Archives for August 2014

Northgate Link update: Big Red crane work on Sunday, UW campus monitoring work

Roosevelt Station

Roosevelt Station construction site at 3:30 PM on Friday, August 15, 2014. (Click to visit the current view.)

Roosevelt Station construction site at 3:30 PM on Friday, August 15, 2014. (Click to visit the current view.)

1. Capitol Hill Station’s big red crane has been disassembled and the pieces trucked up to the Roosevelt Station construction site. Assembly has already begun during normal construction hours; however, Sound Transit will be adding a Sunday work day this weekend, on August 17, to put together the crane’s jib and hoist it into place.

Work will occur during daylight hours and start at 9 AM. And you should totally go check it out when it’s being hoisted because it’s gonna be something to see.

2. As soon as Monday, August 18, construction crews will start work installing a drainage line from the construction site to a sewer line in NE 67th Street. This project is expected to take up to three weeks, with work occurring between 8 AM-5 PM on weekdays.

Crews will work westward starting from just east of Roosevelt Way NE on NE 67th Street. Roosevelt Way will be reduced to one lane from 9 AM-3 PM for approximately two days during the first week of work.

Once the work has traveled to the west side of Roosevelt Way, the sidewalk and parking lane on the south side of NE 67th Street will be closed during work hours. Access to residents and businesses will be maintained, but minor delays during work hours should be expected.

 

U District Station

U District Station construction site at 3:30 PM on Friday, August 15, 2014. (Click to visit the current view.)

U District Station construction site at 3:30 PM on Friday, August 15, 2014. (Click to visit the current view.)

The Northgate Link tunnel boring machines are not yet near the University of Washington campus, but a whole bunch of monitoring equipment is about to arrive.

Sound Transit will start installing equipment for 16 monitoring sites around the UW campus over the next couple months, starting here in August. The equipment will monitor the ground, utilities, and buildings located above the light rail alignment during tunneling on campus.

If you’re on campus during this work, here’s what you can expect:

  • Hours: Activities between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
  • Drilling Activities: Drilling into grass, asphalt or concrete, removing ground material and installing the monitor. Drilling will sound similar to a truck running with occasional hammering sounds. The vacuum truck will make noise while soil material is being removed (during the first few feet of drilling at each location). Drill rigs and support equipment may be temporarily stationed on streets or parking lots overnight during this work.
  • Equipment: Drill rig, trucks, traffic signage and cones, vaccum trucks, ladders
  • Access: Pedestrian, bicyclist, and motorist traffic will be maintained. Some locations may require temporary lane or sidewalk closures. There may also be impacts to street parking. Traffic cones, No Parking signage, roadway signage, and flaggers may be used when travel lanes or parking areas are affected during this work.
  • Stickers on buildings: Building monitoring stickers, called structural settlement points, are 3″x3″ stickers that crews affix to the outside of buildings and check regularly for any movement.

Between the U District Station up on Brooklyn and the University of Washington Station down on Montlake, nearly one mile of tunnel will pass under the university’s campus. TBMs are expected to arrive at the U District Station in late 2015.

Your Busy Weekend in Northeast Seattle: August 16-18

The forecast calls for some clouds and upper 70s until Sunday when we might break 80.

