Protecting a Magnolia view
Public can share their thoughts on next steps for Ursula Judkins park
By Jessica Keller QA&Mag News editor
Now that the Magnolia Community Council succeeded in its appeal to protect the view at Ursula Judkins Viewpoint Park, neighborhood leaders are trying to ensure the city and developer follow through.
In May, the Magnolia Community Council appealed the Seattle Department of Construction & Inspection’s decision to permit a proposed development on the hillside below Ursula Judkins Viewpoint, above the Admiral’s House. OceanStar LLC’s development calls for construction of two, three-story singlefamily residences and more at 2500 W. Marina Place. MCC was concerned that OceanStar’s plans to plant serviceberry bushes as a sight barrier between the park and the development would destroy the view. The city’s assistant hearing examiner ruled in October SDCI should have considered impacts of the proposed vegetation on the view at Ursula Judkins Viewpoint.
Next week, residents can share their thoughts on how the city and developer should do guarantee the view is maintained at a virtual public meeting next week.
“The meeting is not whether you agree with the building. It’s all about implementing the hearing examiner’s decision,” retired attorney Ted Coulson, who acted on behalf of MCC early in the process, said last week.
The meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday. People can sign up to attend at https://bit.ly/ Mtg3028072. To comment, sign up at https:// bit.ly//Comment3028072.
Coulson said he worries SDCI will not require OceanStar to submit a revised plan with specific and strict conditions that ensure the viewpoint is protected in the long term.
In a letter he submitted to SDCI, he stated
Ursula Judkins Viewpoint has been at the center of a dispute between Magnolia leaders and a developer seeking to build two structures on the hill below.
SDCI should impose conditions that are “clear” and define a “view protection zone” and include “specific, appropriate plants with height restrictions of 4 to 6 feet” that won’t grow to block the view, as well as call for a fence along the border that does not block the view or go onto park property.
The letter also stated conditions should also provide for continual maintenance of the landscaping to ensure the park’s viewpoint is not blocked.
In his letter, Coulson stated the conditions should also be enforceable in perpetuity and outline how those terms will be enforced.
As well, Coulson calls for SDCI require a covenant to be drafted and recorded in the King County Recorder’s Office real estate records that binds future property owners to follow those terms and conditions.
Coulson said, as of last week, OceanStar had not yet submitted to SDCI maintenance plans for the viewpoint.
The project file, including applications, environmental documentation and other information, is available at the SDCI Seattle Services Portal, cosaccela.seattle.gov, and at http:// web6.seattle.gov/dpd/edms/, by entering the project number: 3028072-LU.
QACC public safety tour to target graffiti
Queen Anne Community organizations are hosting an antigraffiti walk-about to identify and report graffiti on Queen Anne hill this month.
The walk-about will begin at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 12 in the parking lot of Evviva Pizza on the southwest corner of McGraw Street and Queen Anne Avenue North and break into smaller groups.
People should sign up to participate at https://signup.com/go/ cbyLwHy.
The event is being hosted by the Queen Anne Community Council Public Safety Committee, the Queen Anne Block Captains Network and Queen Anne Together business watch.
Bob Kettle, QACC Public Safety Committee chair, said at the Public Safety Committee meeting last week that the walk is in response to an increase in graffiti incidents reported on Queen Anne recently.
During the walk, people will not only see where this graffiti is, but participants will be encouraged to report the graffiti to the city so it is tagged for removal.
“We really want to take advantage of the Find It, Fix It app to get rid of graffiti in Queen Anne,” Kettle said.
He said, depending on how many people participate, the walk-about will include as much of the commercial block as pos-
sible, including Queen Anne Avenue North between McGraw and Galer streets; Galer Street between Queen Anne Avenue North and Sixth Avenue West; Sixth Avenue West between Galer and West McGraw streets; and West McGraw Street between Seventh Avenue West and Queen Anne Avenue North.
In preparation for the walkabout people should go to https:// www.seattle.gov/customer-service-bureau/find-it-fix-it-mobileapp for links on downloading the app on their mobile phone. Kettle also recommended that people who cannot attend should report any instances of graffiti they encounter via the app.
He also reiterated how important it is for Queen Anne residents to report all crime to the Seattle Police Department, a sentiment echoed by SPD West Precinct Lt. Rob Brown at the Public Safety Committee meeting last week.
Brown also stated residents should keep sharing other concerns, including graffiti and traffic hazards.
“Just like reporting a crime, if we don’t hear about it, then we can’t respond to it,” he said, adding people may not always get the response they want, but if they don’t report it at all, they won’t get any response from the police department.
Photo by Jessica Keller
Just this — a West Seattle story
Let’s say
into her front yard and yelling, “hellooooo.”
You don’t visit, generally, though sometimes she will stand in the doorway to share a story — like when she saw the man next door leave the house in stiletto heels and, oh, those heels, those stockings, that dress! — because she likes to use the pretext of gossip to bring your bodies a little closer.
