Mayor Mike McGinn was live from NE Ravenna Blvd Wednesday morning at 11 AM for a “Ravenna Blvd Paving and Road Maintenance Update.” Watch the archived video below:
Roosevelt Station project updates and meetings (Monday LIVE COVERAGE)
March 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Lots of nearby North Link Light Rail news to report, including two open houses, building salvage, and fate of “overbuilding” at the Roosevelt Station.
Roosevelt Station Construction Open House
On Monday, March 26, Sound Transit staff will be hosting the Roosevelt Station Construction Open House at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE). The event goes from 6-8:30 PM, with the presentation portion starting at 6:30 PM.
Topics for the meeting include (via Sound Transit email):
Revised construction schedule
Construction noise and the night-time noise variance process
Updated street, sidewalk and parking restrictions
Potential construction mitigation measures
Ravenna Blog will be there covering the event. You can follow along at home on this page for live coverage, or come back later to read our notes at your leisure.
Roosevelt Station 60% Design Open House
On Wednesday, April 11, Sound Transit will be holding the Roosevelt Station 60% Design Open House in the Roosevelt High School Commons (1410 NE 66th St). Initial art concepts will also be presented (you may remember that the Meet the Artist event in January was canceled due to snow). This open house also runs from 6-8:30 PM, with the presentation starting at 6:30 PM.
One part of that 60% design that we will not be seeing is any “overbuilding” of the station itself.
Sound Transit Decision on Roosevelt Station “Overbuilding”
At their February 23 meeting, Sound Transit board members were “presented recent analysis of the technical, financial and housing capacity implications of accommodating residential structures directly above the future underground Roosevelt Station.” Benefits and costs to “overbuilding” were discussed, but the board ultimately confirmed that the design of Roosevelt Station should proceed without providing accommodations for overbuilding the station entrance.
Sound Transit Board meetings are archived here, should you want to watch the “overbuild” discussion (though the player may not work on your mobile device).
Station Site Salvaging Begins
In other North Link news, Sound Transit says that building salvaging is underway at both the Roosevelt and Brooklyn* Station sites (though a drive-by of the Roosevelt Station sign on Sunday showed that the neon Standard Radio sign was still in place).
Visit Sound Transit’s Flickr photostream to see pictures of current salvaging at the Brooklyn Station site, as well as happenings all along the Light Rail route.
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*We’ll be calling the University District station “Brooklyn Station” as long as Sound Transit does.
Red Card: Luna the Soccer Dog stolen Saturday night (FOUND)
March 4, 2012 by 5 Comments
UPDATE (Monday, March 5, 2:42 PM): Confirmation from Anita that Luna has been found!
Yes — the fliers and announcements worked and someone took the dog away from the woman who had stolen her — called us and we got her back on the Ave this morning.
UPDATE (Monday, March 5, 9:21 AM): We now have a description of Luna’s abductor (via email from Anita):
The SPD has confirmed that Luna was spotted with a known transient female — Renee Gundersen — on the ave today. Ms. Gundersen is a known addict and has reddish hair, freckles, is very gaunt and wears clothes that are too big/look like they are hanging off of her. She and her boyfriend move between the U District and Capitol Hill. They do hang out around the U District Safeway, Jack in the Box, around 50th and the Ave.
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Luna the Soccer Dog / Photo courtesy Anita Ramasastry
Sounders fans may already be familiar with Luna the Soccer Dog, but now her owners are asking everyone to keep an eye out for her (emphasis mine):
Bring Luna home. Luna the Soccer Dog appears to have been stolen from outside her Seattle university area home about 5.30 p.m., Saturday, March 3, 2012. Female Kelpie mix (border collie with dingo ears), black coat, white vest, four white socks, 30lbs. Wearing tag showing her address (5810 16th Ave, N.E.) and phone (206) 729-8322. She responds to her name Luna. Responds uniquely to commands including “Pass the Soccer Balls” and “Play Soccer, Luna.”
An eyewitness saw Luna the Soccer Dog being taken by a young white woman, brown hair, in her 20s, who led her in the direction of Ravenna Park. GENEROUS REWARD For information leading to Luna’s safe return, no questions asked. Contact above phone (206) 729-8322 or address or email ramawawa1@msn.com.
Luna’s amazing soccer skills have thrilled thousands before Sounders games and in countless other exhibitions (Seattle Weekly YouTube video). Described as World’s Greatest Four-Legged Soccer Player. BRING LUNA THE SOCCER DOG HOME!
Here’s a map of the area around Luna’s house:
View Luna the Soccer Dog stolen in a larger map
And here’s that Seattle Weekly video she mentioned (from this 2009 SW story):
Semi overturns on I-5, lands on NE Ravenna Blvd on-ramp (PHOTOS, UPDATES)
February 14, 2012 by 2 Comments
Just after 11 AM, reports the Seattle Times, a semi and a car collided on southbound I-5, sending the semi rolling over a barrier to land on the NE Ravenna Blvd on-ramp.
