckstein Community Center

UW campus development planning--public meetings, Tuesday, November 16 (see article).

RAVENNA-BRYANT COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
Ravenna Eckstein Community Center
6535 Ravenna Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98115

GENERAL MEETING AND CANDIDATES' FORUM, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 7:00 p.m.