The Hawthorne Holler

Annual HHCC Meeting

March 23, 2005

Pres. Bonnie Miller chaired the HHCC annual meeting at Sand Point Community Church at 7:30PM Wed., Mar. 23rd. Boy Scout Troop #186 led the Pledge of Allegiance and HHCC Officers and Trustees for 2005 were elected—see bar to the left. Over 60 neighbors attended.

Fire Chief Gregory Dean reported Fire Station No. 38 on NE 55th St.—the station closest to Hawthorne Hills—has been added to the Historic Register and will be sold. It is too small and too old (1925) to be renovated. Fire Station No. 17 at Roosevelt and NE 50th St. will be rebuilt to serve a greater area—including Hawthorne Hills. An additional apparatus bay will be installed there. Seattle firefighters’ average response time is less than 5 minutes; Chief Dean assured the group Station No. 17 will be able to respond as quickly to emergencies as Fire Station No. 38 has.

City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck described efforts to promote “Smart Growth—Green Growth” in Seattle. The push toward energy-efficient building, triggered by the 1973 gas crisis, results in higher performance buildings, a reduced ecological footprint, reduced water consumption, improved waste water treatment, and the use of recycled materials. Steinbrueck observed Europe is ahead of the US in Green Building, but Seattle is on the cutting edge of American cities—all city buildings now need to conform to LEED specifications. Initial building costs may be higher, but there are life-cycle savings in reduced energy costs. Steinbrueck’s goal is to motivate Green Building practices in residential as well as commercial uses—with tax incentives or relaxed code restrictions in other areas

City Councilmember Richard Conlin drew a laugh when he said he’d agreed to chair the City’s Transportation Committee “in a fit of exuberance or optimism.” The City’s first priority to maintain existing bridges and roads is compromised by a half-million dollar maintenance backlog. Bike paths and traffic signals don’t get the attention nor dollars they need; prospects for very large projects—the 520 bridge; the Viaduct—are uncertain, falling millions of dollars short of what is required. The recently increased State gas tax will help.

As lifetime environmentalists, my wife, Kim Wells, and I had long dreamed of building a house that would be both a joy to live in and easier on the environment. We found many examples of odd-looking high-tech houses in rural areas, but we wanted to build a conventional-looking house here in Seattle that would still be green.

We accomplished this using standard construction techniques with many minor modifications. On entering our house, most obvious are the thick, super-insulated walls, which mean we have very little need for heat, while we keep cool even during summer 2004’s unusually hot days. Our passive solar design supplies about 25% of our heat.

Many neighbors have stopped by to ask about our 7000-gal. rainwater cistern (used for toilets and irrigation), our solar hot water, and now our solar electric system. We encourage others to try these products, but widespread adoption is still some years away. Using energy- and water-efficient appliances and plumbing is much easier and more cost effective. Look for the Energy-Star program or Seattle Public Utilities “Saving Water” partnership.

Energy-efficient but air-tight houses have caused problems with mold and moisture; we made sure our house was a healthy house. Although details such as the moisture-barrier walls and use of low-toxic materials are not obvious, they are so important that the American Lung Association recommends them for all houses.

Inside the house, we’ve used salvage wood, sustainably harvested wood, and durable low-toxic products. We have a space-efficient layout. Our house is about 1900SF of finished space, with a 600SF mother-in-law apartment. We also have a full unfinished basement and ample storage in the attic. We were very pleased to receive the City of Seattle first-ever 5-Star BuiltGreen award for a residential dwelling this past spring.

Our house will be open for solar tours on Saturday, October 1st, from 10AM-4PM. Please drop by.

Bob Scheulen & Kim Wells own Silver Platters. Bob is the former president of the NW Eco-Building Guild. For more information on the Sensible House, see www.sensiblehouse.org.

The North Precinct Advisory Council (NPAC) to the Seattle Police Department (SPD) is a voluntary, non-profit organization which promotes communication and cooperation between SPD’s North Precinct and the neighborhoods and businesses it serves. (The North Precinct area stretches north of the Ship Canal to NE 145 St.) NPAC represents over 40 community groups and business organizations; membership is open to any neighborhood council, business or other group in its area. NPAC is committed to expanding communication with SPD and maintaining adequate police staffing and resources to improve public safety in the North Precinct.

