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YES! Magazine‘s 3rd Annual Celebration at Town Hall Seattle

Vandana Shiva: The Future of Food

Don’t miss this rare Seattle visit by Vandana Shiva, world-renowned biodiversity and global-justice activist. Her “Future of Food” discussion comes as Washingtonians are preparing to vote on Initiative 522, which would require labeling of genetically engineered foods. Dr. Shiva will share her insights on world developments in genetic engineering, biodiversity, and living in tune – rather than at war – with nature.

When: Thursday, September 12, 2013, 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., general seating.  (Pre-event drinks will be available for sale in the Town Hall Seattle cafe).

Where: Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave (at 8th & Seneca).  Convention Center parking $4 with Town Hall validation..

What to expect: A full house of more than 800 people representing a vibrant cross-section of the Seattle community. A dessert reception will follow in the lobby, with live music from Mercy Crow, book signing, and locally sourced refreshments. All proceeds from this evening will benefit YES! Magazine, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations made that night will be matched and are
tax-deductible.

Tickets: Are on sale now and going fast.  $20 tickets include a one-year subscription to YES! Magazine for non-subscribers. If you already subscribe, your subscriber number is your “member code” to get a special $15 ticket price.  A limited number of tickets are also available for a dinner with Vandana Shiva, the board of YES! Magazine, and other YES! supporters.

Sponsors:

Visionaries: Antioch University, Bainbridge Graduate Institute, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Domini Social Investments, Equal Exchange, Maven Meals, MaxEn Capital Advisors, Nature’s Path, One PacificCoast Bank, PCC Natural Markets, Personal Safety Nets, Port Madison Enterprises, Proletariat Wine Company, and the Snoqualmie Tribe.

Changemakers: The Elliott Bay Book Company, Finnriver Farm & Cidery, Fremont Brewing, Girlie Press, Portfolio 21.

Contact: Email Elizabeth Coplan with questions, or to volunteer, or  call 206-842-5009 x213.

About YES! Magazine:
YES! Magazine, 2013 winner of the Utne Media Award for General Excellence, reframes the biggest problems of our time in terms of their solutions. Online and in print, YES! outlines a path forward with in-depth analysis, tools for citizen engagement, and stories about real people working for a better world. Project Censored calls YES! “the standard for solutions journalism.” Amy Goodman, founder of Democracy Now!, calls YES! a “vital voice of independent journalism.” Treehugger.com named YES! the best green business and politics website of 2011. YES! has covered food justice and environmental issues since its founding in 1996. YES! Daily coverage of these topics and other sustainability stories here.

Nyer Urness House is now accepting applications from the public for apartments. These are studio apartments for homeless adults. One adult per unit.

The public application process will run from August 2nd though August 12th, 2013.

Applications are available at:

Nyer Urness House
1753 – NW 56th Street
Seattle, WA 98107
9:00am – 9:00pm

Compass Housing Alliance Client Services Office (CSO)
77 South Washington
Seattle, WA 98104
Monday-Friday, 9:00am-4:00pm

Or on their website: Nyer Urness House Application – Public Process

Applications can be mailed, faxed or dropped off in person and must be received by
August 12th, 2013. If you have already submitted an application, it will
automatically be entered into our public process

The phone number for Nyer Urness House applications (applicants) is: (206)
357-3298.The Nyer Urness House fax number is: (206) 903-4895.

Interested in community gardening? The 34th Annual American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) Conference is coming to Seattle, August 8 – 11.  Workshops and tours are open to the public.

Workshops offer a wealth of information on community gardening and urban agriculture.  On the tours, participants can visit innovative sites, learn about community orchards, even study garden design and art while meeting people from around the world who are involved in community gardening. Most tours occur on Saturday, August 10 from 12:30 – 5:30 p.m. All tours cost $40 and include lunch and transportation. To view the tour descriptions and to register, visit the ACGA website.

Conference workshops and functions are open a la carte with more than 50 topics
to choose from. Conference sessions are as follows:
~ Thursday—PreConference and Dinner – 8 a.m. to 9 p.m for $55
~ Friday – Keynote speaker, lunch, and workshops from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. for $75
~ Friday night – Gala Dinner and Silent Auction for $85
~ Saturday – Workshops from 8 a.m. to 12 noon for $40
~ Saturday and Sunday – Workshops, tours, and closing panel from 8 a.m. – 12 noon for $80

Or consider registering for the whole conference:
~ Whole Conference and PreConference (Thursday PreConference, Five Sessions of Workshops, Tours and more– $350
~ Whole Conference – Everything except the Thursday Preconference — $300.
~ Lodging also available at the Conference Website.
Workshops are conducted by experts in urban agriculture, community gardening, and in the topic itself. Topic sessions include:
~ Horticulture, permaculture, and city livestock
~ Garden/farm to table to compost to garden/farm
~ Health, prevention and therapy
~ Cultural, social, and environmental justice
~ Policy implementation and management

To learn more about each day’s activities, visit the schedule here. Registration for the a la carte sessions is available here.

