Snohomish County NewsThese boots are made for filling
Doug Ramsey Photo
Mukilteo fire captain Dan Harbeck works the ferry lane June 27 to collect donations for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Twenty-three off-duty firefighters and family members raised more than $8,000 during the three day “fill the boot” event. Eddy Lindenstein of MDA Snohomish County said last year, Washington state firefighters collected more than $600,000 for MDA. Lindenstein said money raised by the firefighters helps fund everything from wheelchairs and braces for children afflicted with muscular dystrophy to sponsoring MDA summer camps.
Check Out our online publications
Residents beautify area along sound wall
Donna Gleisner places a ribbon on a young maple tree that is one of many trees recently planted along the Interstate 5 sound wall near Summit Avenue in north Everett.
Doug Ramsay photo
EVERETT - The sight of a towering bland sound wall running parallel to Interstate 5 prompted an Everett neighborhood to bring life back to the former location of statuesque native trees that were cut down for the wall.
Approximately 200 native trees and shrubs and 75 Boston ivy plants — which turn a vibrant red during the fall — wind along a three-block section of the sound wall.
More than 150 volunteers completed the work last month.
The sound wall stretches from Everett Avenue North to 21st Street in the Riverside neighborhood. The section running through the Riverside neighborhood was completed last summer.
Project co-coordinator Donna Gleisner, a Riverside resident, said the trees provide a home for wildlife, improves air quality and offers enjoyable scenery when residents take walks.
Gleisner said residents were upset after the tall native trees were cut down for the sound wall.
“One reason was to cover the gray blank expansiveness of the wall,” she said.
Gleisner said residents thought the trees and bushes should be replaced and in October decided to begin planting, the best time of year to plant before the rain season.
Beginning last October more than 150 volunteers pulled weeds and planted trees and shrubs over the course of four work parties.
The residents received a $15,000 neighborhood grant from the city and has arranged a plan with city staff for watering and maintaining the landscape.
At the first work party in late October, approximately 80 people spent two days planting.
By KATIE MURDOCH