Family friendly entertainment, fun and games return for a second year!
What: Grab the family and get ready for the return of a Downtown Seattle favorite! The Waterfront Whimsea Family Fun Day will showcase family friendly entertainment such as Bubbleman, The Not-Its! and The Magic & Comedy of Bruce Meyers.
The Seattle Seafair Clowns will be working the crowd and the Seattle Firefighters are scheduled to do a show-and-tell with fire-fighting equipment.
Event attendees will also enjoy activities such as a bouncy house, games and more.
When: 11:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 9, 2013
Where: Waterfront Park, 1301 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98101
Who: Produced by the Metropolitan Improvement District in cooperation with Seattle Parks & Recreation. Sponsored by Ivar’s Acres of Clams & Pier 54 Fish Bar.
Details: This event is FREE and open to the public!
Why: To attract and entertain local families and visitors along the Downtown Seattle Waterfront neighborhood.
Info: For more information visit https://www.facebook.com/events/224592867675883/.
It’s Hip to be Pioneer Square (Seattle Mag)
How our city’s revolutionary restaurateurs are changing a neighborhood, bite by bite
Semi gets stuck under Pioneer Square pergola (King5)
A semi driver attempting a right turn onto First Avenue ended up with the truck stuck under the Pioneer Square pergola.
Rolling with Seattle’s biking execs: John Duggan (PSBJ)
Seattle attorney John Duggan rides to work each day from Bellevue to his Pioneer Square office. In his law practice, he often represents victims of bike accidents.
Cafe Nordo: Some spaghetti with that western? (Crosscut)
The prolific dinner theater company’s latest heist is in Pioneer Square. Blazing guns and stiff drinks are just the beginning.
‘Bertha’ The not so boring machine (West Seattle Herald)
With art viewers walking the streets of Pioneer Square on a sunny Thursday evening 20 or so people gathered in the projects public relations office, called Milepost 31, to listen to Chris Bambridge, tunnel specialist and consultant for WSDOT, explain how this incredible machine being assemble on Seattle’ waterfront will do its’ job.
About the “Portland Loo” coming to PSq:
City planning for high-tech toilets in Pioneer Square (Kiro)
Five years after a multimillion dollar fail, Seattle is trying again to put a public toilet in Pioneer Square
Seattle wants to give free-standing public toilets another go (KPLU)
Five years after Seattle had to get rid of its free-standing public toilet structures, Mayor Mike McGinn wants to give it another go, this time with a new design.
Seattle and Portland’s Strange Toilet History (Seattle Weekly)
If all goes as planned the Portland Loo will be installed on west end of the Sinking Ship Garage in Pioneer Square sometime late this summer or early this fall.
More fancy public toilets coming to Seattle (My Northwest)
Each Portland Loo costs $90,000, according to their website, and this first toilet, to be placed near the Sinking Ship Garage in Pioneer Square, will reportedly be covered by non-city sources of funding.
Even if you’re a local, it’s a fun outing to go on the SubSeattle Tour. Although it’s run by the Underground Tour, it is 100% above ground.
You meet at the Underground Tour office, where your group will load up on one of their signature buses. What follows is a 90-minute bus ride through “out of sight” city neighborhoods. I already knew some of the info that was being shared, but I learned a lot, as well, including some great new locations for a picnic or family photos. We had two tour guides on the bus who were very knowledgeable about the history of Seattle, and we even got onto a tangent regarding home prices in one of the neighborhoods we ended up in.
Tickets are $30/person, and the tour only runs from March until November.
Besides the interesting tour guides, relaxing bus ride, and historic information, the best reason to check it out is the following:
GiveBIG - Seattle’s biggest day of charitable giving – is in one week! Here are just three reasonswhy you should consider supporting the Alliance for Pioneer Square:
1. They fight for the neighborhood
2. They fill up empty storefronts
3. They’re changing the story of Pioneer Square
Help them maintain their momentum and carry their work forward. On May 15th, you will have the opportunity to make your charitable donations go farther if you give during the Seattle Foundation’s annual GiveBIG event. Credit card donations during this 24-hour period will be matched by a large stretch fund, making this event the biggest day of community giving of the year.
Follow them on Facebook or Twitter for reminders the day of the event.
Thank you for your support.
Bike to Work Day is May 17 and the Bicycle Alliance of Washington is hosting an energizer station for Pioneer Square bike commuters from 6-9 am in front of their office at 314 First Ave S.
They’re serving coffee from Zeitgeist and shortbread cookies from Grand Central Bakery to fuel you up for the day. Bike safety checks and minor mechanical adjustments will be offered, as well as local bike maps and Share the Road information. They’ll also have a Metro bike rack on hand so you can practice loading your bike on one.
Grand Central Bakery will treat all bike commuters a second time on Bike to Work Day. Drop by any of their retail locations with your bike helmet and receive a complimentary baguette!
Many Washington communities are planning Bike to Work Day activities. Check their Bike Month Round-up for a summary with links to other events.
Where: The Kitchen (309 First Ave So.)
