Meals via Wheels: Spoke and Food riding and dining fundraiser this Tuesday night

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Tomorrow evening, June 28, from 5-10 PM, the now annual Spoke and Food fundraiser will be rolling through the city.

Participants ride their bicycles to participating host restaurants around the city (full list here), enjoy a good meal, and help raise money for a local non-profit.

This year, host restaurants will be donating 20% of their total revenues on Tuesday to the Children’s Garden Education program at Seattle Tilth.

Ravenna’s Casa D’Italia Market and Cafe (2615 NE 65th St) is participating, as is Roosevelt’s Scarlet Tree (801 NE 65th St Suite C).

Everyone is welcome to participate.

Summer session openings at Ravenna’s Roaring Mouse Arts Studio

With the end of the school year just around the corner, some of you may be on the hunt for some summer activities for your kids.

Roaring Mouse Creative Arts Studio (7526 20th Ave NE) here in Ravenna starts their summer session on July 5, and they have some openings left in some of their summer offerings:

SPACE AVAILABLE in Select Summer Classes at Roaring Mouse Creative Arts Studio in Ravenna

Creative Arts – Ages 2 1/2 – 5
A playful exploration of creativity.
9:00 AM -12:00 PM, M-F (choose up to 3 days)
July (7/5-29) & August (8/1-26) Sessions
Cost varies depending on days selected.

Summer Palette Mini-Day Camps – Ages 4-8
Give your child an adventurous summer with these exciting mini-day camps! Each week focuses on a different blend of the arts. Sign up for one week or more!
1:00 – 4:00 PM. $140 for one week, or $135 each week for two or more weeks.

    July 25 – July 28: Scribe Tribe – Puppets
    Using found objects, paper, and natural materials, we will build puppets and stories to create a magical performance of wonder and delight. There will be a half-hour show for parents at 3:30 PM on Thursday, July 28.
    This class has one opening.

    August 22 – August 25: Animals
    Each day we’ll travel through different regions of our world, discovering animals in their homes. As children investigate animals and their habitats through art and play they will forge the variety of shapes textures and colors that make our animal friends so unique!

For more information, please visit RoaringMouse.org, or call 206.522.1187.

Thanks to Allisa at Roaring Mouse for the info!

Like the Roosevelt Neighborhood Rezone Plan? Let the Mayor know TODAY.

Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, the director of the city’s Department of Planning and Development, Diane Sugimura, is meeting with Mayor Mike McGinn about the future of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Rezone Plan.

If you have an opinion about the Roosevelt Neighborhood Rezone Plan, and whether or not the Department of Planning and Development should let it move ahead, PLEASE let Mayor McGinn (Mike.mcginn@seattle.gov) and DPD Director Sugimura (Diane.sugimura@seattle.gov know. TODAY.

Background

From the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association’s Land Use Committee Chair, Jim O’Halloran (via email, today):

Not to be too dramatic, but this is an important moment for the neighborhood. I expect that tomorrow, on Thursday, that Mayor McGinn and DPD Director Diane Sugimura will decide whether to continue the Legislative Rezone process on which we’ve worked so hard, or to shelve it in favor of some other process driven by interests from outside the community. We want for DPD to complete their work on the Legislative Rezone package, for the Mayor to sign off, and for the whole thing to be sent to City Council without further delay. Councilmembers Clark and Burgess, at least, are ready to receive it and to do their work in committee to address our critical land use issues.

Some background on the Roosevelt Neighborhood Plan and the recent online conversations, also from O’Halloran (via email on Sunday):

The “legislative rezone”, as you will recall, is a broad set of rezoning proposals for the future light rail station area in Roosevelt. The RNA submitted a detailed list of recommendations to the Department of Planning and Development in 2006, and finally, DPD is almost at the point of submitting the official plan to City Council. But, there are some last minute issues which threaten to derail over five years of community effort.

DPD’s plan is almost identical to what the neighborhood had recommended. Essentially, we said that the community could absorb additional housing and commercial density up to 65 feet high primarily West of Roosevelt Way NE, along NE 65th Street toward the freeway. In the area South of Roosevelt High School, we said that building heights should be limited to 40 feet in deference to the historically landmarked school and surrounding single family homes. If we were willing to accommodate more density in the station area, we felt that it was reasonable for the community to have some say as to where the density would be located. This approach and our specific recommendations have broad support in the Roosevelt and Ravenna communities. The RNA proposal has been posted online since 2006 [here].

