Pika statue from Ravenna Park playground. Used with permission from Seattle Parks and Recreation.

…there is naught but a hole, a bent screw, and the name of the missing critter and her donor family.

Photo courtesy Tracey Sconyers

Of the eleven bronze animal sculptures that have graced the Ravenna Park playground since 2008, four reportedly went missing over the weekend: Two pika, a deer mouse, and a mourning dove.

View Ravenna Park playground in a larger map

From resident Tracey Sconyers, who lives near the park (via email):

My girls informed me today [Monday, June 17] that four of the small animal statues are missing from around the Ravenna Park playground. They noticed yesterday (Sunday) that they were gone. I walked over the the park about an hour ago, and it looks like two pika, one deer mouse, and one mourning dove were cut from the rocks. All the missing pieces were along the upper sidewalk area, the one that passes directly in front of the little maintenance building.

…

Each [sculpture] was custom made for its location, and were a gift to the park, in commemoration for the extensive time and money that several families made to ensure that the playground was renovated.

Sconyers says she has called several local metal recyclers to make them aware of the thefts, and to keep an eye out for the sculptures.

Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Joelle Hammerstad tells us that Parks has already contacted the artist, Rachel Boughton, about possible replacements if the stolen animals are not returned. Good news: The artist still has the molds.

You can see all of the animals that artist Rachel Broughton (Flying Dog Press and Gallery)  made for the playground here.

Photo courtesy Tracey Sconyers

You can view the Friends of Ravenna Playground site here, thanks to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. The playground was renovated with money from grants and fundraising, and reopened with new play equipment in 2007.

AND, YES, IT’S ALMOST WADING POOL TIME.

I want to go to there.

Your two Northeast Seattle wading pools for 2013 are:

• Dahl Playfield (7700 25th Ave NE) open T/W/Th from noon-7 PM, June 25 through August 15
• Magnuson Park (7400 Sand Point Way NE) open daily from noon-6:30 PM, June 22 through August 25

And your closest spraypark is:

• Northacres Park (12800 1st Ave NE) open daily from 11 AM-8 PM, now through September 2

Wading pools are open when the temperature is fore case to be 70°F or higher. Sprayparks, however, are open daily (unless thunder and lightning are present).

You can download the full Seattle Parks and Recreation wading pool, spraypark, and swimming beach schedule here (in all its Comic Sans glory; 302 KB PDF).

We will be covering the event LIVE, right here.

There are a plethora of Bicycle Master Plan Draft pieces, and you can see them all here, on the Project Library homepage. For for Northeast Sector Map specifically, you can find that here (4.5 MB PDF).

FRIDAY

• Rub shoulders with real live scientists!
  • NOAA Open House, Western Regional Center’s Campus north of Magnuson Park, 1-8 PM, FREE (but bring ID). Sign-up now online for specialized tours (Marine Mammals and Fisheries, Engineering and Diving, Forecasting the Weather, Shoreline Restoration and Public Art Walk). This event is part of the Seattle Science Festival.

SATURDAY

• Go thrift shopping, without leaving the neighborhood.
  • Rummage sale at the Reformed Presbyterian Church, 1915 NE 68th St.
  • Neighborhood garage sale at 16th Ave NE and NE 68th St, 9 AM – 2 PM.

• Work the soil, take home some vittles.
  • Work party and harvest at the Ravenna Community Garden, NE 68th St and 21st Ave NE, 10 AM – 1 PM.

• Experience music by candlelight in a deep forest ravine.
  • Excerpts from “Hungry Ghosts” concert, Ravenna Park, trail south of 24th Ave NE just north of the main trail (see map at link), or under the 15th Ave NE bridge if it rains; 8 PM start.

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

• Old school sale meets new school style.
  • 56th Annual University Village Sidewalk Sale, continues from Thursday through Sunday, participating store list here.

• Buy some gently used tales, on sale.
  • Ravenna Third Place Books, 6504 20th Ave NE, 40% off all used books. Also happening at the Lake Forest Park location at 17171 Bothell Way NE.

Anything else to add? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll add it to the post!

Want to promote an upcoming NE Seattle weekend happening? Email us, or use our online comment form to tell us about it. We publish these Busy Weekend posts at noon on Thursdays.

Picture of the scene taken 50 minutes after the collision by local resident Lacia Lynne Bailey. Seattle Fire units had long since moved on, but SPD traffic investigators kept the street closed off while they worked.

The Seattle Fire Department reported on twitter that they had transported a male in his 20s to Harborview Medical Center. The victim was in “critical condition with heavy trauma.”

As for the incident itself, the Seattle Police Department Blotter described the circumstances this way:

At 10:39 am this morning a man got off a Metro coach and stepped into the southbound lanes of 35th Avenue NE.  He was struck by a car driving south on 35th and sustained life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the vehicle that struck the man was evaluated at the scene by Drug Recognition Experts, as is routine with incidents like this. The driver showed no obvious signs of impairment and was released from the scene just after 1 PM. Dectectives from the Traffic Collision Investigation Squad were still processing the scene as of 1:26 PM, but said that the street “should reopen within the hour.”