When: Wednesday, May 15th from 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Who: Pioneer Square residents are encouraged to attend
Agenda: Click here to view in PDF
Review of Q1 minutes
(Tija Petrovich-resident)
WESTPAC report
(Mike Klotz-resident)
National Night Out
Neighborhood BBQ planning
How do we grow?
Expanding our membership/getting the word out
Creating resources for neighborhood info.
Neighborhood “insider” secrets/deals
New business
Dog Park?
Metro Bus Rerouting Update
Reminder: Like us on Facebook
The Alliance, in partnership with the Residents Council and the Street Civility Steering Committee has been working for the past couple years on the issue of access to public restrooms.
If you are interested in their progress to date, including the siting of a new Portland Loo, please bring your questions to a neighborhood meeting, Wednesday May 15th, 4:30 to 6:00 pm at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.
The Pioneer Square pergola has been hit again, this time by an 18-wheeler that got became high centered on the bollard that was installed to protect it from getting totally knocked over and hit the top corner, where it became stuck.
Seattle Parks Tweet
It has now been removed and traffic cleared.
Photo credit: Pete Cassam KingTV
Close up of bollard that prevented it from doing more damage to the pergola
Little Uncle Expanding to Pioneer Square (Eater)
PK and Wiley Frank, owners of Little Uncle, the popular Thai takeout nook in Capitol Hill, just picked up the keys to their new brick and mortar
What’s Happening to the Old Elliott Bay Cafe? (Eater)
The former Elliott Bay Books space at the corner of First and Main in Pioneer Square is getting a makeover and will become Axis Pioneer Square.
Chris Hansen on Sonics arena: ‘Our vision would not look or feel anything like L.A. Live’ (Seattle Times)
Chris Hansen, the man leading the investment group to bring the Sonics back to Seattle at a new arena, said he has no intention of replicating L.A. Live in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood.
Union Gospel Mission’s Search and Rescue Van brings help and hot chocolate to the streets (My Northwest)
“What we do at night, we pass no judgement. We help them. Whether they’re drunk, high, whatever. It’s very different from what goes on [at Union Gospel Mission]. The mind set in here, you’re drunk or high, you leave. Out there, I don’t turn anybody away.”
Pier merchants appeal seawall project’s environmental review (Seattle Times)
Leslie Smith, executive director of the Alliance for Pioneer Square, said the construction of the deep-bore tunnel to replace the viaduct already has significantly disrupted traffic and increased congestion in that neighborhood.
Tough Guys and Oxtail Chili at Café Nordo’s “Smoked!” (SunBreak)
Café Nordo sets up shop in Pioneer Square at The Kitchen, Delicatus’s event space.
Tuesdays are for tacos (Seattle Times)
Two local watering holes, Elysian Fields in Pioneer Square and Tailgaters Sports Bar in Ballard, keep the Taco Tuesday tradition alive.
Seasonal farmers markets opening (Seattle Times)
New seasonal markets this year include the new Pike Place Market Express farmers market in Pioneer Square (10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays in Occidental Park, starting June 19).
Seattle Mother’s Day: Score FREE Parking at Waterfront Garages (PR Newswire)
Whether taking mom to the Great Wheel or a great brunch, the Seattle Aquarium or on an Argosy cruise, patrons visiting the Waterfront can take advantage of FREE parking this Mother’s Day in Seattle.
In SeattleMet’s most recent issue, they looked at 10 Seattle Neighborhoods, and below is the info that they featured for Pioneer Square (including a quote from me!):
Pioneer Square
Total population 2,276
Nonwhite residents 39.4 percent
Walkability score 86
“When my husband and I first moved here, people thought we were crazy. Even I had a bizarre perception of what it was—unsafe, rundown—but my perception changed the more I got involved in the community. These days we’re excited about the new stadium coming in to the south and the new energy restaurateur Matt Dillon has brought to the neighborhood. We’d like to see more residents move in, though. The more people invested here during the nonbusiness hours, the better it’s going to be for the neighborhood.” —Jen Kelly, four-year Pioneer Square resident and author of The New Pioneer Square blog
New in the neighborhood Bar Sajor (323 Occidental Ave S, barsajor.com), Matt Dillon’s new lunch and dinner spot, opened in February.
Sign its value is on the rise About 80 tech firms, most of them startups, have moved into Pioneer Square.
If you only have an hour Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park commemorates the 1897 Gold Rush (319 Second Ave S, nps.gov/klse)
You can read vital stats on 138 neighborhoods in and around Seattle, but below is the snapshot for Pioneer Square. I wish they had been able to find info for the first half of the column, but there are still interesting stats:
In case the graphic is too small to read, here is the relevant info:
Total Population: 2276
Density: 11,755
Median Household Income: $39,167
Diversity (% Nonwhite): 39%
Population Under 18 years old: 1% (ouch!)
Owner/Renter Occupied: 15% / 85%
Vacant Homes: 8%
Crimes per 1,000 Residents: 214 (not sure what this means specifically)…
Average Walk Score: 86
Average Transit Score: 100 (nice!)