NE Seattle YARNPOLCALYPSE is nigh (UPDATES)

Knit one, purl two, REPENT: For Northeast Seattle may be losing two independent yarn stores.

Acorn Street Shop, 2818 NE 55th St

Current Acorn Street Shop owner Karen Aho is retiring, and selling the shop. They’ve had some nibbles, says the shop on twitter, but as of this writing, there are no official takers. May might be the store’s last month if no buyers come forward.

Interested in owning your very own yarn store?* Contact Karen at acornstreet@msn.com.

Acorn Street Shop in early 2012.

Acorn Street Shop in early 2012.

More about the store from the Acorn Street Shop “About Us” page:

Acorn Street Shop was established in 1979 and began as a New England country store in nearby University Village Shopping Center. Soon the needlework department took over and Acorn Street became a full-fledged needlework shop. The shop has been under current ownership since 1986. In 1992, the business moved to its present location, just north of the U-Village, and the needlework merchandise has expanded to fill the old building up to its 15 foot ceilings!

Weaving Works, 4717 Brooklyn Ave NE

“Oh, if Acorn Street Shop closes, it will be sad. But there’s always Weaving Works down in the University District.” BUT FOR HOW LONG. The Weaving Works building is to be torn down and redeveloped into “a seven-story, 56 unit apartment building with 3,600 sq. ft. of retail commercial space at grade.”

There is no date set yet for the demolition, but the permit was filed on January 30, 2014.

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Rendering of the proposed development at 4717 Brooklyn Ave NE. Click the image to download the entire proposal (8.2 MB PDF).

The most recent design proposal for the site (available above) was presented to the Northeast Design Review Board on July 15, 2013. It was passed unanimously. You can read the board’s full report from the meeting here (249 KB PDF).

We’ve contacted The Weaving Works for more information about the store’s future, and will post a reply here if/when we know more.

UPDATE (Wednesday, 7 PM): Good news about the future of The Weaving Works, via their twitter account:

UPDATE (Monday, March 17): In the latest Weaving Works newsletter (PDF), the store announces that their annual Mother’s Day sale will be more of a Moving sale (to help make the move easier); however, they’re still keeping the new location under wraps.

Acorn Street Shop also holds an annual Mother’s Day sale.

____________

*Best possible place to work, in the event of an earthquake.

Officer-involved collision in Roosevelt (PHOTOS, UPDATE)

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Looking west down NE 75th Street from Brooklyn Avenue NE toward the scene.

Shortly before 2 PM on Sunday, December 29, Seattle Fire Department units responded to a two-vehicle collision on NE 75th Street at 12th Avenue NE. A red sedan and a Seattle Police Department cruiser had collided and both come to rest near the northwest section of the intersection.

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Close-up of the collision scene, looking west on NE 75th Street.

According to Seattle Fire Department PIO Lt. Sue Stangl, all three people involved (one officer in the patrol car and two people in the red sedan) were transported to hospitals with minor injuries. The officer was transported to Harborview, which is standard procedure for the Seattle Police Department.

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Looking north down 12th Avenue NE.

Detours were in place to reroute traffic as investigators processed the scene, but at least some Metro bus routes were unaffected.

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Close-up of the two vehicles looking north down 12th Avenue NE.

UPDATE (8:58 PM): We heard from a resident close to the scene that NE 75th Street reopened to traffic just before 6 PM. And, prior to that, a neighbor brought the officers directing traffic some cookies.

Mark Mullan sentenced (UPDATES)

UPDATE (6:18 PM): Adding in the evening’s TV news coverage of the sentencing today, when it becomes available.

Q13 FOX News (no embedded video here due to autoplay).

KIRO 7 News’ footage on the story from their 5 PM newscast.

