Photos

Ol Faithful Brewing Company prepares to erupt in Ravenna

March 15, 2015 by Rebecca Nelson 7 Comments

Walking around the corner of NE 55th Street and 26th Avenue NE, you’d never guess someone’s dreams were about to come true.

But just behind/under Carl’s Foreign Car Services, that is exactly what is happening.

Old Faithful Brewing’s future front door with patio (after the wood gets hauled away, of course).

Tommy and Elise Ortega are in the midst of turning what used to be an old motorcycle shop into a neighborhood craft brewery. A patio will grace the front of the establishment, while the indoor seating will include a view of the brew equipment currently being installed on a sunken platform in the floor. Brother-in-law Bud will be running the front of the house.

Interior of the Ol Faithful Brewing space, currently under construction (photo by Old Faithful Brewing Co, used with permission).

More about the Ortegas’ vision for Ol Faithful (via email):

We plan on having the locals decide what they want on some taps, perhaps by having a large chalk board, or something of that nature. We also plan on having some locals help with some brews that were elected by the community. We plan to engage the neighborhood, not only by providing craft beers, but being part of the ongoing development of it. Volunteering, sponsoring, and being actively visual to the community.

The name, Ol Faithful, comes from the couple’s name for their home — a Craftsman in Fremont built in 1907:

We think our house has been faithful to all it’s prior owners (its a very old house, I can’t believe its still standing), so we named the house [Ol Faithful]. Seeing how we always brewed there, it was easy to just transition the name to the brewery. (now we just need a new name for our house)

You can see some of the Ortegas’ past brews here on Untappd, a social media site and app for beer appreciators.

Ol Faithful Brewing Company is aiming to ~~erupt~~ open this summer.

The wife and I demo’ing walls at the brewery, and prepping for sandblast while we enjoy our newest Belgian Pale. pic.twitter.com/WzGQJTcxNW

— Ol Faithful Brewing (@OlFaithfulBrews) March 15, 2015

Filed Under: Construction, Photos, Ravenna, Restaurants

Power outage in south Ravenna as tree downs power lines (PHOTOS; UPDATES)

August 2, 2014 by Rebecca Nelson 3 Comments

Some wild weather this Saturday morning took a toll on the local electricity infrastructure.

View Downed tree causes brush fire, power outage in a larger map

Just before 10 AM, just after some heavy rains had fallen over the area, a tree on a hillside near NE 50th Street and Ravenna Avenue NE became unstable. The tree, or part of it, fell against some power lines and ignited a fire that was first reported as a house fire, but was downgraded later to a brush fire. Downed lines could be seen in the trees on the hillside as well as in the road below it.

The affected hillside is just to the south of the Raven View Apartments (5001 25th Avenue NE). This section of Ravenna Avenue NE is a dead end, and residents south of the downed lines were unable to use the road until the scene was deemed safe by Seattle City Light crews.

As a Seattle City Light crew worked to move the lines from the road, the downed lines on the hillside ignited another small brush fire.

The ensuing outage affected about 2,000 customers. The estimated time of restoration is 2:41 PM, but some residents of the area have reported lights coming back on already.

UPDATE (1:21 PM): Seattle City Light reporting that power is coming back for another round of residents:

Crews have restored power for 145 more customers in NE Seattle. Down to 1890 that are out. Still working.

— Seattle City Light (@SEACityLight) August 2, 2014

UPDATE (2:08 PM): Seattle City Light has updated the estimated power restoration time to 5:45 PM, over three hours later than the original estimate.

Here is a picture of what Seattle City Light crews are up against as they make repairs at the incident site (picture taken from Ravenna Avenue NE looking southwest toward where the tree or tree limb downed some of the lines). The conditions at the scene are anything but ideal for SCL crews: Lots of tall, wild greenery and trees on a hillside, with the lines on the uphill slope.

UPDATE (5:22 PM): Seattle City Light says, “[c]rews have restored about 1,000 customers from the NE Seattle outage. About 850 homes and businesses remain out. Crews still working.”

UPDATE (5:43 PM): All but 57 Seattle City Light customers have power restored. Estimated restoration time for the remaining residents and businesses is 10 PM as remaining fixes require the replacement of the downed lines.