Mary Lou Sanelli Falling Awake
But most of the time she just waves from the bay window and you are happy there is no need to worry because this is what you want to know and are glad to know.
And let’s say that after the snowfall and the temperature drops to 27 degrees, you notice that her curtains have not opened so you bundle up and trudge over and call, “hellooooo, hellooooo, hellooooo.”
Something is wrong. You can feel it.
So you walk around back, and that’s where you find her. But you don’t just find her, she is face down in the dirt under the eve where the snow hasn’t turned the pebbles white. Telling me this, you laugh and it startles me. Though laughter is something we both do to deflect discomfort. And when you add that she just loved her nips of Jack Daniels “for medicinal reasons,” you laugh again, figuring she must have gone outside to empty the trash and wound up slipping and falling and freezing to death. “And that’s a pretty fast way to go. She’s lucky that way.”
I shudder in the aftermath of that image.
I think ... honestly, I don’t know what I think. So I smile and nod and pretend to agree that hypothermia is some new aspect of luck I hadn’t considered. There is nothing better or worse about her opinion that is not also better or
worse than anyone else’s. I know this.
Then I tell myself to forget the whole thing.
I’m not terribly convincing.
I don’t know how many seconds pass while I try to process how amusingly casual she sounds. I wonder if it’s because she believes we are all living in our last days anyway, that pretty much everything we do — on the condition that it’s good — in this life is not done in preparation for the next. She doesn’t believe there is a next. Souls are not immortal. No heaven (but for a chosen few). No hell. Just this.
Again, no better or worse than what anyone else believes.
When I ask if she is maybe more upset about her neighbor than she lets on, she admits that after calling the police, she sank down on her couch and cried. Boy, did she cry. Then she laughed. “Uncontrollably,” she said.
This time, I’m totally taken aback. I don’t know what to say.
And since I’m so bad at learning from the past and can make the same mistakes over and over, I listen to the voice in my head that warns me to play it calm when someone says something that
startles my every nerve end. I walk to the kitchen to make tea. I think: I feel happy in our friendship; I feel safe with her, while fearing I’m going to cause her usually soft voice to rise with an edge if I forget certain things. Like that she won’t toast a drink and I tap her rim anyway, forgetting that saying “cheers” is “pagan superstition” ... because, well, that’s what she believes. (I’m going to keep forgetting whether I want to or not. She knows this.)
She smiles when I say that I’ll never live long enough to give careful consideration to all of the different beliefs and faiths that can be interpreted from all the different cultures and traditions, my own voice rising into overlyeager quips that fail to hide my distrust of the word “pagan” in general.
Yet, despite our underlying oppositions: devoutness and disbelief, faithfulness and irreverence, our helix works, we work. Every closeness is a crazy, complicated, miracle. I never used to think how perfectly imperfect such miracles are, but I do now. And why I want to be there for her. So I share an article about the chemical structure of human tears. There
are tears of joy, of sorrow, of anger and from peeling onions.
“The structural differences are amazing,” I say. “My choice, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, are the tears of joy. They look like exotic flowers. The worst? Onions.”
“Hmm,” she says, and the sound feels large, not just something to say. As if she is finally able to voice the thing — perhaps the thing — she needs to. She told me that laughter was her therapy, her cure, for aches and pains, for upsets, for everything.
I stare out the window at the snow still coming down. The whole view looks like something a movie set — though probably not a movie about a woman who slips and falls and freezes to death — has created to illustrate a true white Christmas.
Turning from the window, I have one of those strong sensations when it’s as if I’m outside of myself, promising myself to help anyone in my neighborhood who needs it.
— Mary Lou Sanelli works as an author, speaker, and master dance teacher. For more information about her and her work, visit www.marylousanelli.com.
Queen Anne & Magnolia Worship Services
Sunday Worship at 10am Live Streamed on our Facebook page and YouTube. Simply look for Magnolia Lutheran Church.
Twelfth Church of Christ, Scientist
In Person and Online Church Services
All are welcome & warmly invited to join these healing services
For best audio results, please join by clicking on the link from your computer or smartphone and choose “Call Over Internet”
All Zoom Services Meeting ID: 418 806 2637 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4188062637
Sunday Services 11:00am – 12noon Pacific
Wednesday Testimonies 7:30pm – 8:30pm Pacific
Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lessons
Our weekly Bible Lesson Sermon may be found here: https://quarterly.christianscience.com/
Additional Healing Resources: ChristianScience.com CSWashington.com SeattleMetroReadingRoom.org
For additional assistance, please contact us at seattle12cs@gmail.com or 206.283.2300 ChristianScienceTwelfthSeattle.com
SPU, Saint Martin’s to host GNAC hoops tourney games
Courtesy SPU Athletics
In an effort to lessen the effects of postponements and cancellations of games this season due to COVID-19, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference has announced changes to the field sizes and qualifying criteria for its 2022 men’s and women’s basketball championships.
