The Uptown Alliance’s monthly meeting is taking place from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight, Thursday, July 14 in the Lower Queen Anne Metropolitan Market restaurant space on the far west side of the market. Take a look at the items on the agenda for tonight’s meeting:

• Greetings and introductions
• Adopt Minutes of Last Month’s Meeting
• Round Robin: Current Uptown issues
• Lower Kinnear Park planning and bike/pedestrian connection from Roy Street-end to Elliott Ave. – Debi Frausto, Friends of Lower Kinnear Park
• Seattle Transportation Master Plan (Jennifer Wieland, SDOT)
• Seattle Parks (Department of Parks and Recreation) Strategic Plan – Don Harper, Parks and Open Space Levy Oversight Committee
• Affordable Housing: Funding issues; How affordable housing can fit into Uptown – Rick Hooper
• Committee Reports

1. Parks
2. Planning & Transportation
3. Events

• New Business: bring your own topics and comments.

The next Uptown Alliance meeting will take place on Thursday, September 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Lower Queen Anne Metropolitan Market. There will be no meeting in August. The Alliance’s Planning and Transportation Committee will be meeting on Wednesday, August 3 at 6 p.m. at Metropolitan Market. Metro transit staff will be in attendance to present the draft details on the bike share program, which will include the Uptown area. For more information on this program, contact Rick Hooper at Nsilberg@silberg.net or John Coney (283-2049) at djohnconey@aol.com.

Depending on who you ask, 400-700 people showed up for last night’s Metropolitan King County Council committee meeting to discuss the proposed cuts in King County Metro bus service.

The main issue of the discussion was the $20 car-tab fee for each of the next two years that is being considered. Without it, Metro says it would need to cut service 17 percent by eliminating some routes and reducing trips.

State lawmakers gave county officials the authority this year to charge an extra $20 for car tabs — which would provide $50 million over two years — to help Metro. When combined with reserve funds, it’s enough to largely maintain existing service, Metro says.

The next step for King County’s nine-member council is to either put it to a vote in the next election or a “supermajority” of six members could enact the new fee without going to the voters.

Unfortunately, only four County Council members attended the transportation committee hearing (Bob Ferguson, Larry Gossett, Joe McDermott and Larry Phillips) while five did not. The four who did attend, however, have already come out in favor of the fee.

There will be one more public hearing on July 21 in Burien at the City Council Chambers, followed by a vote from the King County Councilmembers, scheduled for July 25.

Metro Transit is asking the King County Council for a temporary $20 annual surcharge on licensed vehicles for two years as a stop-gap measure to maintain bus service. If the Metropolitan King County Council doesn’t approve the “congestion reduction charge,” Metro says it will have to cut up to 600,000 service hours – or 17 percent of current bus routes – in 2012 and 2013. According to Metro, these cuts would affect the vast majority of bus riders, and could be detrimental to the area’s overall transit service.

“If Metro does not receive additional revenue for the 2012-2013 budget, it must begin cutting service as soon as February 2012. Without more funds, a total of 600,000 hours of transit service would need to be eliminated over the next two years. This is about 17 percent of Metro’s entire system, but it would affect up to 80 percent of bus riders. That means as many as four out of five people will have to walk further, wait longer, make an extra transfer, stand in the aisle, or stand on the curb and see fully loaded buses pass them by. And it will force tens of thousands of people back into cars, worsening congestion for everyone,” Metro wrote in a document entitled “What will happen if the congestion reduction charge is not approved?” Download this document here (.pdf) to view all routes on the chopping block for elimination, reduction and revision.

According to Metro’s proposal these cuts would hit Queen Anne riders even harder than the previous reduction scenario Metro released back in May. Under Metro’s current scenario route 2 north of downtown would be eliminated entirely, as would routes 4, 15EX, 18, 26, 28, 45, 81 and 82. On top of that, a number of other routes in the neighborhood would be reduced and/or revised, including routes 1, 2EX, 3, 8, 13, 15, 16, 17 (regular and EX), 18EX, 24, 26EX, 28EX, 30, 31 and 33. In the above map the routes in red indicate those which would be eliminated, the routes in yellow represent routes that would see service reductions, and the green represents routes where service would be revised for efficiency. You can take a look at the full preliminary Metro cuts and route changes example map for Northwest Seattle/North King County here (.pdf).