A vital function is representing its constituents before city, county and state agencies, to make sure these interests and public safety concerns are heard. Recent important issues include:

Police Staffing in Seattle. Despite significant population growth and increasing density, for many years police staffing levels in Seattle have been stagnant due to under-funding by the City. NPAC has consistently requested the Mayor and City Council to increase police and crime prevention funding. It recently filed a broadly-based community petition with the City requesting more officers. NPAC believes these efforts paid off--a recent proposal from the Mayor’s office adds 25 new police officers. While SPD needs many more officers than that, this is a significant step in the right direction.

City Parks and Noise Ordinances. For several years Seattle has had a very effective Parks Exclusion Ordinance which has helped keep our parks safer. Several years ago the Ordinance came under attack by groups which argued if the City can’t provide sufficient housing for homeless and transients, then they should be allowed to camp in our parks. NPAC fought hard to keep the Parks Exclusion Ordinance unchanged. NPAC has also supported legislation for an effective noise ordinance; recently a new ordinance was passed which should become an important tool to keep our neighborhoods quieter and more livable.

Other Issues. NPAC successfully lobbied the Washington State Liquor Control Board and the City Council to adopt regulations allowing alcohol impact areas. City Council has since approved the state's first alcohol-impact area in Pioneer Square and may expand it to the University District. If licensees don't go along with new restrictions on hours and single-container sales voluntarily, City Council could ask the State Liquor Control Board to require restrictions. NPAC has also supported several initiatives by the North Precinct to target car thieves, including a City Attorney’s Office program to prosecute car thieves in Seattle Municipal Court where sentencing guidelines are stricter.

Come to a Meeting! The monthly NPAC meetings are held on first Wednesday of each month--except July--at the North Seattle Police Precinct, 10049 College Way N. near Northgate, 7-8:30PM. Meetings are open to all citizens. Speakers from the City Council or other government agencies discuss crime prevention issues, and Capt. Oliver, SPD’s North Precinct Commander, reports on crime statistics in North Seattle by. Special “target forms” are passed out at each meeting so that police staffing and patrols can be focused to reduce or eliminate specific problems. Come and hear discussion of these and other issues directly affecting you and your neighborhood!

—George Holzapfel

From the North Precinct Police Blotter

Peaceful Hawthorne Hills has one of the lowest incidence of crime in the city. At the June 15th HHCC Trustees meeting, George Holzapfel reported crime is down in 2005--except for auto thefts. The most popular area for both car thefts and recovery of stolen cars this year is Northgate Shopping Mall—so lock up as you head into Nordie’s Anniversary Sale. And residents still need to use caution regarding open windows and unlocked doors.

Crime Prevention Officer Diane Horswill provided April/May 2005 updates to the SPD crime data in the table below. 4/13/05 10:45PM 4000-block 55th NE: Homeowner calls 911 to say her alarm was going off; feels there is someone inside the home. Officers check; house is clear. 4/14/05 11:00PM 65th & Princeton Way: Resident reports a black BMW trying to sell drugs to kids; provides license plate which checks clear. Officers unable to locate the car. 5/18/05 1:51PM 65th & Princeton Way: 2 white teenage males walking east, one with rifle or BB gun strapped to his back.; officers arrive; cannot find kids. 5/26/05 6:30PM 4800 block Terrace Dr. NE: Man known to be mentally ill stands in front of his window completely naked, making noises to cause people to look at him. Officers make contact with the man. 5/27/05 9:00PM Princeton Ave/Princeton Way: Man reports kids hiding in bushes shooting paintballs at passing cars; his car is hit. Other April-May activity: Five cars stolen and recovered; two more cars stolen with no recovery yet. Several calls made to Mithun Place NE centering on domestic disturbances. But “all and all it has been pretty quiet as compared to other neighborhoods,” Officer Horswill advised.

—Gail Chiarello

Unclassifieds—Free to HHCC Members! Join up! See p. 7!

Refrigerator 9.5 cu.ft. Penney's manual defrost. $50 or best offer. Call Bonnie Miller at 206-524-8713.

Business Services including accounting, bookkeeping, word-processing, publication development, event planning. Call Gail Chiarello at 206-523-0715.

Garden Consultation & Design. Nationally recognized California Foothills Cottage Gardens landscaper relocated to Hawthorne Hills! Perennials, rock gardens & drought-tolerant plantings her specialty. Call Carolyn Singer at 206-522-2807 or visit www.fcgardens.com.

Create a kitchenette! Barely-used: 1 Kenmore compact frig, black, 4.4 cu. ft.

$130. Never used: 1 Delonghi oven, big enough for 10-lb. chicken, white, $150; 1 Broil King 2-burner range, electric, chrome, $40; toaster, $10. Suzanne Uchida, 206-522-8932.

