Harissa Mediterranean Cuisine to open this Thursday

November 2, 2010 by 9 Comments

Less than two weeks after the previous tenant, Himalayan Kitchen, shut its doors, the restaurant space at 2255 NE 65th Street is (nearly) ready to open to customers once again.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Harissa Mediterranean Cuisine.

I talked with Harissa’s front-of-the-house man, Denzel, this afternoon about the new restaurant, and the food (Lebanese, by chef and owner Walid Alabtan), and he’s very excited. One might say he’s giddy.

They are celebrating the grand opening weekend with a 2-for-1 special (bring the flyer to redeem the deal; good through Sunday, November 7th). They’ve canvassed my part of the neighborhood already, but if you haven’t yet received your flyer, Denzel said to stop by the restaurant tomorrow, after 11 am, to pick one up.

Harissa will be open for lunch and dinner, Tuesdays through Sundays, from 11:30am-10:30pm.

Oh, and, would you like to see a menu?

Click on the image to open it to full size (big file)

Denzel said that they’re happy do to-go orders, but to please give the restaurant at least a 30 minute lead time, especially this first week. The phone number is (206) 588-0650.

Beer and wine will also be available.

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UPDATE (Thursday, Nov. 4): Interview post with chef and owner Walid Alabtan is here:” Harissa: A chat with chef and owner Walid Alabtan.”

I hope to speak with chef and owner Walid tomorrow, if he’s available. (As you can imagine, everybody’s pretty busy over there at this time.)

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Suspects sought in local armed robbery

November 2, 2010 by 4 Comments

The Seattle Police Department is looking for information regarding an armed robbery that took place at 3:05 am on Sunday, October 31 in the 5500 block of 25th Avenue NE.

From the Notification of Criminal Incident (received via email this morning from a Ravenna neighbor and by the UW/Seattle Police Department’s Watchdawg mailing list):

Two male UW students were walking home northbound when a small late 1990s model sedan drove past and stopped a half block north of them. A male exited the passenger side of the vehicle and ran towards them pointing a black handgun. The male suspect demanded their wallets at gun-point.  One of the victims reported that his wallet was taken in the robbery. The suspect ran back to the vehicle, which drove eastbound on N.E. Ravenna Blvd. and out of sight. The victims were unable to see the driver or provide a make or color of the vehicle.

The suspect was described as a white male, 5’10”, skinny build, wearing a dark ski mask, blue jacket and black pants.

An area search was conducted by officers with negative results.

The case number for this incident is 2010-380151. If you have any information regarding this incident, please call the Seattle Police Department at 206.625.5011.

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VOTE (updatedx3)

November 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment

UPDATE (5:55 pm): Picture of the ballot box in question is now posted (thanks, U District Daily).

And Husband tells me that the ballot box hasn’t been IN the University Service Center for a few years now. I maintain that calling it the “University Service Center Ballot Drop Box” yet not having it in/near the University Service Center is still notable.

UPDATE (12:59 pm): We have learned, via twitter, that the reason for the multi-colored “I VOTED” logo was “This elections ballots are green themed and we wanted the stickers to match the ballots.”  MYSTERY SOLVED. Thank you to Paul at @KIRO7Seattle for asking the question!

UPDATE (9:09 am): The University Service Center ballot box is back at the corner of University Way NE and NE 50th Street, and is reported to be in heavy use. It should be accepting ballots until 8 pm this evening.

Not the most patriotic color scheme I’ve ever seen, King County Elections, but at least you’re making the effort to make up for the loss of the “I VOTED” stickers (I believe they were considered “gifts” or “payment” or some such and done away with).

If you’re around the University District today, and want to save your 44 cents, the University Service Center‘s ballot drop box is BACK.

Photo courtesy of the U District Daily (udistrictdaily.com)

However, it might not be where you think it is.

The U District Daily reported yesterday that the drop box is not located IN the Neighborhood Service Center, but at the corner of “Northeast 50th Street and University Way NE in the University District Farmers Market parking lot.”

