Neighborhood organizing meeting soon

Looks like Wednesday April 19th will be our next meeting. I’m waiting to get final confirmation on date and time from HNA but until you hear otherwise this is the date. 

I want to push things along so I’m emailing to ask individuals if there are areas, aka committees, you are willing to lead. I’m hoping these tasks can be a short term, as in a several month, concentrated effort. 

Miller Neighbors Group: 

Chair, Vice-Chair or 2 Co-Chairs  (I think the chair person is a spokesperson for the neighborhood and can play a time limited role, I do not want to be this person)

Recoding secretary (just to record meetings) and treasurer (money needs will presumably be light, so treasurer should be a light task)

Webmaster blogger? Some one who can update posts on the Miller and Capitol Hill blogs and perhaps set up a Facebook page (other?)

Committee Chairperson’s:

1. Residential Parking Zone

HALA:

2. Group Coordination & Strategy :  (I see this as my role)

3. Outreach - Alliances :

A. Historic Preservation and Historic Seattle

B. Allied Arts

C. Seattle Neighborhood Coalition

D. Meany School- Miller Park, local businesses

E. Other Groups?

4. Monitoring the city’s official HALA Web Site and Outreach effort. Keep track of EIS progress, important dates.

Even if you cannot attend the meeting on the 19th please take a chairmanship or become a Miller Neighborhood Group officer so we can get this going ASAP.  If we have these roles assigned we can spend our limited time on the 19th strategizing and come away with action items. I can’t stress enough that if we will have any impact we need to move fast and in a concentrated-focused way. I think we will then need to meet on a bi-weekly basis to report in to each other and refine our efforts. 

Many Thanks,

Debrah

Pothole Palooza Kicks off in Seattle

SEATTLE – Seattle is kicking off Pothole Palooza on Monday, April 17, a campaign to aggressively repair potholes across the city. Beginning today, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is asking community members to report neighborhood potholes so we can map them out as our Pothole Rangers move throughout the city.

There are three ways to report potholes:

• Calling our Pothole and Street Repair hotline 206-386-1218
• Using the Find It Fix It App
• Filling out our online Pothole Report form

During the campaign, SDOT crews will be assigned to specific districts around the city. SDOT Crews will be joined by crews from Seattle Parks and Recreation who will assist with these efforts.

“We recognize that residents have been patient through a tough winter that’s resulted in an increased number of potholes and we want them to know that we’re listening when they report them,” said SDOT Director Scott Kubly. “You've told us where they are, and we are marshaling our resources to fill them.”

Potholes occur when street pavement cracks and breaks because of water and vehicle traffic. During winter months, water can cause the material under the pavement to erode, freeze and expand, and then thaw and contract causing the pavement to sink down and break. Many streets, particularly in the outer areas of the city, have a very poor underlying structure, or sub base, which reacts poorly to these conditions. This freeze/thaw cycle can cause the pavement to crack so that it deteriorates quickly under the weight of traffic, and then streets can seem to break out in potholes overnight.

Seattle has had an extremely wet and cold 2016-2017 winter season. Residents typically see more potholes in the winter and spring, following periods of cold temperatures and rain or snow. February and March are when we see the highest numbers of potholes. This past February was the wettest we have experienced in thirty years. For more information about potholes, please visit: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/potholes/.

Sue Romero

Senior Public Relations Specialist

City of Seattle Department of Transportation

sue.romero@seattle.gov

O: 206.684.8548 | M: 206.255.9363

Ongoing Miller Neighborhood efforts

1) Longtime Miller neighbor Debrah Walker recently volunteered to organize our ongoing efforts. See her letter below.

2) Assorted other neighbors have volunteered to help in the efforts. Please contact me (andrew_taylor@me.com) to volunteer, and I'll connect you with Debrah.

3) Debrah asked for my help wth formalizing the neighborhood group:

To get this going again I agree with Andrew that we will need to formalize “Miller Park Neighbors” because we need to be an identifiable group that represents neighborhood wishes. We will need to elect officers and approve bylaws.  Andrew, can you lead us through this process?

4) I contacted the City Department of Neighborhoods for assistance, and they connected me with Thomas Whittermore. I've worked with him before and found him to be both hardworking and very competent. He will be a great asset to us. I'm meeting with him this Friday. Please let me know if there are any specific issues I should bring up.

5) Portland has a great set of resources for neighborhood group, including sample bylaws.

6) BTW the Capitol Hill Blog is going on sabbatical  so we're going to need a more active blog here to share information. Anyone like to help Jonathan and me?

I look forward to helping us revive our neighborhood association,

Andrew Taylor.

********************** Letter from Debrah Walker *************************

Neighbors,

Since I’m not hearing anyone else step forward, I will volunteer on a limited basis to organize a neighborhood effort. Because I’m self employed and swamped with work I’m very hesitant to take on a leadership role. I’ve put in years and I’ve allowed projects to take over too much of my time in the past. I can’t afford to have that  happen at this stage in my life.   I will do this only  IF others will also step forward and commit to specific tasks that, as a group we identify, need to be pursued.

I believe the concerns about HALA come down to the anticipated impacts that will take away the livability of this neighborhood. I would like us to get together again to develop the Miller Neighborhood’s strategies going forward. I think we need to formally identify concerns, possible solutions, and also show how this neighborhood can meet the density and affordability goals put out by HALA but in a way that doesn't sacrifice what is valuable about Miller. When the Environmental Impact Study for Miller-Madison is released we need to be ready to review and respond. To have an effective voice in this we need to be organized and ready.

Gail, do you think we could meet at Holy Name again? Would you be willing to set up a meeting in the Holy Name library?

Here are my thoughts about next steps;

1.  To get this going again I agree with Andrew that we will need to formalize “Miller Park Neighbors” because we need to be an identifiable group that represents neighborhood wishes. We will need to elect officers and approve bylaws.  Andrew, can you lead us through this process?

2. I think we need to identifying what is important to save, do our own survey of what makes the fabric of the Miller neighborhood. What makes it memorable.  Then try to figure out what tools we can find to protect what we think is important.  

3. Approach Sarah Sodt, the City Historic Preservation Officer from Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods to see if we can do a walk through the neighborhood with her. She will be participating in the EIS.

4. Maybe approach the mayor and a few city councilmen and see if they will do a walk through the neighborhood with us?

5. Is someone willing to go to Allied Arts of Seattle, the "Grow Gracefully Campaign “ meetings?  At the Historic Seattle meeting I attended, Jonathan Konkol from  this group spoke. Basically they are advocating for the Livability part of HALA.  He made great points and  was very knowledgeable  and articulate.  He does a great job of advocating for all sides and I think that group could help us with strategies. 

6. Apply for Residential Parking Zone and begin that process. I see this as one of the few ways we can minimize current and proposed impacts. This needs someone to head up and delegate the effort. This needs to begin ASAP

7. Press? 

I will be out of town from this Wednesday until April 4th, but will be available after that. 

Debrah

P.S. Feel free to forward this on to any other neighbors who would be interested

Ongoing Miller Neighborhood HALA related efforts?

The big question, IMHO, is whether anyone is going to lead the HALA related efforts in our neighborhood that many are eager to help with.

I shared this link recently with the core group of people who organized the neighbors' meeting at Holy Names:

https://outsidecityhall.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/udistrict-upzone-a-lesson-for-other-neighborhoods-activists-in-wallingford-and-central-area-know-what-to-do/

It attract some interest and discussion and I further noted:

I am not aware of any ongoing organizing efforts by the Miller neighborhood group after the Holy Names meeting and the City-run meeting at Miller CC.
I fear that the longer people wait, the harder it will be to maintain any momentum/enthusiasm.