Latest school boundary proposals for NE Seattle could spell big changes for local students (UPDATES)

The latest round of potential school boundary changes drawn up by the Seattle School District will be presented to School Board members this Wednesday, November 6. And for many Northeast Seattle families, there are some big differences to be spotlighted:

  • Under these new changes, if accepted by the School Board on November 20, students across the street from Eckstein Middle School would no longer be attending there. Instead, all students currently attending Wedgwood Elementary would begin attending Jane Addams Middle School.
  • North Seattle Accelerated Progress Program (APP) middle school students would be moved from Lincoln Hamilton into Eckstein.
Proposed Northeast Seattle  middle school boundaries. If accepted, most of these changes would be implemented in 2015.

Proposed Northeast Seattle middle school boundaries. If accepted, these changes would be implemented in the next two years.

The documents outlining these proposed changes were last updated on October 31, and released the next day, at 7 PM. On a Friday night. So many families in the affected areas may just be hearing about them.

Wedgwood Elementary PTA President Terri Green has weighed in about these proposed changes, in a message that started circulating over the weekend. It reads, in part:

SPS boundary changes as they impact the Wedgwood community

On Friday, November 1 at 7 pm, SPS released a third iteration of their plan they think may be final to address growth boundaries. There are major modifications which will significantly impact your children and our community in two ways:

  1. Starting next school year, ALL Wedgwood students would be assigned to the new (as yet unopened) Jane Adams Middle School (6-8), even kids who live across the street from Eckstein.
  2. Former Wedgwood students currently attending Eckstein will be moved to the new Jane Adams Middle School for 7th and 8th grade. (Part of the Northend APP middle school program is proposed to move into Eckstein.)

A full copy with details of the plan is available on-line here. This plan was devised after community feedback to the previous October 16 proposal. No major changes were proposed for our school at that time and thus there was no call to action. Now our community needs to respond quickly if we wish to impact this process before it is too late.

Green goes on to say a Call to Action meeting is being held at 6:30 tonight, Monday, November 4th, in Wedgwood Elementary School’s library. (We will be attending, and will provide LIVE COVERAGE below, if possible.)

Green will also be attending Wednesday’s School Board meeting (4:15 PM at the John Stanford Center, 2445 3rd Ave S), but families should contact School Board members themselves before then. The Seattle School District is divided into seven parts, each one represented by an elected member. The representatives whose areas are affected by these changes in North/Northeast Seattle are:

In addition to expressing thoughts/concerns to School Board members, parents should also email feedback to GrowthBoundaries@seattleschools.org, the official Seattle School District boundary plan address. Put your school or issue in the subject line.

For the full list of information about these proposed changes (including the data used to create them), visit the Seattle Public Schools — Growth Boundaries page.

UPDATE (12:09 PM): Thanks to some commenters on Facebook, we have learned the APP @ Lincoln PTA’s official stance on the proposed changes to their program:

PTA Responds to New Boundary Proposal

On Friday evening, the Seattle Public School district released their latest proposals for updating school boundaries. The district will present this proposal to the Seattle School Board on Wednesday, November 6th. If you would like to speak directly to the board regarding this proposal at the meeting, you may, but you must call the district and sign up on Monday (11/4) morning.

The SNAPP PTA maintains its position that splitting the APP Middle School and co-housing with attendance area schools is not in the best interest of our community or helpful with the overcrowding in the north end. Although many APP MS students come from the Whitman and Eckstein reference area, putting APP in these schools would only serve to further crowd them and keep reference area kids out.

You can read the entire APP @ Lincoln PTA statement here.

UPDATE (Tuesday, November 5, 7:52 AM): Correction/Clarification from elementary school APP parent and Roosevelt resident Elena Waite :

Current APP middle school students do NOT attend Lincoln- in the North, they go to Hamilton and will continue at Hamilton in the proposed plan, for now, as well as Eckstein and then Whitman. I would also like to note that APP has advocated for its own Middle School site – at Wilson Pacific and never advocated to be at Eckstein as we know that school is already crowded as a neighborhood school.

UPDATE (Tuesday, November 5, 7:03 PM): Those that emailed Seattle School Board Member Harium Martin-Morris received the following email in return, outlining an amendment Martin-Morris plans to introduce at Wednesday’s meeting.