The state Legislature already has approved the temporary $20 surcharge, but Transportation for Washington says the bill still needs the support of two more King County Council members to pass.

Metro is urging riders to get involved and weigh in on both the proposed congestion reduction charge, as well as the potential service cuts and changes proposed should the surcharge be rejected. The county has set up three public meetings on the issue, including one at 6 p.m. tonight at the Kirkland City Council Chambers, located at 123 Fifth Ave. The other two meetings will be held at 6 p.m. next Tuesday, July 12, at the King County Courthouse, Council Chambers, located 516 Third Ave. in Seattle, and at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 21, at the Burien City Council Chambers, located at 400 SW 152nd St.

If you can’t make it to one of the public hearings, you can submit your comments directly to the King County Council online. Transportation for Washington also has a form letter you can fill out in support of the congestion reduction charge.

Click here for a complete list of all routes (.pdf) and whether the proposal calls for them to be eliminated, reduced or remain unchanged. Click here for a map (.pdf) of all affected routes in Northwest Seattle.

Seattle City Light crews plan to install new lines on the towers that are on either side of the Ship Canal at Warren Avenue, completing last year’s project to provide more electrical capacity and reliability from their Canal and Broad Street substations.

The work will take place between May and July and will take place on both sides of the canal simultaneously. Portions of the Burke-Gilman Trail and Ship Canal Trail will be closed intermittently.

Two public meetings are planned to discuss the project. The topics will be the same at both meetings. The first is on Tuesday, March 29, from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at Seattle Pacific University’s Bertona Hall, 103 W. Bertona St., Room 2. Parking is free in the lot west of the Bertona building. The second meeting is on Tuesday, March 29 from 1 to 2 p.m. at Theo Chocolate, 3400 Phinney Ave. N.

For more information, visit the project information page.

Sustainable Queen Anne, a grassroots community organization working to bring green and sustainable energy practices to the neighborhood through a number of projects, including Solarize Queen Anne, is holding a community meeting tonight, Wednesday, March 23 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Q cafe, located at 3233 15th Ave W.

Sustainable Queen Anne volunteers outside Traders Joe’s on Sunday, March 20.

Tonight’s meeting is going to be an informational discussion focused around net metering and interconnection. The group will be hosting another meeting next week, on Wednesday, March 30 (also at Q Cafe), on the technical nuts and bolts of going solar. And on Tuesday, April 12 Solarize QA will be hosting an introductory “Solar 101″ workshop from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Queen Anne Library. As always, all Solarize QA workshops and meetings are free and open to the public.

The group’s next monthly meeting will take place on Monday, April 4 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 2501 Westview Dr. W (on the corner of Wheeler). Dinner will be provided.

For more information check out the Sustainable Queen Anne and Solarize Queen Anne websites.

Mayor McGinn is searching for a new chief of police and has asked the public to help develop the selection criteria. Former Chief Gil Kerlikowske left the Seattle Police Department upon his appointment as the nation’s drug czar by President Obama last year. The Seattle Police Chief Search Committee, a 26-member citizen panel, has been tasked with the job of narrowing the pool of potentials down to three finalists to recommend to the mayor in May, in the hopes of making a final selection by June.

The search committee is posing the following questions to community members:

• What qualities are you looking for in a new Police Chief?
• What is the most important public safety issue in Seattle?
• What does the Seattle Police Department do well?
• What changes would you like to see?

To encourage community input the city has set up three ways for those interested to respond – by attending one of three upcoming public forums, visiting the new website or dialing into a dedicated phone line set up for the search.

The first meeting will he held tomorrow, Wednesday, February 10 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Northgate Community Center, located at 10510 5th Ave NE. The first two hours of the meeting has been allotted for public comment, with the final hour reserved for the search committee “to begin developing competitive selection process and assessment criteria.”

The next two meetings have been set for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 17 (at Franklin High School, located at 3013 Mount Baker S.) and Friday, February 26 (at New Holly Gathering Center, located 7054 32nd Ave. S.) Language interpreters will be available at the third and final meeting in the following languages: Tagalog, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Amharic, Oromiffa, Khmer (Cambodian), Somali, and Tigrinya.

