OSS 2100 Coverage

Douglas Schulyer at the Public Sphere Project gives a nod to OSS 2100

A Great Story about Angela Danadjieva

Angela who, you might ask? This slight Bulgarian-born artist, architect and provocateur has done more to reframe what Seattle-ites think of their infrastructure than any other person. She designed the landscape at West Point Treatment Facility and was the principle aesthetic force behind the masterwork that is Freeway Park.

The Stranger's Charles Mudede investigates: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=223684

Trees: Providing Lots of $$$ for Benefits

Talk about a good investment. A recent study by New York City researchers has determined that:

"Factoring in the costs associated with planting and upkeep, New York City’s street trees provide an annual benefit of about $122 million, according to the Parks Department. The study concludes that New York receives $5.60 in benefits for every dollar spent on trees."

Extraordinary. Talk about public money well spent . . .

NRDC + EPA Sign Green Infrastructure Agreement

Some exciting news came out of Pittsburgh today. The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Protection Agency. signed a "statement of intent" to pursue green infrastructure approaches in cities in order to "to reduce sewer overflows and stormwater pollution."

The statement was also co-signed by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), the Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators (ASIWPCA) and the Low Impact Development (LID) Center.

The article continues: "The impetus for this agreement began with NRDC's Rooftops to Rivers report, which recognizes forward-thinking communities across the US who are already using green infrastructure approaches to restore their waterways. This new partnership represents an important first step in providing much-need support for additional urban and suburban communities to implement green solutions."

We should also note that Darla Ingliss, Mike Cox and Steve Moddemeyer, all of Seattle Public Utilities, were peer reviewers for the report.

Nancy Takes Open Space Seattle 2100 to the Good People of Kansas

Open Space Seattle 2100 co-director Nancy Rottle was quoted in the March 29 edition of the Wichita Eagle in an article titled "Seattle may be a model for parks." To read the article, visit.
http://www.kansas.com/212/story/31531.html

3 Great New DPD Websites

With the passage of the Seattle Green Factor, the Department of Planning and Development has been facilitating a lot of great public education, particularly with its Green Factor Workshop Series which continues in City Hall's Bertha Landes Room, this Wednesday April 4th at noon. This week it is all about Rainwater Harvesting.

There is also a solid new website that talks about Green Roofs, and they have established a solid web resource on a new website.

Also, the Soils for Salmon site is a great tool to learn about what soils can do for stream health.

OSS 2100 @ PELL Meeting

We'll be presenting to the City Council's PELL Committee next Wednesday, April 4 sometime between 2-4 pm. Come on by and check it out.

Draft Bicycle Master Plan To Be Released

Looking forward to seeing what they came up with . . .

Mayor Gregg Nickels will announce the release of the draft Bicycle Master Plan on Wednesday, April 4th at 10 a.m. at Sturgus Park. The plan provides a blueprint for connecting routes throughout Seattle by integrating bicycling into the City*s transportation and trail systems while encouraging more cycling and safer cycling.

Seattle Bicycle Master Plan Draft Release
April 4th at 10 a.m.
Sturgus Park
904 Sturgus Avenue S

Directions:FROM I-5 Northbound: * Take the DEARBORN ST./JAMES ST./I-90 EAST/MADISON ST. exit towards SPOKANE, exit (#164A) * Take the DEARBORN ST. ramp * Turn LEFT onto S DEARBORN ST/ WA-167 * Turn RIGHT onto 8TH AVE S * Turn RIGHT onto S KING ST. * Turn RIGHT onto 12TH AVE * Turn LEFT onto S CHARLES ST. * S CHARLES ST becomes STURGUS AVE S.

From I-5 Southbound: * Take the exit- exit number 165A- toward JAMES ST. * Stay straight to go onto 6TH AVE. * Turn LEFT onto YESLER WAY. * Turn RIGHT onto BOREN AVE S. * Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto 12TH AVE S. * Turn LEFT onto S CHARLES ST. * S CHARLES ST becomes STURGUS AVE S.

The Seattle Department of Transportation builds, maintains and operates Seattle's $8 billion transportation infrastructure. To further Mayor Nickels* goal to get Seattle moving, the department manages short- and long-term investments in streets, bridges, pavement and trees, that better connect the city with the region.

Grey Lady Goes Ga-Ga for Green Roofs

Gap Headquarters' Rolling Green Roofs Photo by William McDonough + Partners

It is always a lovely thing to read about green roofs blooming across the country, from Seattle's own perched oases at City Hall and the new Justice Center to the Rouge River Ford Plant in Dearborn, MI and Chicago's City Hall, with its recreated midwest prairie ecosystem. But to read about it in the New York Times is, of course, even better.

The article focuses on the work of Rana Creek Habitat Restoration as they partner with Renzo Piano to design a big old meadow for the top of the refurbished California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. (In a recent stop in town, Paul Kephart, founder of Rana Creek, recounted how Piano was initially opposed to the messy meadow about his slick modernish architecture. Uh, hello, Academy of Science? Ecology? Climate Change?)

Kephart was actually in town because he will be helping to work on the new green roofed parking garage at the new Gates Foundation headquarters at 5th Avenue, across from the Seattle Center. If his past work is any indication, the headquarters will be looking amazing in a few years . . . or atleast the parking garage will, and how many places can you say that about?

OSS 2100: Travelling the Country, Spreading the Gospel

One of the things that has been so gratifying about the work that everyone has been doing with Open Space Seattle is how interested other communities across the US have been in what we are doing here in Seattle. To that end, Nancy and I have been invited by various groups to speak at a few upcoming conferences, so if you are in Witchita, KS, Amherst, MA or Philadelphia, PA in the next few weeks, you have the opportunity to hear one of us.

Nancy will be speaking in Witchita at the Lowe Auditorium at the WSU Metroplex, on
March 29. She assumes at 7 pm but that has not been confirmed.

Then she'll be heading over to Amherst, MA to the Fabos Symposium, which is being hosted by UMass-Amherst on March 31st. While the symposium is a day-long event, Nancy will be speaking at 10:45, in Room 162 on the Lincoln Campus Center.

Finally, Brice will be speaking to the National APA conference on April 16th from11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m with Nate Cormier from Jones + Jones. Titled "Urban Green Infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest" the talk will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.