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

April 28, 2014 by 4 Comments

We’ve learned from our friends at the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association that the new owner of the old Children’s Home Society of Washington site (3300 NE 65th Street) has offered the use of some of the old structures on the grounds to the Seattle Fire Department for “live fire” exercises.

Three single-family homes on the site will become the training grounds for Seattle Fire recruits who are in their last weeks of training. These training exercises, which include “practice such as cutting holes in roofs, dragging fire hose lines inside,” and, in the case of the house at 6556 32nd Ave NE, actual fire, are scheduled for May 13-16.

6556 32nd Avenue NE, one of three single-family homes on the north side of the old CHSW property.

6556 32nd Avenue NE, one of three single-family homes on the north side of the old CHSW property.

Before homes are selected for training exercises, they must be evaluated and tested for household hazardous materials (ex. asbestos). From an email provided by the RBCA from Eric Evans with Polygon Northwest (the new owners of of the old CHSW site):

SFD_Training_Notice

Notice of Fire Department Training (click to enlarge)

This environmental investigation has been completed and a certificate from a professional hazardous material contractor has been provided to the Seattle Fire Department evidencing that the homes are free of any such materials. With these certificates in hand, the homes are now being disconnected from the existing overhead and underground utilities consistent with the underlying demolition permits that the City has issued for these single family homes. The homes are scheduled to be disconnected on Monday, 4/28 with the work being completed by Seattle City Light, Garner Electric and BDZ Construction.

After homes are selected and deemed safe for training exercise purposes, the neighborhood is notified and Seattle Fire Department staff begin preparing the buildings for the drills.

During the first week of May, Captain Brian Maier will be making the rounds in the neighborhood around the site, informing residents of the upcoming training exercises. On Tuesday, May 6, Seattle Fire Department staff will begin the training preparations, which include delivering port-a-potties and prepping the training homes. Then, on the morning of the following Tuesday, May 13, the recruits arrive and drills begin.

Neighbors with questions about the training exercises are asked to contact Captain Maier at 386-1771, or via email at allen.maier@seattle.gov.

For more information on vacant buildings and the training opportunities they provide for Seattle Fire staff, visit the Seattle Fire Department’s Vacant Buildings Wanted! page.

Page 29 from the Early Design Review #2 presentation of Bryant Heights (click to enlarge)

Page 29 from the Early Design Review #2 presentation of Bryant Heights (click to enlarge)

For more information on what is going up once the old CHSW buildings go down, the RBCA has a small update on Bryant Heights in their post about the SFD training exercises. You can download the latest design plans for Bryant Heights here (35 MB PDF).

And for more information on the Children’s Home Society of Washington’s long tenure at 3300 NE 65th Street, head over here to HistoryLink.org.

 

UPDATE (Tuesday, May 13): Sue Stangl of the SFD tells us the recruits will be doing room fires on Tuesday through Thursday (two fires, lunch, two more fires), starting around 7 AM each day. And then, on Friday, “they will strip the roof and then start the house on fire for a complete burn down.”

UPDATE: The training has definitely started!

Filed Under: Bryant, Events, Ravenna, Ravenna-Bryant Community Association, Real Estate, Seattle Fire Department

Plant sales sprouting up all over NE Seattle

April 23, 2014 by 3 Comments

Four local-to-Northeast-Seattle plant sales coming up in the next three weeks, so we’ll just get to it:

1. Olympic View Books & Blooms – Friday and Saturday, April 25-26

Olympic_View_Books _Blooms

13th Annual Plant Sale for the Olympic View PTA. Friday April 25th (9am-7pm) and Saturday April 26th (9am-7pm). Used Book Sale starting Friday afternoon.

The Olympic View Elementary Plant Sale is a fundraiser presented by the Olympic View PTA. All proceeds directly benefit students.

Quack Dogs will be at the sale from 3:30-6:30 PM on Friday.

This sale also tends to feature art and botanical projects made by Olympic View students — I myself own a couple of pottery mushrooms, and they are ADORABLE.

2. FlorAbundance Spring Plant Sale – Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27

FlorAbundance-logo

FlorAbundance is the Arboretum Foundation‘s annual plant sale. It’s been held at the Arboretum itself for two years while Building 30 at Magnuson Park was being renovated. And now it’s back!

Please join us in late April for the region’s largest and best plant sale, and help support the Foundation’s mission. As always, dozens of specialty nurseries will be on hand selling a wonderful selection of locally grown trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and edibles.

 40-plus nurseries: “There’ll be more than 40 nurseries in attendance,” says our volunteer Event Chair Bob Lilly. “Expect a unique selection of high-quality plants, including lots of veggies for your kitchen garden. As always, Langley Fine Gardens will have an amazing array of vegetable starts. In addition, for the first time in quite a while, they’ll be offering a diverse crop of ornamental salvias.

Here’s the sale’s vendor list, should you want to pre-browse (PDF).

 

3. WSU Extension Master Gardener Plant Sale – Saturday and Sunday, May 3-4

Master_Gardener_sale

Find plants from Master Gardeners and specialty growers, get free garden design consultations and quick tips, personal shopping advice from experienced Master Gardeners, and garden art and more from select vendors. See the veggie catalogs and tomato list at http://mgfkc.org.

Find it all at UW Center for Urban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st St., Seattle.

Rain or shine, we hope to see you and help you start the best garden ever this year.

This is another sale that I’ve attended in the past and enjoyed. And if you’re a fan of the Opening Day of Boating, I recommend you park somewhere in Laurelhurst, go see the boats float through the Montlake Cut, then turn around and check out the plants on the way back.

 

4. Nathan Hale Horticulture Spring Plant Sale – Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, May 7-8 and 10

Details of the sale are still being worked out, says the Facebook page, but here’s some info about the program and location:

Description

Beginning Horticulture, Ecology and Advanced Horticulture are science/occupational education courses taught by Jessica Torvik. Approximately 150 students (grades 9-12) take horticulture each year.

General Information

Our greenhouse and urban farm are located one block north of Nathan Hale High School. From Lake City Way, turn eastbound onto 110th Street. Drive through the stop sign and past the high school. Turn left (north) onto 34th Avenue NE. Drive past Jane Addams K-8 School. Turn left (west) into our driveway (you will see a yellow gate) and head up the hill to our gravel parking area.

The Nathan Hale Horticulture program also holds a winter sale in December.
Filed Under: Fundraiser, Kids, Nathan Hale High School, Northeast Seattle, Olympic View Elementary, Sales

Welcome to the 2015 Seattle City Council District Games (UPDATE)

April 21, 2014 by 7 Comments

Earlier in April, the City of Seattle finally released the official 2015 map of the Seattle City Council Districts. The reason for the map and the new way of electing our city councilmembers being (via seattle.gov):

In 2013, Seattle voters passed a measure amending our city’s charter to establish City Council districts. In 2015, voters will elect seven out of the nine City Council members by district. The remaining two positions will be elected “at-large” (city-wide) in positions 8 and 9.

Our Ravenna neighborhood is located in Council District 4, along with Bryant, Roosevelt, View Ridge, Sand Point, Windermere, Laurelhurst, Hawthorne Hills, the University District, Eastlake, half of Wedgwood, most of Wallingford, and a touch of Fremont — which is why it is so great to finally have a city-approved map with hard boundaries.

Northern portion of the Council Districts map. Click to open the interactive version.

Northern portion of the Council Districts map. Click to open the interactive version.

Within the interactive map above, Seattle residents can search for their address to find out which Council District they are located in, or just zoom in and around to see what neighborhoods are located in which districts.

On Wednesday, March 12, Crosscut held an event called “Mapping Seattle’s New Political Landscape,” where contributors Ben Anderstone and Knute Berger talked about Seattle’s newly created City Council Districts.

While we did not attend, we did follow along on twitter. Here’s what the duo had to say about our District 4, in one slide:

As for how City Council races will be scheduled in the future, the City Clerk’s office lays out the following timeline:

In 2015:

  • All nine Councilmember seats will be up for election and the transition will occur during that city election
  • Seven districted Councilmembers will be elected to four-year terms
  • The remaining two at-large Councilmembers will be elected to a two-year term

In 2017:

  • Seven districted Councilmembers will be elected to four-year terms*
  • The two at-large seats will be elected to four-year terms
  • The at-large Councilmembers will from this point forward be on the same election cycle as the Mayor and City Attorney

Then in the fall of 2022 (and every ten years thereafter), “a five-member Districting Commission will be created to redraw the district boundaries.”

Current City Councilmember Jean Godden has already tossed her hat into the ring for the newly created District 4 seat (she’s a View Ridge resident). But so far, at the time of writing, and with the filing deadline being over a year away, only current CMs have filed for reelection.

20140415-152041.jpg

One of Councilmember Tim Burgess’s legislative aides, Alex Pedersen, made a suspicious move earlier in April: His monthly “4 to Explore: A Northeast Neighborhoods Newsletter,” published online or sent via email since August 2013, showed up in paper form in the Seattle Times. When asked if he’s considering running, fellow Council District 4 resident Pedersen told us (via email):

We hear a lot from interest groups but not enough from families because they are busy working to get by. So the newsletter highlights not only important neighborhood issues, but fun stuff that will be engaging and relevant each month.

I support Jean Godden and she’s aware of the newsletter 🙂

The deadline for getting on the ballot in 2015 is Friday, May 15, 2015, so District 4 residents have plenty of time to decide to run. You can track all the City Council candidates running in the 2015 Primary here, on seattle.gov.

And to all present and possible future Council District candidates, I say: May the odds be ever in your favor.

 

UPDATE (10:07 AM): Serendipitously, Crosscut’s Knute Berger has a piece out just this morning about this very topic: “New survey offers tips for implementing Seattle’s new city council districts.”

——————-

* Correction: We accidentally repeated the “Seven districted Councilmembers…” line in both lists. Thank you, Tony Provine, for alerting us to this error.

Filed Under: Bryant, City Council, Civic Envolvement, Laurelhurst, Northeast Seattle, Ravenna, Ravenna Springs, Roosevelt, Sand Point, University District, University Park, Updates, View Ridge, Wedgwood, Windermere

Funtiques officially calls it quits; “BIG sale” to come

April 18, 2014 by 4 Comments

20140418-150035.jpg

Funtiques, one of two long-time vintage and antique stores just east of where 15th Avenue NE and NE 65th Street meet, has been vacant for quite some time. And this week, orange notes taped to the business’s windows finally made it official:

Hello FUNTIQUES Clientele and Neighbors,

After 20 years, Funtiques is officially closing its doors. It has been a wonderful adventure! Many friendships have been built and are cherished. Knowledge that has been freely shared is greatly appreciated. Thank you fall for your support. Thank you so much Tom for the many years of dedication, it is upon your talents that much of Funtiques was built. Thanks to Silhouette for watching over us. Much gratitiude CEO for the care of my entire family for so many years!

My family has spent many hours supporting so many shops in the Roosevelt area and thank you all for taking such great care of us!

We are posting this notice for 30 days in hopes that the few consignors that have product left will leave contact information. After 30 days all items will be considered abandoned and become the sole property of Funtiques and will be disposed of at our discretion. After 30 days all contracts are Null and Void.

20140418-145955.jpgThis notice was posted on [handwritten] 4/16/2014

If you have any items left and would like to collect them, please follow these instructions:

  • Make a copy of your original receipt
  • Place in a sealed envelope and include a current address, phone number or email where you can be contacted.
  • Drop in the mail slot in the front door of FUNTIQUES

You will be contacted and arrangements will be made for pick-up of items prior to the liquidation sale. A donation to the Teen Center will be made from the sale of the leftover consignment items.

The entire building has been entered into a long termed lease agreement at this time and will not be place on the market.

Thank you so much

FUNTIQUES [initials]

PS: Keep an eye out for further posting of the BIG sale! This one will be great fun!

Three of the four buildings along the north side of the 1500 block of NE 65th Street now sit unoccupied: Vacant Funtiques joins empty Espresso Express (which closed on July 15, 2013) and the boarded up craftsman in between them. The other building, home of Silhouettes, is still open for business.

20140418-150150.jpg

The King County Parcel Viewer names the taxpayer of the property at 6502 15th Ave NE (Espresso Express) as “SISLEY HUGH K.” Both the house at 1508 NE 65th Street and the Funtiques property are listed under “SISLEY HUGH K+MARTHA E.” The building that houses Silhouette (1516 NE 65th St) is listed under “MROCZEK LUCILLE B.”

Filed Under: Businesses, Open/Closed, Photos, Ravenna, Real Estate, Roosevelt

Fill Empty Bowls and support North Seattle families

April 17, 2014 by 6 Comments

Choose a hand-crafted bowl by a local student or artisan, fill it with delicious food from a selection of neighborhood restaurants, and support families in need in north Seattle.

Empty Bowls 2013

Empty Bowls Event 2013

North Helpline‘s 5th annual Empty Bowls fundraiser is Sunday, May 4th, Noon – 3:00 p.m. in The Commons at Nathan Hale High School (10750 30th Ave NE). Soup, salad, bread, and dessert will be provided by a number of local restaurants including Piatti Restaurante, Got Soup?, Wedgwood Ale House, and Kaffeekaltsch. There will also be an extensive silent auction and live entertainment. Tickets are $25 purchased in advance, or $35 at the door.

