Stories

While I was working like mad last week (and missed the market!) Vanessa Ho wrote "Does Seattle have too many Farmers Markets?" for the Seattle PI.  The article discusses the strain on farmers trying to spend time cultivating and still make it to all the neighborhoods clammoring for a market.  Nearby markets also compete against one another, lowering overall profits and sustainability for the farmers and market organizers.  Here in Lake City there are several markets to choose from - our Thursday night market by the library, the University District on Saturdays, and the Meadowbrook and Lake Forest Park markets on Sundays.

Chatting with market staffers in mid August, I was disappointed to learn that Mt. Townsend Creamery has pulled out of our Thursday market.  They weren't generating enough business to justify the expense of coming.  Lake City wasn't the only market to lose them, they pulled out of several other markets as well.  Wade Bennett with Rockridge Orchards is a new vendor... (more)

I have a confession. I'm a Zillow addict. I'm always curious about real estate trends in Seattle and its neighborhoods. Here are a few charts indicating real estate trends in Lake City over the past few months. Thanks to Redfin for the data!

Houses For Sale

Median List Price

Median Sale Price

In case you missed it this weekend, the Seattle Times featured a story about the proposed NE 125th Street road diet.  The Times' piece is sympathetic to residents and businesses in Lake City that oppose the proposed project and primarily frames the issue as cars vs. bikes.  Publicola's Bike Nerd posted a blog in reply today, pointing out SDOT's other stated goals: increased pedestrian, car, and bike safety, forcing everyone to slow down and obey the speed limit, and reducing accidents.  According to SDOT's blog, the estimated cost to re-stripe NE 125th is about $60,000.

As a pedestrian in Lake City, I welcome efforts to calm traffic on NE 125th Street.  At the same time, I can see the potential problems the proposed road diet might create, especially during rush hour.  On my way home from volunteering tonight, I made sure to drive home via Nickerson Street and the Fremont Bridge to check out another controversial road diet.

To be honest, I hardly noticed a difference.  I had to... (more)

Today the Seattle City Council approved Council Bill 116907 in an 8-0 vote as part of the 2010 Year of Urban Agriculture.  The legislation allows farmers markets in more areas of Seattle and allows for rooftop greenhouses dedicated to food production.  Additionally “urban farms” and “community gardens” will be allowed in all land use zones, and residents will be able to sell food grown on their property.

The legislation also increases the number of domestic fowl that may be kept from three to eight, prohibits new roosters, and sets boundaries for coops – ten feet away from primary residential structures.  Existing chicken coops built prior to the code changes and roosters already residing in the city are grandfathered in.

The complete press release can be found here.

Any thoughts on how this might change Lake City?  I've already noticed many residents gardening in yards and from apartment balconies.  If we had parking strips, we'd garden there too!

By now you've probably heard about the plan to add bike lanes to 125th. When it comes to roads, traffic, and bikes, everyone has something to say. Here are some thoughts from the Cascade Bike Club about the proposed lane changes for  125th.

The truth is, traffic engineers have discovered that many of our roads are “overdesigned,” that is, they have a lot more vehicle capacity than necessary. This benefits no one — unless you count people who are determined to speed, despite the cost to everyone around them.

While the number of lanes is reduced in a ‘road diet,’ they are approved by traffic engineers who still maintain capacity to carry the cars they need to. A center turn lane allows people who are turning left not to back up other vehicles behind them. Engineers also can often find extra space for cars to queue at intersections in right-turn only lanes, for example. And yes, the reconfiguration often opens up ample space for bike lanes.

Check out the entire... (more)

According to Casey over at the PI, the city received an application to reopen Rick's. Rick's recently closed after the owners pleaded guilty to money laundering and other federal charges. Businessman Robert Davis applied for a buisiness and entertainment license at Rick's former location 11332 Lake City Way N.E.

Former owner Frank Colacucio died July 2, 2010 at the age of 93 a few months after he and his son pleaded guilty to federal charges and Rick's closed

See the PI article for more details.

Seattle Musical Theatre presents Broadway in Concert, a gala fundraiser featuring your favorite local talent singing your favorite musical theatre songs, on Saturday, August 14th, 2010 at 3:00pm and 7:30pm.

