Community meeting about rezoning Roosevelt, next Monday

November 10, 2010 by 4 Comments

One of Sislely's properties (Photo courtesy of Glenn Roberts; http://glennroberts.wordpress.com/)

Want to know just what exactly the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association’s plan would mean for our area’s future  — and the future zoning of the Sisley properties at NE 65th Street and 15th Avenue NE?

The Roosevelt Neighborhood Association’s Land Use Committee is holding a general meeting for the community to learn about the RNA’s rezoning plan and the city’s Department of Planning and Development’s analysis of it.

The meeting will be held at Calvary Christian Assembly (6801 Roosevelt Way NE), Room 300, on Monday, November 15th, from 7-9 pm.

Your participation would be GREATLY appreciated for a few reasons:

  • This is THE meeting to attend if you would like to learn about the RNA’s neighborhood rezoning plans – It is a general community meeting designed to get us Regular Joes in the neighborhood up to speed on what we could be living next to in the future;
  • The City Council is expected to act on the RNA’s neighborhood rezoning plan in the first half of 2010, and a sizeable amount of community participation is crucial for making it happen;
  • If you (or your family, or your friends) have ever driven down NE 65th Street and wondered “What gonna be done with these boarded up shacks?!” THIS meeting should address those concerns.

For more information about this meeting, contact rna@rooseveltseattle.org.

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Report cards are out, for the schools themselves

November 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Seattle Public Schools released reports on 82 of its schools this morning, and the four main schools that serve Ravenna all scored well.

This is the first time that Seattle Public Schools has issued School Reports for individual schools.

From the Seattle Public School’s School Reports page:

“You can read about your school’s academic growth, student climate, accountability, family and staff engagement, and overall school performance. We hope you also take time to read the narrative page, where each school documents the steps it’s taking to ensure every student is achieving.”

Here’s how our children’s neighborhood public schools fared (a Level of 5 being the highest ranking):

Clicking on each individual school above will take you to the full report for that school.

Explanations for the various measurements taken are here.

And a Frequently Asked Questions page is here.

There are meetings planned throughout the city to discuss these new reports.  The first is being held at our very own Roosevelt High School (1410 NE 66th St.) on November 29th, from 7-8:30 pm.

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Is crime really up? YES, but numbers are hard to come by.

November 6, 2010 by 2 Comments

[A summary, and a list of the good links to go follow, is included at the end of this post.]

Yes, there have been a lot of burglary-related posts on the Ravenna Blog lately. Enough that it prompted the following comment from a reader (via email):

A thought – how about a post comparing crime stats in Ravenna versus neighbouring areas? Me wife gets freaked out when she reads your posts on crimes so I’m looking for a little context.

A fair question.  Is crime really up? Or is it just that crime reporting is up?

Certainly, crime reporting is up here at the Ravenna Blog.  And, I’m here to tell you, this is in direct response to the increase in crime in the neighborhood over the past month.

I’m hoping to get some more specific historical data for our neighborhood, but here’s what North Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Diane Horswill had to say about the statistics about Ravenna for October (via email; emphasis mine):

I have attached a recap of burglaries and car prowls and would say that the Ravenna burglaries in particular [compared to Roosevelt’s] are somewhat higher than is average for the neighborhood especially since many areas are experiencing lower than average rates right now.

In the recap she mentioned, there were 12 burglaries in Ravenna in October. (Of the four car prowls mentioned, two of them occurred on Roosevelt Way, which I would not consider to be in Ravenna.) What the count was in October 2009, I do not know at this time. But Diane says that it is up, and that works for me, for now.

Mike at Maple Leaf Life made a valiant effort at trying to decode the statistics for his neighborhood at the city’s My Neighborhood – Crime Statistics site. I read the post (“The problem(s) with trying to track crime in Maple Leaf“), tried my hand at looking up old crime statistics myself, and had even worse luck than he did. Read his post (we share a police beat with Maple Leaf, so the post is rather pertinent to our crime cause as well) and have a go a finding the data yourself.

Failing finding actual numbers, another Seattle news site, with an emphasis on crime reporting, has mentioned the increase in burglaries as well.

Just yesterday, Seattle Crime posted a story about the rise in property crime in our area (“North end neighborhoods hit hard by burglars“), mentioning specifically “Roosevelt, Ravenna, and Maple Leaf neighborhoods.” Also mentioned in this post are a few more details as to who might be responsible for these burglaries in the first place.

Now, to sum up for emailer Matt and his wife, and everyone else:

  • Crime is definitely higher than normal in the neighborhood right now;
  • Other people see the uptick, too, (Seattle Crime “North end…” post);
  • It’s hard to find the hard data yourself (Maple Leaf Life “The problem(s)” post;
  • And having crime prevention coordinators around to help with this stuff is really fantastic…but they’re probably going away (“Crime Prevention Coordinators face the budget axe“).

