12th Avenue Neighborhood & Business District

Thanks to everyone that came out Saturday for the Capitol Hill/12th Avenue Street Sweep! Be sure to check out the curb bulbs near Jefferson and and at the intersection of Madison/Union/12th. They look great with their new plantings and fresh mulch!

Special thanks to Seattle University, Seattle Academy, Umpqua Bank, and Pioneer Fellowship House for organizing teams to help. Thanks also the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce for letting us tag along and partner on this event.

Please join us this Saturday morning for a street cleanup on 12th Avenue from Madison Street to Yesler Way.

Saturday, May 22nd
10am: Meet at the Volcano water fountain in Cal Anderson Park for free breakfast and cleaning supplies.
10am - Noon: Pick up litter on 12th Avenue
Some volunteers will also be weeding and replanting overgrown curb bulbs along 12th Avenue.
Noon: Meet back at Cal Anderson Park for free pizza and ice cream.

Thanks to BECU, Peet’s Coffee, Pagliacci Pizza, and Bluebird Ice Cream for donating food.

Thanks to our partners at the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, Seattle University, Seattle Academy, Umpqua Bank and Pioneer Fellowship House for volunteering.

If you would like to get involved or have questions, please contact Cecelia Gunn at 206-204-3832 or cgunn@capitolhillhousing.org

The unfortunate empty lot on the corner of 12th and Fir is finally getting a little attention. Failed development plans by Pb Elemental left the lot empty for months and months and the site had become a dumping ground for cars, old television sets and other junk.

The story is finally getting better though! Umpqua Bank (based in Oregon) now owns the site and came to visit Capitol Hill Housing to talk about the site and give us an update on their plans. As you can see from the photo above, a clean-up crew immediately tackled the large trash problem on March 10th. Umpqua plans to have temporary fencing up around the lot this week and will be having geotechnical engineers come out and look at the eroding hillside issue on the north and west sides of the lot.

Umpqua Bank is our hero! We’re so excited to have them as a new community partner and so pleased at their quick response to this major neighborhood issue.

Hooray for Umpqua Bank!!

Update
Umpqua has installed a fence around the 12th and Fir lot. And the trash is gone!

Central District News has updated renderings of the new Seattle University/Seneca Development student housing project in the works for the full block at 12th & Cherry. The developers of this project will be out to speak with the 12th Avenue Neighborhood Group soon, hopefully in January, so be on the lookout for that announcement.

This is an important development for many reasons. With more than 200 student beds, it will add a lot of people, and presumably vitality, to 12th Avenue. This project will also have several neighborhood retail spaces, and we are hoping that Seneca will be renting to student-serving AND neighborhood-serving businesses. Lastly, the southwest corner retail space (in the third rendering) will face the park at James Court that is currently in development (between this project and Watertown Coffee) so getting a restaurant in there that is active and lively throughout the day and night will be key to achieving safety goals at the pocket park.

Please join us this Saturday morning for a street cleanup from Broadway to 12th and Pine to Madison. Costumes are optional but come on, it is Halloween!

The details:
10am: Meet at Pigott Hall on the Seattle University Campus for breakfast
Noon: Finish street cleanup and meet back at Pigott Hall for a free lunch and ice cream!

Please click here for a Seattle University campus map to find Pigott Hall.

Information can be found here . We will update as we know more.

Update:

The good folks at the CD News have a handy map here with TONS of local Night Out neighborhood events.  Go out and meet your neighbors tonight!

Tuesday evening, August 4th, is Seattle’s Night Out Against Crime. This is a chance for neighbors to gather in their street to meet new friends, build more cohesive communities and ultimately increase neighborhood-level crime prevention strategies like block watch programs. If you and your neighbors have organized a Night Out for your block, you might also get a visit from your local police officer or fire fighter!

Here are a few Night Out block parties near 12th Avenue. All neighbors are welcome. Leave a comment if you know of other block parties in the neighborhood.

E James Street between 20th and 21st Avenues (check out CD News for more details.)

13th Avenue between E Marion and E Columbia Streets

Tomorrow (sorry for the late notice!) a group of community volunteers will be working together from 9am to 1pm to clean up the Central Area, focusing on the neighborhood between E Jefferson and E Jackson & 12th Avenue to 23rd Avenue.

The project will focus on litter pick-up, graffiti removal, removal of yard waste and helping neighbors clean-up alleys and walkways.

Volunteers are needed! To sign up, e-mail communityclean.project@gmail.com or just show up to the Orca Park (where the whalefin sculpture is) on the corner of 14th Avenue and E Remington Court! Food and festiviteis will follow the morning of clean-up fun.