Facing a slumping economy and stiff competition for grants, Seattle Musical Theatre is raising money towards production costs, replace aging equipment and make improvements to the space. Installing a bathroom and running water in the dressing room would improve working conditions for actors, crew and musicians who currently have to use a single portable toilet during the run of a show and is high up on Seattle Musical Theatre’s wish list. However, it is often a challenge to cover staff and production costs and extra money is not readily available for this and other such projects.

A fantastic group of actors, who have all been involved with Seattle Musical Theatre (or Civic Light Opera, as they were known up until 5 years ago) at one time, are donating their time, energy and talents to sing a wide selection... (more)

Seattle Department of Transportation’s paving crews will install new sidewalk and curb ramps on the east side of Lake City Way NE and NE 92ndStreet. Work will start on Tuesday, July 27 and will take from two to three weeks. Crews will work from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays. During work hours, southbound traffic on Lake City Way will not be permitted to turn left onto NE 92nd except for Metro buses.  The sidewalk will be closed until the project is finished.

On July 12 SDOT started construction of a walkway at Olympic Hills Elementary on the north side of NE 130th between 19th and 20th. This will make it more safe for children to walk to school and hopefully encourage more children to do so. See below for more info on the project.

SEATTLE – Today the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) started construction of this year’s first Safe Walks to School project, replacing a gravel path with a block-long asphalt walkway at Olympic Hills Elementary School. This improvement and similar projects this summer at four additional schools will improve access and further the city’s goals of encouraging kids to walk to school.

SDOT is building the new walkway on the north side of NE 130th Place between 19th Avenue NE and 20th Avenue NE. Also, the crews will install concrete “landings” (street corners) on both sides of 20th Avenue NE where there is a marked crosswalk leading to the school. The landings will provide a safe location for students to stand while they are waiting... (more)

Thanks to Suzie over at The Mapleleafer for reporting the upcoming Lake City express lane ramp closures this weekend (July 17-18) and next (July 24-25).  The construction will begin Friday at 9 am and end at 4 am on Monday morning.

WSDOT will be working around the clock to make the much needed safety improvements as fast as possible so expect to hear a lot of noise if you live in that area.  The ramp carries such a heavy load that it has begun to crack in several places.  Also, the guardrail is badly damaged from multiple car collisions so it will be completely replaced with an upgraded rail.

When all is complete, drivers should have a much smoother ride and better traction. Most importantly, it should greatly increase the safety of the ramp which carries 30% of all express lane traffic every morning.

Congratulations to the Lake City Chamber of Commerce for securing funding to make Lake City a better place to live and do business. The Chamber is being recognized by the City at a Neighborhood Business District Awards Celebration.  The Chamber submitted a proposal requesting funding for a buy local marketing campaign to the City's Office of Economic Development and was awarded funding for Lake City Market Days, which launched in May.

The event is being held at the Wing Luke Museum in the International District from 5pm to 7pm tomorrow.  The public is invited to attend and find out what's happening in our business districts.  Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith is scheduled to attend.  If you can, swing by and cheer on our Chamber or better yet, stay in Lake City and check out the great businesses participating in Market Days  Some will be distributing Market Bucks to use at the Farmers Market.

Little Nest Preschool Open House!  FRIDAY 7/2 10:00a.m.- 12:00p.m.
Come and check out our new school in Lake City!  Hope to see you there!

Now enrolling for the 2010-2011 school year.

Upcoming Summer Camps :  Ages 2 1/2 - 5  

7/5 - 7/9  "Feathered Friends"  

7/19 - 7/21 "Animal Yoga"

8/2 -8/5  "Backyard Campground"

www.littlenest.org

Starting today, June 28, sack lunches will be provided for children ages 1 -18 at Little Brook Park from noon to 1pm. This is one of 70 locations throughout Seattle to offer the Summer Food Service Program. In 2009 the program, funded by the US Department of Agriculture, fed 171,835 breakfasts and lunches for up to 5,641 children per day. Other locations include community centers, Seattle park playgrounds, Boys and Girls Clubs,and  YMCAs. The program continues through August.

Little Brook doesn't have the best reputation and so it's great to see it being used in such a positive way.

Little Brook Park -14043 32nd Ave. NE 98125

Crows freak me out! They're smarter than most other animals and I'm completely convinced that one day they'll learn how to peck out people's eyes and take over the world.