Mike Murphy at the Washington State Department of Transportation (also of Lynnwood Today, one of our fellow Seattle Times Local News Partnership sites) sent us these photos of the accident scene, taken by WSDOT’s traffic cameras not long after the incident occurred.
At the time of writing, all four southbound lanes of I-5 have reopened to traffic, but may be closed intermittently (along with the northbound express lanes) for the removal of the debris. The NE Ravenna Blvd on-ramp is expected to be closed for some time.
According to the Seattle Times, three occupants of the car sustained only minor injuries, and the semi driver was okay. An update on the conditions of all four people involved in the collision is below.
Seattle P-I photojournalist Josh Trujillo has a couple photographs taken from the on-ramp itself.
UPDATE (4:17 PM): The Seattle Fire Department’s Fire Line blog has updated information on the three car passengers and semi-truck driver, as well as a couple new photos of the accident scene.
Fire fighters at the scene of today's car/semi rollover collision had to cut the top off the car (a convertible) to remove its three occupants. / Photo courtesy Seattle Fire
UPDATE (4:41 PM): Seattle Parks and Recreation staff were nearby at the time of the accident and sprang into action (via a Seattle Parks and Recreation press release):
Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Northeast grounds maintenance crew members were working along Ravenna Blvd., mulching tree rings, when they heard screeching metal and a crash.
Jon Campbell, Dale McLeod and Marvin Bentley ran to the end of the island they were working on and looked up at the on ramp (NE 65th St. southbound entrance to I-5) and saw a semi truck overturned on its side.
Campbell and McLeod asked colleague Andy Rasmussen to call 911. Bentley blocked the entrance to the freeway with his truck and began directing traffic away from the accident. Campbell grabbed a fire extinguisher in case of fire (none occurred).
Read the rest of their story here.
UPDATE (5:02 PM): My Green Lake has been collecting photos and reactions from eye witnesses at or passing by the scene.
Full Council vote on the Roosevelt Rezone (LIVE COVERAGE)
January 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
On Monday, January 30, at 2 PM, the Seattle City Council will vote on Council Bill 117379, better known as the Roosevelt Residential Urban Village rezone.
We will be watching the live stream (via the Seattle Channel) from Ravenna Blog HQ and covering the action in the space below. Readers may follow along (and make comments) during the live event, or come back later to read our notes. We will also embed the video of the meeting here once it is available.
SPOILER ALERT: The Full Council meeting agenda already includes eight of the nine Councilmembers’ votes (then Council President Conlin was absent from the December 14, 2011 Committee on the Built Environment meeting due to illness).
North Link Light Rail Update includes Roosevelt Station redesigns, more QFC time
December 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Sound Transit’s December North Link Light Rail Project Update arrived our inbox today, and included a few early goodies for our stockings this holiday season.
First, the Roosevelt neighborhood QFC (6600 Roosevelt Way NE) will NOT be closing in January 2012. Due to changes in design and construction plans, Sound Transit was able to extend QFC’s lease to the end of May 2012.
The Project Update email said “[e]xtending the QFC lease will not affect the North Link project schedule,” and we have an updated construction schedule to look forward to in early 2012.
Second, a few changes in the Roosevelt Station design were revealed at the Sound Transit Board’s Capital Committee meeting on December 8. These “recent refinements” include:
- Reducing the height and footprint of the north and south entrance facilities.
- Expanding the public plazas bordering Northeast 66th Street to create a sense of place and reinforce opportunities for view corridors and the City of Seattle’s ‘”Green Street” program, which gives priority to pedestrian circulation and open space.
- Moving and reducing the height of a vent structure at the south entrance to reduce view conflicts with adjacent condominium windows and balconies.
You can view these changes in the station design presentation to the Capital Committee (6.4 MB PDF).
Check out the changes in the design of the North Entrance (in this composite image we put together this afternoon):
North Entrance Design Comparison. The latest station design reveals a much smaller lobby due to overlap with the escalators/stairs, in exchange for a larger outdoor plaza area facing NE 66th Street. Plans from Sound Transit presentations, borders and dates added by Ravenna Blog.
The 60% Design Review Open House will be held sometime in Spring 2012.
Committee vote on the Roosevelt Rezone likely this Wednesday (LIVE COVERAGE)
December 13, 2011 by 1 Comment
UPDATE (1:57 PM): Today’s Committee on the Built Environment meeting footage has now been archived by the Seattle Channel, and we include it here.
