If you wondered what all those skaters were doing at Seward School on Saturday, it was just part of the competetion in the 10th and final Street Battle Seattle.

Jeremy Townsend (who, according to his mom, lives in Eastlake) runs the event.

Skaters compete by showing their moves on street obstacles,like ledges and rails. Judges are professional skaters and there's a $1,000 prize for first place. 

Skaters don't know where in town they'll be competing until the morning of the event. They were at Seward for a little over an hour before moving on. Check the video to see what they were doing in Eastlake. More info on the Street Battle Seattle website.

SeattlePI.com's Casey McNerthney is reporting on an altercation at TOPS@Seward School last week that also made the Stranger earlier in the day.

McNerthney says the Seattle Police report says that in a French class, one seventh-grader asked another if he knew the "pen to skull" trick. When the victim said no, the alleged attacker reportedly held a pen in a closed fist and hit the victim in the head five times, drawing blood. 

But, McNerthney says, there's a question about who instigated the altercation. See the rest of his blog post here.

The Seattle School Board passed the attendance transition plan for the 2010-11 school year late this evening. The vote was 6-1 with school board director Betty Patu the lone dissenting vote.

The plan includes a one-year continuation of a tiebreaker provision setting aside 20 percent of kindergarten seats at TOPS@Seward School for Eastlake children. The provision has been in effect for several years but will probably disappear after 2010-11 when a new geographic zone tiebreaker is created for Seward.

The big focus of the evening for TOPS parents was a last-minute change to the transportation grandfather clause in the plan. The original plan had said current students at a school who live outside the school's service area would continue to receive bus transportation for five years. That was reduced to two years.

The change has the potential to be a big blow to TOPS which is an alternative school and draws students from all over the city. Many students come from southeast Seattle and won't be able to get to TOPS... (more)

It appears the Seattle School District heard Eastlake's parents at its Jan. 6 meeting.

A provision that sets aside 20 percent of kindergarten seats at TOPS@Seward School for Eastlake kids has been restored to the district's New Student Assignment Transition Plan (NSAP) for the 2010-11 school year. The set-aside, which has been in effect for several years, had been dropped from the plan, sparking a petition drive in the neighborhood and testimony at the Jan. 6 school board meeting.

The school board will vote on the amended transition plan at their meeting on Wednesday evening at school district headquarters, 2445 3rd Ave. S.

In an amended transition plan, posted on the school district's web site (and attached to this post), the 20 percent provision has been reinstated for the 2010-11 school year. After that, a new tiebreaker based on a geographic zone is supposed to be implemented to help determine how many Eastlake kids can attend their neighborhood school.

The full text of the relevant portion of the amended... (more)

Eastlake parents spoke passionately at Wednesday night’s school board meeting about their concerns and anger that a new district attendance policy will hinder neighborhood children’s chances of attending TOPS@Seward School.

The parents are concerned that provisions in the Seattle School District’s proposed new policy, which is focused on local attendance at neighborhood schools, represent a step backwards for Eastlake kids.

Under current school policy, 20 percent of kindergarten slots at the school were set aside for Eastlake children. That provision is not present in a proposed transition plan for moving the district to the new attendance policy, nor is a “geographic zone” tiebreaker for the school that would have allowed more neighborhood kids to get in. The geographic zone was eliminated from the transition plan in December (see a previous post for more explanation on geographic zones).

Jules James, an Eastlake resident and school activist, turned in petitions with 137  signatures from neighborhood residents who, he said, “expect — and deserve — predictable local access to Seward School, now, not vaguely later.”

James asked the board to approve a one-year pilot geographic zone for Seward that would match a proposal made previously by the Eastlake Community Council: I-5 west to and including the houseboats, and E. Galer north to the Ship Canal.

It wouldn’t be hard or require a lot of computer programming to include the few Eastlake children in Seward’s classrooms next year, James said. “We are talking about 10 kids. We can hand sort them out.”

A geographic zone would be “revenue positive” for two reasons, James said: Eastlake kids could walk to school and wouldn’t have to be bused, and it would help the district attract and retain families into the system. He continued:

“Eastlake has always been a walking neighborhood. Seward Public School has been the heart of the Eastlake neighborhood for over a century. Seattle is now a neighborhood-based school district. Yet, the Seattle School District continues to bus Eastlake’s students out so it can bus others in. Forced busing ended for everyone — except Eastlake.”

