Hope everybody's holidays were good ones, and that they're recovering successfully from the various food comas that were inevitably induced over the past few weeks. The admiral's and my recoveries are coming along nicely - that 23 pound turkey from Bob's Locker Meats was a great Christmas dinner, and is holding up well in the turkey soup.
While year end is traditionally a time to build the all important lists looking back, and the new year is the time for resolutions, I've decided to combine the two in the Captain's top ten list of things I'd like to see in Columbia City in 2008:
- A new home for the Columbia City Farmers Market in the school parking lot right across the street from it's current location.
- Expansion of the Columbia City Landmark district. Expanding it further east all the way to 39th ave S would be nice, but even more importantly, expand it further south along Rainier. An eventual plan to get it all the way to Orcas would be awesome, but starting with getting it to S 42nd or Lucille would be great.
- More new businesses opened along that expanded Landmark district. There's only so much packing that can go on between Angeline and Hudson, and it's silly that businesses are opening up along side streets now just to be closer to "the action" then opening up along the main drag. For example, consider Verve - great place, but what a silly location. Wouldn't it be much nicer if the next block south of Tutta Bella was "annexed" for the next layer of great new businesses?
- While I'm on the subject of great new businesses, how about a local independent coffee shop? I've been sampling the coffees of Columbia City lately (more posts on this soon), but it's be great to have an even greater number of places to drink. Yes, I'm an addict.
- Another business related one - a hardware/kitchen store. I know Lowe's is pretty close by, but I miss Hardwick's. The kitchen gadget store down in Madison Park was also comfortably neighborly. Need something like that here.
- A whole lot of new faces at the Mt Baker Rowing and Sailing Club. Don't be thrown off by their name - they're actually really close to Columbia City! They just finished their expansion, and they're looking better than ever. I love to see the city invest in our part of town - maybe it's time to learn how to sail this year?
- I'd like a new forum for business news to rise up. Now that the beat is gone, we need a new way to hear all the gossip about who is moving in and who is moving up. How can I get connected? Rob, help me!
- I want the Audubon center in Seward Park to be successful. Have you seen the bald eagle nests at the south end of Bailey peninsula? Great spot for the city and the Audubon society to team up.
- The admiral is a devotee of hollandaise sauce - so a breakfast place that serves a good eggs benedict is a must.
- The seafair hydroplane races to be a bit more of a benefit to our neighborhood. They come in every year, blow the rooftops off of our houses and jam up our streets, and then leave, but it seems they don't really add much to our neighborhood. As a simple idea, wouldn't it be nice if every business in Columbia City was allowed to open a small booth to serve spectators along Lake Washington Boulevard?
Ok, so what did I miss? What do you want to see in Columbia City this coming year?
1 comments:
#2 expanding the landmark district?
This makes no sense. What are the historically significant buildings you want to include?
Revisit this: http://www.cityofseattle.net/neighborhoods/preservation/columbiacity_faq.htm
"The Columbia City Application Review Committee and the City of Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board are charged with maintaining the historic character of Columbia City, ensuring that the architectural integrity and aesthetics of the buildings and landscape are preserved."
I just don't see the need to preserve many buildings or awnings along (or landscape since there isn't any) in the areas you are suggesting. The main problem I see is that there is not much historical character in your extensions...
On the other hand #3 does make good sense. We need still more businesses in columbia city. Clearly we want good businesses on rainier to keep the streets clean and safe. But I just can't see extending small buildings all the way to hillman city. if you want to have profitable businesses extend that far you need to start adding density. and density goes around transit.
I Would rather see focus placed on things around the new/pending light rail stop. If we don't keep focus on that over there we'll get another starbucks, a mcdonalds, a 7-11 and all kinds of bland businesses that don't have a connection to the neighborhood. Plus I don't want to see businesses sprout up there that cannabalize the rainier based businesses....
Post a Comment