The conference’s Management Council and CEO Board unanimously voted to expand this year’s tournament to all 10 men’s and women’s programs. This year’s tournament has been expanded to all 10 men’s and women’s programs. The GNAC Championships will run from March 2 to 5.
To accommodate full fields in both genders, the first two rounds of games will be split between Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington, and Royal Brougham Pavilion at Seattle
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Pacific University. In total, six games — two play-in contests and four quarterfinal match-ups — will take place at SPU. The other 12 games, including the semifinals and championship games in both genders, will be played at Marcus Pavilion on the campus of Saint Martin’s, which was awarded tournament-hosting rights two years ago.
For each gender, the No. 7 through No. 10 seeds will compete in play-in games on Wednesday, March 2. The winners will advance to an eight-team bracket, which will begin play on Thursday, March 3.
With the prospect of conference teams playing unbalanced schedules, tournament seeding in 2022 will be based on a pointsrating system rather than win/loss percentage.
Championship brackets are expected to be announced on Feb. 26, following the conclusion of the final games of the regular season. Ticket information for both venues will be released at a later date.
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County health and safety protocols will be in place for fans attending tournament contests at Seattle Pacific (King County) and Saint Martin’s (Thurston County). Currently, for basketball games at Seattle Pacific, spectators 12 years of age or older will need to provide proof of full vaccination or results of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of the event. Face masks worn over the nose and mouth are required for all spectators over 5 years old, regardless of vaccination status. Currently, all fans attending basketball games at Saint Martin’s are required to wear face masks regardless of vaccination status.
Design Review Board meeting slated for development
Seattle’s West Design Review Board will conduct a second recommendation meeting for a proposed development at 300 W. Republican St., at 7 p.m. Feb. 16. People can sign up to attend at https://bit.ly/Mtg3037114 or listen in at 206-207-1700, access code 2486 310 2387. The application calls for an eight-story, 168-unit apartment building at the location, with the existing buildings to be demolished.
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Subscriber Services | Circulation: Chris Lemmen, 206-461-1337
Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections will accept comments on the design through Feb. 15. People should submit comments to www.seattle. gov/project/comment or City of Seattle — SDCI — PRC, 700 Fifth Ave., Suite 2000, PO Box 34019, Seattle, WA 98124-4019. At the meeting, the applicant will present the proposed design, including any changes from the previous design meeting, and the review board will hear public comment and provide recommendations on the design.
Why do people like listening to music?
Think of your favorite song. Maybe it brings you happiness or joy. Maybe it makes you want to start dancing. Or maybe it’s a sad, melancholy song, but you still really like it.
From the radio to concerts to our mobile devices, music is all around us. To find out exactly why people like listening to music, I talked to my friend Sophia Tegart.
Tegart is a flutist, musicologist and assistant professor at Washington State University. She said one of the reasons many people like listening to music is because it can affect emotions.
“Music is emotion you can hear,” she said.
Humans have the ability experience dozens of emotions, ranging from happiness to sadness to fear. Perhaps you can think about a few of the different emotions you’ve felt while listening to music. This idea that music can affect our emotions has been around for thousands of years, Tegart said. The ancient Greeks would even prescribe certain types of music to help improve people’s well-being or mood.
In modern times, research has shown us that the brain will release certain natural chemicals when listening to music.
The body’s nervous system produces endorphins, which can help reduce pain and stress. They are also known as “feel-good” chemicals. When people feel sad, they may turn to music to help
them feel better.
You know listening to music involves more than just the sounds that come into your ears.
Tegart told me a bit about a percussionist named Evelyn Glennie who started to lose her sense of hearing when she was 12 years old. But that didn’t stop Glennie from becoming an accomplished musician.
“She plays barefoot and feels the vibrations of the music through her feet,” Tegart said.
Maybe you’ve also experienced music with more than just your
ears. Maybe you felt the vibrations of the bass speaker or felt chills in your body. Maybe the music got your toes tapping.
Tegart said another reason people like music is it has the ability to get us moving.
Whether it’s clapping our hands or dancing, music can make us want to move.
Movement can get our hearts beating and our blood flowing which is good for our health. Dancing can also help release some of those endorphins that make us feel good.
The next time you turn on the tunes, or maybe even perform a song on stage yourself, take a moment to be curious about the emotions you experience.
“Music can change style depending on what’s popular or what’s being written,” Tegart said.
“But I think the common thread is that it continues to speak to us emotionally.”
If you’re up for a challenge, maybe you can even dig into the music and see if there’s something in the composer’s toolbox — a chord, a lyric, a key change —
that helps make your favorite song such a good one.
Sincerely, Dr. Universe
Queen Anne WINDERMERE
Brokers from Windermere’s Queen Anne office list more neighborhood homes and help more sellers around the Hill than any other company’s agents. Providing truly tailored service, deep market intelligence, and a deft human touch, Windermere brokers represent Queen Anne home sellers with distinction.
Below are just a few of the homes our brokers sold in 2021. We’re grateful for the trust our Queen Anne neighbors put in us, and we look forward to serving you this year!