Also speaking in favor of a transition plan that would help Eastlake kids attend Seward were Derek Stanley and Doug Hunt, parents of two sons, one of whom will be entering kindergarten in the fall and the other who will be starting in 2011. They fear that one son might get into Seward but his brother would have to attend another school.

Stanley noted that the current provision for 20 percent of kindergarten seats to be reserved for Eastlake students was missing from the transition plan.  

“Given Eastlake’s intense efforts to win those seats to begin with,” he said, “it’s a bit like ripping a scab off a fresh wound.”

He asked that the school board either continue the 20 percent set aside or designate a geographic zone “that meets Eastlake’s needs.”

Hunt said that the 20 percent kindergarten set aside had contributed to an improvement in an “initially hostile TOPS/community relationship” and he fears the lack of that provision will be a “setback” to that relationship.

Janice White, a TOPS parent and vice chair of the TOPS@Seward Site Council, said the 20 percent set aside “has worked well for the school and has helped strengthen relationships between TOPS and its surrounding neighborhood.” She urged that the set aside be retained for 2010-11 if a geographic zone wasn’t going to be implemented.

Chad Mackay, a parent who lives just east of I-5, said he and his wife were initially excited that their sons, ages 5 and 3, would be at Seward but were now “dismayed” that there wouldn’t be a geographic zone or a set aside. He said the family had every intention of being active participants in the Seattle school system. 

He noted that Eastlake, Roanoke and north Capitol Hill had come together to get the 20 percent set aside implemented.

“The three neighborhoods need a local public school,” Mackay said, “and, due to the number of children in this area, Seward is the obvious solution. The set aside has fulfilled this need to date and we ask the it remain in place.”

The school board heard an introduction of the 2010-11 attendance transition plan during Wednesday’s meeting. A final vote by the board on that plan is expected to come on Jan. 20.

Eastlake resident, business owner and parent Jules James will present a resolution to the Seattle School Board on Wednesday, urging the board to adopt a one-year pilot geographic zone for Seward School.

The geographic zone would be used in "tiebreaker" situations when determining which Eastlake children get to attend the TOPS@Seward School program.

Seward is an alternative, or "option," program. Students from all over Seattle can apply to go there.

Under new attendance policies the school district had been studying, policies intended to promote children attending schools in their own neighborhoods, there would be three criteria used to determine who gets in to an alternative school: if siblings are attending, the geographic zone and a lottery (see our previous post for a more detailed explanation).

On Dec. 16, school district staff proposed eliminating the geographic zone because there was "a lack of time" to implement it.

In an e-mail sent Sunday to Eastlake neighbors, James says he will propose a zone... (more)

UPDATE: This post has been updated since it was first published. Dropping the geographic zone for Seward is a staff proposal. The school board has yet to vote on it.

The opportunity for Eastlake children to attend TOPS@Seward School, the neighborhood's lone school, may have been dealt a serious blow on Wednesday.

The Seattle School District staff has proposed that the district not adopt a geographic zone for the school. The zone would have been used as a "tiebreaker" when determining which children get to attend Seward.

The full school board will vote on the proposal during it's meeting on Jan. 20. That meeting starts at 6 p. m. at school district headquarters, 2445 3rd Ave. S.

For the 2010-11 school year, Eastlake children (except for those already enrolled at Seward) would be bused to Montlake Elementary. Eastlake kids would have to enter a lottery to gain a seat at Seward, just like every other child in the city.

Under the proposal, the siblings of current students would still be high priority to get into TOPS@Seward due to the sibling tiebreaker provision.

The Eastlake Community Council had proposed a geographic zone for Seward that would have encompassed most of the neighborhood (I-5 west to the houseboats, Galer north to the Ship Canal). The new geographic zones are part of the school district's new attendance policy, which is focusing on a return to neighborhood schools. The geographic zones would be used as tiebreakers to determine how many neighborhood students would be able to attend (for a more detailed explanation, see our previous post).

