Site Report 1

My block ended up being a lot more interesting than I had anticipated.  The exact location is between 9^th Ave NE and Roosevelt Way NE, and between NE 53^rd St and NE 50^th St.  When I first started walking around my block, the first building I noticed looked like some kind of preschool or elementary school.  As I kept walking I saw that it was called the University Child Development School.  I didn’t learn much more about this school; there were no kids playing outside on the playground and it seemed very quiet.  I am excited, however, to learn more about what kind of school it is. 

Another big building on my block was the University branch of the Seattle Public Library.  I have always loved libraries so I was excited to see this on my block; I took several pictures and even went inside and looked around for a while.  The building looks big from the outside but it’s relatively small inside.  It doesn’t look too new so I do wonder how long it has been there.  

As I finally finished walking around my block I found a few smaller buildings and businesses, including a chiropractor, a food bank, and a newer looking apartment building. 

One big thing I noticed as I walked around and took pictures was that it was extremely quiet.  I went after class around 1 pm and there were very few people around.  Even in the library, I didn’t see very many kids like I do when I go to my local library in Bellevue.  I didn’t notice any strange smells, mainly exhaust from the busses, but that is to be expected in the city.  Another thing I noticed was that outside the school, there were a lot of bushes and trees.  There was so much green that it could almost have been a suburb, or an even more rural area.  It took me a while to get close enough to even see that the building was a school. 

I did think of several questions during my first visit to my block.  One big one is I’d love to learn more about the school that is there; how long it has been there, if the building was used for a different purpose before, and maybe who owns it.  I’d also want to learn more about the library; I know that the Seattle Public Library system is separate from the King County Library System but I don’t know much else.  One last question is I’d like to know more about the history of the block; what it looked like 100 years ago in particular.