Tag Archives: Seattle School Board

Neighbors Urge Seattle School Board to Redesign Ingraham H.S. Project

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

To: Seattle School Board
Public testimony by Steve Zemke
of Save the Trees!
Re: Ingraham High School Renovation
April 9, 2008
We am here tonight to urge the Seattle School Board to step back from its in house proposal to add new classrooms onto the west side of Ingraham High School that requires the destruction of 66 large Douglas Fir and western Red Cedar trees. The process has proceeded to the design stage and you are considering design modifications tonight to a building addition that did not undergo any public hearings or community input.

We think it is a flawed process that is in fact offending the neighborhood and the taxpayers in the city that voted to provide the $20 million dollars to add new classrooms to replace the portables. If the public had been told upfront before they voted on the bond issue what you intended to do, we don’t believe you ever would have gotten the bonds approved.

And now citizens of Seattle and taxpayers who voted to pay for the new classrooms are outraged. They are incredulous. They are in disbelief. You have lost credibility in the eyes of the public. They can’t believe you are proposing to cut down 100 foot tall trees that are 40 to 50 years old when alternative sites exist to build the new classrooms. In particular there is a large open area on the north side of the school where an addition can be built with a courtyard and probably more lighting available to the classrooms than the proposed addition.

Cutting down 2/3 of the grove of trees goes against what Mayor Nickels is asking the city to do – preserve existing trees and add significantly more new trees to re-green the city. It goes against what the State Legislature just passed in the urban forestry bill which called for preserving existing trees and planting more trees.

While no budget figures have been made available to the public and we’ve asked for the budget and for copies of alternatives that were looked at and their costs and have not gotten them, the school district has quoted to the media a figure of $1 million dollars more to move the building to the north side. For 66 trees that means you have assigned them a value of $15,000 per tree.

Meanwhile the City of Seattle is paying $9 million for 3 ½ acres to buy the North park and ride lot at Northgate and make it a park. They paid $3 million to buy a 39,000 sq foot lot in Ballard for a Park. Have you ever thought of selling the trees to the City of Seattle? They seem to be willing to pay a lot for asphalt parking lots for parks and here you have a mature forested area you’re gung ho to cut down.

Tonight we’re delivering to you signed petitions collected by Ingraham High School neighbors who got other neighbors to sign asking that you develop an alternative design for Ingraham High School that does not require the cutting down of any large old trees in the grove on the west side of the school.

More than 650 citizens and Seattle neighbors signed the petition urging you to save the trees at Ingraham. Signers of the petition include King County Executive Ron Sims; State Senators Ed Murray and Ken Jacobsen; and State Representatives Mary Lou Dickerson and Phyllis Kenney.

Other signers include Estella Leopold, Professor Emeritus in Botany at the University of Washington, Joan Thomas, a former President of the Washington Environmental Council, and Marilyn Knight, a former President of the League of Women Voters of Washington. Also signing were 4 Democratic candidates for the State Legislature – Gerald Pollet and Scott White in the 46th LD, John Burbank in the 36th LD and Tina Orwall in the 33rd LD.

We urge that you set an example for the students the public has entrusted to your care for their education by stepping back and showing wise environmental stewardship. Protect the tress at Ingraham High School and don’t cut them down.

Work with the neighborhood and Seattle taxpayers and Mayor Nickels and the Seattle City Council and the state legislature. Pick another site and design a building we can be proud of and that educates all of us in the possibility of living in harmony with our natural environment without destroying it.

Living in harmony with our environment is a priceless lesson. You can set no better example for students than to show we can do better than those in the past have and that we can live in a sustainable healthy urban environment without cutting down our green heritage.

Steve Zemke for
Save the Trees!
2131 N 132nd St
Seattle, WA 98133

King Co. Exec Ron Sims, Senators Ed Murray and Ken Jacobsen Sign Petition to Save the Trees!

Threatened NW Tree Grove at Ingraham High School

 

Efforts to save 62 old Douglas fir and Western Red Cedar trees from being cut down at Ingraham High School are gaining momentum. Neighbors have collected over 650 signatures on a petition urging “Ingraham High School, the Seattle School District, the Seattle School Board and the School Design Team to develop an alternative design for Ingraham High School that protects the 62 large Douglas Fir and Western Cedar trees, currently being proposed to be cut down on the west side of the high school”.