DPD has reviewed the RNA recommendations and published their formal proposal on April 21, 2011; you can find this online at http://rooseveltseattle.org/LandUseLegislativeRezone.aspx. Then, something interesting happened. A number of committed bloggers and organizations started complaining to DPD, Mayor McGinn and City Councilmembers that the rezone plan published by DPD was not enough. In any light rail station area, they said, building heights should be much higher; 8 stories, 12 stories or more would be necessary all around the station to achieve population density sufficient to “support” the taxpayer’s investment in mass transit. Never mind the Neighborhood Plan; Roosevelt’s NIMBYs have an obligation to take much more density than had been proposed.

DPD is now trying to decide if the Roosevelt Legislative Rezone process should be “paused” so that a new rezoning process could be initiated, as the density advocates have requested. This step would be a grave insult to the Roosevelt community, and the countless hours of good-faith volunteer effort to plan responsibly for smart growth. We need to weigh in now, in numbers and with passion, to ensure that the Roosevelt Legislative Rezone process is continued and concluded.

Further Reading

For folks who would like to catch up on the recent talk about the Roosevelt rezone, here are some links to recently written posts about this topic with a variety of opinions (most recent, first):

  • Seattle’s Land Use Code: “ ‘Then, something interesting happened.’ ”

  • Crosscut: “Local leaders blunder on three big issues”
  • Seattle Transit Blog: “Opinion: For Roosevelt, 85 Feet is Plenty”
  • Roosevelt-Ravenna Zoning Issues: “Transit Oriented Development in Roosevelt”
  • citytank: “The Roosevelt Rezone Dustup Simple Issue Uncovers Complex Questions”
  • SLOG: “Burgess Calls for More Density in Roosevelt; Roosevelt Residents Push Back”
  • SLOG: “Mayor Pushes for More Density Around Roosevelt Light Rail Station”

  • Race through Ravenna Park on June 28

    On Tuesday, June 28, Northwest Trail Runs is holding races in Ravenna Park (5520 Ravenna Ave NE), starting at 6:45 PM.

    Distances offered for this event are 4K, 8K and 12K — that’s about 2.5, 5, and 7.5 miles, respectively.

    Registration for all three distances closes on Saturday, June 25, at midnight.

    From the Northwest Trail Runs website:

    Northwest Trail Runs was started to build a richer schedule of trail running events for trail running enthusiasts and to promote trail running as a fun and healthy way to enjoy the outdoors and explore a variety of beautiful public lands.

    Regular weeknight Ravenna Park users may want to participate, or just be ready for the increased traffic.

    Ask Ravenna Blog: What’s in a bioswale?

    Inspired by a reoccurring column that our neighborblog, Roosiehood, writes, I am introducing the “Ask Ravenna Blog” post.

    The premise of these posts is this: You, dear neighbor, send me a question, and I’ll do my best to find the answer.

    Today’s question comes from southern Ravenna resident, Pamela, via twitter. She lives quite close to the Seattle Department of Transportation’s construction zone at the Scramble (NE 55th St/Ravenna/22nd Ave NE) and was wondering…

    …what’s going to go in in the “bioswales” and who’s going to maintain it.

    I emailed Construction Communications Officer, Bob Derry, who forwarded Pamela’s query to Jessica Murphy, the manager of the 15th Avenue NE Reconstruction Project (which the Scramble project is a part of). Here’s what she had to say:

    The bioretention facilities will be maintained by Seattle Public Utilities as they are a stormwater infrastructure. The plants being used are as follows:

    Kelsey Dogwood (cornus stolonifera)
    Wetland Sedge (carex obnupta)
    Baltic Rush (Juncus balticus)
    Daylilies (hemerocallis)
    Catmint (nepeta mussilinii)
    Geraniums (geranium macrorrhizum)
    Sword ferns

    There are also going to be some new trees – Hogan cedars, black maples and tupelos all maintained by SDOT Urban Forestry.

    There you are, Pamela (and anyone else who was wondering about bioswale contents and maintenance).

    Have a question? Ask Ravenna Blog! Email me at rebecca@ravennablog.com.

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    Ask Ravenna Blog BONUS: The SDOT’s Urban Forestry program’s website has a lot of great information for residents, including street tree planting procedures, a tree pruning guide, traffic circle volunteer information, and much more.

    Also, if you have any comments, concerns or accolades for the Scramble construction crew, Construction Communications Officer, Bob Derry, can pass them along for you. You can find his contact information near the bottom of the 15th Avenue NE Reconstruction Project website.