Filed Under: 911, Photos, Ravenna Springs, Seattle City Light, Seattle Fire Department, Seattle Police Department

Roosevelt house fire being investigated as arson (PHOTOS)

July 22, 2014 by Rebecca Nelson 2 Comments

An early morning house fire in the Roosevelt neighborhood is being investigated as an arson.

From the Seattle Fire Department’s Fire Line:

[SFD crews were] dispatched at 2:09 am to a house near 8 Avenue NE and NE 72 Street for a report of a porch fire that extended to the roof. Firefighters quickly extinguished the visible flames but worked for about an hour aggressively digging out the hidden fire located in the attic void spaces. The home owner discovered the fire and was out of the building by the time firefighters arrived.

After the home was extinguished, fire investigators determined that the fire was intentionally set on the front porch, and the case was turned over to the Seattle Police Department’s Arson/Bomb Unit.

Investigators also estimated $100,000 in damage to the house and its contents, with an additional $5,000 damage to the home next door where the siding had begun to melt.

If you have any information which could aid detectives in their investigation, please call the SPD Arson/Bomb Unit at (206) 684-8980.

Todd Byers, in yellow, talks with neighbors as they survey the damage to his home on the morning after the fire.

Filed Under: 911, Crime, Photos, Roosevelt, Seattle Fire Department, Seattle Police Department

Your Moment of Ravenna Zen: Dark Side of the Top Pot

July 12, 2014 by Rebecca Nelson 2 Comments

At certain angles, the heavy glass doors of the Wedgwood Top Pot make a rainbow connection with the sun.

Filed Under: Moment of Ravenna Zen, Photos, Ravenna, Restaurants, Wedgwood

Vehicle theft leads to hit and run, and ends with foot chase (UPDATES)

June 24, 2014 by Rebecca Nelson 2 Comments

At approximately 12:40 PM on Tuesday, June 24, Seattle Police and Fire staff responded to a motor vehicle accident (MVA) call at 12th Avenue NE and NE 65th Street, next to the Roosevelt Light Rail Station construction site.

What was unusual for this particular MVA was the large number of police vehicles near the collision site (at least nine, by our quick count). Turns out that this incident was a hit-and-run by a stolen vehicle, Seattle Police told us via twitter. A witness to the incident said that after the collision, the suspect fled south.

pic.twitter.com/XjRzTOZjR5

— Oralea White (@OraleaW) June 24, 2014

South of the collision area, on the east side of 12th Avenue NE (pictured above) medics were treating an adult male while officers looked on.

We’ll post more details below when we get them.

UPDATE (1:49 PM): We have confirmation by the SPD that the “suspect was detained by Seattle residents while officers arrived.”

UPDATE (Wednesday morning): Q13FOX had a story on the incident during their 11 PM newscast. You can read the summary and/or watch the video here.

UPDATE (Thursday morning): On the afternoon of the incident, we reached out on twitter on the off chance of contacting someone involved in the subduing of the suspect after he fled the stolen vehicle. A man named Shawn (last name withheld by request) replied, not only with his narrative of the events but a very thoughtful setting of his role that afternoon.

We have yet to see an official narrative of the incident from the Seattle Police Department, but the description of the event that Shawn has shared with us matches what other witnesses at the scene observed.

Here is the account, in Shawn’s words, from two separate emails received on Wednesday:

If you’d just like my recollection of events, I was overlooking the intersection there, on the NE corner of 2nd level of the Whole Foods shopping plaza. I was on break from work at the time, when I heard a loud screech followed by a massive crunch of metal.

I hurried down the stairs located on the NE corner there and looked over to my left to see a car pretty much flipped into incoming traffic. I began running toward the car to check on the victims when I realized that people were yelling STOP HIM at someone.

I looked over across the street and saw a young guy in a red T shirt and baggy jeans running down the opposite sidewalk. I shouted, Hey you, stop, and he didn’t acknowledge me or the other people shouting similar things.

It was at that point I shouted at him again, Hey, you, stop right now, and started chasing after him. I ran across the street and onto the opposite curb; he wasnt a great runner and I caught up to him near the SE corner of the Whole Foods on the opposite side of the street. He actually tripped himself up mostly, and kind of ditched it into the bushes there along with his bag… I slid him off the bush and onto the ground and tried to get control of his arms.

At that point the level of rational thought I had put into this move was literally zero, and it was about then that he started getting really squirrelly with his left arm, trying to pull it away and use it as leverage or reach for something. He actually did pull it completely out of my grasp at one point and it was all I could do to keep it pinned underneath him, afraid what he might try to pull out.

Fortunately that was the moment that the driver and another Good Samaritan ran up and helped get better control over him; I kept shouting at onlookers to call the cops not sure if any of them actually had or not. I was very concerned about the well-being of the driver, who probably should not have been running after this guy after such a serious crash; he was being treated after I finished giving the cops a statement and I was glad to hear he ended up being pretty much ok.

It only took about 5 minutes or so for the cops to show up, by which time we were all wrapped up pretty good with the guy, who was resisting and shouting the whole time. The cops knew who to go for right away (a small relief) and they pulled us apart and took him into custody.

That was about the point I realized I was probably going to be late back into work, and asked the cop after giving my contact info if he could write me a note for my supervisor. He gave me his card, and said just give them this, if they have any problems at all, call me.

That was pretty much it. Tbh I didn’t think about it at all, if I had, I probably would have done nothing. But I was worried he might try to carjack someone or worse and it just kind of happened. :3

I didn’t even realize it was a stolen car at the time, I just saw him running from an accident that he caused and no one moving in the victims car.

[…]and I just don’t really want any undue attention for such a minor incident.

Ultimately, the only thing I’ve really taken away from this and other similar events is that sometimes we are at the right time and the right place, in life, to affect change or do the right thing. And in those rare moments, it’s better to go with your gut reaction and act rather than forever wonder ‘what if’. Being trapped in a box alone with that question can be a deadly curse.

I would just add that we each have far more power than we think, and I truly believe we are all responsible for making the world we live in into the world we’d imagine for ourselves and our loved ones.

On Tuesday afternoon, one man was booked into King County Jail for vehicle theft. We are watching for more documentation on the case (in King County District Court) and will continue to add updates here.

Filed Under: 911, Crime, Photos, Roosevelt, Seattle Fire Department, Seattle Police Department

Sneak peek inside the new Greenlake Village PCC

June 2, 2014 by Rebecca Nelson 30 Comments

We have neighbors who still, over 13 years after its closure, lament the loss of the original PCC (located where Ravenna Third Place Books now resides). That store was 7,000-square-feet in size. The next closest location, the still-open-for-business View Ridge PCC, is not much larger.

The new Greenlake Village PCC, that opens to the public on Wednesday, June 4? It’s a 27,000-square-foot store.

We were invited to the pre-opening event on the evening of Monday, June 2, and in the interest of our more western NE Seattle readers, we attended.

Keep moving, sir: The store isn’t open to the public until 9 AM on Wednesday, June 4.

As you walk into the front doors of the new grocery store (via the central courtyard of the three buildings that make up Green Lake Village), you’ve got two choices: Turn left and head into the Make Your Meal sections (bulk, produce) or turn right and head into the Make It For Me area (deli, espresso/smoothies, salad bar). Everything else (toilet paper, beans, kale chips) is in between, and makes up the bulk of the store.

Left Turn

Bulk section, produce, and a fishbowl-style classroom on this side of the store.

BULK.

Strangely enough (to View Ridge PCC shoppers, anyway) bulk coffee is not located in this section of the store. Think about tired parents needing caffeine with breakfast and find your fix in the aisle with baby food and boxed cereal.

Ravenna Blog recommends the Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Malt Balls.

Beyond the produce section is beer, wine, and what I’m calling the Cheese Bunker (on the right, above). It’s a four-sided, highly defensible bastion of curds.

Right Turn

Walk in the main doors and hang a right to find the pre-prepared food (handy for to-go meals headed to the park), as well as seating lining the front windows both inside and out.

Here you’ll also find the deli (on the right above). Both this picture and the one above it show a full view across the entire store.

Much of the store was stocked and ready to go, except for the most perishable of items. However, I was able to find some kale being made into a smoothie.

When shoppers are ready to check out, the main register section of the store has five assisted checkout lines with a bank of six self-checkout registers in the middle.

Bicycle parking is a bit sparse around the rest of the Green Lake Village commercial spaces, but two full racks line the front of the new store, just to the right of the entrance (where the special event guard is standing above).

