Hiroko's outfit caught my eye outside of Velo Bike Shop on my way home from work.  The days are getting shorter and so is my picture taking window.  When I found Hiroko, the last bit of daylight was creeping behind the horizon.

From the color to the lovely bow I adore these clever boots.  Hiroko's look is a great mix of feminine and unconventional preppy style.  This combination makes for a unique outfit that doesn't feel overly put together. 

For more street style photos from around Capitol Hill and the rest of the city check out my website:www.itsmydarlin.com

(Photo: It's My Darlin)

puddle, originally
uploaded by zenobia_joy.

Seattle Department of Transportation is gathering community feedback on their proposals to introduce paid parking on Broadway after 6 PM and add two-sided street parking to side streets in the area -- the last day to send in your comment is Monday.

You, however, can deliver your feedback in person Thursday night by attending the Capitol Hill Community Council's November public meeting. An SDOT official is on the agenda and will be ready and willing to gather your input on the updated Broadway parking plan. Oh, and you'll also get to feast on some yummy community potluck chow as the Council celebrates the harvest with an autumn meal. Bring something to share.

Capitol Hill Community Council

November General Meeting Agenda & Fall Potluck

Cal Anderson Shelter House

Cal Anderson Park

7-9pm on November 19, 2009

 

• Officer Introductions & Welcome
•  Open Floor & 1st Helpings
•  September Meeting Minutes/Finance Report
•  Committee Reports
  - Community Events
  - Policy & Planning
  - Open Space
•  Discussion Topics
•  Guest Speaker: Harper, Seattle Department of Transportation
  Discussion of community parking plan for Capitol Hill.
•  Mingling & 2nd Helpings
•  Close

You might not have noticed but another large media entity has geared up to offer a 'hyperlocal' site for Capitol Hill. The Seattle PI has had a Cap Hill blog forever but they recently gave it the same upgrade they've rolled out in a few other neighborhoods in the city. You can check out the Seattle PI site here. Or just enjoy this fine screen grab and save the click.

Like the PI's effort in other neighborhoods, the Hearst-backed online news outfit isn't committing any dedicated reporters or photographers to Capitol Hill and its posts come from unpaid community members. Contrary to what you might think, CHS is happy to have more people writing about the Hill -- we just wish they weren't doing it in a way that lines the pockets of a big corporation. Why not start your own site?

If you would like to help line our pockets, however, anybody can post an article to CHS. You just need an account -- then click the Post link in the menu and let it rip. And if you're serious about it, drop us a line and we can add you to our revenue sharing program. Yup -- unlike the PI, we pay. We're a community site, full of community voices. We welcome you to join the conversation.

A couple of Wednesday activities of CHS note:

• The first community design meeting to discuss the 230 Broadway development happens tonight at Seattle University. The project will replace a block along Broadway where Bank of America, Noah's Bagels and Cafe Septieme and others currently do business -- and also the parking lot where the weekly Broadway farmers market takes place.
  

  Project: 230 Broadway E map

  Review Meeting:	November 18, 6:30 pm
  	SU Alumni Relations & Admissions Building
  	824 12th Ave map
  	Meeting Room
  Review Phase:	EDG--Early Design Guidance past reviews
  Project Number:	3009249 permit status | notice
  Planner: Lisa Rutzik

• Seattle bloggers and the people that love them will be gathering at Central Cinema tonight for Blogsgiving 2009. Everybody is welcome -- we're raising donations for NorthWest Harvest so bring a few bucks or a couple cans of food to give. There will be free food and some wine to get the party moving plus Central's kitchen and beer taps will be open and ready for business. Stick around to catch Big Trouble in Little China afterward.

Monday is the deadline for community suggestions to name the two new parks being built on Capitol Hill. An e-mail from Capitol Hill Community Council president Jennifer Power spells out the parks department rules:

The Park Naming Committee is comprised of one representative designated by the Board of Park Commissioners, one by the Chair of the City Council Parks and Seattle Center Committee, and one by the Parks Superintendent. Criteria the committee considers in naming parks include: geographical location, historical or cultural significance, and natural or geological features. A park may be named for a person no longer living (deceased a minimum of three years) who made a significant contribution to parks and/or recreation. The Park Naming Committee will consider all suggestions and make a recommendation to the Superintendent, who makes the final decision.

Suggestions should be sent to paula.hoff@seattle.gov

We've written about the naming process several times -- here are most of the suggestions we've seen on CHS. The only one we can endorse is the idea to name the 16th at Howell greenspace after Gray Lambert, the activist nearby Lambert House is named for. Some other ideas from CHS comments:

Summit at John An angled, sloped walkway separating a grassy grade and community garden plots. With skateboard element and picnic area	Howell at 16th A level turf area in the middle of the site, bordered by a collective garden to the north and a crushed rock plaza and allee to the south
Suggestions: Paradise Park Summit Slope Park Wayside Park Rest Stop Park	Suggestions: Shannon Harps Park Desmond Tutu Park Queen City Park Emerald City Park Parkcrest Park Maidan Park Flattop Park Mia Zapata Park Riot Park Seven Hills Park Capitolinus Park Second Hill Park Lambert Gray Park Obama's mother's park

Maybe we're not as tuned into the Hill's history as we should be but there aren't any ideas that seem like obvious choices. Honoring Cal Anderson at the time the Hill's park was being built, wrote community organizer Kay Rood, just seemed right:

State Senator Cal Anderson died of AIDS in August 1995, just as Groundswell was mobilizing on our first big grant project. One of our steering committee members suggested that we name the new park for him, and the idea seemed just right from the very beginning. I never knew Cal, but I know from all I have read and heard that he was an exceptional person. Widely praised for his work ethic and personal integrity, he worked tirelessly on behalf of the disenfranchised. A park in the heart of the 43rd District named for him would bring a pride of place to our community, a new name for a new future. We tucked the idea away. I figured we would know when the time was right to propose it, which was not until we had assurances that there would be a park worthy of Cal’s name.

Other Capitol Hill parks followed a more random path to naming. Tashkent Park, for example, is named for Seattle's sister city in Uzbekistan. There's a Jimi Hendrix Park (not on Cap Hill) -- why not a Kurt Cobain Park?

Some other notables with Capitol Hill ties who died in recent years:

• AIDS activist Bill Lake
• playwright August Wilson
• philanthropist James Ray
• politician and pharmacist George Benson and his wife Evelyn Benson
• peace activist Richard Carbray

Fore! Smash Putt, "a temporary mini golf course/art installation on Capitol Hill," is open for play:

Assembled inside a dingy 12th Avenue building by Rusty Oliver and a group of industrial artists who call themselves the Hazard Factory, it's 10 holes featuring crazy contraptions involving catapults, air compressors, power tools and 33-1/3 rpm turntables.

At hole No. 2, which is called "Driving Range," you can launch a ball through an air-powered machine gun toward the upturned innards of a piano: "Clang — ng-ng-ng."

At hole No. 5, "Roulette Francaise," a motorized scooter turns a platform that shoots your ball off in one of four directions — one containing a hole. (And feel free to toot the scooter's horn whenever, just for fun.)

View Larger Map

There's also beer and snacks in the Miniature Golf Apocalypse clubhouse. You can buy tickets and get more info at http://www.smashputt.com/ The playing season is a short one -- Smash Putt will only be open for play these final three weekends of November.

The Hazard...