The ECC had hoped the geographic zone would allow a few more neighborhood children to attend Seward than currently do. Currently, school policy sets aside a small percentage of the kindergarten seats at the school for neighborhood children. That provision is eliminated in the disrict staff proposal.

Jules James, Eastlake resident, business person and schools activist, said this was the worst setback for neighborhood kids who want to attend Seward in 10 years.

A petition is circulating (see photo) in Eastlake to be sent to the school board and staff. It states that the newly adopted plan is "unacceptable to our neighborhood" and to seek a geographic placement preference for Eastlake kids at the school. The petition is available at Lake Union Mail, 117 E. Louisa, James' business.

There are two chances to hear about Eastlake land-use issues this week, both worth your attention:

Neighborhood Plan Update Status Meeting: The Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee (NPAC) and the Seattle Planning Commission will report back on what they heard about changes to Eastlake's neighborhood plan during a meeting Tuesday evening, Nov. 10, from 6-8 p.m. in room BE 1110/11 at Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway.

The plans guide the city in matters of growth, transportation, housing and more for each of the city's neighborhoods. In June and July, meetings took place where the city took comments on changes to the plans. Online comments were also gathered.

Brian Ramey, Eastlake's representative on NPAC, has raised concerns that the online comments don't really reflect the neighborhood's desires. Tueday's meeting will give Eastlake another chance to influence the process. 

Eastlake Community Council public meeting on land use: The ECC's Land Use Committee will host a public meeting from... (more)

Without a quorum present, the Eastlake Community Council Board could only discuss issues but not vote when it gathered for its monthly meeting last Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Jules James reported on the latest developments in the new assignment plan being drafted by the Seattle Public Schools. The goal of the new plan is to let children attend schools in their neighborhoods as much as possible. The previous assignment plan was focused on racial balance and often saw children being bused far from their neighborhood.

The new attendance maps were released Oct. 6. Eastlake falls into the attendance zone for Montlake Elementary. 

Seward is an "option" school, which means that children from all over the city can apply to go there. When children who live near an option school apply to go there, the district uses a series of "tiebreakers" to determine whether or not they can attend. One of the tiebreakers is a new “geographic zone.”

James said that the school district has yet to release the map of Seward&... (more)

I took a few photos walking to Louisa's this morning to have breakfast and coffee with former colleagues from the Seattle P-I. The leaves have really started turning in the last week.

One nice surprise: Students from TOPS@Seward School have hung poetry in one of the trees between the school and playground. Fun to look at what they'd written. Check it out when you're in the area.

Candidates for Seattle City Council and representatives of the two Seattle mayoral candidates appeared at a forum sponsored by the Eastlake Community Council on Tuesday evening at Seward School.

In the congenial tradition of Seattle politics, there were few fireworks and some agreement among the candidates. A representative of the “Approve R71” campaign, which would retain domestic partner benefits enacted by the state legislature, spoke to a supportive room with no speakers from the opposite camp.

Neither candidate for mayor — Mike McGinn nor Joe Mallahan — was present. McGinn was represented by Craig Benjamin; Mallahan by Dean Willard.

Benjamin touted McGinn’s credentials as a neighborhood activist who helped defeat a pro-roads ballot initiative and helped pass last year’s parks levy. He noted that McGinn has run his campaign on a shoestring and suggested he would be equally tough with city finances.

Willard noted that he had worked with Mallahan at T-Mobile. Taking a swipe at McGinn’s stated intent of stopping the viaduct-replacement tunnel, Willard noted that we have the funds to build the tunnel and that Mallahan wants to replace the viaduct before it falls down. He also said that Mallahan wanted to make housing more affordable in the city.

Questions centered on how the candidates would interact with neighborhoods. Benjamin said that McGinn had worked on neighborhood plans and wanted to get citizens involved in the planning process. Willard said the outgoing administration of Mayor Greg Nickels was fearful it would hear things it didn’t like if it allowed neighborhoods to be involved too closely in city planning.

Both representatives said their candidates supported the housing initiative on the ballot and that housing would be a main interest in their administrations. 

Would either candidate support extending the South Lake Union Streetcar up Eastlake? Benjamin or Willard both said they hadn’t heard their candidate discuss the issue.