However, as the comments on the U District Daily story show, the box has since moved, AGAIN, and voters are urged to drop their ballots off at the nearby University Heights Center.

On second thought, maybe you SHOULD spend that 44 cents on that stamp.

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Burglaries take a holiday, then get right back to work

November 1, 2010 by 1 Comment

From Jenny, via email:

Our neighbor at 73rd and 20th got robbed today [November 1] too. Just came home to find a broken glass door and missing stuff. Cops are cruising the ‘hood.

Looks like November is starting where October left off, in terms of Ravenna burglaries.

From an email from Diane Horswill, our area’s Crime Prevention Coordinator for the North Precinct of the Seattle Police Department:

[I] 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.

Included in the email was a recap of residential burglaries and car prowls for  October: Our neighborhood finished up the month with 12 residential burglaries, all but one occurring on a weekday.

That’s twelve too many. And I can’t say I care much for how November’s starting out, either.

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Ravenna Blog and the Roosevelt Neighborhood Blog are working with Diane on setting up a Block Watch Program meeting some time in the next couple weeks. Our respective sites will let you know when a date and location have been found, at which point we might enlist our readers to help spread the word about the event.

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

October 31, 2010 by 2 Comments

Who says you GOTTA carve just pumpkins?

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Police reports for two more property crimes, plus contact information (and an update)

October 29, 2010 by 4 Comments

UPDATE (11:15 am): Called Seattle Times circulation, where I was told that the district manager for our area can occasionally check up with subscribers on their delivery service. However, the woman I talked to had no information on recent activity in our area. I have left a message for our area’s district manager regarding these house calls.

This afternoon/evening, two more police reports for recent burglary activity became available online. I have summarized both below:

  • 1600 block of NE 73rd Street – Victim leaves home at 7:30 am, returns at 4:45 pm to a broken into back door (glass panel broken, deadbolt unlocked). Home has been rummaged through. Missing items reported at the time include a digital camera, laptop, and approximately $100 of coins from a coin separator.
  • 7000 block of 14th Avenue NE – Homeowner reports that her housekeeper noticed a window in the basement of the house had been pried away from the frame. A pry mark was found on another window as well. However, no entry was made.

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It has been mentioned by a few Ravenna Blog commenters that someone has been knocking on doors during the day, and when presented with an occupant, says something to the effect of, “Did you receive your paper in the usual spot today?”

I have just sent off an email to the Seattle Times circulation folks to see if this is a quality control tactic they use. I have a feeling that the answer is going to be, “No, we don’t do that,” but I want to be sure. Will update post when I hear back.

Let this just be a reminder for all of us: If you see something suspicious, CALL THE POLICE. We all know the emergency number (9-1-1), but there is also a non-emergency number you can call (206-625-5011).

The Seattle Police Department suggests you call the non-emergency number when (from their website; emphasis mine):

  • You want to report a nuisance, such as a noise or parking complaint.
  • To report a non-emergency crime – one that did not just occur, and the suspects are not in the immediate area.
  • You have questions about something suspicious occurring in your neighborhood, and you are not sure it is criminal activity.

    • The calltaker will determines how best to handle your call. In some cases, your information will be taken and you will get a call back from the telephone reporting unit, and your report may be taken over the phone.

Might I suggest we all keep that 206-625-5011 number handy, in case of non-emergency?

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It’s the Great Pumpkin, Ravenna Brown

October 29, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Yes, if you tune in to ABC tonight at 8pm, you can watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” on your own TV.

But wouldn’t you rather see it on the BIG SCREEN, with NO COMMERCIALS?

As a part of tonight’s Halloween activity down at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE) this evening, they’ll be showing this seasonal Schultz masterpiece.

The pumpkin painting portion of the event starts at 6pm, but we’ve been told that the movie will start around 7pm, and that the neighborhood is welcome to come on by to watch.

