#2HoursInSLU - Dena Lee

When asked how she “typically” spends two hours in SLU, Dena Lee’s response is, “there is no typical day!” Dena has the energy and enthusiasm many only dream of. Her #2HoursInSLU represents only a tiny portion of the many projects she is up to her elbows in here in SLU.

Walking into Caffé Torino  to meet her, the cafe bustles with members of the SLU Art Walk Team, including artist Carolina Wallin, whom the team is working in collaboration with Bianca’s Mary’s Place on for a woven fence project at Republican between Yale and Minor. Together, Dena and Andrea Florissi, proprietor of Caffé Torino, co-chair the SLU Art Walk Team. This energetic group is, in fact, weaving art right into the fabric of our neighborhood. Over 1200 people attended the inaugural SLU Art Walk on May 2nd. They are hoping for even more attendees at the second one coming up Friday, August 1st, 5-8pm. 

In her spare time, Dena is a dance instructor at the Minor Avenue Children’s House. Carrie Jacobson and Eileen Hood, managers of Shine,  readily agreed to be a venue featuring art by M.A.C.H. children. Dena resides in SLU and regularly attends South Lake Union Community Council meetings as well as local community task forces, such as the force working on the public benefits of the Denny Substation.

Dena and the SLU Art Walk Team are working to show how to create art in our community. It’s working! By actively creating art in South Lake Union, we’re seeing a community come to life right before our eyes. During May's art walk, over 200 people came through Praxis Brazilian Jiu Jitsu studio to view the work of a local photographer. The studio owner, Larry King, must have certainly appreciated the visibility this brought his brand-new neighborhood business!

Dena, Andrea and the SLU Art Walk Team are encouraging non-profits to participate in the August 1st Art Walk: there’ll be hands-on art at the Gazebo at the Cascade People’s Center; children’s art on display at Playdate; Immanuel Lutheran will host art from Orion Youth Center and Cascade Women’s Program; Williams Apartments will display works from Plymouth HousingGroup; and Youth-In-Focus will feature photography at Museum Quality Framing. A map of the August venues can be found here. They hope to spread the idea that art is accessible to everyone. That said, we encourage you to attend the next SLU Art Walk and find yourself inspired by the art, people, and community that’s being created right here in wonderful, vibrant SLU. Be sure to stop by Caffe Torino to view Andrea’s featured artists and have a latte. If you’re lucky, you may even run into Andrea or Dena themselves!

Sign up for the Amazing Race to End Homelessness

Assemble your team and get ready for the 2014 Amazing Race to End Homelessness, a one-of-a-kind scavenger hunt and fundraiser in South Lake Union. We race not just for fun, but to put our collective energy and passion in support of building a safe, caring community for all.

The race begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014 at the South Lake Union Discovery Center. A barbecue and live bluegrass by the Shed Boys to follow. Fabulous prizes for the top teams, including a $500 cash prize for first place!

Your $25 ticket benefits the Compass Housing Alliance capital campaign and the completion of Compass on Dexter, an affordable housing program for low-income families opening in SLU this fall. For more information, including how to register, visit www.compasshousingalliance.org/amazing-race.

Help fill the pantry!

Cascade Women’s Program, serving 32 women here in SLU, has an empty panty.  Why is the pantry so important?  Food stamps and other benefits are not typically enough for the women to get through the month without help.  That’s where you come in!  We are accepting donations of non-perishable food to fill it up Sunday, July 13^th – Saturday, July 19^th at 1205 Thomas Street.  Helping us fill up the pantry will ensure women will have access to food when they need it! Thanks for your donation!

Cascade Women’s Program is a transitional housing program of Compass Housing Alliance. Learn more about their mission and vision for a safe, caring community for all at www.compasshousingalliance.org.

Welcome, Brittany Irwin!

Brittany is a Washington native from the Bellevue area. She graduated from Gonzaga University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations. She loves to experience new cultures through travel and spent time studying in Florence, Italy while attending Gonzaga.

Brittany served as the public relations intern and volunteered as a wish granter at the Spokane Make-A-Wish Foundation for the past year. She joined the South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce team as the administrative assistant and events intern in June 2014.