SATURDAY, August 16

  • Check out some old cars, raise money to fight cancer.
    • 7th Annual Wedgwood/Chad Shanks Memorial Car Show, Wedgwood Broiler parking lot at 8230 35th Avenue NE, 10 AM-4 PM.  Free car show, drink specials at the Broiler all day long, raffle with prizes. Portion of proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.
  • Shop local at multi-family garage sale
    • 2627 NE 92nd Street (between 30th and 27th Ave. NE), 10:00 AM-4:00 PM. Items include: Canon PowerShot SD870 is Digital Elph Camera, jogging stroller, home decor and organization, rubber stamps, lemonade stand, and custom made  balloon animal (profits will go to local animal shelters), etc!
    • Oops, the listing for this one has disappeared so…
  • Help a neighbor downsize by upsizing yourself with their stuff!
    • Garage/Estate sale7342 15th Avenue NE, Saturday and Sunday, 9 AM start. This is not a getting rid of junk sale. We are eliminating nearly all of the contents of the house. A great many high quality items will be for sale: Dishes (White Elements) and glasses, flatware (Mikassa), pots and Pans and other kitchenware, furniture, tools, collectibles, antiques, linens, blankets, books and CDs, household items (iron, ironing board, lamps), art objects (Oaxacan figures, pottery), bikes.
  • Shop local and support a holiday event institution!
    • Annual Candy Cane Lane Yard Sale, NE Ravenna Blvd and NE Park Road, 9AM – 3PM. This is Candy Cane Lane’s main fundraiser. Proceeds are used for decorations and electricity for Candy Cane Lane, a long-time Seattle Tradition. We will have kitchen items, household items, books, art work, kids clothes, teen clothes, a dresser, ottoman and more. No early birds, please.
  • Listen to stories and sing some songs with the kids.
    • Third Place Books Children’s Storytime (6504 20th Ave NE), 11:00 AM, every Saturday. FREE.
  • Volunteer to save one of the best forest sections of Magnuson Park. 

SUNDAY, August 17

  • Buy some wares from crafty people.
    • Maple Leaf Pop Up Market, Blue Saucer Cafe parking lot (9127 Roosevelt Way NE), 8 AM-4 PM. Family-friendly, open air market with approximately 30 artists selling wares from jewelry to fused glass to garden art. Carnival theme!

MONDAY, August 18

  • Watch and sing along with your favorite songs from The Little Mermaid.
    • Family Movies Sing Along at the Northgate Branch (10548 5th Ave NE), 5-7 PM. Arrive on time as space will be limited. Goody bags with props for singing along will be provided. FREE. 

 

ORALEA BONUS EVENT:

SATURDAY, August 16 & SUNDAY, August 17

  • Join the Viking invasion of Ballard!
    • Viking Days Festival at the Nordic Heritage Museum (3014 NW 67th Street), 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Swedish Pancake Breakfast both mornings, live music, Scandinavian foods, beer garden, craft demonstrations, vendors, children’s activities, and Viking Encampment. FREE admission to both the museum and the festival all weekend.

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Anything else to add? Garage sale? Fundraiser? Lemonade stand? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll add it to the post!

Want to promote an upcoming NE Seattle weekend happeningEmail us ahead of time, or use our online comment form to tell us about it.

We publish these Busy Weekend posts at noon-ish on Thursdays-ish.

Public comment meeting TONIGHT on potential Theodora redevelopment (LIVE COVERAGE; PHOTOS)

On Thursday, August 14, representatives from the City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development will be collecting public comment on the land use application to redevelop the Theodora Apartments (6559 35th Avenue NE). The meeting is being held at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Avenue NE) from 7-8:30 PM.

Prior to the meeting, at 6:40 PM, the Theodora Rescue Committee and their supporters will be marching from the Theodora to the RECC.

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Land Use Application information

The owners of the Theodora, the Volunteers of America (VOA), have agreed to sell the property to Goodman Real Estate, a private real estate developer. The apartment building is one of two buildings that the VOA owns in Western Washington and has been used as housing for low income elderly and disabled people. In redeveloping the Theodora and converting the building from low income senior housing, Goodman intends to:

“alter and change the use of existing two story, 62,937 sq. ft. 113 room congregate residence (The Theodora) to a 64 unit apartment building and to allow a 35,361 sq. ft. addition for new apartments (45 units) for a total of 109 units. Parking for 56 vehicles will be located below grade.”

Additionally, Goodman is seeking landmark status for the building. The Landmarks Preservation Board will be considering the nomination at their meeting on Wednesday, August 20, at 3:30 PM in the Seattle Municipal Tower (700 5th Avenue, 40th floor, Room 4060).

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Additional information

Tenants With Disabilities Filing Suit Over Sale Of Seattle Apartment Building (KPLU, July 3, 2014)

Ravenna-Bryant Community Center information on Theodora sale and redevelopment (various posts from 2013-current)

Permit and Property Records and Documents for Project #3017233 (includes public comments already submitted)

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We’ll be providing live coverage of the meeting below, starting just prior to 7 PM.

UPDATE (Friday, August 15): First, a few pictures from last night.