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More burglaries hit the neighborhood (updated)

October 28, 2010 by 3 Comments

UPDATE (9:27 am): Steve also adds:

The thieves have been stealing laptops, jewelry and rifling through medicine cabinets, and it seems like they are pretty quick. The breakins seem to happen in the morning shortly after residents leave for work.

UPDATE (8:09 am): Here is a map of the area that Steve was talking about in his comment:

Portion of a Seattle Crime map showing area SE of Froula Park (click to go to full map at seattlecrime.com)

The incident represented by the blue dot above occurred on the 6700 block of 15th Ave NE on Tuesday, October 26th, and is the only burglary for which there is a full police report available, at this time.

When the homeowner arrived at home in the afternoon, he found a rear window smashed.  Handguns were discovered stolen, removed from a gun case that was broken into using the homeowner’s own tools from his garage.  Several rifles and assault weapons in the homeowner’s collection remained in the house, however. Also discovered missing was some cash, jewelry, a camera and an iPod.

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Just received the following comment from Steve (in the “Bryant Elementary burglarized on Wednesday” post; excerpted here):

There have been a rash of recent burglaries around my neighborhood (73rd block of 16th Ave NE). There were 3 on the 26th, 2 yesterday, and 1 today. We just just had a block meeting to discuss steps for heightened vigilance & awareness. We’re also going to be meeting with a police rep.

There is no information on these burglaries yet available online (my site of choice) but I will update this post when/if the police reports become available.

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Deadliest Catch caught! at Sand Point Metropolitan Market

October 28, 2010 by 6 Comments

My son and I happened to be munching on one of the four cheeses available for sampling this afternoon at the Sand Point Metropolitan Market (5250 40th Ave NE), when we came across this display (promoting the Alaskan Red King Crab they have available in store right now):

Oh, HI THERE, Captain Jonathan!

A Deadliest Catch episode, playing INSIDE a crab pot. Cute.

Got me thinking: MORE retail establishments should hide TVs in their stores, for disinterested and/or reluctant shoppers to enjoy. I’m looking at YOU, Macy’s.

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Last year, yours truly dressed as Captain Phil (God rest his soul) for Halloween. If you’d like to see a picture of that costume, leave a comment below.  TEN comments, and I’ll stick a link somewhere to the picture.

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Continuing power outage in Wedgwood (restored)

October 27, 2010 by 1 Comment

UPDATE (8:45 am): We have confirmation from a Wedgwood Power Outage sibling that some power was restored around 11:30pm that night.

UPDATE (6:41 am): Looks as though power has been restored to customers throughout the affected area at some point after after my last update (Seattle City Light System Status page now shows zero outages).

UPDATE (12:40 am): Power has been partially restored to the affected area. Seattle City Light System Status page now showing only 2 outages affecting 241 customers.

At approximately 2:30 pm on Wednesday afternoon, a Ravenna Blog twitter feed follower up in the Wedgwood/Matthews Beach/Meadowbrook area had her lights flicker and die, only to come on about a half an hour later.

But some of her neighbors were not so lucky.

Nearly 400 customers are still without power in an area of Wedgwood bordered by 30th Avenue NE, NE 90th St, 45th Ave NE and NE 82nd St (information from Seattle City Light’s System Status page; see the graphic below for greater detail).

Power-outage affected area as of 11:20 pm on Wednesday, October 27

Specially tagged areas of the map at the source give an estimated number of affected customers, an estimated power restoration time, and a cause (though not specific). This Seattle City Light’s System Status page is updated every 15 minutes.

For this current outage, two of the three tags have lapsed restoration times listed.  All three have “Equip fail” listed as causes.

Another way to access outage information (and to report an outage) is to call Seattle City Light at (206) 684-7400.  However, you need a phone number within the affected area to hear or report outage information for that area.

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Unfortunately, that is all the information on this outage that I can find at this time. I’m left to publish an update in the morning.

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