Friends of Bell Street Park is meeting this Monday, March 10th at 4 pm at the Belltown Community Center. First on the Agenda will be Kerrie Stoops who will be presenting the latest on the Parks Grand opening. The Grand Opening has moved to Saturday, April 12 from 2 – 5 pm.
Tonight there will be a special meeting of the King County Council about a proposal to prevent cuts to Metro bus service. Under this proposal, King County would create a Transportation Benefit District and levy a $60 annual vehicle license (car-tab) fee as well as a 0.1% sales tax. 60% of the revenue would pay for Metro bus service while the other 40% would be distributed to cities for road maintenance. A separate proposal calls for a 25-cent increase in fares and the creation of a new low-income fare.
The hearing will be held in the Ruth Fisher Board Room of Union Station, 401 S Jackson St. Sign-in begins at 5:30 PM and the hearing begins at 6 PM.
From Parks:
Seattle Parks and Recreation will host three community meetings in January to get feedback on the work done by the Parks Legacy Citizens’ Advisory Committee in preparation for a potential 2014 park and recreation funding ballot measure.
The meetings will be held:
- Thursday, January 23, International District/Chinatown Community Center, 719 8thAve. S, at 6 p.m.
- Saturday, January 25, High Point Community Center, 6920 34th Ave. SW, 1 p.m. (free childcare will be provided)
- Thursday, January 30, Bitter Lake Community Center, 13035 Linden Ave. N, at 7 p.m.
The meetings will feature a brief presentation that describes how the committee has prioritized a list of potential investment initiatives. That will be followed by professionally facilitated workshops that seek community input in three specific areas.
Puget Sound Bike Share is in the process of branding King County’s bike share program, which will launch in 2014. We would appreciate your assisting us by participating in the survey:
Today King County Executive Dow Constantine announced a “Plan B” funding proposal to prevent cuts to Metro bus service and fund road repairs. The proposal will go to the voters at a special election on April 22 and ask them to approve:
60% of the funds would go to Metro while the other 40% would be used by cities and the county for road repairs, apportioned by population. Starting in 2015 there would also be a 25-cent increase in fares. For the first time, there would also be a new fare for low-income riders.
Learn more about the proposal and Metro’s funding gap.
Join Parks, the Belltown Business Association, Friends of Bell Street Park and us for daffodil planting at 2nd & Bell at 9:30 AM this Saturday!
Seattle Public Schools will be asking families for feedback on their schools, with questions ranging from effective communication to school safety on the annual email survey.
The District will email or call all families the week of January 13th and do a second round the week of January 20th. The calls and e-mails will be in the home-language spoken. The family survey on our schools will be administered through School Messenger.
The annual climate surveys are administered to all school staff, students and families. In the past, these surveys were conducted in the spring. Seattle Public Schools has moved up the date in order to collect the data at the mid-point of the school year, which will make the survey more formative for our schools. The student and staff survey are paper based and will occur between January 6th and 17th.
Also, Seattle Public Schools is adopting new instructional materials for the math program in grades K-5. They are currently evaluating eight potential math programs and we would like your input.
All program materials – textbooks, workbooks, teacher manuals, etc. – are on display for members of the community to review and provide feedback on. The materials are available for viewing at:
John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence
In the professional library
2445 Third Ave S., Seattle, WA 98134.
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
The JSCEE building will be open during winter break, with the exceptions of Dec. 24, 25, 31 and Jan. 1. You will have until January 8th to submit your comments on all of the different K-5 math programs under review (list below). Those comments will help the adoption committee identify three finalist programs for comprehensive review.
Starting in early March the three finalist programs will be on public display at five different locations across the city. (Sites to be announced) The final program will be selected by the Math Adoption Committee in early April and submitted to the school board for approval in May. Following approval, the materials will be delivered to schools in time for start of classes in the fall.
For more information, please visit the adoption webpage: http://bit.ly/MathAdoptionSPS14
The BCC is pleased to join Emmaus Road Church in sponsoring Holiday Blues & Bingo, from 6-9 PM on Tuesday, December 17th at Street Bean Espresso, 2702 3rd Avenue.
There will be music (not the major key festive songs we hear enough of around town), snacks, beverages, BINGO, and prizes. A barista will be working late to sell espressos (Street Bean is a non-profit; your caffeine $ go to a good cause). Plus Keith “Mr. Belltown” Kentop will be our bingo caller!
Please join us!
The Seattle Department of Transportation has begun construction on the Elliott Bay Seawall project. Learn how the new seawall will be built and what to expect during construction at this open house.
Wednesday, December 11
4-6 PM
Bell Harbor Conference Center, Pier 66
Postcard [PDF]
Join the Belltown Community Council, Belltown Business Association, Seattle Parks & Recreation and the Friends of Bell Street Park for a Daffodil Planting Party this Saturday from 10 AM – 1 PM. We will meet on the corner of 2nd and Bell. Tools and light refreshments will be provided. Bring a friend!
Belltown Community Council 