Out for Sustainability partnered with the City of Seattle, Starbucks and 
volunteer-based organizations in a spectacular “Earth Gay” event for Earth Day, April 22nd 2012. More than 300 volunteers got to work bringing new life to almost a mile of Westlake Avenue N’s biking and pedestrian trail, restored urban forest lands, and worked on the first phase of a street end improvement located between the foot of the Aurora Bridge and the Fremont Bridge. This day was part of a greater planning effort that highlights the potential for the Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop Trail and creates better environmental amenities in our City.
The event was visited by State Senator Ed Murray, State Representative Marko Liias, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, and Seattle City Council President Sally Clark. A long list of partners, sponsors, and contributors also supplied labor, supervision and plants, including the Washington Trails Association, Seattle Parks Foundation, Cascade Bicycle Club, Seattle Public Utilities, and King Conservation District.
The volunteers racked up a pretty impressive list of accomplishments. They 
filled two huge dumpsters with weeds, removed tree stumps, hauled up-hill literally hundreds of wheel barrows of mulch (actually totaling several tons), did erosion control, made survival rings around the base of trees, and planted 200 plants!
Many thanks go to Out for Sustainability for putting in a truly hard day’s work on Earth Gay Day to help transform this space from blackberries and beer bottles to a point for the community to connect to the water. SDOT expects to finish the Aurora Street End Improvement Project by late summer. The work is funded in part by the SDOT’s Street End Improvement Fund and includes volunteer time on the part of the project manager.