Folks on wheels will need to approach the inner courtyard from Woodlawn Avenue NE to the west or NE 71st Street to the south for ramps. The NE 72nd Street side to the north is stairs only.

____________________

Full disclosure: PCC Natural Markets is (very shortly!) a Ravenna Blog sponsor. At the pre-opening we didn’t eat any of the tasty party food placed all over the new store, but we were given a frisbee as we headed out to file this report. You can borrow it anytime you like.

Further full disclosure: Being the independent local news publisher that we are, we were impressed back in 2011 when PCC broke the news of their anchor tenancy in the Vitamilk pit project with a fellow independent local news publisher, the now shuttered My Green Lake.

Filed Under: Businesses, Events, Food, Green Lake, Photos, Ravenna Blog sponsor

Last day of live fire exercises at 32nd and 68th (PHOTOS)

May 17, 2014 by Rebecca Nelson 1 Comment

Friday, May 16 was the final day of live fire training at 6556 32nd Avenue NE, and it was a doozy.

“Two months to build, ninety minutes to destroy,” said one of the firefighters at the scene. Looking at the clock at the end of the burn down, he wasn’t that far off.

How did you think they washed their bunker gear?

Mr. Propane Torch is ready.

Recruits run EVERYWHERE…

…even to photo ops.

Pre-burn down meeting between trainers and recruits.

If we all put our shoes INSIDE our pants before we put them on, just think how much faster we could get dressed in the morning.

Lt. Sue Stangl, one of the Seattle Fire Department’s public information officers, was on hand once again to answer questions. Here she’s telling spectators that once the smoke and fire get going, we may all want to move.

This set of valves split the main line of water being pumped from a nearby engine (on the right, near the boot) into multiple lines to various hoses. This firefighter is about to turn the valves to ON and is holding down the apparatus with his body weight. Lots of pressure about to be released.

After the fire was set inside the house, the first sense to pick up the change was hearing: Snapping and crackling could be heard. Then smoke began to leak out of the stripped roof.

Flames were not far behind.

Increase in the flames.

Imagined conversation later in the day:

“Hey, grandpa. What did you do today?”

“Oh, you know. Just sat on the stoop and looked outside.”

“It was a beautiful day! You should have at least gone for a walk.”

“Eh. Nah.”

A hole had been pre-cut in the roof on the east side of the house (near the peak of the Bravo side). The flames from here were TALL.

A movie to show Mommy later.

I never made it to any of the afternoon training sessions, but the morning sessions were never this well attended. And never had nearly so many miniature lawn chairs.

Top floor window on the Delta side. Roof beams now exposed.

Below this window, one can start to see the flames through small holes in the exterior of the house.

Roof peak gone.

And the rest of the roof is soon to follow.

Three representatives from Polygon Northwest, the company that purchased the old Children’s Home Society land and will develop the parcel, were on hand today for the fire.

When you’re a retired Seattle firefighter who takes pictures for the department, you get a better perch.

As the fire consumed the living room, an occasional piece of glass would pop out and shatter.

Alpha side.

Deputy Chief Phil Jose (white helmet) talks with Lt. Stangl, and Lt. Luis Batayola (red helmet) from nearby Fire Station 38. Station 38 will be doing some training next week on at least one of the remaining single family homes on the north side of the block (no more total burn downs, though).

In the background here we see one of the engines covered in wet tarps to protect the equipment from the heat of the fire. The yellow tape marks the boundary where only fire department personnel may enter. The red and white striped tape marks the exclusion zone around the burning house where no one may enter.

Anytime a section of the house fell in and sent up a shower of ash, a firefighter stationed at the northwest corner of the house would send a shower of water into the air after it.

Here we see one of the recruits enjoying some rehab time with a piece of pizza. (Most confused-looking delivery boy ever, by the way.)

Alpha side has seen better days.

It’s easy to see why people like calendars full of these guys.

Oh. Hello there, sir. Are you looking at m…

…oh, there’s a cute kid standing in front of me. Never mind.

Bravo side.

Little girl fresh from ballet class (looks like), watching the event with her hands clasped behind her back, just like the recruits.

Another shot at some ash as the front of the house falls in.

The one place WITHOUT fire? The fire place.

This section around a Delta side window resembles an Easter Island monolith. To me.

View through the length of the house. Daylight basement indeed.