I am writing in response to your email regarding the November 1st version on the Growth Boundary Plan. As written, I do not support the plan and along with Director De Bell will be offer an amendment that will go back to the previous version of the plan with the following changes:

* Assign NE APP students to the new James Addams Middle School starting in 2014
* Have a maximum of 3 classes per grade level at James Addams Middle School
* Assign others APP to Hamilton until Wilson Pacific Middle School is online. At that point Hamilton would also go to the 3 classroom per grade and all others go to Wilson Pacific

That would mean that the middle school and elementary attendance areas in the NE would go back to October 16th revision with some minor changes basis on community input.

Regards,

Harium Martin-Morris

————————-

NOTE: While most local residents probably assume (correctly so) that most Ravenna neighborhood students attend Bryant Elementary, many in the North Ravenna area (including those here at Ravenna Blog Headquarters) are located within the Wedgwood Elementary attendance area. In fact, the boundary for Wedgwood itself is planned to expand further into Ravenna in the coming years (reflected in the image above).

APP students are scattered throughout neighborhoods, and all currently attend school at old Lincoln High School in Wallingford (see Elena Waite’s note above). Lincoln was closed in 1981, and is used as an interim location for Seattle schools and programs.

…everyone knows it’s WINDY…(and rainy)

As the lights in Ravenna Blog HQ gave a few flickers just before 5 PM, and we started hearing reports of power out in Wedgwood, we decided it was a good time to start a running weather post for the rest of the evening.

With that outage in Wedgwood, we’ve seen not one but TWO tweets about using a crankable radio to listen to the Husky Football game happening right now:

In Northeast Seattle so far, there is an outage in Wedgwood affecting ~3,000 customers, according to the Seattle City Light hotline (206-684-7400 should you need to report your own outage). If you’re curious about outages in the city, you can visit the Seattle City Light System Status page for more information (mobile link here).

UPDATE 5:30 PM: Latest Seattle City Light outage map update showing 10 outages city-wide, with 1107 customers affected. No Wedgwood on the map yet.

5:44 PM: Latest outage map tally is “Number of Outages: 14, Estimated Customers Affected: 7870,” which does not include the Wedgwood outage. We’re hearing now of an outage on 100th in Meadowbrook. Might be part of the Wedgwood outage, but we don’t know until the map is updated with that information.

5:50 PM: Only one outage showing up on the map for Northeast Seattle, at the moment:

6:00 PM: “Number of Outages: 16 Estimated Customers Affected: 7872”

6:12 PM: A post from Seattle City Light just now lists the major outages in Seattle. Here are the ones in our area:

North -Serving Ravenna, Bryant, View Ridge, Matthews Beach, Wedgwood -2,858 customers without power -Estimated time of restoration is 11 p.m. -Cause weather related (wind, rain, tree branches) -Boundaries: N – NE 106th St; E – Lake Washington; W – 8th Ave NE; S – NE 75th St.

The post also says that 20,000 customers are currently without power in Seattle.

6:30 PM: Outage map update! Here are the clusters of outages in Northeast Seattle:

Football_outage

 

7:13 PM: Seattle City Light saying now that the number of customers without power is down to 13,000. And the time of restoration for the Maple Leaf/Wedgwood outage has moved up to about 10 PM. Cause is given as “tree.”

8:45 PM: We’ve heard from a few people in the Wedgwood area of the outage say that power has been restored.

 

But before that, around 8 PM, about 46 customers between Matthews Beach and View Ridge lost power. Cause now given as equipment failure, with a restoration estimate time of 4 AM.

Sunday, 7:34 AM: Outage map showing only four outages left in Seattle, three of which are in Northeast Seattle. Only 10 customers total affected, 9 of which are directly north of the Sand Point Country Club area.

7:55 AM: Some weather stats from yesterday, courtesy a weather station in Bryant that we use for such information: 1.45 inches of rain fell yesterday, and the average wind speed was between 9 and 13 mph (with gusts up to 28 mph).

As the large cold front approaches and comes inland this evening, wind speeds are expected to climb — the data in our area suggests we’ll be seeing sustained wind speeds in the low- to mid-20 mph range from noon on (High Wind Watch). Gusts to 60 mph are also possible, especially between 7 PM and midnight.

