Median In Front Of Talaris To Be Finally Cleaned Up Today Or Tomorrow LCC Reports



NE 41st Street overgrown medians near Talaris

The Laurelhurst Blog staff has heard from many neighbors that live near Talaris and that drive in that area that the medians on NE 41st Street have become quite overgrown.

Neighbors wrote:

Can you please let us  know if there is a plan to beautify the center planting beds on NE 41st Street near Talaris and west toward Mary Gates?  There are three offending beds that need attention starting at NE 41st Street and 40th Avenue NE and run parallel to the unkempt Talaris property where Laurelhurst kids once were able to play but is now fenced.  All last spring and summer they looked a mess and it is an embarrassment to our lovely neighborhood.  We had read of a plan but then nothing happened.  Perhaps neighbors can contribute to a fund to have ongoing maintenance done on these once lovely medians.   

The planting beds at the Talaris property are such an eyesore.  This stretch of roadway serves as an entrance to our lovely neighborhood and is a poor first impression.

I have  lived on 41st Avenue NE for 45 years.  We desperately need help on the median strip in front of Talaris Grounds.  In all the years, I have never seen it so bad.  Please let me know when the work party will be so I can join in. 

Whose in charge of these beds?  I've been told some of them are the responsibility of CUH, but surely not that one. We all know the UW is strapped for money and this would not be a priority. Some of us have donated extra money in the past for the upkeep of these medians, but they rarely look terrific. Have other solutions been forthcoming?  How about using a neighborhood volunteer clean-up crew?  Perhaps we need to be responsible for more of our neighborhood.

Laurelhurst Community Club  (LCC) said that LCC has agreements with the UW and Talaris regarding maintenance of the planted median and the pedestrian refuge island on Surber. 

The agreement says that the UW would take care of the first third, from Mary Gates/NE 41st to about the Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH.). Then LCC would take care of the middle third and Talaris the portions adjacent to their property, including the pedestrian refuge island on Surber and the median at the bottom of Suicide Hill. 

LCC added:

The first problem that surfaced several years ago was that the UW told us they were broke and couldn’t take care of their portion for now.  Following that, LCC started paying our regular landscaping company to maintain that portion. 

Talaris changed property managers and their groundskeeper as well several years ago, so that whole stretch was a mess for a long time although neighbors pitched in on occasion.   

LCC then followed up, at the time, and met with the property manager explaining their responsibilities—specifically mentioning the two neglected parcels.  Talaris  started taking care of the medians adjacent to their property, but not the one at the bottom of Suicide Hill or the pedestrian refuge island. 

LCC also said that the a neighborhood volunteer clean-up crew works each year to clean up the area.

This year the clean-up is scheduled for tomorrow and Friday. 

LCC has hired a gardener who cleaned up the medians in past years at the personal expense of a neighbor, so he is familiar with the job. This time, LCC will pick up the tab.

"So, it should be looking a lot better soon," LCC told the Laurelhurst Blog staff.

For neighborhood participation to maintain the area, contact laurelhurstblogger@gmail.com who will coordinate with the LCC contact.