Here a recruit helps protect a tree at the corner of the lot (viewed through a chain link fence). This tree will be kept on the property even as Polygon homes constructs a run of seven single-family homes down this side of 32nd Avenue NE.

Charlie side, with the alley beyond.

As nearby Eckstein Middle School let out, swaths of teenagers wandered by the scene.

Watching Bravo side.

The woman on the left is Deb, a local resident. The woman on the right is Sunny, and she and her family used to rent this house. She, her husband, and their two children lived in 6556 32nd Avenue NE for four years before they purchased their own home and moved on.

We agreed that this was all really weird for her to watch.*

As the house become not much more than smoldering embers, the firefighters donned their air supply masks and waded in.

Debris was moved from the yard surrounding the house to within the cement foundation.

The maple tree the firefighters were protecting got a bit singed, but will definitely pull through.

I told Lt. Stangl that this sort of event must be like the Blue Angles equivalent for the fire department.

At the tail end of the burn, Battalion 4’s chief stopped for a visit. Not much left of the house besides the fireplace.

Previous posts on these live fire exercises:

Seattle Fire to conduct “live fire” training at old CHSW site on May 13-16

Day Two photos

Day Three photos

____________________

*Sunny: If you see this, I apologize for not saying more about your family’s time in the neighborhood and in this house. Later that afternoon I returned my defective iPhone, got a new one, and only then realized that I had not backed up my notes from the event (which included your email address). Thank you for sharing your memories of your time in this house with me.

Filed Under: Events, Photos, Ravenna, Seattle Fire Department

Live fire training at 32nd and 68th (PHOTOS)

May 14, 2014 by Rebecca Nelson Leave a Comment

Today was the second of four days of live fire training at NE 68th Street and 32nd Avenue NE. We stopped by to watch some of the action.

Oh, this poor house. It’s definitely getting the business. Still two days of training left to go, with a full house fire scheduled for Friday (potentially after lunchtime).

Periods of heavy smoke occur during some of the training exercises. In the event of a burn ban, this type of training would be canceled.

Recruits removing burnt pallets from the house after the first “evolution” of the day (a ventilation exercise).

One of the pallets continues to smolder outside.

A trainer (in blue) discusses the next evolution with the seven very serious recruits…

…who are then encouraged to head across the street to say hello to a so-excited-he’s-overwhelmed toddler.

Suiting up for the next exercise.

Oh, hey, there’s some fire.

Recruits discuss the situation while more trainers look on.

Behind these two fire fighters is the large blowtorch used to start the fires.

Filming the training.

A class from nearby Assumption-St. Bridget school came over for a closer look.

Another view from the west side. A trainer’s oxygen tank got caught on the yellow fire line tape, and it almost knocked over the camera…

…but he caught it. Very good at saving all sorts of things, these folks.

Another fire fighter at the scene talked about the training with the ASB students. Here’s he’s showing the kids how his respirator works.

Pallets used in the training get a proper post-exercise hose-down.

For more information on this live fire training by the Seattle Fire Department, visit our earlier post.

Filed Under: Events, Photos, Ravenna, Seattle Fire Department

So, about those boarded up houses at 15th and 65th…

May 5, 2014 by Rebecca Nelson 21 Comments

With Tuesday’s Ravenna-Bryant Community Association spring community meeting roster including City Attorney Pete Holmes, we thought we’d take the opportunity to assemble some reading material about one Hugh Sisley.

We don’t know how much Holmes will be able to say about the city’s plans for collecting the three million dollars in fines owed by Roosevelt’s most well-known landlord. But we do know that there are strong feelings running very deep about Mr. Hugh Sisley, and providing a more focused review of the situation (in terms of current, property-related events) wouldn’t hurt.

Graffiti on one of Hugh Sisley’s properties. The words on the right read. “I [heart] urban decay.”

The following information focuses on Sisley’s properties in and vision for his corner of the Roosevelt neighborhood, his position as a landlord in the area, and his relationship with the City of Seattle.

Map

We’ve spent a few weeks over at the King County Parcel Viewer, looking up publicly-available property information for the map you see below. The cool-colored markers (and accompanying brown shapes) are properties where the primary taxpayer is listed as either Hugh Sisley, Hugh and Martha Sisley, or the Roosevelt Development Group.

View Properties around Roosevelt High School in a larger map

For more information about the map, including the description of the all symbols used, please open the map in a new window.

