Mastodawn

The Stranger read all the publicly-posted minutes from the Laurelhurst Community Council's website before the LCC suddenly took them all down:

https://www.thestranger.com/news/laurelhurst-community-council-isnt-sure-helicopters-needed-to-land-sick-kids-at-the-hospital/

#laurelhurst #seattle #SeattleChildrensHospital #TheStranger #LCC

Laurelhurst Community Council Isn’t Sure Helicopters Needed to Land Sick Kids at the Hospital

This, the affluent North Seattle neighborhood will tell helicopters are quite the nuisance. Such a nuisance that a neighborhood group wanted to make sure the hospital wasn't landing flights on the helipad for non-emergency reasons, like a broken leg.

The Stranger

FUN #LAURELHURST HISTORICAL FACT!

I'm from University Park in Seattle's U. District. Laurelhurst is east of us; we both had seats on the old Northeast District Council, etc.

My area specifically was platted earlier than most, in 1896, as Ravenna Springs, part of Ravenna Township, a failed resort town. University Park per se wasn't platted until 1905.

While digging into this history, I found that 1) Ravenna Township wasn't organised enough to have deed covenants, 2) University Park was more organised but chose not to, and 3:

Laurelhurst _did_, and its organising group when it was platted ran ads _using that against University Park_, specifically saying _they_ were the most exclusive neighbourhood in the area.

#seattle #history

Irene Zhang May 7

@moira @elba pointed out that her house in the U district was still subject to sundown laws, essentially making it impossible for me to live there back in the day because it included Asians.

@irene @moira actually that was Ballard! :0

Our house is actually Ravenna Springs. Howdy, neighbor! 👋

@irene @moira more information can actually be found here https://depts.washington.edu/covenants/

Racial Restrictive Covenants Project

The Racial Restrictive Covenants Project maps and documents racist deed restrictions across Washington State, with nearly 80,000 restricted properties identified. Explore county maps and data, historical context, legislation, homeownership disparities, and guidance for filing covenant modification forms.

Irene Zhang May 7

@elba @moira it looks like everything north of the ship canal including all around UW were unofficial but enforced sundown neighborhoods, so neither of us could go outside after dark at our houses!

@irene @elba Oh yeah, there were all sorts of other restrictions all over the place. Plus neighbourhood CCs tended to have a lot of _unofficial_ control over who bought houses in them, via a variety of means including networks of real estate agents and so on.

Also, hi! I don't live there anymore, though, so alas, it's only howdy near-miss neighbour.

@irene @elba (But I'm still there in spirit - you know those University Park signs with the horse chestnut flower springs on them? There's like five so you may not have noticed. But if you do: that's me. Those are mine. I didn't do the screen printing but the art, design, and separates were all me. ^_^ )

@moira @irene no way! I was wondering who/what organization put them up! :0

@elba @irene holy crow! most people never notice them. xD

but yeah, it was a big fad amongst neighbourhoods because the city said "if you want to do this we'll do the printing and hanging but you have to do everything else" and the university park community club said "nobody even knows we're here so we're totally doing this" and we did. it was fun :D

i drove that, and i was also real big on the ravenna creek daylighting. we wanted more than we got but university village was on the other side and we lost that part of the fight. but we did get a meaningful extension!

the upcc are still around, too - here's their website: https://www.upcc.org/

#upcc #UniversityPark #UDistrict

The University Park Community Club – News and Information for the University Park Community

@moira @irene wait, we have a community club?? Oh baby, time to ban some helicopters!!!

Irene Zhang May 8

@elba @moira is that what Muffin said??

@irene @moira yes

@elba @irene Yes, but it's only chartered from 16th Ave to 21st Ave and NE 50th to the middle of Ravenna Park. So it's a very specific air column and good luck with that xD

@moira @irene barely within bounds and ready to NIMBY 🫡

@elba @irene amazing

also your cat seems very wise

Irene Zhang May 8

@moira @elba she is. She's also incredibly loud and likes to sit in the window seats glaring at the neighbors

Irene Zhang May 7

@moira @elba yeah I don’t know that Maple leaf was even a part of Seattle back then but my neighborhood is still really white. I’m the only POC on my block. TBF, it’s only 8 houses but still

@irene @elba I'm... not sure. I know city limits around there were near NE 65th in the... 1917 round of annexations? And then crept northward to 85th, and then a lot further after WWII. You can tell in part from where the sidewalks end - post-war car-culture annexations didn't bother building 'em.

(Seattle may've rebelled against car culture early, but that doesn't mean it wasn't in it for a while first. Those sidewalk-empty areas were a symptom.)

Hm, what's Wikipedia got... yeah! Basically that. Got absorbed in chunks leading up to and then after the war:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_Leaf%2C_Seattle

Maple Leaf, Seattle - Wikipedia

Irene Zhang May 7

@moira @elba yup no sidewalks here!

curl | sudo bash May 7

@moira @irene @elba

Seattle annexation map:

https://kolektiva.social/system/cache/media_attachments/files/116/511/513/426/963/990/original/1e77f996e77b700d.jpeg