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Neighborhood Bulletin Board Planning a Garage Sale? Send us an email with your postings or comments that you'd like to share.
You’re invited to a Shoreline Community Conversation in October
It’s no accident that of over 100 Seattle-area cities and neighborhoods evaluated in the July issue of Seattle magazine, Shoreline was ranked the number one best neighborhood. Shoreline’s excellent schools, parks and neighborhoods were built over many years by a community of caring and active residents.
Help keep Shoreline’s top ranking and make your City an even better place in the coming years by participating in one of the many “Community Conversations” in October. A wide variety of community groups will meet to talk about a Vision for Shoreline’s future. See the details for these “Community Conversations” on the next page and mark your calendar now for the one most convenient for you.
Since incorporation in 1995, Shoreline has enjoyed excellent public safety, strong community involvement and major public improvements such as the North City Project, the Interurban Trail and the first mile of Aurora. In 2006, voters overwhelmingly supported the City’s first-ever bond issue for parks and open spaces, and, after saving funds for a decade, construction of a new City Hall began this year.
To maintain Shoreline’s quality of life in the coming decades, the City Council is developing a Vision of the future. Since the Vision will be adopted into the Comprehensive Plan and will guide Shoreline’s growth and development for years to come, it is vitally important that every resident participates in the beginning of this process: a Community Conversation about Shoreline’s Future.
These conversations will not be televised or tape recorded, nor will individuals be required to speak to a large group. Opinions, concerns and ideas will be shared and collected in small, informal circles of participants. Information gathered throughout October will later be shared with the City Council and Planning Commission. From these conversations, the City will prepare language for further public review and City Council adoption early in 2009.
Bring a friend or neighbor and take part in the Conversation this October to help us create a shared Vision of Shoreline’s future.
For more information, visit www.cityofshoreline.com or contact Associate Planner David Levitan at (206) 801-2554 or dlevitan@ci.shoreline.wa.us.
Wednesday, Oct. 22 – Pro Shoreline Firestation #61 17525 Aurora Avenue North Thursday, Oct. 23 – PRCS Board, Trails Committee and Arts Council Shoreline Center 18560 1st Avenue NE Tuesday, Oct. 28 – Forward Shoreline Location to be determined Wednesday, Oct. 29 – Briarcrest and Ridgecrest Neighborhood Associations and Fircrest Staff Fircrest School 15230 15th Avenue NE Thursday, Oct. 30 – Town Hall Meeting Fircrest School 15230 15th Avenue NE City Council has adopted the following Goal for 2008-2009 “Develop a shared community vision that integrates the Environmental Sustainability, Housing and Economic Development Strategies into the Comprehensive Plan and community development initiatives.” What changes in technology, society or the way we live, do you envision by 2028? What Shoreline attributes or characteristics would you like to see preserved or improved? How can we meet the challenges of coming growth in a way that keeps this the #1 place to live in the greater Seattle region?
7-30-08 - BALNA ELECTION RESULTS Ballinger Neighborhood Association voted to create a 7-member Board of Directors and approved the Bylaws as corrected. Terms of office run from August 1, 2008 through May 31, 2009. Chair Londa Jacques Vice Chair Larry Moss Secretary Joyce Lingerfelt Treasurer Kone Nisperos Member at Large Kevin Acheson Member at Large Open Member at Large Open
If you would like to receive a copy of the approved Bylaws, please go to the Contact Us link and request that a copy be emailed or snail-mailed to you.
7/28/08 - ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING TO ELECT OFFICERS & APPROVE BYLAWS Now that we have a regular following of folks interested in being part of Ballinger Neighborhood, it's time to officially reorganize and finish the work begun in 2005. Our intent is to elect a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary/Treasurer, and up to two additional board members to oversee the business and activities of BALNA. Two of those individuals will also serve as our representatives to the Council of Neighborhoods. Come and be a voice in the shaping of BALNA! Once we've established a Board and our Bylaws, we will be able to apply for Non-Profit Corporation status with the State of Washington. Attached for your review are the proposed Bylaws and a Board Member Candidacy Form. If you are interested in serving on the BALNA Board, please plan to complete and share the information on the Candidacy Form at the meeting. This form will be especially helpful in our decision making process should there be more people interested in serving than the number of positions available. Hope to see you there!