We will continue to add to it as we find more owners of multiple properties in the area.

Seattle Weekly articles

Earlier this year, the Seattle Weekly published a duo of articles on Mr. Sisley and his dealings (or non-dealings) with the city in terms of his housing-code violation cases and fines:

Seattle Weekly (January 10, 2014) “The Reign of Seattle’s Most Notorious Landlord Could Be Coming to an End”

The 86-year-old is facing a record $2 million fine that continues to increase at the rate of $1,600 a day, plus 12 percent interest. And now, after years of foot-dragging of its own, City Hall is finally moving to collect the debt. As officials launch a new initiative approved by the City Council to inspect every rental unit in town, City Attorney Pete Holmes is planning to recover what the stubborn rental king owes by confiscating prized Roosevelt properties held by the penny-pinching millionaire.

And then, a follow-up, just 10 days later: “Hugh Sisley’s Slumlord Tab Now $3 Million, City Says After Recalculation.”

Sisley, whose property is concentrated in the Roosevelt neighborhood, has amassed close to 200 code-enforcement cases dating to the 1980s, according to city records. Among them are violations for faulty wiring, unsafe conditions, insect infestation, junk storage, emergency situations, and unfit vacant buildings subject to demolition.

RR Hardware, on 15th Avenue NE. “Total chaos envelopes the customer who bravely ventures into this 1940’s holdover,” says one reviewer on Yelp.

hughsisley.com

For a glimpse at Hugh Sisley’s vision for Roosevelt, we need only get on the internet and time travel a bit.

Although hughsisley.com is no longer up and running, the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine has some snapshots stored from the days when it was. Here is the full archived selection, but we’ll point out a couple links to the two different forms the website took while it was live:

“Seattle’s Man of Vision” version from May 9, 2004

“Building Sisleyville” version from January 7, 2008

View of the progress (and the lack thereof) along NE 65th Street. Taken at 15th Avenue NE looking west.

As the Sisleys’ attorney Jeff Grant says in the first Seattle Weekly article mentioned above, “That’s really the story of Hugh and the Roosevelt Neighborhood today. Progress.” This sentiment is echoed strongly on the pages of the old hughsisley.com.

Old Fruit Stand block project

Roosevelt High School standing in the background between two of Sisley’s properties on the NW corner of 15th Avenue NE and NE 65th Street.

The Roosevelt Development Group, which has long-term leases with the Sisleys on many of their properties, is currently working with architectural firm GGLO on a project on one of the three small blocks just south of Roosevelt High School (in orange on the map below).

View NE Seattle Large Development Tracker in a larger map

Project #3013244 at 6505 15th Ave NE is described as a “seven story, 220 unit residential building with 8,000 sq. ft. of retail use at ground level. Parking for 267 vehicles will be located below grade. All existing structures to be demolished.”

Roosevelt High School stands in the background between the two buildings proposed for the Old Fruit Stand block. This view is looking north from NE 65th Street through the half-public, half-private plaza area. Taken from page 30 of the February 3, 2014 design proposal (click to download; 17 MB PDF).

The project is currently in the Review phase, and has been presented twice at Northeast Design Review meetings (Early Design Guidance meeting on August 6, 2012, and a Recommendation meeting on February 3, 2014).

You can view the project’s current permit activity and associated documents here. The design proposal presented at the February 3, 2014 meeting can be downloaded here (17 MB PDF).

At this time, initial information has been collected for a new construction permit, but not a demolition permit.

A graffito adorns a previously graffitied spot on the recently officially shuttered Funtiques (1512 NE 65th Street). We believe it is missing a question mark.

Filed Under: Construction, Department of Planning and Development, Photos, Ravenna, Ravenna-Bryant Community Association, Real Estate, Required Reading, Roosevelt, Roosevelt High School, Roosevelt Neighborhood Association, Roosevelt Rezone

Brenda the Boring Machine rededicated at Maple Leaf Portal (PHOTOS)

April 29, 2014 by Rebecca Nelson 9 Comments

On Monday, April 28, the first of two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) that will carve the underground portion of the Northgate Link Extension was dedicated at Sound Transit’s Maple Leaf Portal site.

This was the last close-up opportunity for Brenda as the TBM is readied to start her journey underground to Roosevelt Station in June.

