Cheap Thrills for the Family at the RECC

June 28, 2010 by 1 Comment

Britt over at Seattle Parks and Recreation was kind enough to send me a list of the free or nearly-so family events (and one fundraiser) happening this summer at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center.  The first one is coming up THIS WEDNESDAY. *bounce bounce bounce*

$1 Super Summer Economy Busters

Big Bounce Bonanza
Ages: 12 & under
Bounce your way down to Ravenna for our 3rd annual Big Bounce Bonanza! Big and little kids will have age appropriate bouncers along with other activities guaranteed to wear ‘em out!
6/30 Wed 1–3 p.m.

Pirate P”arrr”ty
Ages: 5 & under
Ahoy mateys! We be a meetin’ at 11 a.m. at Ravenna fer adventure as you hunt fer hidden treasure. Lads and lasses, come dressed in yer finest pirate garb and be prepared fer some swashbuckling fun, grub, and kiddie spirits
7/22 Thurs 11 a.m.–1 p.m.

Annual Kids Carnival
Ages: 12& under
A Ravenna tradition! Celebrate summer with your friends! Laugh and play while you enjoy carnival games, a bouncy toy, face painting, bingo, and lots of fun!
7/14 Wed Noon–2 p.m.

Final Fling/Playground Birthday Party
All Ages
Salute goodbye to the summer and help us celebrate our playground’s 2nd birthday! Balloon Buffoon will be on hand to create his impressive balloon creations! Barbeque dinner and cake provided.
8/25 Wed 6–8 p.m.

Fantastic Family Fun at Ravenna

Chalk it Up for the Community Garden
All Ages
A first-of-a-kind event here at Ravenna-Eckstein, the Chalk it Up Event is a fundraiser for our Community Garden Project. It’s simple! Teams of one or more purchase a 5’ x 5 ‘ space on our hard court play area at the back of the center. This year’s theme… of course… is “How I grow my Garden…” Join us for an evening of family fun, farm to table food, creative energy, and a little community building! Registration forms available on June 28.
7/28 Wed 6–9 p.m.
Activity Fee: $25, Teams of 1 or more.

National “Night Out”
All Ages
“Night Out” is a national crime prevention event. It is designed to heighten crime prevention awareness, increase neighborhood support in anti-crime efforts, and unite our community. It is a great chance to learn about crime prevention, while also celebrating your community and spending time with your neighbors. Meet firemen and policemen and explore a real fire truck and a police car!
8/3 Tue 6–8 p.m.
Activity Fee: Free

Wacky Western Wednesday
Ages: 12 & under
Attention cowboys and cowgirls! Throw on your best western attire and cowboy duds and head on over to the community center! Eat some good ol’ fashioned cowboy chow, and come ready to party like cowboy, minus the campfire! Special guests include a mobile petting zoo (complete with a pot belly pig, goat, donkey, chicken, and bunnies) and pony rides on miniature and regular horses!
8/11 Wed Noon–2 p.m.
Activity Fee: $3

Filed Under: Fundraiser, Kids

Twitter Feed Round-Up for June 26

June 26, 2010 by 2 Comments

Ah yes, it’s that time again.

Here’s what you may have missed on the Ravenna Blog twitter feed:

  • The Brand New Boom Noodle in the U Village is expected to open for Dinner on July 5th! http://fb.me/BNitCttR (via @BoomNoodle)
  • Okay, followers, here’s your invite: Help unlock Ravenna on NabeWise. Check it out! http://bit.ly/baBsaR
  • RT @RavCommGarden There’s an official City of Seattle Urban Agriculture website! http://tinyurl.com/2dc97nz
  • Missed The Atlantic Crossing pub on The Daily Show? Check it out here: http://bit.ly/bSzD4G (via @Roosiehood)
  • One eastbound lane of NE Pacific St near the UW to be closed on Mon the 28th from 9am-maybe 3pm. Tree root damaged sidewalk to be replaced.
  • Don’t wanna see 160 foot buildings go up in Roosevelt-Ravenna? Sign the petition, let the city council know. Info http://tinyurl.com/2c8unav
  • Like to read Cliff Mass’s blog but don’t always have the time? Try following @ClffMssAbr: She’ll at least tell you if you’ll need your coat.
  • For those of you who just can’t get enough of that vuvuzela horn: http://www.vuvuzela.fm/
Filed Under: twitter round-up

How to Stay Home This Weekend AND Have Fun

June 25, 2010 by 2 Comments

Another (hopefully) regular weekly post for you: Things to do in Ravenna (or close to) on the weekends.  And we’ll throw in a forecast, too.