    Roosevelt Station 30% Design Open House (audio and documents included)

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    From L to R: Map of Sound Transit's current service and future projects, stickers from the campaign to bring Light Rail INTO the Roosevelt neighborhood, and information on the Roosevelt Station

    A crowd of around 150 people attended last night’s Roosevelt Station design open house at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE), where Sound Transit staff presented the 30% completion designs for the structure and were on hand to answer questions.

    Missed the meeting, and would like the next best thing? I recommend viewing the Roosevelt 30 Percent Design Presentation while listening to the Part 1 audio. The rest of the documents, graphics, and audio from the meeting can be found below.

    ___________________________

    A 30-minute informal open house-style period was followed by a presentation (which included a question and answer time).

    The presentation portion will be made available by Sound Transit (in PDF form), and are also found on the North Link Documents Library page.

    Future meetings about the station will include open houses at both 60% and 90% completion of the design. There will also be a meeting to outline how the construction phase will take place (this fall), and a separate meeting for those people whose property will be tunneled under as construction proceeds (once the tunnel route has been set, also this fall).

    20110527-120553.jpg

    Graphic showing the footprint of Roosevelt Station (orange) and two parcels to be used during construction to be open to development when construction is completed (yellow).

    Puget Sound transit guru Atomic Taco (his internet handle) was in the audience, live tweeting the more major points during the meeting. (You can visit his Flickr site here.) While the audio recording above and the presentation docs to follow will be useful to those who missed last night’s meeting, Atomic Taco’s and my tweets are also worth a read (and are much easier to skim through).

    What follows is a selection of our tweets during the meeting. (At the bottom of the window, hit the “Load more…” link to continue reading.)

    Night Paving at the Scramble: The Movie

    If “night swimming deserves a quiet night*,” night paving utterly DESTROYS it.

    Over the past two nights, road construction crews have been laying fresh asphalt over the road surface of the “Scramble” (NE 55th St/Ravenna Blvd/22nd Ave NE) in the southeast portion of the Ravenna neighborhood.

    This work is a part of the ongoing project to upgrade this intersection and make it safer for cars, bicyclists and pedestrians alike. It’s also a part of the ongoing 15th Avenue Reconstruction Project happening to the west.


    View The Scramble in a larger map

    Moving the repaving of the road surfaces to the evening has no doubt been a boon to daytime motorists, but quite the curse to the local residents who are trying to sleep. To get a sense of what these folks are putting up with, I dragged urged my brother (and fellow Ravenna resident) to accompany me to the construction site to document the process for all to see.

    For a more true-to-life night paving experience, I urge you to play the following video of last night’s night paving with your volume cranked to 11 and a hot bucket of tar under your nose.

    Enjoy.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsvLShNMucI

    For a look at “Scramble” progress in the daytime (and the project’s final design), check out this post from May 18.

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    *My sincere apologies to Mr. Stipe for that one.

    Community meetings GALORE in and around Ravenna this week

    This week holds a plethora of community-related meetings, for the civically-inclined:

    • Roosevelt Neighborhood Association general meeting, Tuesday, May 24, 7:15-9:30PM, Calvary Christian Assembly Roosevelt High School, Room 242, 1410 NE 66th St
      Agenda includes an update on the rezoning in the Roosevelt neighborhood.
    • SR 520 Drop-in Information Session, Wednesday, May 25, 6-8PM, Ravenna Third Place Books (public meeting put on by the Washington State Department of Transportation)
    • Coalition for a Sustainable SR 520 and Laurelhurst Community Club, Wednesday, May 25, 7-8:30PM, Laurelhurst Community Center, main floor activity room, 4553 47th Ave NE (more information on this meeting available here)
    • North Link Light Rail Roosevelt Station meeting, Thursday, May 26th, 6-8:30PM, Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center, 6535 Ravenna Ave NE

    I will be present at a couple of these (RNA and Light Rail). Regardless, if you attend any of the above meetings and would like to share your thoughts, please do so (via email or a comment below). I would love to hear your impressions of these projects as they move forward.

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    One more meeting to note, though it is not being held until the first Tuesday in June:

    • Ravenna-Bryant Community Association, Tuesday, June 7th, 7-9PM, Bryant Elementary School, library, 3311 NE 60th St

    Please note the change of venue: Bryant Elementary instead of the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center. The RECC is closed for floor refinishing during the first Tuesday of June, the regularly reoccurring RBCA board meeting date.

