For the month of August, the Queen Anne Chamber selected the Picture Perfect Queen Anne for its Member Spotlight.
1) Tell us about what Picture Perfect Queen Anne is in a nutshell?
Picture Perfect Queen Anne (PPQA) is a volunteer-powered grassroots neighborhood nonprofit. From our inception in 2004, our mission has been to revitalize the public sidewalk area of Queen Anne Avenue N from Galer to McGraw, with the goal of creating a pedestrian and family-friendly, safe and vibrant main street that everyone in our community will enjoy.
In the early 2000’s, there was just gray and grayer: buildings, roads, and the winter sky all faded into one another. Queen Anne Avenue had become a mix of broken sidewalks, faded crosswalks, littered streets, rusty signs and the occasional lonely planter box. The only attractive natural elements were the mature maple street trees, planted in the 1980’s by neighbors with inspiration and financial help from the City’s tree planting program.
Wanting to be done with gray and litter, neighbors came together under the auspices of the Queen Anne Community Council’s Parks Committee to plot a strategy for cleaning up and beautifying the sidewalks. Picture Perfect Queen Anne evolved out of these early meetings.
With a funding award from the Department of Neighborhoods, Picture Perfect Queen Anne organized three public meetings in 2005/6. Led by Don Miles, a Queen Anne resident and urban planner, and his colleagues at Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, these meetings were a collaborative effort among residents, merchants, property owners, the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce, the Queen Anne Historical Society, and the Queen Anne Community Council to define a collective vision of a safe and attractive commercial core…the heart of our hilltop neighborhood.The vision that emerged is embodied in the Queen Anne Avenue Streetscape Master Plan.
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In order, left to right:
Wayne Winder, Margaret Okamoto, Kathy King, Denny Bird, Sheila Callahan, Ellen Monrad. Members not in the photo: Laura Day and Judy Massong
2) How long has Picture Perfect Queen Anne been in QA community and how does Picture Perfect Queen Anne get involved in the community?
Over the years, and with funding from the Department of Neighborhoods, the Office of Economic Development, and our community’s residents, businesses, churches, and organizations, PPQA has brought elements of the Streetscape Plan to life. We have:
· Installed benches between Galer and Garfield and alongside the corner garden at Boston
· Created 4,000 square feet of landscaped gardens street-side at Galer, Boston, and McGraw and alongside the Galer Stairs
· Enlarged tree pits to provide more growing space for trees
· Realigned the intersection at Galer to provide much-improved sightlines for pedestrians and drivers
· Shortened pedestrian crossing distances at Galer and McGraw to improve pedestrian safety
· Advocated to have developers include public spaces in their projects, install pedestrian-focused street lighting, and use street furnishings proposed in the Streetscape Master Plan
Picture Perfect Queen Anne regularly collaborates with local groups and city departments to keep the heart of our neighborhood vibrant and welcoming. At any given time, we’re actively involved in a number of projects, including design review processes for new developments on the Avenue. Please see our Projects pagefor more details about our community advocacy efforts past and present.
While the gardens are public and received initial funding from the City, it is Picture Perfect Queen Anne—with financial and volunteer support from the community—that arranges and pays for the professional maintenance and watering of the 4,000 square feet of gardens.
3) Any information that you would like to share via Queen Anne Chamber’s community (ex. upcoming events, announcements).
Picture Perfect Queen Anne hosts garden parties 2-3 times a year to plant and spread compost throughout the beds. We will also be adding 10 additional pavers to the large Galer gardens to which donors may add an inscription of their choosing. Please contact usif you’d like to join a gardening party or leave a lasting legacy with an inscribed paver. You can also visit us in the QAFM Community Tent on August 2nd.
4) How long has Red Plate Catering been a member of Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce?
Our collaboration with the Chamber since 2005 has played a meaningful role in our efforts to carry out the Streetscape Plan. Thank you for providing fundraising advice and support, and for providing a platform for us to use to spread the word about Picture Perfect Queen Anne and the Queen Anne Avenue Streetscape Project.
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