Signers of the petition include King County Executive Ron Sims; State Senators Ed Murray and Ken Jacobsen; and State Representatives Mary Lou Dickerson and Phyllis Kenney.

Other signers include Estella Leopold, Professor Emeritus in Botany at the University of Washington, Joan Thomas, a former President of the Washington Environmental Council, and Marilyn Knight, a former President of the League of Women Voters of Washington.

Also signing were 4 Democratic candidates for the State Legislature – Gerald Pollet and Scott White in the 46th LD, John Burbank in the 36th LD and Tina Orwall in the 33rd LD.

Senator Ed Murray was the prime sponsor in the Senate of the urban forestry bill for Green Cities E2SHB 2844, passed by the state legislature earlier this year that called on cities and counties to inventory existing trees and develop plans to conserve and retain existing trees.

Last week both the Community Council Federation of Seattle and the Haller Lake Community Club voted their support of the petition drive urging the school district to not cut down the trees but look at an alternative site.

The plans by the Seattle School District to cut down what has at latest count increased to 66 Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar trees, flies smack in the face of the efforts of the Washington State Legislature, as well as a recent order by Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle, to preserve existing trees in urban areas and overall increase the number of trees in the city.

The grove of trees at Ingraham is a poster child of efforts to save trees in Seattle and the state. If we can’t stop the destruction of over 2/3 of the trees in the grove at Ingraham, then no tree in Seattle is safe.

Neighbors support the effort to renovate Ingraham High School and build new classrooms to replace the old portables being taken down but note that other locations exist on the campus where the classrooms could be built without cutting down any large or old trees. In particular there is a large grassy open space on the north side of the school that could easily accommodate the classrooms.

Copies of the petitions containing over 650 signatures were delivered to the Seattle School Board at their Board meeting on Wednesday, April 9, 2008.

Earlier in the day King TV did an evening news segment on the Save the Trees campaign.

Seattle School Board Races Produce Some Surprises

Maybe its just the dog days of August but incumbent Seattle School Board members are not faring well in raising money compared to their challengers. Both Sally Soriano and Darlene Flynn, who are running for re-election, lag far behind their challengers in raising money.

Three candidates have raised over $40,000 each – Peter Maier, Sherry Carr, and Stephen J Sundquist. The following data is taken from reports filed on the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission website

Seattle School Board District 1

MAIER PETER L (N) 7/31/2007 raised $40,087.33 spent $9,650.83
SORIANO SALLY J (N) 7/31/2007 raised $6,034.76 spent $4,980.05

Seattle School Board District 2

CARR SHERRY L (N) 08/13/2007raised $45,889.67 spent $22,457.48
FlYNN DARLENE E (N) 08/13/2007 raised $6,655.50 spent $5,138.38
KELLEY PATRICK A (N) 08/14/2007 raised $5,645.48 spent $4,117.72
STUEBING LISA C (N) 08/13/2007 raised $22,669.63 spent $20,944.90

Seattle School Board District 3

MARTIN-MORRIS HARIUM J (N) 08/13/2007 raised $16,685.00 spent $4,167.48

Seattle School Board District 6

RAMIREZ MARIA G (N) raised $0 07/24/2007 spent $533.86
SUNDQUIST STEPHEN J (N)08/13/2007 raised $46,009.94 spent $34,636.61

Seattle School Board District 2 is the only race that will appear on the August 21, 2007 Primary ballot because the Washington State Legislature, when it changed the primary date to August from September, also cancelled primary elections in nonpartisan races with only one or two candidates running. These races will appear on the November 4, 2007 election.

8/16/2007 Correction, There are 5 candidates running for position 6 according to King County Elections. Stephen Sundquist is the only candidate who has reported raising any money for this race. None of the other 4 candidates, including Ramirez have reported raising any money. Besides one mention of an expenditure of $534 by Ramirez no other report shows up on the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission website under searches for registration, contributions or expenditures by candidates for the other 4 candidates.
So there will be a primary vote for District 6. My mistake, you can get your name on the ballot without having to raise lots of money. Winning is something else.