City Council, Position 2: Richard Conlin (incumbent) vs. David Ginsberg

Conlin, president of the City Council in 2008-09, touted his accomplishments on the council and in working with neighborhoods. Ginsberg said that decisions in city government come at a “glacial pace” and he wanted to move things along faster. 

Answering a question about how they would create incentives to get more Seattle police and firefighters to live in the city, Ginsberg noted that the city is “unaffordable” and that he would try to find ways to make it easier for city employees and others to afford to live here. Conlin agreed and talked about his efforts to achieve the same end.

Discussing plans to untangle the “Mercer Mess” in South Lake Union, both candidates talked about how the area is becoming more residential and that the goal is not just to move cars to the freeway but to create a Main Street for residents.

The tunnel: Conlin said that an advisory vote on the tunnel project is “a bad idea.” Although he favored a surface street option, he said the tunnel decision has been made and it was up to the city to work with the state to make it happen successfully.

City Council, Position 4: David Bloom vs Sally Bagshaw

Bagshaw mentioned her work for the late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng on a variety of issues as one of her main qualifications. Bloom has been active as a community organizer for over 30 years, including working for the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

Bloom said Seattle is losing its ability to be a welcoming place, mainly because housing expenses are up and there is a lack of living wage jobs. He said that too much was being spent on downtown projects and not enough on the neighborhoods. Roads, bridges and arterial streets need repair, he said.

Bagshaw said she would promote rebuilding Seattle’s economy, providing affordable housing, having transit connections that work, making public schools that work, and building better working relationships between the state, city and county governments.

Would they support spending money on a Seattle Center upgrade? Bloom said that, in the abstract, “yes.” But he said there were other, more pressing, issues such as providing housing.

Bagshaw said she’d be willing to study it, but not do it this year.

How do they stand on allowing floating homes to expand? Bloom said the houseboat community was unique and owners needed to have the flexibility to expand or replace their homes. Bagshaw said she didn’t want to take away homeowners’ rights but also didn’t want to do anything to increase shoreline pollution.

City Council, Position 6: Nick Licata (incumbent) vs. Jesse Israel

Licata noted that he has worked issues important to neighborhoods (like fighting redlining by banks) for years. His goal is not to squander public dollars. He said his goal is open government and noted that he had pushed the City Council to be more responsive to citizens.

Israel said she is a “third or fourth generation Seattleite” and had served in the Peace Corps, had been a consultant on several neighborhood plans (including Eastlake’s), and serves on the board of directors for both the Ballard Food Bank and City Year. She urged yes votes on R71 and the housing levy and a “no” vote on Initiative 1033.

Question: How would the go about meeting the goals of protecting and restoring shorelines and maintaining maritime businesses?

Israel said it was a “delicate balance” but noted that the maritime industries are part of what makes Seattle Seattle. Licata recalled his role in stopping the Roanoke Reef high-rise in Eastlake and said he will work to keep marine industries.

Both candidates said they would support upgrading electronic infrastructure so city e-mails don’t have to be deleted after 45 days. 

Licata is in favor of a less expensive fix to the Mercer Mess than that proposed while Israel wants to see changes that would disperse Mercer traffic more widely over the South Lake Union street grid.

City Council, Position 3: Mike O’Brien vs. Robert Rosencrantz

Both O’Brien and Rosencrantz have known each other for years and they said that they have enjoyed debating each other on the campaign trail.

Rosencrantz, who lives just over the hill from Eastlake on Delmar Drive, said he would return power to the neighborhoods. He would let neighborhood business districts have control over paid parking and would let them keep some of the revenue raised by such parking. He also said he would “stick with the basics and do them well” and would work to grow Seattle’s economy.

O’Brien said that the city is facing a huge budget deficit and that no one on the City Council has the financial background to meet the challenge, but that he does. He said that there are cheaper alternatives to the tunnel project. He said that tough times call for tough choices, but wondered if shuttering city libraries to save money was a good idea.

Question: Would they favor incentives to get city residents to remove≤ paving from planting strips and put in more greenery? Both said they would, and O’Brien noted that more greenery helped cut the cost of treating runoff.

Officers and board members for the Eastlake Community Council were elected last night in voting at the start of the candidates forum at Seward School (I'll have a post on the candidates forum later today).

