I just signed up for a Facebook-like application called Whrrl. What makes the site unique is that it's more about connecting users locally than virtually. It is centered around a map and your mobile phone -- so (for example) it makes it easy to ask your network to meet up at a certain place and time and the meeting details are distributed to your friends' phones.
Whrrl has a feature for rating and reviewing restaurants. On the heels of my post Friday that Leschi, Madrona & Madison Park residents aren't as likely to connect locally online as Cap Hill residents, Whrrl confirms this trend.
Although there are 1,000 Seattle residents using this site and dozens (probably hundreds -- I didn't count) of businesses rated there was only one rated in any of those neighborhoods -- the tasty Meskel -- of which I wrote one of my only restaurant reviews.
Showing posts with label Leschi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leschi. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Which Seattle Neighborhood Most Uses Facebook?
Facebook has a number of interesting widgets designed to help you connect with neighbors. One is the aptly named "Neighborhoods Widget".
Declaring myself a Leschi resident, I find 26 other residents who have downloaded the neighborhoods widget and declared themselves from Leschi.
Declaring myself a Leschi resident, I find 26 other residents who have downloaded the neighborhoods widget and declared themselves from Leschi.
By neighborhood:
Capitol Hill - 601
Leschi - 26
Madrona - 50
Madison Park - 57
Squire Park - 6
The far and away winner in 98122? No surprise, it's hipster mecca Capitol Hill. (New fun game -- HIPSTER BINGO.)
Monday, September 17, 2007
Four and a Half Million Bucks
The City of Seattle is spending that much money on neighborhood-proposed street improvement projects.
The Central Sector, which looks like it is defined as between the 520 and 90 bridges from the Sound to the Lake, has about 20 projects proposed ranging in cost from a few hundred grand to five million bucks, which would get you a wider road, retaining wall, improved storm/sewer infrastructure from 11th Ave E & Delmar to E Lynn & Boyer.
One of the proposed improvements near where I live is traffic calming near Jackson Place, which would be to install curb bulbs or chicanes at various places on arterials getting onto Ranier Ave S and S. Jackson. I had to look up what chicanes were... they're the S-shaped roads you see up North in a few places such as NE 98th street. There is a study which does show reduced speeds on these streets.
Citizens are asked to vote for the projects they like the best and consider them based on a number of criteria. Two of the criteria are broad public support and whether the proposal is included in a neighborhood plan as measured by SDOT.
I like this overall idea very much, but the voting and decisionmaking does not seem to be data-driven or the biggest bang for the buck. From what I can tell, it seems more like the neighborhoods that are most organized will be most successful at getting capital improvements done.
If anyone has more insight into how the City is going to make a decision, please comment.
[where: 98122]
The Central Sector, which looks like it is defined as between the 520 and 90 bridges from the Sound to the Lake, has about 20 projects proposed ranging in cost from a few hundred grand to five million bucks, which would get you a wider road, retaining wall, improved storm/sewer infrastructure from 11th Ave E & Delmar to E Lynn & Boyer.
One of the proposed improvements near where I live is traffic calming near Jackson Place, which would be to install curb bulbs or chicanes at various places on arterials getting onto Ranier Ave S and S. Jackson. I had to look up what chicanes were... they're the S-shaped roads you see up North in a few places such as NE 98th street. There is a study which does show reduced speeds on these streets.
Citizens are asked to vote for the projects they like the best and consider them based on a number of criteria. Two of the criteria are broad public support and whether the proposal is included in a neighborhood plan as measured by SDOT.
I like this overall idea very much, but the voting and decisionmaking does not seem to be data-driven or the biggest bang for the buck. From what I can tell, it seems more like the neighborhoods that are most organized will be most successful at getting capital improvements done.
If anyone has more insight into how the City is going to make a decision, please comment.
[where: 98122]
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Leschi CC - Tree Trimming
On September 5th, the Leschi Community Council had its monthly meeting with the focus being creating a neighborhood plan. Here's a little history.
