The Northeast Seattle Emergency Communications Hub movement is GROWING! We have established a new communications Hub at Maple Leaf Park. This hub will not only provide our neighborhood with emergency communications, it’s location at the top of Roosevelt Ridge will enable our radio operators to receive and relay messages from other neighborhoods in North Seattle – from Puget Sound to Lake Washington.
The May 19 drill will simulate a major emergency. We will have several radio operations set up which will receive damage and injury reports provided by walk-ups and low power radios. These messages will be passed on to licensed amateur radio volunteers from the Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service. These hams will pass the messages on to the central Emergency Operations Center via voice and digital communications.
All are welcome to participate. We will be set up at Maple Leaf Park, on the east side – right off 14th AVE NE south of the construction fence. Look for the white tents and antennas. Just show up on May 19th @ 8:30 AM and we will brief you and divide up into small groups, who will then go out into the neighborhood with handheld radios. Each group will take turns sending reports back to the Park. Other folks can stay at the hub and participate with our volunteers and see what the various roles are in the operation of the hub. For more specific information, contact John Parnell via k7hv@arrl.net.
Wherever you live, we hope you can participate in this City Wide drill at a hub nearest to your home. THAT is where you will go in the event of the real thing.
“I walk by here every day and I never saw that.” That is one of the most-often-heard remarks
Have you made plans for Earth Day yet? Here are some fun outdoor and kid-friendly activities scheduled for Earth Day on Sunday, April 22nd.
The Nature Conservancy is celebrating Earth Day in Seattle with a Picnic for the Planet, with music, food and fun at the Seattle Center, Sunday, April 22nd, 11 AM to 4 PM. Featuring Seattle bands, The Local Strangers and Kore lonz. Bring a picnic or buy one at local food trucks at the event. Wear an Earth Day costume! Family-friendly fun and games. Nature Conservancy’s Picnic for the Planet – website: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/washington/washington-celebrating-earth-day.xml
Nature Adventure Day and Earth Day Celebration at the Washington Park Arboretum - Sunday, April 22nd, 10 AM to 1 PM. Nature-connection activities, games and snacks. Event info: http://wildernessawareness.org/earth_day_2012.html
Emergency Preparedness Meeting
- Open To All NE Seattle Residents -
Thursday, March 15th from 6:30 to 9:00PM
Wedgwood Presbyterian Church (8008 35th Ave NE)At some point in the future, Seattle will get hit by a major earthquake. Hopefully that will be decades or centuries from now, but it is too predictable an event to not make basic preparations which will help reduce the impact of such an occurrence. The Wedgwood Community Council and Sustainable NE Seattle, therefore, are working throughout the year to encourage preparedness.
Once individuals have taken care of their basic individual preparedness needs (see 3days3ways.org), they often want to take the next step to organize with their neighbors. On Thursday, March 15th, the Wedgwood Commuity Council and Sustainable NE Seattle are hosting a meeting which will demonstrate one way that neighbors can come together to create an emergency plan.
The meeting will take place from 6:30 to 9:00, Thursday, March 15th at the Wedgwood Presbyterian Church (8008 35th Ave NE). This meeting will focus on how to organize your street or block. There will be a short video called “Map Your Neighborhood”,with moderator-led activities and discussion designed to get us ready to plan our responses to potential emergencies. Those who want to take the first step to organize their block will be provided with the information and materials needed to start the process.
Expect to hear from local experts in emergency response, and to have an opportunity to meet and network with neighbors who share common goals. This will be a fun event, with lots of information, answers, and even incentive gifts. Please join us if you have any questions or interest in nighborhood organization. All NE Seattle residents are welcome to participate.
UPDATE: You can see all of the Small & Simple grant winners from this last round of funding HERE. The WCC grant value is actually $13,431.
Good news on the Emergency Preparedness front. The Wedgwood Community Council has received a $13,000 grant from the City of Seattle’s Neighborhood Matching Fund (NMF) to help prepare Wedgwood and surrounding neighborhoods for major emergencies. Over the next 12 months, there will be a variety of events and trainings in our community focused on this.
The city of Seattle recognizes four levels of preparedness:
• Individual preparedness: Every person and family is encouraged to have stored at least 3 days (7 days is better!) of water, food and emergency supplies.
• Block-level preparedness: Neighbors are encouraged to meet and are prepared to work together and help each other in an emergency.
• Neighborhood Preparedness: Community groups should each have a plan that is publicized and practiced, through which the community can assist with dealing with more major issues.
• City Response: The city continues to plan for each type of disaster and how they will support all of us.
Many of you have expressed the need for block-wide organization, both for preparedness and security, so we’re starting there. On March 15th, the WCC and Sustainable NE Seattle are hosting a training on how to “Map your Neighborhood” at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church. Details will be available soon, so stay tuned!
It’s hard to imagine that the Wedgwood Alehouse & Cafe could get much better (The beer! The food! The pool tables!), but add some fabulous Irish music and you’ve found gold at the end of the rainbow.
Irish musician Randal Bays and his family will be playing regular, family-friendly Irish music sessions beginning Sunday, January 8, 2012 from 2:00-4:30 pm. There’s no cover charge, and you’re welcome to enjoy the alehouse as you normally do since a session is much quieter than a concert. (Randal’s got a great explanation on his webpage.)
The session is being held in the family room, so feel free to bring the kids and enter along the side.
See you there!