The ACGA Annual Conference will be held at the University of Washington’s Gould Hall. For more information, contact Rich Macdonald at Rich.Macdonald@seattle.gov

Ballard, WA.  16 intrepid cyclists, ages 3-65, and one pooch set off to explore the wonders of Ballard on the morning of Saturday, July 20th.  Our tour leader, Jean, set an easy pace as we explored the local area.  Along the way we discovered that 4 of the group lived within 2 blocks of each other, and all got to know their neighbors and neighborhood a little better.

Our First Stop was Kirke Park, the newest park in Ballard, where we learned that the religious group that established the property had once lived quite independently, growing their own food and maintaining the buildings themselves.  Groundswell NW worked with neighbors to get this property purchased by the city in 2008 and construction began in 2011.  Features include: community picnic area, play area, orchard, p-patch gardens, and a community garden.

Our Second Stop was the totem pole at Baker Park, another Groundswell project.  Jenny (our sweep) told us that this park was originally a tree nursery and the totem was carved on site by native carver Fred Louth of the Haida tribe.  The tree was a dying monkey puzzle and the feature animal in the totem is the native tree frog.  A few years after being carved the totem pole began to rot at the base, so it was cut and mounted on a concrete base.  The park is maintained by the Whittier Hts Neighborhood Council and the wildlife garden is maintained by the next door Montessori school.

Stop Three was the Ballard P-Patch and site of the Annual Art in the Garden event.  The P-Patch features a beautiful community-built picnic area and entry arch, many well-established gardens.  The nearby parking lot belongs to Our Redeemers Lutheran Church and was at one point the location of Tent City3, a portable, self-managed community of up to 100 homeless people.

At Stop Four, we inspected the stairs that climb up the steep hill from Golden Gardens all the way to 32nd Ave NW & NW 85th.  Stair climbers that day got cheered by an appreciative group of Seven Wonders cyclists.

Stop Five was the incomparable Sunset Hill Park which has a sweeping view of Puget Sound – except that day when the view was completely socked in.  Tour members shared that a nearby tree had been site for an eagle’s nest in the recent past.

At Stop Six, we visited the Nordic Heritage Museum and viewed an authentic Viking Ship!

This ship is a central feature of the Viking Days celebration held in August.  This two-day festival bursts with Nordic food, music, demonstrations, crafts, and a Viking Encampment.

 

Our Final Stop was the oldest church in Ballard, the Interfaith Church, and the historic landmark there showing its building date as 1892!

It was a great day for biking – cool with a slight drizzle and we completed the tour in about 1 1/2 hrs.  We know there is more to explore in Ballard, and biking is a great way to do it!  Keep your eye on our project page for upcoming tours, or contact Jean if you’d like to help plan one!

 

Many thanks to the volunteers and 19 gracious hosts who opened their gardens to nearly 200 people during our 5th Annual Edible Garden Tour last month!    We raised $1300 which will go directly towards community projects in Ballard!   Rita, John, Esther and Karen took home great raffle prizes and many shared great feedback like this:

 

I personally love engaging the owners, who were always willing to share and explain and inspire.

Special thanks to our sponsors: Fiskars, Garden Mentors, Bill Thorness, Joshua McNichol, Stoneway Hardware, Limbacks and Trinity United Methodist Church.

Join SDOT and Sustainable Ballard at a public meeting on Thursday 8/8 at Ballard High School from 6-8PM to discuss the Environmental Impact Statement scope for completion of the “Missing Link” of the Burke-Gilman Trail.    If you can’t attend the meeting, submit your comments by 4PM Friday 8/16 by email or mail to:

Peter Hahn, Director
Seattle Department of Transportation
c/o Mark Mazzola, Environmental Manager
700 5^th Avenue, Suite 3900
Seattle, WA 98104
mark.mazzola@seattle.gov

The following is the full Seattle Department of Transportation announcement:

REQUEST FOR COMMENTS ON THE SCOPE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
BURKE-GILMAN TRAIL EXTENSION PROJECT

Proposal:

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) proposes to complete the “missing link” between two existing segments of the Burke-Gilman Trail. The project will construct a marked, dedicated route for pedestrians and cyclists through the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, between the intersection of 11^th Avenue NW and NW 45^th Street and 30^th Avenue NW at the Hiram M Chittenden (Ballard) Locks. Construction may include the addition of new and replaced impervious surfaces, landscaping, new and replaced stormwater drainage facilities, driveway improvements, street lighting, wayfinding signs, and traffic controls.