______________________

Was this helpful?  Have more questions? Email me, or leave a comment below.

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Burglary streak continuing in November

November 5, 2010 by 5 Comments

Just received an updated residential burglary list for Ravenna from Crime Prevention Coordinator Diane Horswill at the North Precinct of the Seattle Police Department.

I wish I could report some improvement.

This first one was reported to the Ravenna Blog on the day it happened (Burglaries take a holiday, then get right back to work):

11/01  7300blk 20th NE  the victim says that the suspect(s) there a brick through the glass in his back door and rifled his wife’s jewelry box and smashed a child’s piggy bank and stole the contents (about $30)

These next three (THREE?!) are new:

11/03  6800blk Ravenna Ave NE  the victim was away all day, when he returned he found that the air conditioner was removed from a back window allowing the suspect(s) to enter, an X-Box, games, a laptop and jewelry were stolen

11/04  8000blk 19th NE  the victim was gone for a few hours during the day, when she returned she found her kitchen door kicked in, the only item taken was a digital camera

11/04  1700blk NE 75th the victim came home to find that the suspect(s) had used a brick to break out her kitchen door window and then reached inside to unlock the door, a jewelry box with some jewelry in it was stolen

Seems like a good time to plug our Crime Prevention meeting on Tuesday, November 16th again.  Go back to this post to RSVP: You’re Invited: Crime Prevention Meeting on November 16.

I wish I had better news, Ravenna, I really do.

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , , , ,

You’re Invited: Crime Prevention Meeting on November 16

November 4, 2010 by 9 Comments

In light of recent burglaries and car prowls in the Ravenna and Roosevelt Neighborhoods, Ravennablog.com and Roosiehood.com are co-hosting an evening with North Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Diane Horswill.

The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 16th, at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Avenue NE). Start time is 7:30 pm.

Come learn how you can start a block watch program on your own street, help prevent future crimes, and make our neighborhoods safer.

Anyone is welcome to attend, but seating is limited. Please RSVP so that we know how many people are coming.

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

A local burglary report you won’t mind reading

November 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I just was doing my Neighborhood News Site Duty by looking at the latest property crime reports, when I see one for the 6200 block of 23rd Avenue NE on October 31st.

Oh, NOT ANOTHER ONE, I think to myself.

And then I read the report.

Here’s my summary:

Officer is dispatched to the home on Sunday, October 31st. Homeowner tells the officer that a laptop computer and two remote controls have been missing from the house since the evening of October 28th. No forced entry was found, but homeowner had been leaving a side door unlocked while repairs were being done inside.  Officer provides a case number, makes the report, and leaves.

Officer is contacted a short time later by wife of previously mentioned homeowner: Items were not stolen, but placed elsewhere in the house.

CASE CLOSED.

I thought with all the recent burglaries, we all might appreciate this particular one.

____________________

Here’s the info on the Crime Prevention Meeting being held on Tuesday, November 16th.

On a related note, Roosiehood and the Ravenna Blog will have some news a little later about a crime prevention meeting for our neighborhoods taking place in a couple weeks. STAY TUNED.

Filed Under: Crime, Everything counts in large amounts, Lost/Found, Ravenna, Seattle Police Department Tagged With: , , ,

Used book sale this weekend at Third Place Books

November 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Looking for a good read? Or perhaps a STACK of good reads?

Ravenna Third Place Books (6504 20th Avenue NE) has your back.

Image courtesy of Third Place Books

November 6 and 7, at both locations, all TPB’s used books will be 40% off.  Not bad.

What would I get? Probably something by Bill Bryson. Or Oliver Sacks. And a new Richard Scarry title to endlessly read to my child.

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , ,

Harissa: A chat with chef and owner Walid Alabtan

November 4, 2010 by 17 Comments

“I don’t need to sleep!” he says as we part.

Not that Walid Alabtan has much time to, with his very own restaurant opening the next day (not even two weeks after the previous restaurant tenant, Himalayan Kitchen, closed).

He’s very busy, to be sure — we’re interrupted three times during our brief chat that day — but his passion for his new enterprise is almost infectious.

“I wish I could open today,” Walid says. It’s a crazy thought to my mind, but already clad in his chef’s pants, he seems rarin’ to go.

Walid has been cooking since he was ten years old.  When he came to the United States in the early 1990s, he started his more formal restaurant education doing dishes in an Indian restaurant. But he made his way into the food side of things there a couple of years later.

In 1995, Walid was cooking with his Vietnamese wife (now former) at Pho Saigon in Wallingford. They sold the restaurant in 2001, and Walid started working at Raja Cuisine of India (under the owner of Himalayan Kitchen and India Express up on Broadway).  After two years at Raja, Walid then moved on to Ephesus in West Seattle, where he was head chef for five years.