Assorted links / surveys /meetings

Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit website now has a live section for your comments:

https://madisonstreetbrt.participate.online

23rd Avenue corridor news:

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/23rd_Ave.htm

***********

Capitol Hill Times article about recent HALA upzoning meeting at Miller:

http://tinyurl.com/gtyqutc

Capitol Hill Blog article about our neighborhood meeting at Holy Names: 

http://tinyurl.com/gsddykk

***********

   

Seattle Neighborhood Coalition

March 11 or 14th,   

2nd Workshop on HALA Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA)

– Understanding the details of the Proposed Zoning and Land Use Changes under MHA.

The Seattle Neighborhood Coalition in conjunction with the City Neighborhood Council’s Neighborhood Planning and Land Use Committee are pleased to announce their second Workshop on the HALA Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA).   Two dates are planned.

The goal for the second workshop is to educate participants in how to do their own evaluation of the MHA changes to their neighborhood so that they can craft their own message and explain in detail how the changes will affect their community.

Times, dates, places, signup for the meetings on their website: http://tinyurl.com/h77rzjg

***********

City of Seattle Housing Affordability (HALA) website:

http://www.seattle.gov/hala

Register on their interactive website ( https://hala.consider.it ) via the log-in [top right] and share all your views with the City.

Assorted neighbor-generated ideas for Tuesday's HALA meeting

(First here's the Capitol Hill Blog view and a link to Tuesday's meeting info and the OFFICIAL meeting announcement)

1) Here is Debrah Walker's large annotated version of the Madison-Miller zoning map. Download and enlarge to read the handwritten annotations. She'll have copes at the meeting tomorrow. She writes:

I’m attaching text photo of a map I’ve modified with hand written notes about the increase of density in the Miller-Madison Urban Village that I plan to bring to the meeting tomorrow night. It illustrates that this Urban Village has already met the stated HALA density goals. It shows the location of new housing units that have been built since 2015, that are currently under construction, or are in the permitting process.  I’ve included a map from the building department showing current permitted projects, the HALA chart stating the 2035 housing increase goal, and a summary.   It’s information both for the presenters and for neighbors and I will include this summary and my written responses to the MHA principles to attach to the comment form. I’m attaching these as well.

One request that I would encourage others to make (insist on) is that the Environmental Impact Study for Miller-Madison be postponed until 2018 and after Meany Middle School is back in its building and the 543 housing units south of E. John are completed and occupied. We won’t know the impacts of these population increases until then. An EIS completed by the end of June, 2017 will not reflect the reality of impacts this neighborhood is facing.

2) A letter to City Council from Miller neighbors Jack Baker and Judith Bader

3) A letter from Miller neighbor Suzanne Lasser, detailing resources they found useful in their upzoning fight.

4) Debrah Walker's "Principles for MHA Implementation" document - a detailed discussion with local numbers and a ONE PAGE SUMMARY of the arguments.

5) Lauren Swift's large map with suggested modifications. She writes:

Attached is a map of the area with my commentary on how the rezoning proposal should be adjusted. I plan to bring it to the meeting tomorrow night and attach it to a comment form and the work group maps. If you would like one, I will have a few copies, or you can print it off. This, of course, is my thinking, and you may not agree with all of it. At any rate, use what is helpful, and ignore what is not.

(Access to all the linked files is HERE)

Feb 15 Miller Park Neighbors meeting report

Where the ~ 132 meeting participants came from 

(NOTE : 200 people have signed up for the 6PM February 28th Madison-Miller Urban Village Community Design Workshop at Miller Community Center. There's lots of good information about  Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) on the Wallingford Community Council website)

(See also the Capitol Hill blog meeting report, with lots of comments and comments on our previous post).

Miller Park Neighbors

Miller Park Livability – Guiding Principles for Planning 

Discussion from 2/15/2017 Meeting

(Discussion from break out groups is in blue)

Miller Park today is a diverse, affordable, livable community. We support a plan for increased density that promotes the following Principles for Planning.

Define diverse

·      diverse in types of housing (single family historic architecture, old apartments/condos, new town homes, Seattle Housing Authority scattered site housing, Capitol Hill Housing)

·      age