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Wedgwood Alehouse
8515 35th Ave NE # A
Seattle, WA 98115-3675“Wedgwood Team to Wedgwood Hub. This is a drill. I am reporting a gas leak at the corner of….”
“View Ridge Team to Wedgwood Hub. This is a drill. I am reporting a power line down….”
“Maple Leaf Team to Wedgwood Hub. This is a drill. We have a car stuck snowbound with three occupants suffering from hypothermia. Requesting support.”
The drill was fun, and was special in many ways. It was one of the first major events at the Hunter Gathering Place, as the Hunter Tree Farm site is now considered. Through an agreement with the Hunter family, organization from Pomegranate Center, funding from Tully’s Coffee, and lots of community effort, the site was transformed over the summer from an empty lot to a usable gathering place that is open for community events.
This drill also marked the official recognition of the Wedgwood Hub by the City of Seattle, which means that we will get a fair amount of help and support by the city going forward. The hub is a structure to house radio communications in the event of a community-wide disaster, and it functioned great in its inaugural drill. (Note: No radio equipment is actually stored in the HUB.)
Success of the drill was due to the huge variety of participation that we saw. We had many volunteers from Wedgwood, as well as people from more than 15 of our neighboring communities! In addition, a gang of amateur radio operators descended from as far away as Bothell, and we had as a speaker a fire fighter from Kent. We had dignitaries from Seattle’s Office of Emergency Management , and our fantastic North Precinct Crime Prevention Officer, Terri Johnston, on hand as well. We kept warm with coffee donated by Café Van Gogh (thanks Janet!) and bagels from Noah’s bagels. This was a true community effort!
Thanks to everyone who participated. A special thanks goes to Theresa Edwards, who coordinated the drill itself. Additional thanks go to the team behind the $13,500 Neighborhood Matching Fund grant proposal submitted earlier in October, which, if funded, will provide additional education, awareness and training, all focused around increasing community resiliency in the event of emergencies of any kind. We’ll find out in December if we get that grant or not. Funded or not, we will continue to have community events around emergency preparation.
As always, we remind you: There are no local stockpiles of emergency supplies. Each of us is responsible for putting aside enough for ourselves and our families. The minimum is to have at least a 3-day supply of water – many recommend at least a 7-day supply. In the event of an emergency, first check on yourself and your family. Then check in on your neighbors and make sure everyone is okay. Then compile a list of what you need and what you have to offer, and send someone to the Wedgwood Hub with that list.
Lastly – if you did not participate in this drill, come to one of the next ones. It is fun and will ensure that a real emergency goes a lot more smoothly.
Despite terrible weather for part of the evening, there were tons of trick-or-treaters wandering Wedgwood’s business district last Friday in fantastic costumes. Thanks to all of our fantastic businesses for doing such a fantastic job welcoming trick-or-treaters and to those who volunteered as crossing guards. Here are some photos of our brave and creative trick-or-treaters.
Trick or treaters enter the Wedgwood Barber Shop
Wedgwood’s annual Halloween Trick-or-Treat through local businesses will take place this coming Friday, October 28th from 4pm – 6pm.
What are you going to be follow Halloween this year? Each year, kids (and their parents some times) trick or treat through our local businesses in the full glory of their Halloween costumes. This fun event is sponsored by the WCC, which coordinates with our local businesses along 35th Ave NE and stations crossing guards at the 75th and 85th intersections. We can’t wait to see what everyone will be dressed up as. See you Friday!
This past Saturday, over 350 people showed up to Thornton Creek Elementary for Wedgwood’s 9th Annual Outdoor Cinema where “Fantastic Mr. Fox” lit up the giant, inflatable silver screen.
Prior to the main attraction, early birds braved the ideal weather with free ice cream cones from the Metropolitan Market, free Italian sodas from the ladies at Van Gough Coffeehouse, and delicious kettle corn. Our local firefighters from Station 40 stopped. Funk and soul tunes were again provide by “Soul Purpose.” HomeStreet Bank hosted a contest for a gift certificate to the Wedgwood Broiler. And the WCC sold “Wedgwood” t-shirts.
Many thanks again to our spectacular sponsors for this event: Homestreet Bank, Van Gough Coffeehouse, Wedgwood Ale House, Adams Insurance Agency, Starbucks, Metropolitan Market, Dr. Larry Adatto, Farmers Insurance Group, Green House Landscaping, and CleanScapes!
On May 19th, 2012 at 9:00 AM, there’s going to be an earthquake. Or a terrorist attack. Or a winter storm. Whatever the cause, all normal modes of communication – land line phones, cell phones, television, etc. – will be unavailable.
This is a drill, this is only a drill. The city is hosting a semi-annual test of emergency communications, and we invite you to join in the fun. Come to the Wedgwood Hub, located at Hunter Tree Farm at 7744 35th Avenue NE., and see how community volunteers and amateur radio operators could help the community in the event of an emergency. [If you live closer to Maple Leaf, they are hosting their own drill - see below!]
Come prepared to get involved – come up with likely issues based on whatever disaster scenario the city decides upon, then help solve those theoretical issues. Learn how we can work together to handle issues on a local level, and what happens with problems that cannot be solved with resources available in an emergency.
The drill will only last until 11:30, and participants can stay for as little or as much as they want. We’ll show you what roles are needed to operate a hub, and if you learn enough about each to answer a few questions, we’ll give you a fun gift (while supplies last)!
For those who are closer to Maple Leaf, they will be hosting their first drill slightly differently from the Wedgwood Hub. Read what they have to say:
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