So, get your laundry and dinner done early. And don’t forget to charge your wireless devices so you can revisit this post for more information.

8:03 PM: Rain coming down steadily now, and the wind has picked up. Seeing gusts now in the mid-20 mph range. Rain total for the day (at the Bryant weather station) at 0.33 inches, with most of it falling in the last hour.

So far, only one outage in Northeast Seattle to report, and even it’s one that’s been going since 2:51 PM: Ten customers just south of Penguin Park (NE 93rd Street and 38th Avenue NE). Estimated time of restoration is about 10 PM.

8:12 PM: And as soon as I added the above outage to the post, it disappeared off the outage map! The power of neighborhood news, everyone.

Car veers off NE 75th St, 83-year-old driver injured (UPDATE)

Just after 11 AM on Tuesday, September 24, the Seattle Fire Department responded to a heavy rescue call on NE 75th Street just east of 26th Avenue NE.

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Seattle Post-Intelligencer photojournalist Josh Trujillo (left) takes a picture at the scene.

A vehicle was traveling *eastbound* [corrected] on NE 75th Street when it left the roadway, struck and disassembled a road sign (pictured above), and came to rest on a cement embankment on the side of a nearby home’s driveway.

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After leaving the roadway, the vehicle drove through parts of two yards before coming to rest on the embankment of a raised driveway.

The driver, an 83-year-old woman, was taken to Harborview Medical Center by Seattle Fire staff. She was transported in stable condition, said Seattle Fire.

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View looking dowhill (west) along NE 75th St at emergency and police vehicles at the scene.

Eastbound NE 75th Street was blocked for a time for emergency vehicles, after which Seattle Police officers directed traffic past the scene using the new left turn lane. The sidewalk on the south side was closed while police investigated the scene.

 

UPDATE (2:30 PM): A little more info from a Seattle Police Department Blotter post up just now:

Preliminary investigation indicates that an 83-year-old woman was driving her Honda Element eastbound on NE 75th Street.  Just after crossing 26thAvenue NE, for reasons yet to be determined, she left the roadway and drove over the south sidewalk, up an embankment and crashed into a house.

There were people inside the house at the time of the collision however, nobody inside the house was injured.

The driver of the Honda (and sole occupant of the vehicle) sustained serious injuries in the collision and was transported to Harborview Medical Center by fire department medics.

Traffic Collision Investigation Squad detectives responded to the scene and continue to actively investigate.

SPD estimates that NE 75th Street should be fully reopened around 3 PM today..

 

 

AM Shooting at NE 55th Street and 26th Avenue NE (UPDATES)

On Tuesday at 8:35 AM, Seattle Police and Fire units responded to a shooting at approximately 26th Avenue NE and NE 55th Street.


View AM shooting at NE 55th St and 26th Ave NE in a larger map

Above: Tweet by KOMO News Radio reporter Jon Repp from near the scene of the shooting (looking east down NE 55th Street).

A man was shot in the wrist and femur (per scanner), and transported to Harborview Medical Center. His condition is unknown at this time.

There was some confusion early on about the make and model of the suspects’ vehicle, but SPD is now calling it a “newer black Toyota Corolla,” per scanner.

We’re awaiting word from SPD on descriptions of the suspects.

Nearby Bryant Elementary School went into “shelter-in-place” mode: Students were allowed inside and school continued as usual.

Assumption-St. Bridget is in “modified lockdown at this time.

Metro routes using NE 55th Street (30 and 74) are affected:

https://twitter.com/kcmetrobus/status/377469645298880512

UPDATE (9:52 AM): Some more information from media at the scene:

We’re expecting homicide detectives to be at the scene for some time, and that parts of NE 55th St and 26th Ave NE will also be closed for some time.

The Seattle Fire Department has said over twitter that their medics transported “an approx 30yo male from 2610 Ne 55th St to HMC with 2 gunshot wounds. Patient critical with life threatening injuries.”