The event is part of the the Empty Bowls Project, an international grassroots effort to raise both money and awareness in the fight to end hunger. The bowl you enjoy a warm meal from and take home with you becomes a tangible reminder of hunger in our community.

North Helpline (12736 33rd Ave NE) combats hunger and homelessness in greater North Seattle by providing critical human services to more than 1,700 clients each week. They operate a food bank and health care clinic in addition to offering move-in support, eviction and utility shut-off prevention, help with obtaining a driver’s license or ID, and hygiene packs.

If you’re unable to attend the event but are still interested in supporting North Helpline, here are some other opportunities:

DSC00378

Food Bank distributions in 2010

  • Visit the Wedgewood Ale House on Thursday, April 17th and 30% of your order will be donated to North Helpline.
  • Volunteer to sort or distribute food in their Food Bank, to pick up donations at local grocery stores, or to provide emergency services to clients.
  • Donate food or money, anytime.

 

Filed Under: Businesses, Civic Envolvement, Families, Food, Fundraiser, Lake City, Northeast Seattle, Volunteer

Car strikes local convenience store; driver injured

April 16, 2014 by 2 Comments

Just after 1:30 PM on Wednesday, April 16, Seattle Fire and Police units responded to a car-into-building call at the Wedgwood Mart (6236 35th Ave NE).

car_into_Wedgwood_Mart1

A man in a silver Lexus had a seizure (per Seattle Fire PIO Sue Stangl), and ended up driving up over the sidewalk along 35th Ave NE and into the convenience store’s parking lot, coming to rest on the front sidewalk of the store and against a brick pillar.

car_into_Wedgwood_Mart2

A witness who called 911 on the convenience store’s phone told us that the car struck a small tree in the parking strip before it struck the building. She also said that the shopkeeper was standing just to the left of the car’s final position and was nearly hit as well.

car_into_Wedgwood_Mart3

The witness also said that first responders broke a window of the vehicle to gain access to the driver. The adult male driver was later removed from the vehicle, conscious and alert from our vantage point, and was taken to a nearby hospital in an AMR ambulance.

car_into_Wedgwood_Mart4

Above, an officer stands nearby the vehicle as it is prepared to be towed out of the parking lot. Traffic nearby was impacted only briefly as the tow truck entered and exited the lot.

car_into_Wedgwood_Mart6

After the damaged car was removed, it appeared as though very little damage was done to the convenience store.

Filed Under: 911, Bryant, Businesses, Photos, Ravenna, Seattle Fire Department, Seattle Police Department

Scramble for eggs this Saturday

April 15, 2014 by 10 Comments

[in our best monster truck voice]: SATURDAY SATURDAY SATURDAY!

Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center Spring Egg Hunt starting line in 2011.

Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center Spring Egg Hunt starting line in 2011.

This Saturday, April 19, at 10 AM SHARP, Seattle Parks and Recreation is holding Spring Egg Hunts all over the city. You can see the full, city-wide list on their website, but here are the hunting grounds closest to our area:

NORTHEAST

April 19 Spring Bunny Trail
Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center [6535 Ravenna Ave NE], 10 a.m., Ages 12 and under

April 19 Spring Egg Hunts
Nathan Hale Stadium [10750 30th Ave NE], 10 a.m., Ages 1-11
Laurelhurst Park [4554 NE 41st St], 10 a.m., Ages 12 and under

NORTHWEST
April 19 Spring Egg Scramble
Green Lake Community Center, 10 a.m., Ages 3 and under
Green Lake Community Center, 10:30 a.m., Ages 4-7
Green Lake Community Center, 11 a.m., Ages 8-10

Another option in NE Seattle is Calvary Christian Assembly’s annual Easter Egg Hunt at Cowen Park (5849 15th Ave NE). From the CCA website:

Registration begins at 11:30 am. We partner with Roosevelt Neighborhood vendors for this event that features 3 age-specific egg hunts as well as crafts, games, prizes, inflatables and more! Want to help? We will need people to donate candy and work at the event.

For all of these events, you’ll want your kids to bring baskets with which to carry their ovate loot.

20140415-122618.jpg

Ravenna Blog publisher posing with the largest holiday decoration in NE Seattle (outside of Candy Cane Lane).

Filed Under: Calvary Christian Assembly, Cowen Park, Families, Green Lake, Holiday, Kids, Meadowbrook Community Center, Nathan Hale High School, Northeast Seattle, Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center

Wedgwood principal heading to West Seattle

April 11, 2014 by 1 Comment

Parents and guardians of students at Wedgwood Elementary School (2720 NE 85th St) found the following message from Seattle Public Schools in their inboxes this afternoon:

Dear Wedgwood Elementary School community,

I am writing today to let you know that a leadership change will take place at the end of the school year. Your Principal, Mr. Chris Cronas, has been appointed Principal for Highland Park Elementary, effective July 1, 2014.