UPDATE (12:18 PM): The Councilmembers present at today’s meeting of the Committee on the Built Environment have voted to move the Roosevelt Rezone (with the 65-foot-heights on the blocks just south of Roosevelt High School) forward to a full council vote. Full council vote likely to take place on January 17, 2012.
For more details about the vote and today’s COBE meeting in general, read our archived coverage of the meeting below.
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Tomorrow, Wednesday, December 14, the Seattle City Council’s Committee on the Built Environment meets to discuss and possibly vote on the Roosevelt Neighborhood Rezone (Council Bill 117379).
The meeting starts at 10:30 AM in the Council Chambers of City Hall (600 Fourth Avenue) with the Chair’s Report, then moves into 10 minutes* of public comment before the briefing on the bill begins.
We will be covering the event LIVE, right here, starting around 10:30 AM. Our notes will be archived here after the meeting, as well.
Recent Background Information
Just last week at another COBE meeting, the Committee discussed four different rough design options for the three blocks south of Roosevelt High School, before showing a preference (five of the eight councilmembers in attendance) for Option 2: A zoning designation of NC2-65 with over 25,000-square-feet of open space at street level.
You can download the entire design presentation by GGLO, “Development Standards for the High School Blocks,†in PDF format (5.03 MB) here.
An image of Option 2 from the GGLO design presentation. The view is from NE 65th Street, facing north toward the high school.
The next day, COBE Chair, Councilmember Sally Clark, summed up the rezone process so far and clarified her position on it on her blog.
Councilmember Bruce Harrell weighed in as well, on his personal blog. While he states his prefererence for design Option 2 at 65-feet, it was his “understanding that throughout the long process of neighborhood planning, the surrounding communities consistently made it clear that these three blocks should be protected from 65 foot heights.” Councilmember Harrell did not state specifically how he would vote, he did say that “[W]hat matters most to me…is that communities are ensured that their local government is truly listening to them when deciding how this city should look in the future.”
Then, today, a curve ball
Only yesterday, Publicola teased that Councilmember Nick Licata would be adding an amendment to the Roosevelt Neighborhood Rezone bill which would leave the three most contested blocks out of the rezone altogether. Today, Licata shared his position on the rezone on his Urban Politics blog.
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*Ha!
A lost white cat appears! Is he yours? (UPDATE)
December 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
UPDATE (Tuesday, December 13): We’ve just heard the good news from Anthony (via email): “Just an update, we got in touch with the owners of the white cat last night! He is from a home around 56th and 12th. Thank you again so much for posting that on the blog!”
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Readers Anthony and Julia may have found your lost kitty (via email, emphasis ours):
We were just opening the door to leave the apartment and the crafty little guy just snuck inside! We’re on the 1300 block of NE Ravenna [Blvd], so just across from Cowen Park. He’s an all-white adult male, extremely curious and friendly to humans, which leads us to believe he might belong to someone (no collar or microchip, however). We think he may have been missing for a while because he was a bit dirty and had a minor infection around one of his eyes. I have attached a photo that we took. We had to take him into the Seattle Animal Shelter, because our lease doesn’t allow for pets, but we really want to find his owners who must miss him very much!
Anthony and Julia live in the neighborhood nexus of the Ravenna, Roosevelt, and University District neighborhoods, so Lost White Kitty could be from any one of those.
Shop local, and help out your local food bank at the same time
November 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The University District Food Bank (4731 15th Avenue NE) has a few opportunities for us to help out their cause here in December, while supporting a few local businesses.
Via email (emphasis mine):
Ten Thousand Villages Shopping Event
Where: Ten Thousand Villages (6417 Roosevelt Ave NE)
What: Buy Fair Trade Holiday Gifts
Why: Ten Thousand Villages will donate 15% of their net sales to the Food Bank
When: 6 PM to 9 PM, Thursday, December 1stShultzy’s Sausage Fundraiser
Where: Shultzy’s Sausage (4114 University Way NE)
What: Buy a liter of beer at Shultzy’s Sausage
Why: Shutzy’s will donate $1 to the University District Food Bank for every liter of beer sold
When: December 1st through December 31st
The University District Food Bank may be located in the U-District, but they assist individuals and families living in rest of Northeast Seattle as well. Every week over 1,100 families receive groceries, toiletries and other supplies from the UDFB, and over 80 percent of the food they distribute is donated.
North Link Light Rail update post up at Roosiehood
November 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment
We’re occasionally known to do a little writing for the site next door in Roosevelt, Roosiehood. Especially when it concerns that subject near and dear to all our hearts: North Link Light Rail*.
Head on over there now to read our latest update on the North Link Light Rail project, including Sound Transit’s potential plans for a new tunnel portal location between Roosevelt and Northgate Stations.
* Roosevelt does get the station, after all.
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