It's that time of year when crows dive bomb me as I walk up to my house and scream bloody murder when I go into my backyard.  A tree in my yard is some sort of crow nesting ground and the babies are just learning how to fly. Sure I get it, you're protecting your baby but I walk to and from my house multiple times every day without hurting your or your babies (although I have been pricing pellet guns) so get over it. It's not only the harassment from the parents - it's the screams for food from the babies. Their screams are worse than a human babies and they doesn't stop until they are choking on some morsel shoved into their mouth by their parent.

This week Maple Leaf Life posted an informative article on crow attacks . It's good to know I'm not the only one being harassed.

If you need help with your heating costs, apply for CAMP’s Energy Assistance program! Eligible applicants can receive:

• Up to $1,000 towards home or apartment heating costs (including electric, gas, or oil heat)
• Up to $1,000 for repair of broken windows and chimney repair
• Up to $5,000 to repair or replace your home’s broken furnace or heating system

You don’t have to be behind on your bills or shutoff to qualify.

Call our free Appointment Hotline 24 hours a day at 1-800-348-7144 to get help right away.

We’ve already helped thousands of people around the city of Seattle stay warm this year. Contact us before funds run out!

Central Area Motivation Program (CAMP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of low-income residents within Seattle city limits. 

The Pacific Northwest Herpetological Society and The Bean Farm are proud to present the first annual Emerald City Reptile Expo, in Seattle, WA this June 19th and 20th, 2010 at the Lake City Community Center. The ECRE is an equal mix of reptile vendor sales and presentations from speakers around the US coming to Seattle to discuss responsible herp keeping, current legislation and laws regarding reptile keeping. In addition, there will be raffle give-aways, an evening auction to benefit USARK, a photo booth where you can take your picture with a unique reptile, an outreach display room, and other events ongoing throughout the weekend.

When: June 19 and 20th

Where: Lake City Community Center (12531 28th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98125)

Children under 10 free! (adults $15 for both days or $10 for one)

Speakers attending the Emerald City show include:

•  
  • Dr. Elliott Jacobson, foremost authority on reptile diseases such as IBD (inclusion body disease)
  • Andrew Wyatt, president of USARK, coming...

Update:

I got an e-mail at 8 am this morning that El Norte Will be open for Cinco De Mayo! See you there.

The saga of El Norte's liquor license has finally come to an end! After months of political battles, pleas from Lake City residents, and Kathrina's (owner of Mr Villa) unswerving determination, El Norte hopes to open this week. 

For those of you just tuning in, here's a brief timeline

• 3/09 the Rose Garden's reputation earns it a spot among Seattle's top 10 most intimidating dive bars
• 4/09 the Rose Garden shuts down after the Liquor Board, prompted by the SPD, suspends their license
• 12/09 El Norte applies for a liquor license at the site of the Rose Garden
• 12/09 El Norte's liquor license faces resistance due to the Rose Garden's reputation
• 4/10 Construction continues at El Norte but no word from the Liquor Board
• 5/10 El Norte opens, liquor license in hand!

I spoke with owner yesterday. If all goes as planned, she hopes to open tomorrow, just in time... (more)

You've got one week to stop into Lake City's most well known establishment. May 5 Rick's (along with four other strip clubs) will close it's doors to the Seattle public. Frank Sr. and Jr., along with three partners, face federal charges for racketeering, facilitation of prostitution, money laundering and mail fraud. Yesterday three of the five pleaded guilty to these charges.

This is not the first (or second) time that Frank Jr and Sr. have been in the hot seat. You'd think that at 90 something Frank Sr. would slow down a bit. But business has been good for these men who raked in an estimated 24 million in the past 4 years.

Seattlites always react strongly to charges against Rick's - urging the government and SPD to spend their time and money on more important matters (like preventing El Norte from opening). Although this seems the be the general sentiment, I know Lake City residents who live near Rick's are relieved. I've heard their horror stories of prostitution taking place in their backyards. For them,... (more)

We all know the feeling. You punch in the digits and your heart starts to race. The phone rings and you hope the person on the other end will make everything better.

But who's really on the other end of 911? Last week at the Lake City Community Council meeting I learned a thing or two about Seattle's 911 system from Diane Horswell (Crime Prevention North Precinct) and Officer Turner (Lake City's Community Police Officer).