    The Shoe Zoo lives on, celebrates rebirth this weekend

    When last I visited with The Shoe Zoo‘s “Zoo Keeper,” Bruce Stern, the over two-decades-old local shoe store was going out of business. The fall back-to-school season, normally the Christmas of shoe stores, had seen far below normal sales. It seemed like the end was near, and in late January of this year, Bruce had decided that it was time to call it quits. A going-out-of-business sale started on late January.

    Bruce Stern, helping a lucky girl's grandmother during the going-out-of-business sale in January.

    And then, over the course of the sale, as customer after customer came through The Shoe Zoo’s doors telling him how much the store would be missed, Bruce decided he would make a go of it after all.

    Bruce, via email, talking about the new plan for The Shoe Zoo:

    Needless to say, I have heard hundreds of my dearest customers express their sadness about the closing of one of their favorite stores. Trust me, it has been terribly sad for me too. So, after weeks of sleepless nights, I’ve come to realize that The Shoe Zoo can and will survive. We are going to change its format to fit our trying times. The Shoe Zoo is now going to be a store that you can always go to for really great deals on children’s shoes. We will always have sale racks, with ever changing name brand shoes, marked at least 25% off, plus some of your favorite brands always marked less than anywhere else around. The lowest prices always.

    A “Grand Reopening” sign has decorated his storefront windows ever since, and this weekend, May 21-22, he invites you back to celebrate.

    Via another email:

    As you know we are having our Grand Re-Opening sale going on now. This weekend, May 21st and 22nd we are giving away activity books and some other items with your purchases. Also balloons and a special appearance by Simba from the Lion King. You will also be able to enter our drawings for gift certificates and free shoes. It will be a lot of fun for everyone, so I hope to see all of you here.

    The Shoe Zoo is located at 2920 NE Blakeley St, Suite B, and is open Monday through Saturday from 10AM-6PM, Sundays 11AM-5PM.

    You can also find The Shoe Zoo on facebook.

    Looks like perfect weather on Friday for Bike to Work Day

    Ridden your bicycle for a ride to work yet this year? With a weather forecast of 73°F for tomorrow, how could you NOT?

    Besides which, tomorrow is Bike to Work Day, hosted by the Cascade Bicycle Club and title sponsored by F5 Networks.

    Details about the event:

    More than 20,000 people are predicted to bike to work on Friday. From 6 to 9 a.m., bicycle commuters can stop at one of 41 official commute stations and a dozen DIY stations located throughout King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties to receive free water bottles, maps, snacks, commuting information, and have bikes checked by bike shop sponsors.  From 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. the F5 Bike to Work Day Rally will be held outside Seattle City Hall where there will be music, speakers, and give-aways. In the afternoon, the after-work party will be hopping in Ballard at Bergen Place Park from 4 to 7 p.m.

    Which of those 41 official commute stations are closest to Ravenna? Looks like you’ve got a few options:


    View Bike Month Activities & Bike to Work Day Stations in a larger map

    From left to right, these stations are:

    Ravenna (Ravenna Blvd between Roosevelt and 11th Ave NE)
    Sponsor: Ride Bicycles

    DIY University Christian Church (4731 15th Avenue Northeast)
    Edibles: snack bars, cookies, and fresh muffins; juice and water, perhaps also coffee to go. Also bike decals from Bikeable Planet to give away to spread the cause of biking

    Burke-Gilman Trail at Blakeley (30th Ave NE & NE Blakeley St)
    Sponsor: UW Community, Environment, and Planning Program, Bike Assistance by Counterbalance Cycles

    Seattle Children’s Hospital (40th Ave NE and Burke-Gilman Trail)
    Sponsors: Seattle Children’s Hospital and Metropolitan Market; Join Cascade Bicycle Club here and get a free gift!

    In years past, my pedestrially commuting husband has noticed a station at the north end of the pedestrian footbridge over the ravine (at 20th Ave NE and NE 61st St) on Bike to Work Day; however, this station is not represented on the map. I asked the Cascade Bicycle Club’s Director of Communications and Marketing, M.J. Kelly, if  this station would return again this year. She said, “[S]ome stations come and go, and I’m not sure what happened with this particular station.”

    I’ll be heading down to the 20th Avenue NE footbridge myself tomorrow morning, to check out the commute. Sadly, my 1969 Sturmey-Archer will not be coming with me, as I have yet to rebuild it. But ain’t she purty:

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    BICYCLER BONUS: Ravenna Third Place Books is holding a special promotion tomorrow, for Bike to Work Day. Walk in with your helmet, and receive a 15% discount.