After the meeting was called to order, we split into five groups to brainstorm about the needs in the following areas:
- Traffic/Pedestrian Safety
- Land Use
- Parks/Green Space
- Economic Development
- Transportation
In the next few posts, I'll be covering the outcome of these brainstorms.
Traffic/Pedestrian Safety
You can probably guess that I joined this group. We had five recommendations, and I'll cover the first in this post.
1. Increase Tree Trimming -- We discussed that some street lights were blocked by overgrown tree branches, and these should be trimmed by the city or property owners so that community streets are well-lit. Related was that we felt property owners generally didn't know what their responsibilities were with respect to trees, and after some research I can see why.
As far as I can tell, here's the (confusing) deal:
When it comes to trimming, you need a permit from the Arborist's Office. Specifically, Seattle City Ordinance #90047 requires that all persons who prune and/or remove privately maintained trees within the public right-of-way area obtain a street use permit.
I also found evidence, though, that if the tree was planted by the city it is to be maintained by the city.
However, if a tree is near power lines or blocking street lights, it is the responsibility of City Light as found here. Call 386-1663 and they will make a determination if there is indeed a safety issue and they will take care of it.
My recommendations:
- Notify property owners of their rights and responsibilities with respect to trees.
- Understand from Seattle City Light what constitutes a safety risk.
- Do a neighborhood audit and have City Light handle those trees.
Some more interesting facts related to trees on city streets. There are roughly 130,000 trees, 15,000 of which have planted since 1989. In 1994, the City did a study of the health of trees and found these sobering statistics.
Over half dead - 3% - 2,214
1/4 to 1/2 dead - 8% - 6,927
Poor - 31% - 26,211
Good - 34% - 28,860
Great - 25% - 19,704
More info here.
[where: 98122]
After the meeting was called to order, we split into five groups to brainstorm about the needs in the following areas:
- Traffic/Pedestrian Safety
- Land Use
- Parks/Green Space
- Economic Development
- Transportation
In the next few posts, I'll be covering the outcome of these brainstorms.
Traffic/Pedestrian Safety
You can probably guess that I joined this group. We had five recommendations, and I'll cover the first in this post.
1. Increase Tree Trimming -- We discussed that some street lights were blocked by overgrown tree branches, and these should be trimmed by the city or property owners so that community streets are well-lit. Related was that we felt property owners generally didn't know what their responsibilities were with respect to trees, and after some research I can see why.
As far as I can tell, here's the (confusing) deal:
When it comes to trimming, you need a permit from the Arborist's Office. Specifically, Seattle City Ordinance #90047 requires that all persons who prune and/or remove privately maintained trees within the public right-of-way area obtain a street use permit.
I also found evidence, though, that if the tree was planted by the city it is to be maintained by the city.
However, if a tree is near power lines or blocking street lights, it is the responsibility of City Light as found here. Call 386-1663 and they will make a determination if there is indeed a safety issue and they will take care of it.
My recommendations:
- Notify property owners of their rights and responsibilities with respect to trees.
- Understand from Seattle City Light what constitutes a safety risk.
- Do a neighborhood audit and have City Light handle those trees.
Some more interesting facts related to trees on city streets. There are roughly 130,000 trees, 15,000 of which have planted since 1989. In 1994, the City did a study of the health of trees and found these sobering statistics.
Over half dead - 3% - 2,214
1/4 to 1/2 dead - 8% - 6,927
Poor - 31% - 26,211
Good - 34% - 28,860
Great - 25% - 19,704
More info here.
[where: 98122]
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Carbon Footprint Smackdown
Who is more worthy of riding the carbon-footprint high horse?
In one corner... meat-loving walkers. (No car, loves a nice filet mignon.)
In the other corner... veggie-loving drivers? (Car, fruits and nuts only please.)
