Angle Lake Station Neighborhood Design Workshop

You may think that meeting years in advance of light rail operations due in the Angle Lake neighborhood in 2016 may be a bit premature; however the City of SeaTac is interest in working closely with the community to create a more inclusive and cohesive vision for the future of the neighborhood around the station. Public feedback is an important part of the complete planning process. 

On Thursday, May 29, the City will be holding a Neighborhood Design Workshop. At the workshop you can hear about feedback the community provided at the May 1 Visioning Workshop and learn more about potential design ideas for the Angle Lake Station neighborhood, including: 

• New ways to get around by bike and on foot 
• Building and street design concepts 
• Areas for potential redevelopment 

Angle Lake Station Neighborhood Design Workshop 

Thursday, May 29, 2014 

6:30 - 8:00 PM 

Madrona Elementary School Library 

20301 32nd Avenue S., SeaTac 

You can find more information about the Angle Lake Station Area Plan here.  Or if you are unable to attend the planning session, you can still provide your input via the following Neighborhood Questionnaire.

Before Military Road

Today, Military Road on West Hill provides an expansive view of the Cascades and Mount Rainier and an alternative to Interstate 5. However, nearly 150 years ago when it was built, a heavily forested Military Road linked the first pioneers of Seattle with the Army forts to the south. The route ran through the Duwamish Valley and what would eventually become cities in their own right: the cities of Tukwila; SeaTac; Des Moines; Kent and Federal Way.

This week, Foster High School drama students will be performing their original play, "Before Military Road”. It's the early story of Military Road. The story starts with the wedding of Dr. Samuel Grow and Eveline Avery on Feb. 7, 1855, early Seattle pioneers. There's talk of this new road that reports indicated was laid out by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. With a new road, pioneers could transport their goods, connect the homesteads with each other and provide quick military protection for settlers from Indian tribes. The homesteaders celebrate the Fourth of July; but the harvest in the fall of 1855 is interrupted by hostilities between settlers and the Native Americans. The homesteaders flee to Seattle, not returning until Thanksgiving 1856, the play's final scene.

The play is 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, May 22 and 23, at the Foster High School Performing Arts Center, 4242 S. 144th St. Tickets are $5 for adults and students without ASB cards, $4 for Students with ASB Card.

Foster's drama students did the original research on Military Road for the play and worked with the Tukwila Historical Society on authenticity. "They came up with the basic plot structure and initial dialogue," said Cynthia Chesak, Foster's drama teacher. They then worked with playwright Rachel Atkins to refine the story. Atkins added characters, based on feedback from the historical society, and worked on the dialogue to make it more historically accurate.

Twenty students act in the play and there are two adult cameos. On Thursday evening, Andy Giron, a social studies teacher, plays territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens. On Friday Pat Brodin, past president of the Tukwila Historical Society and the City of Tukwila's operations manager, will play Stevens. Matt Leonard, Foster's football coach and junior varsity baseball coach, will play the justice of the peace both nights.

You Can Lead A Horse To Water....

Now, I’m not inferring that you may all be horses!  It is only an expression mind you! And in this case it is being used to describe an instance where the ALSC board has supplied written detailed information on several occasions regarding the status of the fireworks display but of course we can’t force you to read it.

For instance, I had been approached by an individual at the Fishing Derby stating that they had heard there was not going to be any fireworks on the lake this year and wanted to know why – heck, even at the Aprill 22nd council meeting our own council representative from the lake publicly claimed ignorance to the details regarding the Shore Club’s reasons for canceling the show - and he is recognized as being the Chairman of the Festival Committee that we have been collaborating with for the past several months! So for some reason our message is not being received as intended.

I responded to the individual at the fishing derby by asking if they had read the Spring Newsletter that provided details leading up to the Board of Directors unanimous decision to forego the display for 2014 and the reply I received was “yes, I saw it, but I didn’t read it”.

Another member remarked that they started to read it but felt there was just too much detail to finish reading the article.  That’s unfortunate because the individuals who contributed to this article tried to strike an appropriate balance for inclusion of enough detail to demonstrate how much time and activity had been invested over the past eight months toward this effort – yet not delivering too much information as to lose the reader.  Based on the above cases, it seems that we had failed in this objective. 

If you simply weren’t aware of, or maybe hadn’t received a copy of the newsletter containing the President’s Letter covering this topic, you can access an online version located under the hotlink at the top of this page titled ‘Newsletter’. Otherwise at the risk of being too lean on details yet delivering on the essential request of ‘Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!” the situation is:  

• There is currently no platform available to the ALSC for which to launch the fireworks display from the center of the lake. 
• Procuring a platform was not a financially viable option for this year; schedule was unaccommodating for the other options that we had also been pursuing.
• Without a platform and with several other unmitigated risks, this exposed the club to too much liability and therefore signing the fireworks contract at the required due date would not be a prudent decision.
• The Shore Club will not be hosting a fireworks display this year.
• The City is prepared to launch a smaller show from the existing fishing piers anchored at the park and will not be visible from most homes on the north-south leg of the lake.
• Possession and discharge of fireworks are still illegal activities within the City of SeaTac.

Please feel free to contact any board member to discuss your concerns; address your questions; to entertain your ideas and solutions; or collect your information as an interested volunteer to assist with the 2015 ALSC Fireworks Display.