For more information, see the search committee website. Download the meetings flyer here (.pdf). Can’t make it to a meeting? Answer the committee’s four questions online or over the phone by calling 206-684-CITY (206-684-2489).

Yesterday we reported that the city is considering upping the building heights to allow for towers up to 300 feet tall in our neighboring community of South Lake Union. The Lake Union Opportunity Alliance held a meeting last night to rally support for their alternative proposal and hopefully push the city to add this plan to the pool of neighborhood growth programs for City Council to vote on (one of the main issues with this proposal concerns the rezoning of UW’s Phase III Medical Center, which City Council will be voting on on Monday, January 11). LUOA board member Diane Masson, who is hoping to gain support from the Queen Anne community, reported that the meeting, which was advertised little in advance, had 90 attendees, including three City Council members and one representative for another member who couldn’t make it. She wrote,

Sally Clarke said LUOA is well respected and the City wants to connect with us whenever they have questions in the neighborhood.  Tom Rasmussen announced a compromise is on the table for UW Phase III text amendment that we oppose (it will upzone potentially 6 blocks to 125 right next to the lake).  If a compromise goes through it will be a victory for LUOA, we are waiting to hear what it is.

The city’s three Environmental Impact Study reports were presented at the meeting, however LUOA hopes to get their plan on the docket, as many residents believe 300 foot towers would not be conducive to vibrant pedestrian experience next to Lake Union at the base of Queen Anne hill. Masson wrote,

I asked the City two simple questions. First, “Your utopia of SLU sounds great and we all want to live there, but I don’t see families gathering and people jogging down the street next to 300 ft buildings. There will be no sunlight on the street.” Second, “If 85% of the public through oral and written comments supported the LUOA alternative, why did the City not include the LUOA alternative as one of the three alternatives?” Jim Holmes for the City said, “that is a good question.”

The Department of Planning and Development will be holding another public meeting on Tuesday, January 26 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Seattle Unity Church Fellowship Hall, 200 8^th Ave N, to review and comment on the draft framework and learn about the revised EIS alternatives. LUOA is encouraging anyone invested in Lower Queen Anne and South Lake Union to attend and give their opinion.

“We have our foot in the door and need to push it open all the way with emails, emails and emails.  LUOA will post next steps to take with emails in the next week,” Masson said. “Be there to voice your concerns. The City counts how many people attend.”

“The Legislature convenes on January 11 and we’re again facing a massive deficit of nearly $3 billion,” Carlyle said in a press release today. “It’s critical that I hear from our community directly about your views, issues, concerns and thoughts on the budget, taxes, education and other important issues.  I’m asking people to reach out and share your views so I can better represent you in Olympia during these difficult times.”

Coffee hour times and locations:

City Council held a meeting yesterday to determine the fate of Fire Station #20 on Queen Anne — whether to move it from its current location at 13th Avenue West and West Dravus Street on the north side of the hill to 15^th Avenue West and West Armour Street, or the rebuild the existing station.

According to Christa Dumpys, from the Queen Anne/Magnolia Neighborhood Service Center, the Public Safety, Human Services and Education Committee has asked the Council staff to prepare legislation designating the site at 15^th Ave W. and W. Armour St. as the future location of the fire station, just a few blocks away from the current site. This report will be presented before the committee on Wednesday, October 7 for a vote, and will be voted on by the full council on Monday, October 12.

The October 7 meeting will be held at the City Council Chambers inside City Hall, at 600 4^th Avenue at 9:30 a.m.  More information here. The October 12 meeting before the full council will be at 2 p.m. More information on that here.

Follow Fire Station #20 on the City Council website, or view the meeting cablecasts live on Seattle Channel 21.

The Queen Anne/Magnolia Design Review Board is meeting tonight at the Queen Anne Community Center at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the proposed building of a 7-story mixed use development at 901 Dexter Ave N, the current site of Korry Electronics.

The plan would demolish the current building and replace it with a 7-story complex, approximately 65 feet high, with an estimated 270 residential units, 10,000 square feet of retail, and an underground parking lot for 250 vehicles.

Download the design proposal here, or read up on past recommendations.

Drop by the Queen Anne Community Council annual elections after the design review board meeting, also held at the Queen Anne Community Center, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

All Queen Anne residents and/or stakeholders interested in attending are welcome participate and vote for up to 12 candidates.