NorthWest Student Exchange. Host families needed for high-school-age foreign exchange students. Call Jeff Laband at 206-527-7626.

Your Unclassified Here. Don’t forget to join the HHCC—complete form on previous page and mail to HHCC Treasurer, 5831 Ann Arbor NE, Seattle 98105.

July is a quiet time in our neighborhood. Most birds have finished nesting, and their urge to sing is dampened as day length increases and their hormone levels decrease. There may still be a few birds on nests or a few young birds in our yards. The best thing you can do for them is to leave them alone. People often think they should put a "baby" bird back into its nest, but parents know best! Sometimes adult birds have pushed the young out of the nest because the nest has been discovered by a predator. Putting a baby bird back into the nest may be the equivalent of a death sentence. So leave it alone--the parents will keep feeding it on the ground. If it is big enough to hop, it can hide. Instead, keep cats indoors! Domestic cats kill millions of songbirds every spring. Don't feed squirrels—like rats, they eat the eggs of our native songbirds. And don't put out food which attracts crows such as

dog biscuits, bread or garbage; crows also eat the songbird eggs.

Robins and crows are the most common native birds nesting in our neighborhood. Starlings, House Sparrows and city pigeons are the most common introduced species—the ones we don't want to encourage. They are pests and will reproduce like rabbits in the crevices at rooflines or in eaves. The best thing is to close off any openings to your house where they are getting in. But don't confuse them with Violet-green Swallows which also nest in cavities in houses or with Barn Swallows which build their nests out of mud in carports and breezeways. Both are beneficial because they eat mosquitoes.

Other native birds that nest in our neighborhood include Stellar's Jays, Black-capped Chickadees, Bushtits, Bewick's Wrens, Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Juncoes, and White-crowned Sparrows. If you have anything other than lawn, that is, if you have shrubs and trees and leaf litter and/or a water source, you probably have had a bird nest in your yard. If you have very tall trees, you may have had woodpeckers nesting. And the luckiest of all are those who have had a hummingbird nest in their yard!

GC: Don and Saundra Aker report a peregrine falcon around 43rd Ave NE and NE 58th St. Is this possible? Don has seen it every winter for 4-5 years. It’s eaten all the pigeons! He is not sure if it has a mate; he has never seen more than one at a time. The bird perched once last winter in their walnut tree. Saundra says it was very large, with lovely grey-brown-black mottled coloring. She says the crows sure do not like the peregrine!

JB: A peregrine falcon in our neigh-borhood is a definite possibility. There are enough living in Seattle, and they have large territories. I have seen them at Montlake Fill and also occasionally at Mag-nuson Park. They don't stay at Magnuson or in our neighborhood; they just pass through. A peregrine wouldn’t hang out with its mate in the winter. They pair up in March or so, when they go back to their nesting spot. They have “site fidelity”—they go back to the same place, same time, year after year. Crows and other raptors don’t like peregrines; any bird bigger than a crow can take their young. Still I doubt the peregrine keeps the crow population down; I don’t think peregrines actually take many crows. But they do take pigeons, so that’s a good thing! Thanks for telling me about it! They are beautiful. —Jan Bragg

Jan Bragg is a Master Birder with the Seattle Audubon Society.

Liberty & Justice for All—A Look at Politics in the Hood Last November voters reduced King County Council districts from 13 to 9; effective January 2006, a revised KC District 2, representing Hawthorne Hills, will extend south almost to Renton. On June 28th, HH’s current KC Councilmember Bob Ferguson won the Democratic nomination against fellow KC Councilmember Carolyn Edmonds to represent District 1 (north of NE 75th and into Shoreline). Democratic KC Councilmember Larry Gossett currently represents the bulk of revised district 2; Republican Brian Thomas will challenge Gossett for the seat. Other contests this fall: Four City Council seats are up for grabs with interest focused on Seat 2—Richard Conlin, incumbent, opposed by Casey Corr and Paige Miller; and Seat 8, Richard McIver, incumbent, with strong challenger Dwight Pelz. Incumbents Nick Licata and Jan Drago (Seats 4 and 6) have drawn no challengers so far. Other events: July 4th noon Seattle Republicans Picnic, Woodland Park Shelter no. 6. July 30th noon King County Democrats Picnic, Lower Woodland Park. Aug. 4th 7PM 46th LD Democrats Candidates Endorsement Olympic View Elementary School. Aug. 27th Noon King County GOP Summer Picnic, Freed Farm, Bothell.

Aggr. Res’l Non-Res.

