Author: Jeff Hoerth

You can be a part of creating a safe place for Sandburg/DCS students to play outdoors during school construction by coming to the Natural Playground Work Party from 10 AM to 2 PM on Saturday, May 14th.  Volunteers will be clearing weeds, rocks, fallen branches, and debris in the wooded area to prepare the grounds for mowing and upcoming trail work. The Work Party will convene at 10 AM on the southwest side of the Sandburg/DCS campus, at the intersection of 128th Street NE and 82nd Avenue NE, in the Finn Hill area of Kirkland.  A community potluck picnic will be held during the lunch break at noon.  Please bring your own work gloves, weeding tools, water bottle, and a snack to share at the potluck picnic. All ages are welcome at the Work Party.  However, there will be no playground supervision and no access to the school building (NO bathrooms, NO water fountains) during the Work Party, so participants are asked to plan accordingly.  All volunteers will be required to sign a standard hold-harmless waiver.  The school grounds are an Herbicide Free zone. If you have extra gardening tools (rakes, shovels, wheelbarrows, buckets, gardening shears) that you are willing to lend for use during the Work Party, please bring them at 10 AM on May 14th.  Organizers are also seeking donations of natural landscaping materials (logs, branches, stump...

Construction begins in June on the new Carl Sandburg/DCS school building, and the current school playground will no longer be accessible. The new playground, to be located on the site of the current school building, will be accessible in the fall of 2012. Until then, the areas once used for outdoor play during recess will be limited by construction zones. Nearly an acre of wooded space, between the portable classrooms and the fence on the southwest side of the campus, will remain accessible during construction. Currently, this space is not maintained and is off-limits to students. However, it could be cleaned up and made usable as an alternative playground for recess during construction and beyond. With the removal of invasive weeds and the addition of low-maintenance landscaping, the wooded area could help solve the playground dilemma during construction and also be used as a multipurpose outdoor education resource to support various curricula (PE, science, etc.) for years to come. Members of the PTSA are working to make this happen and need your help. Commitments for all of the donated materials, labor, and money needed to transform this wasted space into a playground must be obtained before work can get started. Here’s how you can help. A pledge can be made to donate time, materials, and/or funds by contacting Kathy Fries at kathyfries@hotmail.com or Lauren Gaddy at laurengaddy@comcast.net. DONATE TIME...

Since 2001, the Kirkland Alliance of Neighborhoods (KAN) has hosted an educational class called Neighborhood University (“Neighborhood U”) to help residents learn about their city government, receive leadership training, and discover ways to build community within neighborhoods.  In this year’s session, former and current elected officials, neighborhood leaders, and a city planning commissioner will share experiences on building and sustaining active and vibrant neighborhoods.  Also featured will be fast paced informational presentations from city officials that will give an insider’s view to various city programs, services, and operations.  Neighborhood U will be held Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 6 to 9 pm, Juanita Elementary School, Cafeteria, 9635 NE 132nd Street.  The course is free; reservations are requested by May 4. To learn more, visit www.kirklandwa.gov/neighborhoods.  To RSVP please email NeighborhoodUReservations@kirklandwa.gov or call Kari Page, Neighborhood Outreach Coordinator at 425-587-3011. “Neighborhood U is a great opportunity for residents to better understand how to best access city officials, programs, and information,” notes Norm Storme, Chair, KAN.  “We encourage current city and annexation residents to attend.” KAN is composed of the chairs and vice-chairs of 11 neighborhood associations.  For more about KAN and past Neighborhood U session, go to www.kirklandwa.gov and search Kirkland Alliance of...