Progress & Enhancements on Seattle Street Ends

Report from the Beaver Sanctuary:  it continues to be a well visited refuge in this part of the world. Many different languages, a diversity of visitors, and the presence of 9 river otters (adults and pups) signals a bounty of fish. 

Report from E Harrison Street: a small crew filled 25 bags with prunings and weeds and, as you can see in the attached photo, it was caught under the midday sun.

2021 Projects

West Sheridan Street, located in the Magnolia neighborhood, was led by volunteer Kira Baum with help from Landscape Architect Karen Kiest.  This street end is just west of the locks on Puget Sound and was covered by weeds and invasive plants before the project was completed by volunteers last spring.

South Massachusetts Street, located in the Mt. Baker neighborhood was led by volunteer Daniel Collins. It had been used as a private garden by adjacent property owners before Daniel completed the design, handled the permitting, and oversaw volunteers who worked throughout the year to remove the invasive plants and weeds and then planted dozens of native plants.

In addition, we worked with the city on several large projects.

98th Avenue SW in the South Fauntleroy neighborhood includes a Seattle Public Utility facility which is being rebuilt; we are working to ensure the street end is designed to enhance public access.

24th Avenue NW in the Ballard neighborhood includes a large Seattle Public Utility facility; we are working with the Ballard community and City to ensure the area is designed to enhance public access.

E Newton Street aka Terry Pettus Park in the Eastlake Community is being completely redone by the Parks Department. We worked with the Eastlake Community to complete the design of this new project.

2020 Projects

East Pine Street is located in the Denny Blaine Neighborhood on the shore of Lake Washington.  It was blanketed by blackberries and laurel trees which hid a lovely Lake Washington beach and view of Mt. Rainier.  Volunteer Evan Boyd completed a creative design to remove the invasive plants and open the area for public access.  Then he and volunteers, with the support of Green Seattle Partnerships, worked on implementation.  Most of the work is done but final touches will be completed in 2021.

West Sheridan Street is located in the Magnolia neighborhood, on Puget Sound just west of the Locks.  It was covered by weeds and invasive plants.  Kira Baum has been leading the project and Karen Kiest completed the design with Marty Oppenheimer helping with permitting.  Then neighbors, Groundswell Northwest and Friends of Street Ends contributed financial support.  The first implementation phase was completed this fall with plantings to be installed in 2021.

South Massachusetts Street is located in the Mt. Baker neighborhood on the shore of Lake Washington.  It had been used as a private garden by adjacent property owners with the beach and shoreline covered in thick blackberries and wisteria.  Daniel Collins completed the design and handled all permitting with the help of SDOT’s Omar Akkari.  Volunteers worked throughout the Fall to remove the invasive plants and cover the ground with fabric in preparation for a Spring 2021 planting.

See more accomplishments in 2020 here.

2019 Openings

We celebrated the grand opening of East Prospect Street in November 2019!  This shoreline street end is one of the largest in the City and was covered end to end with thick tenacious blackberry bushes and other invasive plants.  Friends of Street Ends (FOSE) member Gene Brandzel led this project with design and permitting thanks to SDOT’s Omar Akkari. Dozens of volunteers worked throughout the Summer and Fall to plant over 600 native plants and remove invasives.  Thanks to them, the area is now open and inviting! 

We are pleased to see SDOT’s improved maintenance of the street ends thanks to Omar’s excellent leadership and to the Urban Forestry team who renovated and improved several shoreline street ends for public access including:  S Willow Street, S Norman Street, S Judkins. 

SPU construction is in process at: 7th Avenue S and W Cramer St.  We are working with SPU as they complete designs of: 24th Avenue NW and 98th Avenue SW.  We completed a prioritization of upcoming projects and look forward to a new community-led project at E Pine Street as well as significant improvements to Brooklyn Ave NE (working with Parks and UW) and to 6th Avenue W (SDOT 2020 project) and to planning for E Newton St aka Terry Pettus Park (Parks Dept).