Homicide Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Burglary Theft Auto Theft Arson TOTAL

Census Tract 42* 0 1 0 0 9 0 27 24 1 62

City-Wide TOTAL 4 43 371 514 972 448 6795 2561 47 11755

% of City Total — 2.3% — — 0.9% — 0.4% 0.9% 2.1% 0.5%

*Census Tract 42 includes 10 blocks—30th Ave. NE to 40th Ave. NE.—to the west of Hawthorne Hills. Officer Horswill estimates two-thirds of the crimes reported in Census Tract 42 occur in the 10-block swath which is not part of Hawthorne Hills. Business districts and arterials attract more crime than low-traffic residential streets.

At Magnuson Park:

Circus Contraption Grand American Traveling Dime Museum June 3-July 30 Fridays-Sundays 7:30PM. $20 Community Center Aud. Bldg. 47—Enter NE 74th St. 1-800-838-3006 www.CircusContraption.com

Six Free Summer Family Concerts Community Garden Amphitheatre 7PM. Enter NE 74th St. At 4-way stop sign, park anywhere.

July 15 Harmony & Emerald City Jazz Ensemble Smooth, cool summertime jazz.

July 22 Lora & Sukutai Marimba & Dance Ensemble High-energy music from Zimbabwe.

July 29 The Edsels TBack to the 50s and 60s when music was cool

Aug. 5 Lizella Rockets Oldtime fiddle music from the Blue Ridge Appalachians

Aug. 12 Caribbean Vision Tropical hot sounds of steel drums

July 31 Sand Point Antique Sale.

Sept. 25 PlantAmnesty Fall Plant Sale 10AM-3PM Contact: Liza Burke 206-783-9813. www.plantamnesty.org

Metropolitan Market to Open Picnic Area near the Burke-Gilman

Sand Point Metropolitan Market is building a picnic area this summer between its parking lot and the Burke-Gilman Trail, so bicyclists and walkers who want to grab tasty deli take-out can eat in the shade. The market will also host weekend Summertime Cook-outs July 16-17 and 30-31 from 1-6PM.

Silver Platters Northgate—New Listening Booths Check out your favorite CDs and other media at the cool new booths at Silver Platters Northgate store. Store hours Mon-Sat 10AM-10PM and Sun 11AM-7PM.

Quality Auto Service—Home of the $13.95 Oil Change. It will cost you more to do it yourself plus you have to recycle your oil.

It must be summer; the birds are singing at 4:30AM! Neighbors start their morning runs earlier, and the walkers are out after 9PM. This seems to be the most colorful time of the year for our gardens and yards.

One noticeable difference I have seen over the past 30-plus years is that more and more of our neighbors are incorporating the parking strip into the landscape. At one time almost all of the parking strips in Hawthorne Hills were flat green stretches. Now I notice more trees planted in the parking strips; there are more lovely shrubs and plants, and even beautifully designed stone walkways.

In conversations with the Seattle Department of Transportation about traffic-calming devices (AKA Slow-The-Cars!), staff said long stretches of green parking strips provide more sight lines, and drivers tend to push the pedal-to-the-metal. Planted parking strips tend to slow the traffic.

So not only do planted parking strips make our neighborhood more beautiful, they can provide for safer streets and, at the same time, add some of that good green stuff that gave the City the appellation "The Emerald City"!

—Bonnie Miller

UW’s President Mark Emmert has postponed a decision to recommend to the Board of Regents that the university build a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory (RBL). He will "ask independent experts to examine the plans that have been developed thus far and to provide their judgment on the adequacy of their proposed safeguards." Meanwhile NIAID has delayed its funding decision. Emmert will not make his own recommendation until late summer or early fall.

Two reports have been given to Emmert. The first--the Olswang report--summarizes the community reactions, and was delivered May 12, 2005. The second—the Siting Committee report, co-chaired by Walter Stamm of Allergy & Infectious Disease, and Douglas Wadden, Visual Communication Design— was delivered to Emmert on May 23, 2005. The Olswang report summarizes testimony from 3 public forums, e-mails, and letters. Few members of the public addressed whether there should even be a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory in the Pacific Northwest, nor whether the UW should operate it. Most concerns addressed the proposed site; and there were many negative comments. Above all, people are concerned about safety. Other issues include academic freedom, deviating from the University’s master building plan, depreciation of local home values, and over stretching police resources.

