Meeting Minutes
July , 2008
Pam Burton, former Ivy Out Coordniator for the Washington Native Plant Society, explained how English Ivy kills trees and how to remove it. Ivy chokes trees and destroys their bark. Ivy adds weight to trees, creating "sails" that catch wind and cause trees to fall. Rats love to hide in ivy.
Her advice: remove ivy as soon as possible, to avoid damage to tree bark and before it really takes hold; if you can't pull it off the tree, cut a "girdle" around the tree and let the ivy die and fall off. Cut ivy back from the tree, all around the base. Hardest to deal with is old ivy that can become as thick as the tree itself (may need chainsaws to remove) or ivy that has intwined itself under the base of the tree. If you just can't bear to part with your ivy, try to keep it from climbing trees and cut the fruit off it before birds can eat the berries. Berries pooped out by birds are a major cause of the spread of ivy. For more information on alternatives to planting ivy or to obtain additional copies of Pam's handouts, visit the Ivy Out web site.
May , 2008
Neighbors who experienced flooding on December 3, 2007, discussed the status of their claims with the City of Seattle. To date, the City has denied every claim.
March , 2008
The community council ranked existing sidewalk project and traffic calming proposals to forward to the North District Council for the 2008 round of Neighborhood Street Funding. Our top priority was to ask for city funding for an asphalt sidewalk on the south side of NE 110th between 39th Ave NE and 40th Ave NE.
January 8, 2008
Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis and City Council President Richard Conllin heard from neighbors about the flood of December 3, 2007.
November , 2007
Eleanor Trainor, of Seattle Public Schools, briefly described the upcoming rennovation plans for Nathan Hale High School. The Community Council requested that the school do some in-stream restoration work in the South Branch of Thornton Creek to increase the capacity of the creek to handle higher storm flows and to improve habitat for protected fish. The Community Council also requested that the School provide a turn out where parents can drop off students to reduce erosion of the banks of Kramer Creek just opposite the main entrance to the school.
The community council voted to oppose possible street vacation of NE 105th to make way for a large apartment building.
Principals from John Rogers School, Summitt School, Nathan Hale High School, and the Seattle Waldorf School gave presentations about their schools.
September 11, 2007
Marshall Rose, Architect - told us about the innovative "green built" home that he has constructed at the SW corner of 32nd Ave NE and NE 97th.
Carl Menconi, Meadowbrook resident and creek restoration contractor, and Su Thieda, Projects Director at EarthCorps, described the in-creek restoration work they have undertaken in the South Branch of Thornton Creek between NE 105th and NE 107th.
Mark Dexter, of Dexter-Chaney, discussed the new building his software company is building at 98th Ave NE and NE Ravenna to accommodate their expanding business.
Neighbors also wanted to know about the town house project to be developed at 3505 NE 110th. The designer of the project, PB Elemental, declined invitations to attend the Meadowbrook Community Council meeting. Visit the City of Seattle Land Use Bulletin every Monday and Thursday at to find out if the owner applies to develop more townhouses at the adjacent property at 3509 NE 110th.July 9, 2007
Neighbors espressed their concerns that the sidewalk project on NE 110th hadn't been completed yet and that drainage issues had not been addressed as part of the porject. We planned to write to SDOT about these concerns.
We formed the Meadowbrook Community Council sidewalk committee.
Matt Mega, Urban Habitat Program Director, Seattle Audubon, talked about the importance of open, green spaces in North Seattle as housing density increases.
Deb Heiden, Urban Ecosystsms Asset Manager, Seattle Public Utilities, announced that SPU is developing a Capital Improvement Project to deal with flooding issues in the Kramer Creek Basin.
May 8, 2007
The community council nominated 6 sidewalk and traffic calming projects for Bridging The Gap funding.
King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson, our representative to the King County Council, advised about upcoming County Council votes regarding the 520 bridge and the proposed land swap between King County and the Port of Seattle to acquire the Burlington Rail Corridor. He took questions about the county's role in the Seattle Viaduct replacement and lack of an adqeuate number of Metro buses from Lake City Way to downtown Seattle during rush hour.
Valarie Bunn, Historian of Meadowbrook and Wedgewood regaled us with a brief history of Meadowbrook.
Brian Swanson, immediate past president of Wedgewood Community Council, welcomed collaboration between Meadowbrook and Wedgewood.
March 13, 2007
Crime Prevention and Emergency Preparedness were the topics of the March 13 meeting of the Meadowbrook Community Council. If you were unable to attend the meeting, here is a brief summary of what was discussed and how you can obtain more information:Diane Horswill, Crime Prevention Specialist and 32-year veteran of the Seattle Police Department, told us what we as neighbors can do to deter car prowls and auto theft, some of the most common crimes in the North End. Keep your vehicles locked and empty of all possessions. Even better, keep your vehicle out of sight, locked in your garage. Know who your neighbors are, what their coming and going patterns are, and work together to alert each other to problems in your area. Learn what is “normal” on your block, and call 911 when something doesn’t look right. Upon request, Diane will meet with groups of neighbors to set up block watches – call her at 684-7711 to schedule a block watch meeting.
Tracy Connelley, Emergency Preparedness Training Specialist with the City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management, shared her five years of experience working with agencies like the Red Cross and responding to house fires, the Twin Towers, and Katrina. The statistic is that 99.9% of us will survive a given event. The goal is to prepare ourselves and our communities ahead of time so we can recover faster from the known consequences of an event. Tracy told us simple, cost-effective ways we can ready ourselves and work with each other to make ourselves and our neighborhoods stronger. She and others in the Office of Emergency Management provide extended talks on emergency preparedness to help individuals and groups of neighbors learn more about the City’s preparedness program. For a list of upcoming talks, visit OEM’s web site at: http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/ and locate the “come and learn” link at the bottom of the page. You can also call the Office of Emergency Management at 233-7123.