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Marchers from the Theodora Apartments arrive at Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center around 7 PM. The banner reads “GOODMAN REAL ESTATE BACK OFF OUR HOMES.”

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Peter Metzger, a member of the Theodora Rescue Committee, speaks at the public comment meeting. Metzger held up part of Goodman’s landscape plan, which includes the removal of trees on the present Theodora property. Then he held up the Seattle Times A section from Thursday (same day as the meeting) whose cover story was about Seattle’s dwindling tree canopy.

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Another speaker (this one with Real Change) takes his turn. In the background, Jerry Sudor (with the Department of Planning and Development) writes down parts of of all speaker’s comments. Carly Guillory (seated; also DPD) looks on.

Below are the notes that Sudor took during the public comment period (not in chronological order, however). Click on any of the images to view the larger, readable version. The full phrase on the last on the last sheet (partially blocked by a reporter’s shoulder) is, “Portland/Bellevue better keeping trees.”

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Now We Are Six (Years Old)

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Happy birthday to…us!

Six years ago today the Ravenna Blog was born. The site started out with questions and observations about the neighborhood (a lost cat flyer and free stuff in an alley was among our first posts) and has become many local residents’ first source of information about Northeast Seattle events, power outages, and the answer to “Why is there a helicopter hovering over my house?”

This is also a good day to thank all of YOU for reading and asking questions and sharing your kale jokes and telling us about events and all that jazz. Really: THANK YOU.

 

Top Stories of the Past Year

Here were the most-read stories on the Ravenna Blog between August 8, 2013 and today:

1. AM Shooting at NE 55th Street and 26th Avenue NE, September 10, 2013

2. Shooting behind U-District Safeway, March 26, 2014

3. Dozens of guns stolen from home near Roosevelt High School, January 14, 2014

4. So, about those boarded up houses at 15th and 65th…, May 5, 2014

5. Mark Mullan sentenced, November 15, 2014

Our all-time most-visited post (since we’ve been keeping track) is still our behind-the-scenes tour of the University of Washington Light Rail Station at 60% completion, from January 2013.

And my favorite picture that I took this year was from the live fire exercises up at NE 68th Street and 32nd Avenue NE on May 16:

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Three hours of taking pictures of fire fighters with a 35-pound toddler on my back. I’m still sore, but it was AWESOME.

 

Annual Pledge Drive Section

If you enjoy the Ravenna Blog’s coverage of local news and events, consider saying thanks with some financial support.

How about six bucks for our sixth birthday? That’s the cost of one smoothie from the new juice bar at Roosevelt Whole Foods, spent instead on homegrown local news coverage.

*click* one-time, anytime donation *click*

Last year’s birthday support was spent on a photography class at North Seattle College. And if that’s not the gift that keeps on giving…

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…then I don’t know what is.

 

UPDATE (11:25 AM): If you thank us, we’ll thank you. Here are the folks who have helped fund the site today lately:

Donna DeShazo

Andres Salomon

Kristi Coulter

John Eddy

Ulysses Hillard

Doug Plummer

Brad Mohr

Jeremy Holmes

David Katz

James Simmons

Per Johnson

Deborah Casso

Stephanie Jewett

Northgate Link update: Capitol Hill’s big red crane a-comin’

Capitol Hill Station's big red crane is on the move northward to start work at Roosevelt Station. (Photo by Capitol Hill Seattle. Used with permission.)

Capitol Hill Station’s big red crane is on the move northward to start work at Roosevelt Station. (Photo by Capitol Hill Seattle. Used with permission.)

Roosevelt Station news

A big ol’ tower crane used to help construct the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station is finished with its job on Broadway and is shortly headed north to the Roosevelt Station construction site. Sound Transit plans to start delivery of Big Red* early Sunday morning on August 10. Due to the size of the loads, the crane parts must be delivered at night to minimize traffic disruptions and such.

Delivery times are as follows:

  • 2-6 AM on Sunday, August 10
  • Midnight-3:30 AM on Monday, August 11 through Wednesday, August 13.

Residents may hear “intermittent truck noise” as the crane parts arrive and are off-loaded at the construction site.

From CHS’s pre-crane-removal coverage:

The Krøll 1800 (Capitol Hill’s is the metric model) was set up with its enormous 250-foot jib about 100 feet off the ground. The model can be as tall as 200 feet. It can lift more than 30,000 pounds at full extension and more than 130,000 when operating at a shorter radius, according to the manufacturer.