The Siting Committee’s charge was to give general advice on the proposed RBL and to develop a comprehensive set of pros and cons for three alternatives--(1) use existing building, (2) new construction on campus, or (3) new construction off-campus. It points out the first option does not satisfy criteria for an RBL. For the third option, the Siting Committee chose to define “off-campus” as near off-campus, with no suggestions of where these sites might be. They also observed near off-campus would be less convenient, but equally susceptible to public criticism. Their report lines up the pros and cons of the university-preferred 45S site at 15th Ave. NE and Boat St., but unfortunately does not address the pros and cons of the 4 other potential sites on campus. As most of the criticism has been leveled at the issues arising from the Boat St. location, this is a serious deficiency.

Our Northeast District Council (NEDC) has sent its own views in a letter to Emmert. NEDC hopes Emmert will decide not to pursue the plan to build an RBL on campus. In addition to concerns about safety, security, control, oversight and resources, NEDC raises interesting philosophical questions as to whether the University ought to be involved in biodefense research at all. However, since the University is already funded to do such research, this is probably moot. (The UW reports and Emmert's reply to the Siting Committee are available at: http://depts.washington.edu/rbl3.)

—Margaret Thouless

One of the top Labrador Retrievers in the US lives in Hawthorne Hills. Blue Sky's Jenny MH (Master Hunter) lives with Don & Saundra Aker and competes in American Kennel Club Hunt Tests throughout the West. Jenny completed her Master Hunter Title before she was 3-1/2 years old and qualified to compete in the annual Master National at that time.

Each year more than 3,000 retrievers--Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Flat Coat Retrievers, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Irish Water Spaniels, Standard Poodles & Nova Scotia Tolling Dogs--compete in AKC Licensed Master Class Hunt Tests all over the US. Of these, only 300 qualify to compete in the Master National Hunt Test. Jenny qualified in 2004; then came in heat two days before she was to leave. Females in heat are not allowed to compete.

She has qualified for the Master National again this year, but meanwhile she’s taking time out to be a Mom & is expecting puppies on July 2. The Sire Chena River Chavez is not only a great competitor (he qualified for 15 Nationals) but also a great sire of puppies.

Don and Saundra have already accepted deposits for 6 puppies (average litter is 8)--even though they are not yet born. Jenny will be back in training by mid August and should be able to compete in this years Master National.

Hey—Tuesday, Aug. 2nd Neighbors Night Out!!!!

Block Parties throughout Hawthorne Hills

This year 37 million people across the US will attend Neighbors Night Out block parties. Some parties may be no more than lemonade & cookies; others will feature live music, dancing, potlucks, and games. "Building Community One Neighbor at a Time" is the theme. One by one, neighbors get to know one another and build a stronger, safer community. Registration deadline is July 22, 2005. Register at: www.ci.seattle.wa.us/police/Nightout/NorthRegister.htm or contact Diane Horswill at 206-684-7711. Unless you receive your registration back, assume it has been received and your block is ready to go. If you do not live on an arterial street and you do not close your intersection, you are welcome to close the street to traffic for your Night Out Celebration. Indicate when you register that you plan to close the street. Individual blocks are responsible for providing barricades. On the registration form mark the street name and also the hundred block of the street. There is no fee to close the street for Night Out participants.

Despite a temporary truce in the battle for the heart and soul of Magnuson Park, skirmishing continues. After community and environmental opposition to a proposed mega-sports complex at the park forced City Council to reduce the number of halide-lit synthetically turfed fields from 11 to 7 (2 more fields may be turfed but not lit) in June 2004, concern shifted to sustainability of the wetlands. This April City Council approved lighting only 4 ballfields now, followed by a 2-year evaluation of the impacts on habitat. Then Parks Department may return with a request to light the remaining fields. This environmentally sound “phased” approach, led by Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck, won support from environment- and community-friendly members Richard Conlin and Nick Licata. Jean Godden and Jim Compton also voted for the “phased” approach; opposed were Jan Drago, Richard McIver, and David Della. (In the final Council vote, Drago and McIver went over to the winning side.)

Other actions included a successful community and union effort this past fall and winter which turned back proposed Washington National Guard involvement in the ballfields project. Parks was requesting $20-$30 million of pro bono earth-moving services from the already overstretched WA Guard. Another victory was the May 4, 2005 decision of the

(continued on page 4)

(Magnuson Park, continued from p. 1): Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission that henceforth City Advisory Board members would be subject to the City’s Code of Ethics. This was in response to a citizen complaint that the President of Friends of Athletic Fields, Peter Lukevich, who also sits on the Pro Parks Levy Oversight Committee (LOC), had inappropriately used his public office to advance personal economic interests in the ballfields plan. SEEC Director Wayne Barnett found Mr. Lukevich’s conduct “troubling,” but was forced to dismiss the complaint, barred by a 1991 SEEC Advisory Opinion which effectively exempted all City Advisory Committee members from the Code. Going forward, only ad hoc Advisory Committee members will be exempted; the SEEC will take up the definition of ad hoc at its August 3, 2005 meeting. The May 4th ruling was a win for good-government advocates throughout the City.