I know Mr. Cronas has provided excellent leadership as Principal of your school for four years and has been deeply engaged with the school community. He has had a strong relationship with families and has established opportunities for parents to support classroom teachers. I know you join me in wishing him the best in his new assignment.

Under his leadership, Wedgwood has become the highest achieving school in our District. I am proud of all of the work he has accomplished, and I know much of that success is because of the hard working staff, families and students at Wedgwood.

Kim Whitworth, Executive Director of Schools for the Northwest Region, will be in contact with you soon to talk about next steps for hiring a new Principal to continue the great work Mr. Cronas provided for Wedgwood.

Sincerely,

José Banda
Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools

Chris Cronas is replacing Ben Ostrom, who is moving from Highland Park Elementary to K-5 STEM at Boren, reports the West Seattle Blog.

Filed Under: Kids, Northeast Seattle, Wedgwood Elementary School

Help Sound Transit develop light rail station symbols

April 6, 2014 by 5 Comments

What single image would you use to represent the Roosevelt Light Rail Station? Or rather, what three adjectives and three landmarks you would use to describe the station area?

Sound Transit is developing “pictograms” to identify the new transit stations that are opening in 2016 and beyond. You can help by completing their Pictogram Questionnaire, open now through Monday, April 14.

First section of the Sound Transit Pictogram Questionnaire (click to start the survey).

First section of the Sound Transit Pictogram Questionnaire (click to start the survey).

From the survey:

Pictograms are intended to be station identification symbols for non-English audiences, primarily those that use a non-Roman based alphabet. To be effective, Sound Transit’s Link light rail station pictograms must meet these requirements:

  • Simple in form, and are an easily recognizable symbol
  • Readable at many scales; including signage, print material, online and mobile devices
  • Are individually distinguishable and read as a family

The pictogram may reflect the nature of the environment: neighborhoods, landmarks, geographic locations and may include points of interest around the stations.

Existing station pictograms — Westlake Station all the way south to SeaTac/Airport Station — were developed from points of interest around the station and in the community. Those points of interest were connected like stars in a constellation, and an image representing the station was developed.

The International District Station is a dragon. Pioneer Square is a ship. SoDo is an anvil. Westlake is… a tiara? I’ve always been curious and a little confused by these pictograms and admit to being pretty amused by this extremely thoughtful process (which we’ve heard that Sound Transit is NOT continuing for the new stations). Check out the “Stellar Connections” brochure explaining these transpo-constellations (1.1 MB PDF).

The University Link extension (Capitol Hill and University of Washington stations) are expected to open in the first quarter of 2016). The Northgate Link extension (U District, Roosevelt, and Northgate stations) are expected to be open for service in 2021. Approximately 8,000 daily riders are projected to board the train by 2030. 

The other station on the pictogram survey is Angle Lake Station, set to open in 2016 south of the SeaTac/Airport Station at S 200th St.

Filed Under: Civic Envolvement, Construction, Light Rail, Northgate, Roosevelt, Sound Transit, University District

Eckstein Band Rummage and Bake Sale this weekend

April 2, 2014 by 1 Comment

Eckstein Middle School’s Annual Rummage and Bake Sale is coming up!  On Saturday, April 5, from 9 AM – 3 PM, come for the deals, the baked goods, but especially to support Eckstein’s music program. All while accompanied by their award-winning jazz combos!

One of Eckstein Middle School’s bands performs at a concert on June 7, 2014. (From the EMS Band Facebook page)

The sale is also looking for your donations to help make the event a success. (Spring cleaning, anyone?)

Bring clothing in wearable condition, household items others could use, books and music for fresh ears and eyes to enjoy, furniture in good condition, toys, games and puzzles with all pieces and parts, and sporting equipment for a budding athlete to the Eckstein cafeteria on Friday, April 4, from 1:30 – 4 PM. Please no electronics, unassembled furniture, baby carseats, or strollers. The cafeteria’s exterior entrance faces the garden area in the back parking lot.  

Monies raised from the rummage sale go directly to the Eckstein’s music program and are used to help offset some of the cost of off-campus music performances (like performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival and bringing home LOTS of awards), repair damaged instruments, and provide scholarship to children who need assistance.

Filed Under: Eckstein Middle School, Families, Fundraiser, Kids, Music, Northeast Seattle
« Previous Page
Next Page »