Brittany has a passion for being active in her community and is excited to be part of the SLU Chamber team. She looks forward to meeting members when she is out and about in South Lake Union!

#2HoursInSLU - Lifestring Photography

For our third installment of #2HoursInSLU, we asked Aaron Briggs of Lifestring Photography how he spends two hours in SLU with his family.

As a family living in South Lake Union we have many two-hour recommendations but most involve walking to a park or plaza and one of our daughter’s favorite restaurants. That’s true too for when I have two hours to myself and what I often recommend to families I’m photographing.

One evening last week while my wife was working late, Veronica and I started an adventure to, as she calls it, pokey stick park (Denny Park), to play in the recently built toddler playground. It’s a great space because we almost always meet other parents in the neighborhood there, the structures are simple and age appropriate and it’s shaded. The bark, covering the play area, occasionally stabs one or all of us, but that’s a small price to pay for the benefits of burning toddler energy. The dog park provides additional entertainment and so do the talking squirrels.

Next we meandered to the meatball place (Tutta Bella) for pizza and, obviously, meatballs – Veronica loves them, which cannot be overstated. Tutta Bella has been very good to us the last few years, remembering what we like to order and accommodating Veronica with pizza dough to play with or swizzle sticks. So too has the quesadilla place (Cactus) the cookie place (La Toscanella) and especially the biscuit place (Serious Pie & Biscuit). The restaurants moved in around the same time Veronica was born and the people working there have watched her grow as their restaurants have. We’re grateful to share the community with them. Actually, we send some of them Christmas cards. Tutta Bella also has a chocolate gelato we eat with the grace of barnyard animals. It’s good.

Finishing our two-hours, just a few blocks from home, we stopped to watch a kickball game on the field adjacent to the Discovery Center. On other days, the three of us might as easily have gone to Lake Union Park to watch seaplanes and geese, or to one of the courtyards at the Amazon campus to people/dog watch and drink espresso. We’re happy to watch the neighborhood growing, adding to the possibilities.

Business Best Practices Potluck Recap

For our May 21st Chamber Lunch, we hosted group discussions on different topics. These are the compiled notes from those discussions.

Topic 1 - Successful Social Media/Marketing Tactics (Noelle):

1. Group 1
1. Inviting friends to “like” our business page
2. More traction on FB events
3. Pinterest—not having to start everything over
4. Time released—all posts pre-scheduled
5. Instagram to Twitter, FB, Tumblr, Flickr
6. Hoot Suite—scheduling everything out
7. Meetup—volunteers
2. Group 2
1. Contests—telling historical stories
2. Successful sponsored posts

                                         i.    Higher traction when relatable

                                        ii.    Engage with your community

3. Who is your audience?

                                         i.    Ex. Trainer doing kettle bell

4. Drink specials, holidays, dress-up
5. #SouthLakeUnion
6. Popsicle Contest
7. Getting other people to talk about your stuff
8. Being part of a dialogue
9. Posting other people’s stuff
10. Use hashtags!
2. Group 3
1. Photos of clients in eyeware
2. Good Yelp reviews—be on customer service
3. Huge on Yelp—comment on everything!

                                         i.    Contact info

                                        ii.    Dedication to solving problems

4. “Pillam loves pets”

                                         i.    Vote on contest pet photos

5. Scavenger hunt—via 6
6. Reposting
7. Linked in
8. Linked in sends updates—emails
9. Instagram, Twitter

Topic 2 - SLU Chamber Membership Value and Support (Danah):

1. Group 1
1. Sandy—why she joined, where can she met the most people?

                                         i.    Community calendar

                                        ii.    Facilitated networking

                                      iii.    Responsive team

2. Martha—enjoys being on committees in chambers

                                         i.    Opportunity to fully engage

                                        ii.    After hours (happy hours)

                                      iii.    Wants to take more advantage

3. Jenet—meeting people in person—opportunity to spread the word about PEMCO

                                         i.    Word of mouth

4. Dislikes—conflicting events with GSBA
5. Wants more power networking (3-5 businesses that get specific exposure at a themed event)
1. Group 2
1. George—Umpqua—working with good people