Most recently, June 20, 2005, Army Corps of Engineers Enforcement Officer John Poll was on site at the Park, investigating allegations of illegal dumping into the wetlands. Dyanne Sheldon of Sheldon & Associates escorted Officer Poll to the areas in question; the following day, at the Project Advisory Team (PAT) meeting, she commented the Corps had found the complaint “laughable.” In a follow-up conversation, Officer Poll stated the Corps takes the complaint seriously; he was disappointed Ms. Sheldon had not invited the complainant to join the tour. A second tour is being scheduled as we go to press.

Going forward, clashes will no longer center around the number of lit, synthetically turfed fields--that fight is over--but about defining the exact location of the wetlands (called “wetland delineation”) and insuring the City Parks Department complies with legal requirements concerning erosion control, pollution control and mitigation. Stay tuned. —Gail Chiarello

Update on 520 Bridge Expansion: I first crossed the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge in 1970, part of a wild-and-crazy 963-mile trip from San Francisco to Seattle in Chris Macie’s Porsche. It was June; the U-District was a drab, damp version of Berkeley’s gaudy Telegraph Ave. Not yet a World-Class City, by technicolor Bay Area standards, Seattle was a Sodden Second-Class City. Chris was meeting an old college friend on the other side of the lake. The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge--only 7 years old--seemed to lie just on top of the water. Friendly little whitecaps danced around us. The clouded daylight shone on the lake like a Japanese silkscreen. We zoomed toward dark tree-covered hills rising above water with occasional houses at lake’s edge. I was charmed. That was then. This is now--2005--and all one hears are complaints about the 520 Bridge. Seattle has grown 6% in these 35 years--530,831 in the 1970 census to 563,374 in the Year 2000. Outside Seattle city limits, the remainder of King County’s population has doubled--628,544 in 1970 to 1,173,660 today. Each day 115,000 vehicles cross a bridge designed in 1963 for a capacity of 65,000.

WA-DOT, buoyed by $500M from the gas tax increase the legislature passed in April, released a draft plan this spring, calling for 6 traffic lanes--4 commuter lanes and 2 HOV—and a bicycle/pedestrian walkway. Predictably neighborhoods erupted in opposition, led by residents in Montlake, which would be hardest hit. But impacts would ripple north and south of the 520 bridge. Environmentalists don’t want to disrupt wildlife habitat at Marsh Island and the Arboretum. The “Points” Communities--Medina, Hunt Point, Yarrow Point--are conflicted, preferring silence to road noise when they retreat to their fortress-residences at night ; but as CEOs of the most fabled high-tech firms on the planet--located in Redmond, Bellevue, and beyond--they want their workers/customers to be able to cross the lake efficiently. Eastside politicos and businesses favor expansion. Meanwhile NoNewGasTax.com has until July 8, 2005 to gather 275,000 signatures to put a repeal of the 9.5¢gas tax on the November ballot. Goodbye New 520—Hello, Gridlock?

—Gail Chiarello

Annual HHCC Meeting

March 23, 2005

From the President’s Desk

Seattle’s First 5-Star BuiltGreen House

The Wells-Scheulen “Sensible House” at 43rd Ave. NE & NE 58th St.

SUMMER FUN… What’s Happening in the Hills & Holler

BURDZ! BURDZ! BURDZ! Possible Peregrine in the Holler

Continuing Conversation with Master Birder Jan Bragg

Officers:

Bonnie Miller President

Dorothy Neville Vice-President

Shelley Hartnett Secretary:

Carolyn Chapman Treasurer:

Barbara Sauntry Pres. Emeritus:

Trustees:

Saundra Aker

George Bertsch

Nancy Bittner

Gail Chiarello

Arden Forrey

George Holzapfel

Joan Oates

Andrea Gates Sanford

Mary Savage

Greg Schell

Vance Thompson

Margaret Thouless

Magdalena Tobe Trustee Emeritus

Suzanne Uchida

Newsletter Editor Gail Chiarello

Editorial Board: Saundra Aker, Jan Ames & George Bertsch