On the heels of my post yesterday on walkability, I went off to a carbon-offset calculator and decided to see how many tons of CO2 could be reduced by a Leschi resident going from driving downtown each workday to never driving. It's about 6 miles round trip, so 6 x 250 work days = 1,500 miles. Let's plug in my 1998 mid-size car and go to town.... no pun intended.
According to this calculator, if one were to reduce their driving to 1,000-3,000 miles from 3,000-6000 miles, they would reduce their carbon footprint by 0.9 tons.
I was pretty surprised when the same calculator said an individual moving their diet from omnivorous to vegetarian would reduce their carbon footprint by 1.1 tons. (Omnivorous to mostly vegetarian about .8 tons.)
Among many reasons, such as the amount of calories it takes to produce one calorie of meat one of the biggest reasons is simply cow farts.
Nearly full disclosure -- I'm in a car nearly half the time to work (carpool + driving), my car only gets avg. MPG (~25 Hwy) have a pescatarian diet (meat no, gelatin/stock no, fish yes, eggs/dairy yes).
[where: 98122]
In one corner... meat-loving walkers. (No car, loves a nice filet mignon.)
In the other corner... veggie-loving drivers? (Car, fruits and nuts only please.)
On the heels of my post yesterday on walkability, I went off to a carbon-offset calculator and decided to see how many tons of CO2 could be reduced by a Leschi resident going from driving downtown each workday to never driving. It's about 6 miles round trip, so 6 x 250 work days = 1,500 miles. Let's plug in my 1998 mid-size car and go to town.... no pun intended.
According to this calculator, if one were to reduce their driving to 1,000-3,000 miles from 3,000-6000 miles, they would reduce their carbon footprint by 0.9 tons.
I was pretty surprised when the same calculator said an individual moving their diet from omnivorous to vegetarian would reduce their carbon footprint by 1.1 tons. (Omnivorous to mostly vegetarian about .8 tons.)
Among many reasons, such as the amount of calories it takes to produce one calorie of meat one of the biggest reasons is simply cow farts.
Nearly full disclosure -- I'm in a car nearly half the time to work (carpool + driving), my car only gets avg. MPG (~25 Hwy) have a pescatarian diet (meat no, gelatin/stock no, fish yes, eggs/dairy yes).
[where: 98122]
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Which Neighborhood is most Walkable?
Now that Leschi has been defined as walkable and a neighborhood where one does not need a car, let's check the data.
First, which of the neighborhoods is most walkable in 98122?
Leschi -- 31st & Yesler... 71 of 100.
Squire Park -- 18th & Yesler... 83 of 100.
Capitol Hill -- 12th & Denny... 95 of 100.
Madrona -- 33rd & Cherry... 62 of 100.
How many residents of 98122 actually walk to work (from city-data.com)?
Means of transportation to work
Drove a car alone: 6,464 (39%)
Carpooled: 1,539 (9%)
Bus or trolley bus: 3,648 (22%)
Streetcar or trolley car: 21 (0%)
Railroad: 4 (0%)
Ferryboat: 10 (0%)
Taxi: 79 (0%)
Motorcycle: 109 (1%)
Bicycle: 477 (3%)
Walked: 3,187 (19%)
Other means: 78 (0%)
Worked at home: 779 (5%)
Number of Households in 98122 -- Roughly 24,000
Number of Households without Vehicles -- Roughly 4,400 (18%)
Let's compare this data back to my original findings that City of Seattle estimates that there are 4K-8K biker commuters. So roughly 10% of those are from 98122.
Disclosure -- my household owns two cars. I take the bus maybe 50%, carpool 30%, drive 15%, Walk/Cab 5%. My commute is 3 miles Leschi to downtown.
[where: 98122]
First, which of the neighborhoods is most walkable in 98122?
Leschi -- 31st & Yesler... 71 of 100.
Squire Park -- 18th & Yesler... 83 of 100.