Elected were:

• Tim Ahlers — president
• Chris Leman — vice president
• Kate Dulemba — vice president 
• Melissa Ahlers — secretary
• Carsten Croff — treasurer
• Kathi Woods
• Carsten Stinn
• Canek Gordillo
• Mary Hansen
• Craig MacGowan
• James Metz
• Joyce Lane
• Susan Forhan

UPDATE: This post has been changed since it was first published. A quote from Jules James has been added.

The Seattle Public Schools released new attendance maps for city schools this afternoon. All of the Eastlake neighborhood has been assigned to the Montlake Elementary attendance zone.

The maps (see the PDF with this post) are part of the district's new new student assignment plan, which was approved by the school board in June. The goal of the new assignment plan is to send children to schools that are closer to home. The new plan will begin to be implemented starting with the 2010-2011 school year.

Eastlake's assignment to Montlake isn't a change. Montlake in turn feeds in to Washington Middle School and then Garfield High School. (See this post from Capitol Hill Seattle for more information on how the maps are affecting schools there.)

"Citywide, the new attendance area maps seem logical and practical," said Jules James, a longtime neighborhood resident who monitors school issues for the Eastlake Community Council. "At first blush, the school district deserves very high marks for the Assignment Plan work unveiled today."

Yet to come is a map of the new "geographic zone" for TOPS@Seward, Eastlake's neighborhood school. Seward is an "option" school, which means that children from all over the city can apply to go there. When children who live near an option school apply to go there, the district uses a series of "tiebreakers" to determine whether or not they can attend. The new tiebreakers for an option school will be 1) whether a sibling already attends; 2) the geographic zone; and 3) a lottery. Living within the geographic zone does not guarantee assignment to an option school, the district notes on its web site.

The hope of Eastlake residents is that the geographic zone for Seward will encompass most of the neighborhood. Those maps have not yet been posted.

There will be a series of community feedback meetings on the new attendance maps. The closest meeting to Eastlake will be at Washington Middle School, 2101 S. Jackson, this coming Saturday, Oct. 4, from 2 to 4 p.m.

Related links:

• The Seattle Public Schools page on the new assignment plan is here.
• Coverage of the new attendance maps from Seattlepi.com is here and from the Seattle Times here.
• Previous coverage from Eastlake Ave. of the new maps is here.

CORRECTION: This post has been updated since it was first published. Jules James also attended the TOPS@Seward Site Council Retreat, and the ECC Board's intentions for the school and the way the new assignment system works have been clarified.

The Eastlake Community Council Board met Wednesday evening at Seward School. Among the topics on the agenda were a discussion of various land-use issues, nominations for the ECC Board and an update on the assignment plan for TOPS@Seward School.

Brian Ramey reported on the city’s efforts to update the neighborhood plans. Ramey is an alternate member on the Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee and has been deeply involved in the process of updating the plans. The plans help the city prepare for and deal with growth and cover everything from delivery of city services to determining the character of each neighborhood and what the quality of life there will be.

There are 38 neighborhood plans but the process “doesn’t mean they all will be updated,”... (more)

The Eastlake Community Council's monthly board meeting is Wednesday, Aug. 19, starting at 7 p.m. Location is Seward School, 2500 Franklin Ave. E.

President Tim Ahlers says he expects the NOAA move and the Eastlake Outdoor Movie Night will be discussed, as well as the usual ECC business.

The community council deals with many issues -- crime, land use, community events, interaction with the city -- that are of importance to everyone in the neighborhood. Want to know what's going on or have a question? Have an idea about a way to make the neighborhood better?

Better yet, want to get involved? Come to the meeting and join the community council!

The community council's web site is here.

The Eastlake Community Council needs help with the filing of its back archives. A work party has been scheduled for Monday, July 27, from 10 a.m. to noon, to work on this project.

The ECC has an archives/board room at Seward School, 2500 Franklin Ave. E., by the north courtyard just off Roanoke. Betty Gard, an experienced librarian and archivist, is donating her time to help the ECC get its files in order, but she needs assistance.

Chris Leman, ECC vice president, says they may work outside in the shaded courtyard. Beverages, ice and fans will be provided.