What started as a discussion on the Columbia City Facebook page is becoming closer to a reality. The Rainier Valley Post is reporting on the neighborhood’s efforts to get a Southeast Seattle tool library up and running:
Need a ladder to clean out those gutters? A hammer to hang some pictures? A rake and shovel to clean up the yard so the neighbors will quit complaining?
As much as the local home improvement behemoth would love your hard-earned dough, how would you like to be able to borrow those tools — free of charge — from the local library? Not a book library, but a tool library.
“Tool libraries seek to make it nearly as easy as checking a book out of the library,” said Sally Bailey, founder and director of the new Southeast Seattle Tool Library. “The older tool libraries have been generous with their guidance, their practices and policies. Most have rental fees, on a sliding scale. But we want to take ours in a different direction. Once people become members, we hope that, with the help of grants and donations, we can loan tools, along with advice, at no cost. However, those who can will be encouraged to contribute to cover maintenance, repair and replacement.”
cate $100,000 in city money (out of an estimated cost of $750,000) to a new mountain bike park in Southeast Seattle’s Cheasty Greenspace, a long, narrow greenbelt that runs between Columbia City and Beacon Hill. Some neighborhood residents have argued that the greenbelt should be preserved as natural space and wildlife habitat. Proponents say it would provide recreation and education to residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, and provide a new connection between Columbia City and Beacon Hill.
tomorrow.