Brenda is not Big Bertha’s younger sister. No. Brenda is a veteran TBM, having already carved the paths between between Capitol Hill and the downtown transit tunnel wall in 2011-12.

She looks pristine on the outside now, but…

…on the inside, you can see Brenda’s experience.

Here’s where Brenda will start her journey: The Maple Leaf Portal, where the elevated light rail track leading south from the Northgate Station will head underground.

The right side of the wall pictured above is the southbound tunnel starting point where Brenda will shortly be moved to and start boring into in June. (Here’s Brenda starting to chew on the wall at the Capitol Hill Station a few years ago.)

The TBM’s 21-foot-diameter cutter head (the large green and yellow disc on the front of the TBM) is covered with teeth and holes, turns at a rate of 0.1 to 2.5 revolutions per minute, and can excavate an average of 40 feet of tunnel per day.

It’s also great for posing with.

View inside the cutter head. Here the tailings that have passed through the openings in the cutter head will fall, be carried out by this red screw conveyor, and moved through the body of the TBM.

This is the “trailing gear” that follows behind the TBM. It carries equipment for the boring machine and helps carry the spoils away from the machine. Altogether, the TBM and the trailing gear stretch out to the length of a football field.

As the TBM and the trailing gear carve the route to Roosevelt and beyond, supply trains will ferry equipment from the outside world down into the tunnels. Chief among their cargo will be the pre-cast concrete segments that compose the finished walls of the tunnel as well as provide a surface for the TBM to propel herself forward.

It is these supply trains, running along on metal rails down in the tunnels, that were judged responsible for the noise and vibrations experienced by residents in Montlake back in November 2011.

Good news for those living and working (and attending the UW) above the Northgate Link Extension tunnels: Vehicles equipped with rubber tires will be used this time around for underground deliveries.

Worm’s perspective of the cutter head.

Sound Transit has a great little video showing how tunnel boring machines work. It includes a cross-section graphic of the machine in action, as well as footage from previous excavations.

…

And here’s where we pause the photo essay to share with the Roosevelt neighborhood some potentially great news.

The old plan for tunneling south was for Brenda to dig one side of the route to Roosevelt Station, be trucked back up to the Maple Leaf Portal, and begin digging the other side of the route. Then a second TBM-to-be-named-later would join her in Roosevelt, where the pair would start their journey south to the University of Washington Station. Muck from the tunneling would travel up to the Maple Leaf Portal site and be hauled away there for Brenda’s solo drilling, but would be hauled out of Roosevelt Station for the remainder of the project.

Sound Transit’s Bruce Gray tells me that this may no longer be the case. Via email:

In the new plan the Contractor has proposed two TBMs going from Maple Leaf. The performance of the tunneling and the muck haulage will be closely monitored during the initial drive from Maple Leaf to Roosevelt. If all goes well, the two machines will continue on to UW with spoils removal and haulage continuing from Maple Leaf the entire time. If the new proposal does not perform as planned there could still be muck haulage and/or a third TBM launched from Roosevelt in order to meet the project schedule.

What this would mean for the Roosevelt neighborhood is that after the dump trucks bearing away the soil from the station excavation are gone, they’d be GONE. Muck from the entire Northgate Link Extension would come out the Maple Leaf Portal and be hauled away there.

Again, this new plan is not a given. And it’s going to be a while before anyone knows the contractor’s final decision. Once Brenda gets digging in June, it will take her 10-12 months to reach Roosevelt Station (via Sound Transit’s Gray). If the second TBM launches from the Maple Leaf Portal five months later in October, the pair won’t see each other in Roosevelt until August 2015 at the earliest.

To be continued…

Hey, Roosevelt: Remember when you rallied to bring light rail closer to the neighborhood’s core at 12th Avenue NE (over a station closer to I-5 on 8th Avenue NE)? On January 27, 2005, the Sound Transit board agreed with you, and the Roosevelt Station Alignment was chosen. Here, some stickers from that campaign pose with the machine that’s making it a reality.

A fragile bottle of dedicatory Washington apple cider sits in the shade along with TBM-signing Sharpies and commemorative pins.

The assembled crowd listens to officials during the dedication.

Sound Transit Board Member and City of Everett Councilmember Paul Roberts, and 46th District Representative Jessyn Ferrell, share a laugh during the dedication speeches.