                                         i.    Regular events to meet people in the community

                                        ii.    Shared resources

                                      iii.    Ability to host events

                                      iv.    Take advantage of membership

1.   Would like the directory to be promoted more

2.   Easy to access emails/contact info for members

3. Group 3
1. Patty—meeting people at events, getting access to the shared resources of other members
2. Kim—Graphica—reaching the right person in the company you want to network with

                                         i.    Lori says people know people & that’s how it works—personal introductions

3. Good—facilitated networking
4. Suggestions—events for members to connect one on one—build trust with one another—share their expertise

Topic 3 - How do you connect to the SLU community (Renee):

1.   I use the Chamber’s online directory

2.   I came to Chamber events and network

3.   I strategically choose what to get involved in

4.   We take out an ad in brochure

5.   Get involved with SLU Community Council & Cascade Council

6.   We host events in our building—create community

7.   Art Walk

8.   Table in lobby of buildings to promote

9.   Looking to do a Happy Hour event

10.  Invite others to use common space in buildings

11.  Participate in community events—bike to work day, etc.

12.  Neighbor Appreciation Day involvement

13.   Just “foot it” and walk the neighborhood

14.   At Umpqua, we have freedom to do this—hand out ice cream, buy out a food truck and pay for people’s meals, host a boot camp

a.   Our challenge is to connect to residents—how do we get the neighborhood to know us?

15.                Capitalize on the coffee shop atmosphere of the neighborhood—walk about, etc. Word of mouth

Topic 4 - Favorite Personal Productivity “App” (Josh):

1. Doodle (schedules meetings)
2. Workflowy (list & note-taking app)
3. Zite (magazine-style reading; predicts what you will want to see)
4. DropBox (shares documents & images with others)
5. Hoot Suite (posts to all social media simultaneously)
6. One Drive (similar to Google Drive; a place to store documents)
7. Audible (audio books)
8. TED (informative, creative, sometimes inspirational podcasts)
9. Paperless (List app)
10. Grocery IQ (List app that automatically categories groceries based on aisles of your grocery store)
11. Any.do (“To-do” list)
12. Nike Plus (Tracks exercise progress without a sensor; allows you to connect with others and challenge them)
13. Waze (Navigation app)
14. Meditation Bell (rings periodically throughout the day in an attempt to help you de-clutter and focus)
15. My Fitness Pal (Calorie counter app)
16. Flipboard (magazine-style app that has news articles as well as your personal social media)

Topic 5 - How do you handle SLU business pressures? (Joe)

1. Pressure in parking—rush hour
2. Rent is controlled in historic building; can’t increase but incrementally
3. Competition—another similar store opened soon after
1. Yelp
2. Involvement
3. Stay positive
4. Service
4. Competition, new store hub
5. Invited people in
6. Involvement in community
7. Free ice cream!
8. Positive branding—approachable
9. How to connect?

Topic 6 - Attracting and Retaining High Quality Employees (Elisabeth)

1. Training
2. Messaging

Topic 7 - Favorite Thing About SLU? How would you spend #2HoursinSLU? (Camberly)

1. Art Walk/public sculpture use
2. Eat at Yellow Dot for breakfast, food trucks for lunch
3. Walk in from Downtown
4. Lake/modern/new
5. 13 Coins—high energy/hip
6. 4 years ago could not find a sandwich shop
7. No music venues yet! Need a Vito’s here!
8. Need a jazz alley/Triple Door/piano bar
9. Places in SLU that have stages?
10. MOHAI
11. La Toscanella—lunch, gnocchi
12. Guitar Center
13. Brave Horse
14. Whole Foods
15. Food Trucks—Contigo (Mexican)
16. Kakao Chocolate & Coffee conference room & lavendar-flavored mocha
17. Farmer’s Market
18. Umpqua—read newspaper, meeting space
19. Cask & Trotter/Bar—$3 beer & sliders
20. Pub Crawl, start at McCormick & Schmick’s
21. SLU Sweep—Community Clean
22. Kayak on the lake
23. Vivace coffee—Tom Douglas Restaurant
24. Kigo Kitchen
25. Food trucks
26. Paddy Coyne’s Happy Hour
27. Cuoco Happy Hour/Dinner—easy parking
28. Vivace
29. MOHAI
30. Biking to work from Ballard, eat outside/outdoor seating, Amazon space between building, food trucks