Saturday options (AM clouds, PM sun; high of 72!):

Sunday options (partly cloudy; high of 73!):

Saturday AND Sunday:

  • Ravenna Third Place Books is having one of their big ol’ 40% Off All Used Books Sales this weekend. B.Y.O.Wheelbarrow, note the flyers.

The forecasts are via weather.com, for the 98115.

Filed Under: Events, Fundraiser, Kids, Seattle Public Library

Help Fight Crohn’s and Colitis with Manny this Saturday

June 25, 2010 by 8 Comments

Darn tasty beer.

Like tasty, locally-brewed beer?

Like fighting disease?

This Saturday at the Ravenna Alehouse, you can do both, AT THE SAME TIME.

Julee Pratt and her team, The Gut Girls, will be participating in the Take Steps Challenge on July 18th to raise money for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). If you want to help the cause, you can donate to the team, participate in the walk yourself, or head to the Ravenna Alehouse (2258 NE 65th St) this Saturday between 5pm and closing and drink Manny’s Pale Ale. Or do all three.

From Julee’s “Fundraiser for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America” facebook page (emphasis mine):

Please join me at the Ravenna Alehouse on Saturday, June 26th to help raise funds for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation! I will be participating in the Take Steps Challenge on July 18th at Magnuson Park and this fundraiser will help me and my team, The Gut Girls, to reach our goal! Many of you know that this foundation is more than just a charity to me. I encourage you to view my personal fundraising page for more information. It can be found here. There is also a direct link on my Facebook profile page.

The proprietor of the Ravenna Alehouse is a dear friend of mine and he has generously worked with Manny’s to arrange for this fundraiser. For every Manny’s purchased between 5PM and closing on Saturday, June 26th, a portion of the proceeds will be donated directly to support me and my team’s fundraising with the CCFA!

Learn more about Crohn’s Disease, and Ulcerative Colitis (what Julee herself has) and Proctitis at the CCFA’s website.

Thank you to Mai Ling over at Maple Leaf Life for the info.

Filed Under: Events, Fundraiser

Twitter Feed Round-Up for June 19

June 19, 2010 by 4 Comments

Why tweet when we could blog?  Well, a lot of this stuff just doesn’t warrant a full post (ex. Klingons in Ravenna Park).  And some of it are links to articles that we didn’t write (but you should read nonetheless). And some of these things are quite ephemeral and don’t keep well. AND, we shall admit, some of it is just us being wacky.

So, once again, for your reading pleasure, the notable tweets of the week:

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts

Uniformed Help on the Viaduct Detour Route

June 17, 2010 by 2 Comments

@ThomasField and I both spotted some SPD officers directing traffic today.  He was nice enough to tweet us a photo of his:

Traffic directing at Ravenna Blvd/22nd/54th/55th,    Courtesy Thomas Field

Snapped at a rather infamous intersection: Where Ravenna Blvd, NE 22nd Avenue, NE 54th Street AND NE 55th Street ALL swirl together like suds going down a drain, just south of the southeast part of Ravenna Park.

I suspect that most of the new traffic here is due to Official NE 45th Street Viaduct Detour Cheaters who are trying to sneak up and down the hill by using 54th/55th instead of 65th. Cheaters!

Yours truly found herself a traffic director where 15th Avenue NE, Cowen Pl NE and Ravenna Blvd all meet, on the west side of the park.  Northbound Cowen Pl NE traffic turning left has no light; I imagine that’s a reason for the extra help.