Some pictures of Big Red’s assembly can be seen here. The crane was installed at the Capitol Hill Station construction site back in late January, 2011.

Visit Sound Transit’s Roosevelt Station project page here.

*My nickname for the crane. It is big and red, after all.

U District Station news

The U District Station construction site is a busy one. Look for this trend to continue in August.

1. The L-shaped pedestrian pathway between NE 43rd Street and Brooklyn Ave NE (around the NW corner of University Manor) is complete! But it has business hours: 7 AM-6 PM, Monday through Friday. Outside of those hours and on weekends, your options for getting around the construction site are:

  • 12th Avenue NE to NE 42nd Street or NE 45th Street
  • Brooklyn Avenue NE to NE 42nd Street or NE 43rd Street
  • University Way NE to NE 42nd Street or NE 45th Street

2. Drilling along the shoring walls is almost complete! Only the south shoring wall is left (currently 75% finished), and expected to finish up by the end of August.

3. Station excavation has already started on the north end of the site. (Brenda IS on her way, after all.) Trucks are hauling station box dirt and such off-site down Brooklyn Avenue NE. More on station box excavation:

As crews dig down, they will install long nails, called tie-backs, into the soil to secure the underground station walls. Crews will also be installing long metal beams, called struts and wales, across the top and sides of the box. These braces hold the soil during station excavation. Crews will dig until they reach about 95 feet below ground. Excavation will be ongoing through spring 2015.

Visit Sound Transit’s U District Station project page here.

Your Busy Weekend in Northeast Seattle: August 8-12

Another sunny and warm weekend ahead, with temperatures approaching the mid-80s by Sunday.

Find a way around our friend SR 520 this weekend. Lanes in both directions will be closed from 11:00 PM on Friday until 5:00 AM on Monday.

This is one of those Busy Weekend posts that leaks heavily into the next week. That’s just how BUSY it is.

FRIDAY, August 8

  • Watch a Meaningful Movie
    • Wedgwood Meaningful Movies presents “Psywar,” at Our Lady of the Lake Church’s Jubilee Hall (8900 35th Ave NE). Light refreshments at 6:30 PM, film begins at 7 PM, event ends at 9:30 PM. FREE.

SATURDAY, August 9

Here are some excerpts of “Hungry Ghosts” by Nat Evans, performed in Ravenna Park in 2013:

  • Shop local at neighbor’s house. 
    • Yard sale, 5541 29th Avenue NE, 9:00 AM. Reminiscing about your Batman lunchbox? Better get there early then!
  • Sip a bit of Austria at your neighborhood wine shop.  

SUNDAY, August 10

MONDAY, August 11

  • Watch a classic film by a master director while surrounded by books.
    • Hitchcock by the Decades, University Branch of SPL (5009 Roosevelt Way NE), 6 PM. Fifth and final movie of the series is “Frenzy,” produced in 1972, run time of 116 minutes, rated R. FREE.
  • Sing and dance with your toddler through an author-led, music-filled, sea-themed story time!

TUESDAY, August 12

  • Third Annual Big Green Community Picnic at Hunter Farm Gathering Place (7744 35th Ave NE), 5:30– 9 PM. Presented by Sustainable NE Seattle and Greendrinks/Sustainable Seattle, and sponsored by BECU. Local bands, urban farm animals, beer garden, drop-in bike repair, food and vendors, games, and more. FREE/$5 suggested donation.

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Anything else to add? Garage sale? Fundraiser? Lemonade stand? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll add it to the post!

Want to promote an upcoming NE Seattle weekend happeningEmail us ahead of time, or use our online comment form to tell us about it.

We publish these Busy Weekend posts at noon-ish on Thursdays-ish.

Registration for fall Parks & Rec classes begins August 5

The end of summer approaches! Time to think about buying school supplies (Seattle Public Schools’ first day is September 5), and registering for fall classes with Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Fall 2014 Northeast Community Centers brochure (click to download the 4.8 MB PDF).

Fall 2014 Northeast Community Centers Brochure (click to download the 4.8 MB PDF).