Capitol Hill -- 12th & Denny... 95 of 100.
Madrona -- 33rd & Cherry... 62 of 100.
How many residents of 98122 actually walk to work (from city-data.com)?
Means of transportation to work
Drove a car alone: 6,464 (39%)
Carpooled: 1,539 (9%)
Bus or trolley bus: 3,648 (22%)
Streetcar or trolley car: 21 (0%)
Railroad: 4 (0%)
Ferryboat: 10 (0%)
Taxi: 79 (0%)
Motorcycle: 109 (1%)
Bicycle: 477 (3%)
Walked: 3,187 (19%)
Other means: 78 (0%)
Worked at home: 779 (5%)
Number of Households in 98122 -- Roughly 24,000
Number of Households without Vehicles -- Roughly 4,400 (18%)
Let's compare this data back to my original findings that City of Seattle estimates that there are 4K-8K biker commuters. So roughly 10% of those are from 98122.
Disclosure -- my household owns two cars. I take the bus maybe 50%, carpool 30%, drive 15%, Walk/Cab 5%. My commute is 3 miles Leschi to downtown.
[where: 98122]
Monday, September 10, 2007
How Walkable is Leschi?
According to WalkScore.com -- somewhere in the middle, and according to their definitions you could get by without owning a car.
A flaw with the site is that it doesn't take into consideration bus lines and also if you type in an address just one block away you get different answers.
I walk downtown and back frequently enough that I would consider Leschi pretty darn walkable. Of course, I may have a slightly different definition of walkable than the average American.
[where: 98122]
A flaw with the site is that it doesn't take into consideration bus lines and also if you type in an address just one block away you get different answers.
I walk downtown and back frequently enough that I would consider Leschi pretty darn walkable. Of course, I may have a slightly different definition of walkable than the average American.
[where: 98122]
Saturday, September 8, 2007
More on the Central Area Neighborhood Plan
Interesting anecdote from the 1992 Central Area Neighborhood Plan:
As if Seattle doesn't need another reminder of the snail's pace at which it is dealing with transportation issues. Excerpt from the Transportation section
UNRESOLVED/PENDING ISSUES
The primary transportation issues that have not been adequatly addressed in the transportation plan is how Central Area residents, employees end [sic] students will be served by the Regionef[sic] Transit Authority and potentially by the proposed Monorail expansion. Resolution of where these systems will be located is outside the scop of this plan, but the intent remains to ensure that there be excellent connection" from the Central Area to any futhre stations of these high capacity systems.
Um...
I'm still getting up to speed on this neighborhood planing initiative. On Thursday I was complaining about Leschi being ignored as a separate city area and also that the plan was 15 years old. Well, upon doing some research from what I can tell it was supposed to be a 20-year plan. Oh well... I should learn to read someone their miranda rights before shooting.
More to come as I get through the entire neighborhood plan and get going on writing down my observations from the Leschi Community Council meeting earlier this week.
[where: 98122]
As if Seattle doesn't need another reminder of the snail's pace at which it is dealing with transportation issues. Excerpt from the Transportation section
UNRESOLVED/PENDING ISSUES
The primary transportation issues that have not been adequatly addressed in the transportation plan is how Central Area residents, employees end [sic] students will be served by the Regionef[sic] Transit Authority and potentially by the proposed Monorail expansion. Resolution of where these systems will be located is outside the scop of this plan, but the intent remains to ensure that there be excellent connection" from the Central Area to any futhre stations of these high capacity systems.
Um...
I'm still getting up to speed on this neighborhood planing initiative. On Thursday I was complaining about Leschi being ignored as a separate city area and also that the plan was 15 years old. Well, upon doing some research from what I can tell it was supposed to be a 20-year plan. Oh well... I should learn to read someone their miranda rights before shooting.
More to come as I get through the entire neighborhood plan and get going on writing down my observations from the Leschi Community Council meeting earlier this week.
[where: 98122]
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