7/14/08 - BALNA WALK PLANNING SESSION The Subcommittee met tonight to review the timeline, finalize the time of the Walk and the route. Special thanks to Kevin Fagerstrom for providing his expertise. Among those also attending were Larry, Londa, Joyce, Garry, Kevin, and Julia. Letters to businesses have been prepared for distribution this week along with a preliminary poster of the event. It was agreed that the Walk and Fitness Fair be from 10 AM to 2 PM, with the walk itself getting underway at 10:30. The route will take about an hour to complete for the average walker, and offer several options for stopping and viewing along the way. A map will be developed to also include points of interest that people may explore on future excursions on their own. Most of these, although worthy of visiting, are along routes considered by the committee to be unsafe for walking due to lack of sidewalks or adequate road shoulders. The date of the Official Organizational Meeting to elect officers and approve bylaws has been set for Monday, July 28th at 7pm, location to be announced. Notice of the meeting will be sent via email and postcard to all those on our mailing list who have attended past Ballinger Neighborhood Association meetings. This step is necessary at this time to fulfill the requirements of our application for incorporation as a non-profit organization under the State of Washington. At this meeting, Liability Release forms for those folks who would like to join us in walking in the parade will be available at this meeting. Application deadline for the parade is August 1! With the boring details now out of the way, from here on out, the planning will be a lot more fun!
7/12/08 - BALNA JULY MEETING RECAP Each month our monthly Saturday coffee sessions enlarge our circle of neighbors. Thanks to Larry, Londa, Joyce, Sherry, Tom, and Margie for coming out! Topics covered: DOGS OFFLEASH UPDATE - On June 12, a public open house was held to announce the recommended promising pilot sites for offleash areas in Shoreline. The open space below Aldercrest Annex (tennis courts, ball field, track areas) made the short list as an underutilized space along with 5 other sites distributed in west, south, and central areas of Shoreline. Options for both traditional and timed use were given. The Shoreline PRCS Board will move ahead with their recommendations to City Council this fall in order to stay on schedule with the timeline dictated by the Parks Bond. Your feedback is strongly encouraged. Visit www.cityofshoreline.com, click on the Parks & Rec icon at the top of the homepage, and follow the links to Parks Bond Update page. Comment forms are available to download. HAMLIN PARK MASTER PLAN - At its regular June meeting, the Shoreline PRCS board voted to recommend that Design Team proceed with the latest rendition of the Master Plan design. Hamlin is located at NE 161st and 15th Ave NE, and Shoreline's only large community park on the Eastside. This recommendation goes before Council for approval in the fall, and is also on track to be underway in accordance with the requirements of he Parks Bond. Visit www.city of shoreline.com, click on the Parks & Rec icon at the top of the page, and follow the link to the Parks Bond Update page. Comment forms are available to download. BALNA TO BE A PARADE ENTRY! Plans are in the works for our Neighborhood Association to be an parade entry in the upcoming Celebrate Shoreline Parade on Saturday, August 16th. This will be an excellent way for us to get the word out about our Ballinger Neighborhood Walk and Fitness Fair on August 23rd. To volunteer to walk with us in the parade, call 206-604-6822. BALNA is also moving ahead with applying for Articles of Incorporation under the State of Washington. This will provide us with an extra level of protection, given that our walk is a large public event. Toward that end, we need to draft and approve Bylaws and hold an Election of Officers before completing our application. Joyce and Londa have volunteered to draft the Bylaws for presentation and approval at a general meeting to be announced very soon. Our Bylaws are being modeled after Ridgecrest's, as that group has already organized as a 501c3 corporation, which is a step we may want to take at a future date. Other topics discussed included the lack of sidewalks on the south side of 205th near Ballinger Village, the new Code Enforcement Ordinance to be administered by CRT, and Get Ready Shoreline! - a neighborhood mapping strategy for Emergency Preparedness and National Night Out Against Crime. Our next regular monthly coffee chat gathering will be in September.
7/2/08 - BALNA WALK PLANS MOVE AHEAD! We're moving ahead with our walk plans, and Larry and I are excited to welcome Joyce, Garry, and Kevin, to our planning team. Many thanks to Gretchen of Meridian Park Neighborhood, who helped us with our preliminary timeline and gave us tips on how to set up the walk. Jason of Shoes N Feet has agreed to help us with contacting other Ballinger Village businesses. We're readying a packet for distribution to businesses to solicit sponsors for our event, and are beginning to plan our route. Next, we'll be contacting Shoreline Police and Traffic Services to review our proposed route and make sure we've covered all of our safety bases. On the publicity front, our poster is designed and will be printed and distributed as soon as we've found our primary sponsors for the event, and a press release and an announcements in the Shoreline Enterprise. BALNA is also planning to be in the Shoreline Parade! Walking, of course! Look for our Welcome Wagon in the parade...or better yet, come out and walk with us! We'll be passing out treats with our walk and website info! Other groups we're hoping to entice to our walk and to set up booths at Brugger's Bog Park on the day of the event include Geocachers, Volkssport and other walking groups. Boni Biery of Shoreline Community Wildlife Habitat Project is already on board and will have a booth that day! Art projects for kids, we're dubbing "Bog Art" will be constructed mostly of recycled supplies. We hope to get sponsorships to defray the major costs, but will also be seeking volunteer donations of things like cases of bottled water, recyled items for kids' craft projects, and volunteers to help staff the BALNA booth and water stations on the route. We'll share more info at our next Coffee Conversation on Saturday, July 12 at 10am. If you are interested in joining our planning team, we will be meeting on Monday, July 14 at 7pm. Send us an email on the Contact Us page, and we'll call you with the meeting location, which is TBD at this time. Hope to see at a gathering you soon! Londa
4/12/08 - BALNA APRIL MEETING RECAP Thanks to the postcard that went out with our new website address, we have some new folks interested in working on neighborhood connectivity! Now, if we can just get some of the original meeting attendees back on board, we'll have a tremendous group representing every neighborhood nook in Ballinger! Even if you can't come to the current Saturday sessions, send us an email, so we know you're still interested. Today we spent some time reviewing some of the fascinating facts and demographics in the Citizen's Advisory Group's initial draft report on Sustainable Housing. On the Ballinger Neighborhood Walk front, we're still seeking a connection to a Volksport or similar group to lend their expertise. Jason of Shoes 'n Feet at Ballinger Village has agreed to help us with our planning and sponsoring efforts, particularly with approaching the several health and fitness-related businesses in Ballinger neighborhood. Watch for an email and posting of our first meeting to brainstorm and plan the walk. We're having a bit of a problem with finding a date that works for everyone who is committed to helping at this time, but just as soon as we have it figured out we'll let you know. If you love to walk, or hike, and are interested in helping us plan and execute our event, please email us! Larry, Joyce and Londa will be attending the Asset Based Community Development Training on Saturday, April 26th. This is open to all folks interested in learning Asset Based Community Development with nationally renowned consultant, author and organizer Jim Diers. He will help us learn how we can bring neighborhood citizens together to work toward a common vision. It's a long day, but I've heard that Mr. Diers is a very entertaining lecuturer. We definitely won't go away disappointed. It's not too late to sign up! Click here for details and give Nora Smith a call. Would love to have more folks on board! Londa
3/12/08 - HOW TO FORM A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION Free training on How to Form a Nonprofit Organization
3/12/08 - ASSET BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TRAINING Low-cost community organizing training on Asset Based Community Development with nationally renowned consultant, author and organizer Jim Diers. 9:00 am – 5:00 pm in Briarcrest neighborhood. The basis of this workshop will be to identify assets and tools (people, relationships, organizations) and projects to bring neighbors together towards a common vision. Please join us for this unique opportunity. RSVP required to nsmith@ci.shoreline.wa.us. $15 includes lunch; trades available. Click here for details.
3/12/08 - CHAMPION TREE CONTEST IN SHORELINE Shoreline's Community Wildlife Habitat Project is looking for a few big trees. In conjunction with the Shoreline Parks Department and as a part of National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) Community Wildlife Habitat Program we want to find the champion trees in Shoreline's parks. A champion tree is typically defined by a calculation using height, circumference and canopy width. If it's the biggest tree when compared to other trees of the same species, then it's a champion. This contest is funded by Environmental Mini-Grants from both the City of Shoreline and the King County Natural Resource Stewardship Network. The contest will take place within the City of Shoreline Parks and will increase awareness of the habitat value and beauty mature native trees provide in our urban landscape. The goal of the contest is to discover the largest (champion) tree in each of the more than twenty native species within the parks. The contest will begin with training and run until August 31, 2008. In early September, the earliest "finder" of each champion tree will be honored with a framed award certificate.
Participants in the Champion Tree Contest will be invited to attend one of the free training sessions on native tree identification given by Arthur Lee Jacobsen, author of Trees of Seattle on Saturday, March 15th or Saturday, March 22nd from 12:30 to 2:00 PM at shoreline Community College. Each attendee will be introduced to the native trees in our area and receive a copy of the 44 page booklet The Native Trees of Washington, published by WSU Extension Publishing and Printing.
To learn more about the contest, the contest rules and how to register for the training session please contact Barbara, 206-542-3242 or guthdall@msn.com or Boni at birdsbeesfishtrees@gmail.com
3/05/08 - UPDATE ON COMMUNITY GARDENING & COMPOSTING PROJECT AT BALLINGER HOMES by Morgan Moore, AmeriCorps Volunteer I am an AmeriCorps member working at Ballinger Homes Family Support Center in Shoreline. Ballinger Homes is a low-income housing unit; the family support center assists families living here through empowerment and assimilation skills in order to help them improve the quality of family life, their children’s lives. As part of my service I am initiating a project to create a community garden and recycling/composting program at the housing complex. Most of our residents are immigrant or refugee families looking for a fresh start for their children. This garden will help our residents supplement their food expenditures, increase nutrition and provide outdoor education and awareness of the surrounding natural world. The plan is to build raised bed gardens with the residents and plant many different vegetables. The gardens will be in P-Patch style, which means ultimately residents will become responsible for a bed. We will also have a children's garden for educational and nutrition purposes. The garden will have 21 beds measuring 10' x 4'. It will also have a trellised bed and worm compost. We are looking for fluorescent fixture lights, rain barrels, seedling propagation mats, landscape fabric, compost bins, seeds, lumber, screens, gardening tools, gardening gloves, seed flats and pretty much any other gardening equipment and supplies. Please contact me by email or phone to let me know what you have to donate and to arrange delivery or pick-up. Donations are tax-deductible.
Ballinger Homes Family Support Center / Center for Human Services (206) 362-2842
Email: mmoore@chs-nw.org www.chs-nw.org
2/25/08 - WANTED: Gardening Supplies for Community Garden Project!
AmeriCorps volunteer is working to create a community garden for the Ballinger Homes Community: "We have had many great donations and our project is well on its way, however there are still things we are missing.
We are looking for rain barrels, gardening tools, fluorescent fixture lights, seedling propagation mats, landscape fabric, rain barrels, burlap sacks,old screens, tools, wheelbarrows, lumber and seed flats or anything else garden related that you can spare.
Our garden will consist of 20 raised beds for families, a childrens garden, trellised beds and a worm compost."
If you have any of these items to donate, please respond via the Contact Us page on this website and we will forward your email to the AmeriCorps volunteer in charge of the project. Thank You!
2/21/08 - CleanScapes Website and Rates Info Here are some links to info about the new garbage/recycling service for Shoreline, courtesy of our neighbor, Kevin. Main Shoreline Webpage:
www.cleanscapes.com/shoreline/
Info about what stuff can be recycled (in pdf format):
www.cleanscapes.com/shoreline/Downloads/Recycle.pdf
If you have questions, Contact info:
www.cleanscapes.com/contactUs.htm
Thanks, Kevin! 1/21/08 - New Recycling and Garbage Carts Coming Soon in Shoreline Shoreline's new garbage and recycling service provider, CleanScapes will beging delivering residential carts on January 21. For more details, watch your mail for the green CleanScapes postcard, and read the information packet attached to your new cart.
1/12/08 - BALNA January Meeting Recap Today we held our first neighborhood chat at the Ballinger Village Starbucks. What a hoppin' place! After waiting a bit for a table, we put up our Ballinger Neighborhood Association placard, and waited for folks to show up. Alas, we didn't get anyone today. (Hey, football playoffs weren't on our horizon during our November planning session!) All was not in vain, however. A representative from the Mountlake Terrace neighborhood association approached us, and we had a nice chat about how our organizations could serve as resources for one another. So now we have a conduit for any issues that arise that are common to both neighborhoods! You can check out their website at www.thebroadcast.org. Afterwards, we took advantage of the sun, and got some great photos. Visit our Photo Gallery! Londa
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