Background Information:

The Missing Link is the last, uncompleted portion of a regional, multi-use pedestrian and bicycle trail system that otherwise travels east from Golden Gardens Park in Seattle to Tracey Owen Station in Kenmore. The first paved section of the trail, from Gas Works Park to Kenmore, was completed in 1978. Additional sections of the trail have been completed incrementally since that time. The Burke-Gilman Trail generally follows the right-of-way of the old Burlington Northern railroad line and connects with other regional trails in Bothell (Wayne Golf Course), Redmond (Sammamish River Trail) and Issaquah (Lake Sammamish Trail).

SDOT originally issued a Determination of Non-Significance for a proposal to complete the Missing Link based on the route approved by City Council Resolution 30583. That DNS was revised in 2011 pursuant to an order from the King County Superior Court requiring SDOT to do additional environmental review of a portion of the route along Shilshole Avenue NW, between 17^th Avenue NW and NW Vernon Place (Shilshole Segment). That Revised DNS was reissued in 2012 pursuant to a second order from the King County Superior Court requiring additional design of the Shilshole Segment. On appeal of the Reissued Revised DNS, the City of Seattle Hearing Examiner determined that an environmental impact statement (EIS) should be prepared to address traffic hazard impacts along the Shilshole Segment, specifically those impacts related to truck movements and conflicts with other traffic and trail users. Now, SDOT proposes to prepare an EIS on the entire Missing Link including the evaluation of a broader array of impacts and alternatives.

Proponent:

Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT)

Location of Proposal:

The Missing Link of the Burke-Gilman Trail is located in the Ballard neighborhood between the intersection of 11^th Avenue NW and NW 45^th Street on the east and 30^th Avenue NW at the Ballard Locks on the west. Alternative routes between those two termini will be considered.

Lead Agency:

SDOT

Areas for discussion in the EIS:

As described above, the City of Seattle Hearing Examiner has ordered SDOT to prepare an EIS on the potential traffic hazard impacts on the Shilshole Segment of the Missing Link. Although SDOT has not determined that there will be probable significant adverse impacts from the proposal, SDOT has chosen to expand the scope of its EIS to include discussion of the entire Missing Link, from 11^th Avenue NW to the Ballard Locks, and has preliminarily identified the following areas for discussion in the EIS: transportation (including parking, traffic and traffic hazards); land and shoreline use; earth; plants and animals; historic and cultural resources; and economics. Additional elements of the environment may be included based on SDOT’s review of scoping comments.

Alternatives:

The EIS will consider a range of alternative trail alignments and designs. The route adopted by City Council Resolution 30583, which generally follows the railroad corridor along Shilshole Avenue NW, as well as a No Action alternative, will be included as alternatives. A reasonable number of additional alternatives will be identified based on suggestions in scoping comments and existing information.

Scoping Process/Comment Period:

Agencies, tribes and individuals are invited to submit written comments on the scope of the EIS, including areas of the environment that should be discussed in the EIS and alternatives that should be considered. Comments may be submitted by letter or email to Peter Hahn, the SEPA Responsible Official, at the address given below by 4:00 PM August 16.

An open house/scoping meeting will be held on August 8, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Ballard High School, 1418 NW 65^th Street, Seattle, WA. An opportunity for submitting comments on the EIS scope will be provided.

Responsible Official:

Peter Hahn, Director
Seattle Department of Transportation
c/o Mark Mazzola, Environmental Manager
700 5^th Avenue, Suite 3900
Seattle, WA 98104
mark.mazzola@seattle.gov

Loved apple picking as a kid? Here’s your chance to do it again and serve your community at the same time!

The Community Fruit Tree Harvest, a program of Lettuce Link at Solid Ground, serves our community by gleaning fresh fruit from backyard trees to donate to food banks and free meal programs. Fruit Tree owners put their trees on a list to be harvested by teams of volunteers. The volunteers then take the fruit directly to the people who need it.

There is an abundance of fruit in Seattle, and the Community Fruit Tree Harvest cuts down on waste while ensuring that members of the community living on low incomes and otherwise struggling to feed their families have access to fresh, organically grown fruit!

Become a Volunteer!

• Scout for fruit trees to see if they’re ready to harvest
• Harvest fruit with new friends
• Deliver fruit to food banks, meal programs, shelters, etc.
• Plan and lead harvests

Harvests occur July – October. We are particularly looking for people to become Harvest Leads. Leads will help schedule harvests, and will lead small teams of volunteers to harvest fruit.

A Volunteer Orientation will take place on Thursday, July 25^th from 6:30 to 7:30pm. Location TBD in Wallingford.  Contact Mariah at fruitharvest@solid-ground.org or 206.694.6751.