Both of these locations have been added to the NE 45th Street Viaduct Detour Issues Google Map.

Do YOU have any to share? Let us know!

Filed Under: Construction, Traffic, Updates

Low flyers in Bryant?

June 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Our plea for submissions netted an email relating a strange event in the Bryant neighborhood last night. And since they are our near and dear (and, as yet, unblogged) neighbors, we are more than happy to represent them here.

The confounding occurrence is as follows:

I wonder if anyone else has mentioned a small plane that seemed to be flying very low over Ravenna-Bryant last night. Not sure exactly what time it was, maybe 11:30 or thereabouts. I wasn’t asleep yet so know I wasn’t dreaming, but I didn’t see any mention of it in the Times today and am wondering what the heck it was doing! It wasn’t a helicopter on the way to/from the hospital, I know what those sound like. It was so weird – it kept circling and coming back, low enough to shake the windows. I was about to call the police when it stopped.

Sounds kinda crazy, huh? It was pretty freaky!

If you have any info, I’d love to find out what was going on and what to do if it happens again. It was actually quite scary.

Thanks,
Karen (Bryant neighbor)

My guess is a combination of low cloud cover and seaplanes. But those don’t usually circle.

Anyone have any better ideas? Or who she might call if it happens again?

The truth is out there.

UPDATE: I did a little online sleuthing, and found out how to report aircraft noise and/or low flying aircraft: Contact our local Flight Standards District Offices in Renton. Their contact information (phone, email, fax and flare [just kidding]) is all right here.

Filed Under: Updates

Feel like sharing?

June 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

ARRRRRRRGoing to that North Link Light Rail meeting tonight? Wanna share what you learned?

Go to Northeast District Council meetings? Would you like to tell others in the neighborhood what happened?

Been itching to write a weekly or monthly column on a neighborhood issue near and dear to your heart?

Wanna review that new Indian restaurant on 23rd and 65th?

Think on it, write about it, and let me know! I’d love to see more content on this site — wouldn’t you?

Send your thoughts and ideas to rebecca [at] ravennablog.com.

Filed Under: metablog

Let’s talk about TRAFFIC!

June 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I’ll start.

I don’t commute to and fro work like I imagine many of you do, so my observations on what the NE 45th Street Viaduct Detour has meant to me will likely be different from some of yours.  Nor have I taken a tour of the entire detour route.

But here are some detour issues I’ve noticed (click on the map to open it in Google Maps):

Click me to open in Google Maps

  1. I’ve actually been remembering that the viaduct is CLOSED, and taken alternate routes! [This was a triumph. I’m making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.]
  2. Just yesterday I saw workers putting up “NO PARKING from 4-7pm” signs along the east side of 25th Ave NE. That side of the street is already marked as “NO PARKING from 3-6pm.” Why the different times?
  3. The backup to turn left onto westbound NE 65th St from northbound 25th Ave NE is worse more times of day than it used to be. So glad for that green arrow.
  4. The parking spots on the south side of NE 65th St through Downtown Ravenna (and further to the west) have “NO PARKING from 4-7pm” signs posted on them, too.
  5. Turning left onto 15th Ave NE from westbound NE 65th Ave was hard before. And now it’s worse!
  6. Driving to the View Ridge PCC I noticed two orange detour signs pointing EAST on the EASTBOUND side of the street! That can’t be right. I checked the opposite direction today and there are none across the street, so that’s probably where they’re supposed to be.

So, those are my observations. Have any to add? Let me know in the comments, or email me (rebecca [at] ravennablog.com).

Filed Under: Construction, Traffic

Your first line of defense against burglary? Your door.

June 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Saw a Roosevelt neighbor at Grateful Bread today.  He mentioned that he’s putting together a neighborhood block watch with his neighbors (some drug dealer issues near Lake City Way).

In talking with North Precinct officers about the block watch, the subject of local burglaries came up.  Turns out, many of these homes had unlocked doors.  A quick test of the doorknob is all it took for entry.

So, that’s our home safety tip for the day: LOCK YOUR DOORS.  And that goes for windows, too.

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts
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