UPDATE (10:05 AM): The Seattle Times has more information on this morning’s shooting from SPD’s Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, including:

  • Victim (now said to be in his 50s) was “apparently targeted.”
  • Victim was shot at from a dark sedan occupied by what were described by witnesses as “two African-American men in their late teens or early 20s.”

KIRO reporter Natasha Chen (above) took some video of Sgt. Whitcomb speaking near the incident site:

UPDATE (11:20 AM): Picture of the scene from the Seattle Police Department:

UPDATE (1:14 PM): The Seattle Times is reporting that the victim works at Manning & Son Upholstery (2610 NE 55th Street). He and is son (recently brought on to learn the trade, reports Alexa Vaughn) were on their way into the upholstery shop when the shooting occured.

Joel Moreno, a reporter at KOMO News, is reporting that the victim is in surgery.

UPDATE (2:33 PM): KING 5’s Elisa Hahn reports via twitter that the victim is out of surgery and in ICU. His condition is listed as serious.

New University Village stores and restaurants REVEALED (UPDATES)

Saw some tweets a moment ago saying that the parking garage in the new south building at University Village has opened.

If every floor of parking in the new building is now open (not sure at this time three of the five new levels are now open, every day from 11 AM-11 PM), that means over 700 more spots have been added. No need to circle around on the surface lots like a vehicular vulture ever again.

Portion of a graphic by University Village announcing the new parking. Click to see the entire image.

Portion of a graphic by University Village announcing the new parking. Click to see the entire image.

BUT WAIT — THERE’S MORE.

new_uv_stores

Fresh from the ol’ Ravenna Blog Email Inbox we have a press release about the new stores and restaurants going into that south building. Some we already knew about (Virginia Mason, Din Tai Fung, Liam’s), but some are most likely new to you.

Keeping them in the categories mentioned in the email, and tacking on some of the descriptions therein, we have:

Fashion

Calypso St. Barth – The resort-wear boutique has developed into a luxury lifestyle brand since launching in 1992. Calypso garments feature feminine style, exquisite textures and an eclectic assortment of pieces that appeal to women of all ages.

Scotch & Soda – Since the 1980’s, Scotch & Soda has offered inspired classic men’s clothing, expanding its repertoire with a women’s line, Maison Scotch, and children’s collection for boys, Scotch Shrunk, and girls, R’Belle.

Hot Mama – Hot Mama was launched in 2005 by Megan and Michael Tamte on the premise that moms crave designer clothing. More than 150 premium brands are sold at Hot Mama including Splendid, 7 For All Mankind, AG and Sanctuary.

Sunglass Hut – Sunglass Hut carries the most popular brands including Ray-Ban, Persol, Oakley, Maui Jim, Revo, Gucci, Burberry, Prada and more.

Athletic & Active Wear

American Eagle Outfitters – Offering affordably priced, high-quality clothing, accessories and personal care products including their popular Aerie for American Eagle line of apparel.

Nike Running – Nike Running University Village will serve as the ultimate hub for athletes offering a premium assortment of Nike men’s and women’s running, training and sportswear product and one-of-a-kind services for runners including digital gait analysis, footwear trials and more.

Restaurants & Cafes

Din Tai Fung – Best known for delicately hand-made soup dumplings, Din Tai Fung boasts an extensive menu highlighting their dumpling and dim sum varieties and includes noodle dishes, appetizers, buns and desserts.

Joey Kitchen – This new addition boasts a warm and inviting open-concept floor plan, giving dining room guests a view to the heart of the kitchen. With two large exterior patios, guests can also enjoy outdoor dining nearly all year round. Led by Executive Chef Chris Mills, the culinary team brings a high level of craftsmanship to each and every dish, ensuring the bold flavors and signature dishes that create the JOEY experience are delivered right, each and every time.

Liam’s – The latest installment from Kurt Dammeier, the man behind Beecher’s, Bennett’s and Maximus/Minimus. Named for his youngest son, Liam’s menu is meant to satisfy a variety of palates – what Dammeier calls “home-style food made better,” with a commitment to serving fresh, authentic food free of artificial preservatives and additives. The restaurant plans to open in November, with 150 seats and a large deck made for long conversations.

Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream – The scent of freshly made waffle cones lures in the customers where an assortment of whimsical ice cream flavors such as Theo chocolate, balsamic strawberry, salted caramel and honey lavender satisfy and surprise.

UPDATE (Wednesday, August 28): Got a press release from Molly Moon this morning! Included the following info:

  • Instead of wood floors we’re using … wait for it … tile.
  • This shop opens at 11 a.m. – that’s a whole extra hour of ice cream access compared to the Wallingford, Capitol Hill and Queen Anne shops.
  • Let’s be real, November is a weird time to open an ice cream shop in Seattle. Weird, special … same diff.

Professional Services

Virginia Mason University Village – Will open this fall as the Sand Point Pediatrics clinic is relocating to the Village. Part of the Virginia Mason Medical Center network established in 1920, the new location will offer comprehensive pediatric care for infants, children and teenagers. Services include laboratory facilities and X-ray.

 

NE 75th Street Makeover Update: It’s DONE (UPDATES, PHOTOS)

The Seattle Department of Transportation crew that had been laying down “proto-lanes” on NE 75th Street finished up their work today. And it was not long after they’d put away their paint can that the SDOT Painting Truck Convoy rolled in to finish the job*.

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Above is a picture of NE 75th Street at about 23rd Avenue NE, taken at 10:15 PM on Friday night. It’s done.

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Here we’re looking west down NE 75th Street, from the same location.

NE75th_no_parking

Additionally, the no-parking-during-commutes parking signs were replaced with these no parking signs.

The “Wild West” has been tamed…or has it?

Drive around/Walk around/Bike around on it a bit, everyone, then let’s meet back here in the comments to talk about our experiences.

*UPDATE (Saturday morning): The roadway improvements are not *completely* finished, but the new lanes had been laid down as of last night. The era of driving two-by-two is over. This morning, a crew was spotted adding reflectors to the sides of the new left turn lane.

Early Saturday morning, an SDOT crew walks down NE 75th Street placing reflectors  along the sides of the new left turn lane. Photo by Adelina Starace.

Early Saturday morning, an SDOT crew walks down NE 75th Street placing reflectors along the sides of the new left turn lane. Photo by Adelina Starace.

UPDATE (Saturday afternoon): A truck/machine/thing was seen grinding the old yellow stripes off the middle of the road, east of 25th Avenue NE. Did not continue west of 25th, however. Monday’s job, perhaps.

UPDATE (Saturday evening): Valarie Bunn, Wedgwood historian extraordinaire, sent us some photos of the old lane lines being ground off the road earlier today.

Grinder erases dashes at 75th and 25th.8.24.2013

We’ll know for sure when the rest of the lane erasing is done in a couple days (and I’ll be sure to run out there with my camera and get some video), but it looks like the work is done by HAND.   Grinding out center line on 75th at 25th

The only female SDOT worker I’ve seen working on the improvements, and this is the job she’s doing. As my ancestors would say, “Uff da.”

Grind then smooth on 75th at 33rd with Schulte memorial

  And I believe the machine pictured above cleans up after the grinding equipment has done its job.

Grinding the dashes on 75th near 25th on 8.24.2013

UPDATE (Sunday morning): OMG they’re back at it again already.

Workers, cones, and signs were spotted near 20th Avenue NE around 7 AM. And around 9 AM, the grinding gear was spotted in the same location:

https://twitter.com/Starace1919/status/371665527036317696

NE 65th St Town Hall at Ravenna-Eckstein CC (LIVE COVERAGE; UPDATE)

On Monday, August 12, from 6:45-8 PM, Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle Department of Transportation will hold a town hall-style meeting at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE).

City officials will be on hand to to address residents’ and area business owners’ concerns about the Bicycle Master Plan Draft Update and the potential role NE 65th Street may play in it.

Our live coverage of the meeting will begin below, around 6:45 PM.

UPDATE (Thursday, August 15): The Seattle Channel has posted their video of the event, and you can watch it right here (Flash required):