In the Fall 2014 Northeast Community Centers Brochure, you will find event information for the following facilities:

Here are a few hand-picked highlights:

  • The Laurelhurst Salmon Bake at Laurelhurst Park will be held on Thursday, September 11, from 5:30-8 PM. Delicious dinner, dancing, and carnival games. Price to be determined (but we’ll add it in here when it is determined).
  • The Meadowbrook Community Center and Pool tag team the Halloween holiday with a Haunted Bounce and Spook the Pool on Friday, October 24. The Bounce portion at MCC is from 6:30-7:30 PM, and the Spook portion at the MP is from 7:30-8:30 PM. $2 for the Bounce, $3.75 for the pool for youth (accompanying adults are free). There’s a 100 lb. floating pumpkin involved.
  • The Ravenna Holiday Arts & Crafts Sale is back on Saturday, December 6, from 10 AM-3 PM. Those crafty people who wish to participate should contact the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center for more details (206-684-7534).
  • Two Seattle Parks Christmas Ship dates this year:
    • Saturday, December 6, at Matthews Beach. Park at Meadowbrook Community Center and hop a shuttle to Matthews Beach for luminaries, a weather-permitting bonfire, and the flotilla of festive ships off-shore (Christmas Ship performance time is 9:45-10:05 PM).
    • Friday, December 19, at Magnuson Park Beach. Pre-activities at the Magnuson Community Center start at 8 PM and include live music, refreshments, and luminaries. Christmas Ship performance off-shore from 8:50-9:10 PM.

 

 

 

Rollover collision near northbound I-5/Lake City Way exit

Shortly after 3 AM, Seattle Fire Department units responded to a rollover collision near or on the I-5 offramp to Lake City Way.

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Via scanner, we’ve learned there are six patients: Three patients with life-threatening injuries and three with non-life-threatening All six have been transported from the scene to area hospitals in stable and with non-life-threatening injuries, the fire department said via twitter.

The collision has the two right lanes of I-5 blocked, with traffic slowly moving through on the left. We expect northbound traffic on I-5 through the area to be impacted for some time as the collision is investigated.

You can see current highway conditions and the I-5/LCW WSDOT camera here.

UPDATE (7:06 AM): Washington State Patrol has more information on this incident:

Power outage in south Ravenna as tree downs power lines (PHOTOS; UPDATES)

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Some wild weather this Saturday morning took a toll on the local electricity infrastructure.


View Downed tree causes brush fire, power outage in a larger map

Just before 10 AM, just after some heavy rains had fallen over the area, a tree on a hillside near NE 50th Street and Ravenna Avenue NE became unstable. The tree, or part of it, fell against some power lines and ignited a fire that was first reported as a house fire, but was downgraded later to a brush fire. Downed lines could be seen in the trees on the hillside as well as in the road below it.

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The affected hillside is just to the south of the Raven View Apartments (5001 25th Avenue NE). This section of Ravenna Avenue NE is a dead end, and residents south of the downed lines were unable to use the road until the scene was deemed safe by Seattle City Light crews.

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As a Seattle City Light crew worked to move the lines from the road, the downed lines on the hillside ignited another small brush fire.

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The ensuing outage affected about 2,000 customers. The estimated time of restoration is 2:41 PM, but some residents of the area have reported lights coming back on already.

UPDATE (1:21 PM): Seattle City Light reporting that power is coming back for another round of residents:

UPDATE (2:08 PM): Seattle City Light has updated the estimated power restoration time to 5:45 PM, over three hours later than the original estimate.

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Here is a picture of what Seattle City Light crews are up against as they make repairs at the incident site (picture taken from Ravenna Avenue NE looking southwest toward where the tree or tree limb downed some of the lines). The conditions at the scene are anything but ideal for SCL crews: Lots of tall, wild greenery and trees on a hillside, with the lines on the uphill slope.

UPDATE (5:22 PM): Seattle City Light says, “[c]rews have restored about 1,000 customers from the NE Seattle outage. About 850 homes and businesses remain out. Crews still working.”

UPDATE (5:43 PM): All but 57 Seattle City Light customers have power restored. Estimated restoration time for the remaining residents and businesses is 10 PM as remaining fixes require the replacement of the downed lines.