City of Redmond Neighborhood News Resources

Looking for a way to keep up-to-date on neighborhood news from the good folks at the City of Redmond’s Neighborhood and Historic Preservation?  Look no further than the City’s eAlert Subscription webpage.

eAlert is a free email and digital subscription service allowing the public to subscribe to topics of interest and receive instant, automated email notification whenever the City posts new information on its website. The City also can send e-newsletters, text messages and relevant information to specific groups.

In addition to a plethora of topics ranging from City Council business to recreation, you can also select your specific neighborhood towards the end of the list under the “Neighborhood News” section:

New to Redmond and not sure which neighborhood is yours? Use this map for a quick view:

Still can’t get enough of Neighborhood news!? You can find all this and more at the City of Redmond’s Neighborhoods page…happy reading!

And The Award Goes To…

Extra special congratulations to our neighbor, the Pierce County Library System, for their receipt of a 2013 National Medal for Museum and Library Service. Pierce County Library is the first library in the State of Washington to earn this award.

The National Medal for Museum and Library Service honors outstanding institutions that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities. Selected institutions demonstrate extraordinary and innovative approaches to public service, exceeding the expected levels of community outreach. The National Medal is the highest honor for museums and libraries.

In a White House Ceremony on May 8, First Lady Michelle Obama (as always, looking fabulous) joined Director Susan Hildreth and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to honor ten institutions from across the country. In addition to Pierce County Library leaders, a member of the community participated in the ceremony to highlight how the library affected their life.

See video of the ceremony, read the press release, or find more information at the Pierce County Library System website.

Hooray for libraries in Washington state!

Deschutes Public Library, Revisited

Last August, we visited the Bend, Oregon area for the first time.  It was so beautiful we planned a return trip in the spring with the hopes of being able to snowshoe at higher elevations and hike at the lower.  We made the return trip last weekend, staying in Sunriver this time.  And of course, as soon as we picked our lodging, I knew that the Sunriver branch of the Deschutes Public Library would be on my list of places to visit!

There was a little bit more snow at the lower elevations than we had bargained for, but it was still a great long weekend trip.  When we walked into the cozy library after the morning mile-ish walk in the light snow, I was thrilled to see that the DPL’s A Novel Idea…Read Together 2013 book is The Snow Child, by Eowyn Ivey.  I read this book through the Maiden Voyage Book Club from Elliot Bay Book Company last year and it’s a complete, haunting and bittersweet, delight.  It’s also the perfect story for the spring season in a place like Sunriver and Bend…I won’t share too many details of the book to prevent spoilers, but the cycle of the snow and seasons is an important element.

Tickets for the author’s event in Bend in early May are already sold out and I’m definitely looking forward to her next book!

Inspiring Cooks. Nourishing Communities.

KCLS has an amazing selection of programming and as I enter my last year of service with Redmond’s Library Advisory Board (two term limit!) they couldn’t have picked a better theme in my opinion. A Place at the Table is a year long series to inspire and provoke thought about, for, and with, food. As you might recall from Jaime’s Jaunts, books and food go hand-in-hand in my life! I’ve already attended two programs in the sure-to-be-popular events – Wendy Albee’s “Design A Kitchen for the Way You Live!” for our upcoming kitchen remodel and Tames Alan’s  “Dining at Downton Abbey: A Trial by Fork”, which needs no explanation due to the popularity of the PBS show. (Our local PBS station, KCTS 9 is a sponsor of “a place at the table”, too. :-)) If you can’t make it into the library for an event, consider taking advantage of two online databases available - Universal Class and Access Video. They have thousands of topics available anytime. Watch www.kcls.org/cooks for weekly featured food-related classes and shows. In addition, to help everyone find A Place at the Table, KCLS is accepting nonperishable food that will be distributed to 45 local food banks from March through December 2013. Hopelink and Food Lifeline are great further resources for ideas. I hope you get an opportunity to visit one of the spring programs in this series – there’s something for everyone!

Redesigned Events Calendar Online!

The King County Library System has an amazing variety of programming each month at their libraries, and their new events website makes it much easier to find topics that you might find interesting and relevant.

Want to see only programs designed for a certain age group or popular topic? Use the buttons at the top to quickly filter the upcoming events. Want to see only programs at a specific library?  Use the filter on the left hand side to select your library.

My favorite view is the monthly view! If this existed before on the old site, I never figured it out.  At a glance you can see events across the month that might be of interest. 

Clicking on an event brings you to the event description where you can use the icons at the top to add to your calendar, send an email to a friend, or like on Facebook.

And speaking of events, stay tuned for more information about the KCLS series A Place at the Table!

2013 Community Conversation – Emergency Preparedness

Redmond Neighborhood Network and Redmond Ready
Meet with Neighborhoods for a 2013 Community Conversation

Have you thought about how you would respond to a long-term disaster such as those experienced by the East Coast? How about how your neighborhood will respond?
This year’s Neighborhood Network series is an opportunity to work with neighbors and evaluate Redmond’s preparedness, neighborhood by neighborhood.

The Redmond Neighborhood Network series runs from March through May with three neighborhood events to meet with neighborhoods and share conversation. The Police Department’s Office of Emergency Management will provide a brief Redmond Ready workshop at each of the three events to help participants be informed regarding disaster/emergency preparedness and to be Redmond Ready.

The events take place in the neighborhoods from 6:00pm to 7:30pm and include light refreshments:
• March 20: Downtown, Bear Creek, and Southeast Redmond neighborhoods at City Hall, 15670 NE 85th Street;
• April 17: Education Hill, North Redmond, and Sammamish Valley neighborhoods at Horace Mann Elementary, 17001 NE 104th Street; and
• May 15: Grass Lawn, Idylwood, Overlake, and Willows/Rose Hill neighborhoods at Audubon Elementary, 3045 180th Avenue NE.

Redmond’s Neighborhood Network provides the community, City officials and staff opportunities to check in on an annual basis. Participants meet City officials, learn about City programs and projects, and discuss their respective neighborhood plan including policies, code, and priority neighborhood projects.
To learn more about this community conversation and workshop regarding personal, family and neighborhood preparedness and to complete the annual neighborhood questionnaire, visit www.redmond.gov/residents/neighborhoods
or contact Kimberly Dietz at kdietz@redmond.gov or 425-556-2415.

The Stern Collection of Lincolniana

The Library of Congress online contains an extensive collection of Lincolniana (historical artifacts related to Abraham Lincoln). Alfred Stern presented his outstanding collection of Lincolniana to the Library of Congress in 1953. Begun by Mr. Stern in the 1920s, the collection documents the life of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) both through writings by and about Lincoln as well as a large body of publications concerning the issues of the times including slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and related topics.

Collection Highlights
The Lincolniana collection highlights contain political cartoons, election posters, writings, as well as photos and portraits. Here’s an election poster from the 1864 presidential campaign:

The collection also contains numerous letters from Lincoln written throughout his lifetime. In a letter to James H. Hackett, Lincoln writes:

"...I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it. Yours truly, A. Lincoln"

Other Lincolniana in the collection includes newspaper headlines and posters, including one from Ford’s Theatre announcing the president as a special guest. It was to be a fateful night:

For those who want to learn more about this extraordinary man, the Stern Collection of Lincolniana provides a wealth of information and artifacts.

Lorin Catudio
Redmond Library Board, Emeritus