University Heights Center Needs Your Vote

American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are giving away $1 million dollars to one historic building in Seattle and The University Heights Center is in the running. The Partners in Preservation initiative selected 25 projects that preserve historic places throughout the Puget Sound region and reflect the area's diverse heritage. The contest then opened up, at the beginning of April, to public vote for the winner.

Home to our much-beloved Saturday farmers market in the University District, many of you probably have been only in the parking lot of the University Heights Center; though the building itself is an important community center and historic gem.

Originally an elementary school, the building was built in 1902.  It still has all 240 original windows which now are in desperate need of repair from over a hundred years of use and Seattle rain slowly rotting them away. 


"They're just worn. In the Pacific Northwest, moisture eventually deteriorates wood," said Executive Director Dorothy Lengyel to King 5 News. "We have a special case of Seattle history. If we don't take care of it, we could lose her."

Cultural and education non-profit organizations call the Center home, as well as many community
classes that use the rental spaces. As a longtime non-profit worker myself, I've used the classrooms to hold trainings and orientations many times. The nominal rental charge makes the Center an ideal meeting place for those with a small budget.

People may vote once daily until the May 12th deadline so get online and show University Heights some support! Vote here: http://www.preservationnation.org/partners-in-preservation/seattle/vote.html

Fill Your Bowl for North Helpline This Sunday

North Helpline is holding its very first Empty Bowls fundraiser this Sunday, April 25, from noon to 4pm at Northgate Community Center. Live music will be provided by the Jillian Graham Band, Todd Christoffel, and Eric Madis and Peter Martin. Soup has been donated by La Casa Del Mojito, Hudson, the Wedgewood Alehouse, Lake Forest Bar and Grill, and Blue C Sushi. In addition, local artisans will be onsite selling their wares with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit North Helpline.

What is an Empty Bowls event? For a donation, community members can come and choose a one-of-a-kind, handcrafted bowl, enjoy a simple yet delicious meal of soup, salad, and dessert, listen to local bands play, and meet other members of your community.

North Helpline has been tirelessly supporting Northeast Seattle for over twenty years by continuously developing services to support the growing number of people living at or near the poverty line in the area. With food requests up 32% over this time last year and requests for rental assistance/eviction prevention funds up by close to 40%, your support of them is needed now more than ever.

I'll be there - come join me!

Drink a Beer to Benefit North Helpline

Danae, from Lake City Live, posted a great event happening at The Beer Authority this weekend. On Saturday they'll be collecting non-perishable food for North Helpline, Lake City's food bank, emergency services, and health clinic.

LCL mentions another added benefit, thanks to the Wedgwood Alehouse:

From Barry at The Beer Authority: A big shout out goes to our friends at the Wedgwood Alehouse for helping us get the word to the masses. When you get a chance check out their pub. As a token of our appreciation, anybody who says "the Wedgwood sent me" gets an additional 5% off their bottle beer to go purchase this Saturday. Cheers!

NE Seattle Treasure Hunt Tomorrow!

Sustainable NE Seattle is promoting a Local Treasure Hunt to seek out "those assets that help in our effort toward resiliance."  The group is asking those interested to find unique "items" such as an edible garden, an unknown green space and beekeepers and bring the information to their monthly meeting at 6:30pm on Thursday.   Sustainable NE describes the goal of the hunt:

Who lives in our NE Seattle area and has skills we need to know about, or a company we can support? Perhaps land they want to farm? Take a look around your neighborhood. Talk to your friends. Bring the information - better yet, the found treasure - to our February meeting so we can start mapping our assets, discovering our local treasures. Part of becoming resilient is understanding what local products, skills and assets we already have so we can determine what we are lacking to live life fully.

The event sounds like a fun way to compile useful resource lists while meeting new people in NE Seattle neighborhoods.  For a complete list of all treasure hunt items, go here.

Sustainable NE Seattle's monthly meetings are held at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church located at 8008 35th Avenue NE.

Seattle Launches Year Of Urban Agriculture Campaign

Yesterday Mayor McGinn and the Seattle City Council announced an exciting new program called the Year of Urban Agriculture. It's mission is to promote urban agriculture by increasing community awareness and access to locally grown food.  As part of the effort, the City launched a new web page dedicated to information and resources, as well as local events, related to urban farming.

"We are committed to making changes that are better for people and better for the environment. This means making it easier to garden and grow food, to ensure that good food is available in all neighborhoods, and to find innovative ways to encourage local and regional food production," said Mayor McGinn. 

Thornton Creek Alliance Meeting Tonight

Stretching over 11.6 square miles, Thornton Creek is Seattle's largest watershed.  It's home to many different types of birds, ducks and currently has three to four salmon species, as well as trout, still migrating through it every year.  Unfortunately, the impact from over sixty years of constant development, and being located in such a densely urban area, has caused the creek to be very polluted.

Thornton Creek Alliance, along with other local advocacy groups, have been working since 1993 to educate residents and reverse damage done to the watershed.  At the general meeting tonight Russell Link, of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, will be presenting Gardening on the Wing: Bats, Bees, Birds and Butterflies. Learn about how to attract bugs and wildlife that are wonderful for your garden and get rid of, or learn to live with, the ones that aren't so great.

The meeting is being held at the Maple Leaf Lutheran Church (10005 32nd Ave NE), from 7:00 to 9:00pm. Link will be selling copies of his books Living with Wildlife and Landscaping for Wildlife, as well as nesting boxes.  All proceeds will benefit the Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary Program.

How do you envision Wedgwood?

I recently found The Wedgwood Vision Project blog and was impressed by the community-building taking place on this site.  Funded by a $15,000 grant from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, its purpose is to facilitate growth and development within Wedgwood for one year.

I'm disappointed that I will miss the kick-off meeting on January 14th because this project has the potential to bring new ideas and change to the neighborhood.  Here's the meeting details so you can attend and tell me what I missed!


Wedgwood Vision Project
Thursday, January 14th
Wedgwood Presbyterian Church
(corner of 80th & 35th)
6:30 - 9:00pm

KEXP Show to Benefit University District Food Bank - Tonight!

KEXP's longest running local music show, Audioasis, is hosting a benefit concert for the University District Food Bank, tonight at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard. 

The night includes performances and interviews with Constant Lovers, Dog Shredder, Vultures 2012, The Keeper and Android Hero. The net proceeds will be donated to the Food Bank.  Non-perishable food donations are also encouraged and will be collected at the door.

Buy tickets online at Brown Paper Tickets.  Here's the schedule (doors open at 5:30pm):

• 6:30pm - 7:00pm Constant Lovers (LIVE on KEXP)

• 8:00pm - 8:30pm Dog Shredder (LIVE on KEXP)

• 9:15pm – 10:00pm Vultures 2012

• 10:15pm – 11:00pm The Keeper

• 11:15pm – 12:00am Android Hero

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