After Ephesus, Walid says spent a couple years at an Italian restaurant in downtown Seattle, and then began his ice cream business.  His (and his current wife’s) Go Go Ice Cream concession stand sits over by Green Lake’s Bathhouse Theatre (7312 West Green Lake Drive North), and Walid would also make the rounds in his own ice cream truck. He says he hopes to have some of that ice cream in the new restaurant in the future.

The Seattle Times’ Seattle Sketcher, Gabriel Campanario, sketched a picture of Walid and his truck for his illustrated blog back in July of this year (“The frosty sound of summer“).

Illustration by the Seattle Sketcher, Gabriel Campanario (used with permission of The Seattle Times).

As for this new restaurant, and its focus on Mediterranean cuisine, Walid says his inspiration has been his Lebanese wife (who is now running their Go Go Ice Cream stand) and their family (Walid is Muslim, and his wife and children are Catholic). The namesake Harissa is a Lebanese pilgrimage site whose main attraction is a 15-ton statue of the Virgin Mary (she’s featured on the menus in the restaurant).

We talk of the dishes to come; healthy, with lots of fresh ingredients and flavors. But he struggles to describe them further.  “Where I present food, it’s like art,” Walid says, emphasizing that people should just come in and experience it for themselves. He wants Harissa to be a place for everybody to relax and enjoy each other, and his food.

He literally can’t wait to meet you.

__________________

Harissa Mediterranean Cuisine (2255 NE 65th Street) opens today.

For hours and menu, see the previous post on the restaurant (“Harissa Mediterranean Cuisine opens this Thursday“).

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Volunteer opportunities aplenty at Eckstein Middle School

November 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Interested in volunteering in a local school, but not sure where to start?

LauraLeigh Young, the Volunteer Coordinator at Eckstein Middle School (3003 NE 75th Street) has a LONG list of opportunities you can plug yourself into.

Peruse her list of EMS November Volunteer Opportunities, then contact LauraLeigh for more information (llyoung [at] seattleschools.org).

________________

Tutors and Reading Mentors

You don’t need to be a “math whiz” or have special teaching skills to help an Eckstein student to be more successful in school this year!  Here are some specific ways volunteers are currently needed to work with Eckstein students:

1) Listen to and support a student as he or she reads aloud one hour per week
Mondays for a one-hour period between 9:00 am and 2:30 pm

2) Help a student practice basic math facts
Tues, Wed or Thursday for a 30-minute period between 10:35 am and 2:35 pm

3) Help as an in-class music tutor working with students in small groups (any instrumental or vocal music experience is helpful)
Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs or Friday for a one-hour class period

4) Volunteer as an in-class tutor/classroom assistant to help a struggling student focus and complete classwork
Mon, Tues, Wed or Thurs from 1:40 – 2:35 pm

5) Work after school with a student who needs help with math homework
Mon, Tues, Wed or Thurs between 2:45 and 4:45 pm

6) Help a student as a one-on-one tutor in a Language Arts/Social Studies class
Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs or Fri between 1:40 and 2:35 pm

7)  Volunteer as an in-class math tutor to work with small groups of students
Mon, Tues or Fri for a one-hour period between 8:00 and 11:00 am

8th Grade Dinner Volunteers

Eckstein’s 8th Grade Dinner is a school tradition and will take place on Tuesday, November 9th from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm.  The dinner provides 8th graders and their families with an opportunity to share a meal and some conversation together at the start of their final year at Eckstein.

You can volunteer for:

Setup from 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Door and Serving from 5:45 – 7:00 pm
Cleanup from 7:30 – 8:15 pm

Gameroom Volunteers

If you love games, we’d love to have your help for one hour a week in Eckstein’s lunchtime game room!

Lunchtime Volunteers

Volunteers are needed to supervise and interact with Eckstein students during lunchtime.  We need adults who are willing to be a visible presence and keep kids safe, as well as connecting and engaging with students in the lunchroom, in the hallways, on the athletic fields or in the gameroom.

Lunchtime hours are:

Mon, Wed, Fri:  11:05 -12:35
Tues, Thurs:  10:35 – 12:05

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , , ,

Newspaper sales force in our area confirmed

November 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I heard back yesterday from Griff Tilmont, the Seattle Times’ circulation district manager for our area of Seattle.  He confirmed that there has been a “huge sales force” in our area recently.

In his phone message, Griff said that salespeople work their way through neighborhoods, knocking on doors, and asking if homeowners take the paper. If the answer is, “Yes, we do,” then the salespeople ask how your service has been. If the answer is, “No, we don’t,” then they try to sell subscriptions.

My in-laws over in Laurelhurst also mentioned greeting a salesperson at their door, asking these questions.

Thanks to all who shared their concerns in the comments on the Ravenna Blog about this activity. Glad we were able to solve this one. Thanks also to Seattle Times circulation for their help.

Filed Under: Everything counts in large amounts Tagged With: , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »