Sustainable Crown Hill Minutes
January 9, 2008

Here are Sunday’s minutes. Thanks to Bob for use of his fabulous house.

NEXT MEETING: Please send agenda items to me
Sunday, February 3
5:00-7:00 pm

Change in location:
The meeting will be at Cinny Burrell”s newly remodeled house….address to follow. Thanks Cinny.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Kitchen Party at Kit and Dennis!! February or March…stay tuned for the date.

Crown Hill Neighbors Assn Meeting: 4th Wednesday of every month at 7pm. Usually meets in Rm. 5 at the old Crown Hill Elementary School.

Crown Hill’s Library Cafe offers meeting space on Mondays. Dwayne purchased the restaurant 3 months ago and is eager to offer space to community groups. Since he is closed on Mondays, that would be the day when space could be made available. Thanks Dwayne! If you haven’t been there, check it out. It is located on 85th just west of 8th on the north side of the street.

Kill-a-Watt contraption: Dennis purchased this little gizmo that measures watt usage in your home. You plug your appliance to the Kill-a-Watt and it tells you how much juice it uses. To borrow, email Dennis at dennis@crownhillneighbors.org. Thanks Dennis for buying this for use by all of us. If you never see it again, I’ll buy the next one!

Abundant Life Christian Fellowship offers meeting space and other good things. Jason, who is the pastor and who lives at the site that is a block from Dicks, is anxious to connect with the community and to utilize the building and surrounding green space that he has available. Thank you Jason!

GUILD REPORTS
Urban Farming/Garden Guild: Mark asked for names of those interested in participating in the garden guild. He is interested in encouraging everyone to grow food for themselves and/or to share with others. He also wants to have dinners where people in the guild share meals together. Mark and guild members will be investigating resources for skill development in gardening. Carol suggested that the guild be given a name.

It was noted that the raised beds in the Small Faces section of the school park are used only minimally at the discretion of individual Small Faces teachers. Anyone who is interested in proposing a better use of this resource, which of course must include the children of Small Faces, should contact Lynn Wira at Small Faces, 782-2611.

ACTION STEPS:
1. For interest in participating with the Garden Guild, contact Mark at 706-5123, or email him at markmendonca@comcast.net.

2. Contact Lynn Wirta, Exec. Director of Small Faces, 782-2611 for proposals on better utilization of their raised garden beds.

Community Fruit Harvest: Bert reported that Seattle Tilth received a grant to hire a professional arborist to offer training to the community on how to prune fruit trees. Sustainable Crown Hill and Sustainable Ballard are on the calendar to be trained together on Saturday, Feb 14 (this date needs to be confirmed again through Bert). Let Bert know if you plan to participate – we need to get 15 people there. Once we are trained, we need to identify fruit trees that are in obvious need of pruning, then approach the owners of the trees and ask if we can prune the trees, and then harvest them in the Fall. Harvested fruit would be donated to local food banks. Several people indicated that they know good candidate trees.

ACTION STEPS:
1. Call Bert at 388-2781 or email him at bhopkins@seattlegirlsschool.org if you want to participate in the free pruning training on 2-14-08.

2. Call Bert at 388-2781 or email him at bhopkins@seattlegirlsschool.org with the location of fruit trees in obvious need of pruning.

Walkable Crown Hill: Bert reported that the Small and Simple grant proposal is completed and are still collecting signatures for the required match, calculated at $15 per hour for community member participation. We are proposing the hire of a consultant who will facilitate 2 four-hour design charettes – one to take place in April and the other in May. The purpose of the charettes will be to bring Crown Hill residents together to envision and sketch out our ideas about traffic calming measures which will culminate in a planning document. From there, we will go back to the City to request a much larger sum to implement the plan. Stay tuned!!!

In addition, DOT is asking for volunteers to participate in data gathering regarding car speeds so that we have an understanding of the scope of the problem. The task takes 2 people – one to point the radar gun at the car and another person to jot down their license plate number. Bullet proof vests will be made available. Kidding.

ACTION STEPS:
1. Call Bert at 388-2781 or email him at bhopkins@seattlegirlsschool.org if you want to sign the proposal to participate in the design charettes.

2. Call Bert at 388-2781 or email him at bhopkins@seattlegirlsschool.org if you want to volunteer in the speed survey.

OTHER BUSINESS
Emergency Preparedness: Jim canvassed the group to determine interest in collaborating on a community wide emergency preparedness plan. People voiced interest. Collaborations would likely have to be with one’s very close neighbors. Jim talked about the various kinds of emergencies that we might be faced with. Janine mentioned that there are free CPR trainings through Phinney Ridge Community Center. It was also noted that this is an opportunity to meet your neighbors, if you haven’t already.

ACTION STEPS:
1. Everyone’s task is to meet the immediate neighbors who live on each side of you – enough at least to know their names.

2. Take an inventory of what supplies you have put aside for emergencies. Bring your list to the next meeting.

3. Jim recommends that we familiarize ourselves with the emergency checklists at seattle.gov/html/citizen/preparedness.htm.

9076 Holman Road Development: Carol Kennedy reported on the proposed apartment building that will be directly across the street from the Crown Hill School Park site. Carol and Dennis both attended the meeting with the developer and the assigned City Planner. Carol reports that the developer did not think that there was any community in Crown Hill to consult with. Thankfully, both Dennis and Carol wrote letters of concern to the City Planner who is overseeing the project from the City’s perspective. Our concerns include congestion, pedestrian safety, and aesthetics, to name a few. We are hoping that the developer, who apparently has a good track record in working with the community on a previous building, will be able to push through some of the things that we would like to see, such as creating an aesthetic entryway to Crown Hill.

ACTION STEP: Carol Kennedy is urging all of us to get involved. Carol will keep us informed about next steps.

Puget Sound Community Change: Janine reported on the very cool Puget Sound Community Card and invited everyone to sign up for this free card. This program helps communities align their values with their everyday purchases, harnessing our purchasing power as a tool for achieving a sustainable future. The program provides citizens with the information and incentives to shift their purchasing habits to support the social, cultural, economic and environmental health of communities by shopping locally. When you shop at participating neighborhood businesses, such as PCC, you facilitate a shift of dollars to the common good through Community Rebates defined as cash rewards for consumers, and donations to not for profits and schools.

ACTION STEP: Go to www.pugetsound.cc to learn more and to sign up to get your free card!!

Recorder: Carol Barber, 789-8693

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