911 dispatchers have a higher turn over rate than any other city employee. Each day dispatchers field upwards of 2000 calls, averaging out to 800,000 to 870,000 calls a year. Can you imagine spending 8 hours listening to people talk about emergencies? Talk about a high stress job. But if you're an adrenaline junky this might be a good career move.

In order to keep the lines clear, dispatchers aim to keep phone calls to less than 60 seconds. The first person you talk assesses your situation and if your call does not require immediate action they transfer you to a secondary... (more)

Yancey C. Blalock Lodge #265 Free and Accepted Masons of Washington celebrates its one year anniversary working with the Lake City Library’s children’s reading program, through Bikes for Books.

Pictured is Gwen Tait, with the Bike she won in a recent session of the program.

Bike For Books is open to 4th and 5th graders and runs April 1st through May 31. Librarian Andy Bates reports a significant increase in children participating in the program and the Lodge is committed to assisting the Library in program expansion. So head on over to the Lake City Library to get involved.

Yancey C. Blalock Lodge #265 is one of two Masonic Lodges in the Lake City area. For more information on the Lodges, or the reading program, contact David Burn- 206-949-0574.

Part of Lake City Way will be closed next week Monday and Tuesday (April 19 and 20). One northbound lane north of 137th will be closed from 9 am to 3pm due to construction.

By the way, what are they building there? I vaguely remember seeing something about it being a condos.

This year Washington State received 50.5 million from the US Department of Urban Housing in Hope VI funds. 10.5 million of these funds to went to Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) for a new mixed income building in Lake City.

SHA, founded in 1939, has over 400 buildings throughout Seattle that provide low income rentals for 26,000 people. SHA also received $45 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). These funds are going towards Lake City construction as well as Rainier Vista, Denny Terrace, and Bell Tower. 

Lake City Village Apartments, will be built at the south end of SHA's 1.9 acre lot between 33rd and 35th, north of NE 125th. The building will include 51 low income apartment units to replace the 16 townhouses demolished in 2002 after they were destroyed by a Little Brook Creek Flood. Construction is expected to begin this spring and be finished by October 2011.

The building is expected to be more energy efficient... (more)

 

 

 

 

 

If you haven't driven by the Lake City Fire Station lately you're missing out. Station 39, located at the corner of 27th and 127th Avenue NE, is on my walk home from the bus and it's been exciting to watch the station being built from the ground up. They broke ground last April and expected the project to take a year. Remarkably, they seam to be on schedule. The new and improved station will not only be roomier and more functional, it's also GREEN (and we all know how much Seattlelites love green things). The building has many sustainable features and was designed to meet LEED silver standards.

1 toilet flush = 1.6 gallons

7,100 gallon cistern = 4427.5 green toilet flushes

Over at Publicola, Dan Bertolet took a little tour of Lake City and had this to say:

Lake City is still the kind of place you can go and find yourself a good secondhand shovel for cheap, and last week I did just that—I got a sweet, long-handled one for five bucks at Fletcher’s General Store. It’s also the kind of place where you’ll find a steak house with a beat-up old sign announcing that there’s “dancing,” and a plastic model shop the size of a Walgreen’s with WWII bombers in the window display.

I'm glad someone's positively recognizing Lake City and  the value of economically diverse neighborhoods to our city. 

To read the entire article, click here: Digging Lake City.

What do Safeway and pellet gun targeted crows have in common? Pinehurst of course.

Pinehurst is a north Seattle neighborhood sandwiched in between and on top of Lake City and Northgate. Though Pinehurst rarely makes the headlines, arson and some crows murdered with pellets got them some press this week.

It's not all bad news in Pinehurst. Four years ago the community started pushing for a remodel of the Pinehurst Safeway on NE 125th and 15th Ave NE. All of their hard work has paid off. Next month the demolition of the old building will begin and they hope to be finished with construction by Thanksgiving 2010. The community pushed for a green building plan. Safeway listened and recently announced that the building would be LEED certified.

Here's the projected timeline from Renne Staton (community organizer and former Pinehurst blogger):

Store closure - February 27

Pharmacy opens in trailer - March 1

Demolition - complete by mid-May

Site work/building construction - complete early to mid October

Soft...