A view of the World Trade Center, drawn from the grounds of St. Paul’s Chapel, in remembrance of the thousands of victims of the attacks on the U.S. that occurred on this fateful day 16 years ago.

The Seattle Urban Sketchers met recently at the Beacon Hill station, one of the stops in Sound Transit’s Metro’s Light Rail system, between the SODO and Mount Baker stations. Probably because of site and space constraints, there are no escalators to access the train platforms below grade. Rather, the doorways you see here are actually elevator entrances down to the train level.

This second sketch is of the entrance to El Centro de la Raza—the cultural, educational, and social service agency founded in 1972 by Chicano activists who occupied the then vacant Beacon Hill Elementary School. Note the banner declaring the school, as any other school, is a “Sensitive Location.” This refers to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy regarding where it can enforce its enforcement actions. To quote from the ICE website: “ Pursuant to ICE policy, enforcement actions are not to occur at or be focused on sensitive locations, such as schools (and) places of worship…”

In remembrance of the centennial anniversary of the official opening of the Fremont Bridge on June 15, 1917, and that of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and Hiram M. Chittenden Locks (aka the Ballard Locks) nineteen days later, on July 4, 1917, I am reposting several drawings of the Fremont and Montlake Bridges that cross the Ship Canal.

For a brief history of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, please see <http://makingthecut100.org/lwsc-and-the-locks/>. For a history of the Fremont Bridge, see <http://historylink.org/File/20374>.

These are people gathered in Hing Hay Park in Seattle’s International District to celebrate the Lunar New Year and witness dragon and lion dances, Taiko drumming, and martial arts performances.

In his opening remarks, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray reminded us all of how a mob rounded up Chinese from this very neighborhood on February 7, 1886, and tried to force them aboard a steamship for passage out of Seattle. And how the Japanese, many of whom were American citizens, were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses the week of April 28, 1942, an expulsion authorized by Executive Order 9066, which President Roosevelt had signed on February 19, 1942.

And so despite DT’s cruel, mean-spirited, and un-American actions of this past week, Mayor Murray asserted that as we celebrate the rich, diverse cultures of this Asian community, Seattle remains committed to being a welcoming city for refugees and immigrants in need.