It seems just like yesterday when neighbors in East Ballard applied for a grant from the Dept of Neighborhoods to install planters along 14th NW to help make the street more beautiful and create a safe buffer for intersection crossings.

13 years later, these planters have served us well, and are ready to serve a new purpose along 14th Ave NW south of Market St, thanks to our partnership with the Ballard-Fremont Greenways.

The Ballard-Fremont Greenways is a group of neighbors who are working to make our streets safer, more accessible, and more comfortable for everybody. This community group works on safe street projects and advocates for people-oriented places in the greater Ballard-Fremont area. They have a very similar mission to the EBCA, which is why we’re so excited to partner with them.

The Move
The Ballard Fremont Greenways received a permit from SDOT and is coordinating a volunteer effort to move our planters to two intersections in the Ballard Brewery District along 14th Ave NW at NW 51st and 53rd. These planters will be placed in the no-parking areas at the intersection ends to keep them free of parked cars and help keep a clear line of sight for freight and other drivers who are turning in those intersections.

Opportunities to Volunteer
If you are interested in any of the following volunteer opportunities, please email Jessi Lucas at jlklucas@gmail.com to get on her communication list.

Sunday, September 10th, 11 am until we are done
Work party to clean out the planters. Some have dirt and shrubs in them. We will need shovels and tarps to remove the dirt, plus pruners and saws to break down the vegetation.

Monday, September 18th, 10 am until we are done
Work party to move the empty planters to their new locations south of Market. We’re seeking neighbors with vehicles to help with the move. Each planter weighs about 60 lbs. Please reach out to Jessi Lucas at jlklucas@gmail.com if you can provide transportation to help with the move.

3rd Date, TBD 
Fill the planters with dirt and plants. We’ll be looking for donations to purchase the dirt and plants and how quickly that happens will decide the final date.

Thank you Jessi for volunteering to coordinate these work parties! Let’s make sure she’s not doing this all by herself! Please contact Jessi a jklucas@gmail.com today to sign up!

If you’re curious about the origin story of these planters, check out these previous posts:

It’s been over a month now since our fish arrived on 14th Ave NW and they still make me smile as I pass by them. Some of you may be wondering where these fish came from and what they’re all about. Well, do I have a story for you!

This all started back in 2009 when The ebca applied for and received a Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Matching Grant to install planters in the median on 14th Ave NW. We dubbed our project, “Planting Partnerships on 14th Ave NW”, because the goal of our project wasn’t just to beautify our neighborhood, but to build strong community bonds between our residents, businesses and organizations of East Ballard and the surrounding neighborhood. If you’ve been a faithful follower of this blog over the past year, you’ve seen that it has truly taken a village to get these planters installed.

We’ve had businesses donate everything from plants to compost, to gravel and food. We had neighbors with trucks, trailers and strong backs to help pick up and deliver these hefty containers. There were neighbors with shovels for compost and stakes for laying out landscape fabric, and families that donned safety vests to clean up the streets. I can’t forget the committee members who worked with the city to get the permitting and nonprofits, like Groundswell NW providing us with insurance and fiscal sponsorship. Thanks goes to the landscape architects and planter consultants who donated their time to select the plants and guide the planting process.  I also need to include the personal checks and Ballard Market Receipt donations that will be helping offset our future watering and plant replacement costs. We’re still taking donations, so it’s not too late to help out!

So, what about those fish? I have to say that these fish are the icing on the cake. Not that sticky, too sweet stuff that sticks to the roof of your mouth, but instead, that light and airy whipped cream topping that you can’t get enough of and you specifically scope out that extra big end-piece to make sure you get enough!

These “fish-sticks”, as I’ve heard them lovingly referred to, are the culminating project of our grant. The ebca had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with the teachers and students at St. Alphonsus School in East Ballard on this art project. Shannon Dunn and I had a blast working with the teachers and staff from St. Als over the past 4 months brainstorming ideas for this project and figuring out all the logistics to make it happen. Susan Ozubko, the art teacher from St. Als, had the foresight to save old vinyl window shades that had been recently replaced at the school. This turned out to be great waterproof  material for the fish, plus one less item going to the landfill. Susan worked with her students to design, paint and decorate the fish. Shannon and I worked out the installation logistics and luckily, we had had the forethought to work with the ReStore at the beginning of our project to have them design and install platforms inside our planters to hold the dowels in place.

On April 16, during our Adopt A Street Cleanup Event, several students from St. Als and neighbors proudly paraded along 14th Ave NW and “planted” the fish. It was great fun to see the school and the community come together during this event.  We had such a great time, that we’re already talking about doing more projects together. But for now, I think we all need a little break and a chance to sit back and enjoy our accomplishments. Thank you to everyone who has had a hand in this project. I feel so lucky to live in a such an active and vibrant community!

p.s. on your next walk along 14th, take a closer look at the fish and you’ll see that the students added personalized messages that’ll really make you smile!

photo by Michael Harthorne - Ballard News Tribune

Thank-you to the over 20 neighbors and donors who attended our planting partnerships kickoff event last Wednesday Dec 16th. Thank-you to Jeanette and Todd, owners of Nervous Nellie’s Espresso, for opening their space to us for the evening, and thanks to Nicole for serving up the drinks and helping us clean up! Thanks to Ballard Market for ingredients for the food we served. Plus a huge thanks goes out to Shannon Dunn (civic soldier extraordinaire) who sent out beautiful invitations to the donors, cooked us up a hot meal, decorated the space beautifully, plus so much more that I don’t have enough space here to include! We’re well on our way to making successful partnerships with this project and we haven’t even planted anything yet!

If you missed our event, check out the Ballard News Tribune’s article. Thank-you, Michael, for covering our event.

Also, check out our work plan. We’ve confirmed April 17th for planting day, so make sure you get that date on your calendar today! If you see an activity in the work plan that interests you, please contact me (Dawn) at eastballard@gmail.com.

In addition to the work plan, we’re looking for some expertise in the following roles:

• Volunteer Coodinator(s) – We need someone to maintain our volunteer pledge list and coordinate getting volunteers to events and help out with individual activities of their stated interest.
• Construction Coordinator – We’re looking for someone who has experience managing construction projects. Maybe you are or know someone who’s retired and looking for a way to be involved in the community. We’re finding that this project is going to require a lot of coordination between  SDOT, the city permitting office, delivery services, and so on, with strict deadlines. Someone with this type of experience would be incredibly valuable to this project!
• Artist(s) – We’re looking for artists who have experience working with elementary students to create art pieces with the students at St. Alphonsus Elementary, that will be installed with the planters. This project would need to be done during the school year either in winter, spring or fall of 2010.
• Social Networking Guru – Help us become more effective in communicating with the online community via social networking tools like Facebook. This would not only help our project, but the ebca as a whole!