Paramount Park

It seems like Spring today with the sunny skies. Today I visited Paramount Park. Covered dugouts are being built at Hillwood, Paramount, upper Hamlin and Richmond Highland parks.  According to the City, this project should be completed and ready for use by the 2010 baseball season.

Here is the construction in progress:

Here's a great way to plan your route or find out how far you have walked or biked.

You set up a recording session, trace your route on the Google map, and mark each leg with a flag. You can set it up for a there and back route with the distance and you can see mile marker flags. This method is much easier than driving your route. Probably more accurate also.

See the site at Gmaps Pedometer.

Here's a screen shot in Shoreline with a partially marked route:

Click on the map to enlarge it for viewing.

Lazy Sunday

It was a short walk today because I wasn't prepared for the rain. However I'm please to find out I already have one follower who actually was the inspiration for me to start this blog. Janet Way, founder of the blog, Of Paramount Importance is where you should go to follow issues in Shoreline.

I also just discovered the Photowalkers on Shoreline Area News. The  Shoreline Photowalkers will meet monthly to walk, take photos and post them for sharing. The first walk is scheduled on Sunday, January 31 from 3-4 at Hamlin Park. They will meet at the North parking lot of Shorecrest High School and enter Hamilin from the baseballs fields above the parking lot.

My photo today is of Meridian Park (the park). It lies behind Meridian Park School at the corner of 167th and Wallingford Ave N. It's a little gem for the neighborhood. I cannot find out much about the history of it. Our parks in Shoreline were once King County Parks and the county deeded the parks to the City of Shsoreline in 1997. In research of this park I came across the Sherwood Files an amazing archive with the history of parks in Seattle. Much of Seattle Park history was documented by Donald N. Sherwood (1916-1981). The Seattle Parks and Recreation's Sherwood History Files is the incredible legacy of Sherwood, who worked as an engineer for Parks for 22 years from 1955 to 1977.

Solar on City Hall: more details

The newly built City Hall is in line for LEED Silver and possibly Gold certification and features a solar hot water and 20KW photovoltaic system using made in Washington modules from Silicon Energy and designed and installed by Shoreline based Northwest Mechanical.

The modules are the only ones that are manufactured in Washington State. This makes the installation of these modules eligible for additional production incentives. See the Northwest Solar Center for details.

Solar Washington will have a meeting on Monday night, 1/25, from 7-9 pm at REI. The new owner of Silicon Energy, Jong Limb will lead a Q & A session on new developments and current development plans for Washington's first solar module manufacturer.

Solar on City Hall

I walked to City Hall this morning to take photographs of the racking system that will hold the new City Hall's solar electric system. I was told the racking should be complete by Monday and then the installation of the solar modules (panels) begins.