We will update this post when we find out more information on the circumstances of the collision and/or updates on the man’s condition.

An officer at the scene of the burglary returns to his vehicle after interviewing a group of eyewitnesses.

Witnesses reported seeing two men (described to us by a female eyewitness as “meth heads”) fleeing the Thai restaurant Bai Pai (2316 NE 65th St), getting in a red car, and driving away. A third suspect, thought to be a female, was also involved in some capacity. (UPDATE: Only two suspects involved, police now say.)

Police pursued the car north into Lake City (via, in parts, 35th Ave NE and Sand Point Way NE) before calling off the chase as the vehicle drove on a sidewalk to continue the escape (per scanner).

View Bai Pai burglary and arrest location in a larger map

A short distance later, however, the occupants of the car had left the vehicle and were observed fleeing through yards. One male suspect was arrested near the 13000 block of 26th Avenue NE.

Scene near of the arrest of one of the suspects (at 25th Ave NE near 127th St NE). Photo courtesy Lake City Live.

At least one suspect is in custody at this time, says the Seattle Police Department’s Blotter page on the incident. Police may be looking for one or two more.

More information here when we have it.

UPDATE (7:27 PM): The Seattle Police Department’s Blotter is now reporting that a second suspect is in custody, arrested not far from the first. More:

Preliminary investigation indicates that two adult male suspects entered the back door of a restaurant and stole an employee’s backpack full of personal effects. Several employees chased the suspects, who ran to a stolen vehicle and made their escape (this event was reported to police as a robbery).

Also in the report: The getaway car was a stolen vehicle, both suspects are in their 20s and are the ONLY suspects, and no one was injured.

UPDATE (Friday, May 31): Our friends over at Lake City Live have more information about the pursuit and the capture of the suspects, including details on one of the arrests:

An alert neighbor that was watching the events unfold on the Seattle Police Department’s Twitter feed in an exchange with Ravenna Blog, happened to be on the phone with his wife when a bleeding man wandered into their yard. She told him about the man in their yard and the husband, who was not home, immediately told her to call the police when he realized via Twitter that the chase was in his neighborhood. The woman gave a description of the bleeding man to a dispatcher and then officers with guns drawn quickly apprehended the man who was at that point casually walking down the street on his cell phone.

Lake City Live also got a picture of the mark the stolen car made when the suspects tried to evade the police by driving on the sidewalk:

Damage on the Kaffeeklatsch building (12513 Lake City Way NE) shows where a car squeezed between the building and a fire hydrant as it was speeding from police. (Photo courtesy Lake City Live.)

Those lost during the shootings at Cafe Racer a year ago will be remembered and celebrated this Thursday, May 30 with music and friends and a great deal of Cafe Racer Love.

Cafe Racer’s Kurt Geissel told us that Orkestar Zirkonium will play a concert at the cafe (5828 Roosevelt Way NE) at 8 PM. An hour later, at 9 PM, Cafe Racer will close early, and everyone will walk over to Cowen Park.

Taken on May 31, 2012 at Cafe Racer.

Earlier in the month, the Seattle Weekly and the Seattle Times both published pieces about the shootings, now a year in the rearview mirror. Both, touching portraits of a gathered family hit by violence, but moving forward in love and community.

Seattle Weekly (May 7, 2013): Cafe Racer, Gun Violence, and the Power of Song

Following the shooting, [Racer Sessions] grappled with whether or not to hold the usual Sunday-night session. “Ultimately we decided that there’s no way in hell we’d cancel it,” says Icasiano. “On a Sunday night, there’s nothing we would rather be doing than hanging out and playing music at Racer. We just figured we do music, so we should do that to help.”

Seattle Times (May 11, 2013): A year later: Cafe Racer lives on.

“Knowing that so many people are there for you, it’s mind-boggling,” [Leonard Meuse] said. “Powerful.”

Moving forward? It’s simple, he said. But not easy. His advice:

“Love. Love more than you can. The more you love, the more you put out, the more it’s going to come in.”

Want to know more about Cafe Racer in general? HistoryLink.org’s Peter Bletcha published this essay on “Seattle’s Famously Quirky Dive” in October 2012.

…

Ravenna Blog posts about Cafe Racer from last year:

Shooting at Cafe Racer in Roosevelt (UPDATES) - May 30, 2012

Our post from the day of the shootings. Most recent updates were listed at the top of the post.

Cafe Racer community remembers, and celebrates (PHOTOS) - May 31, 2012

The night after the shootings, members of the Cafe Racer family met at the cafe to mourn together, and to remember their lost friends. And to make music together.

Video and impressions of Thursday night’s “Walk for Love” - June 1, 2012

Jens Wazel and Lucia Neare of Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders organized a “Walk for Love” that started at Cowen Park and wound its way through the neighborhoods around Cafe Racer, before finally stopping at the cafe. Respects were paid at the houses of those killed who were locals as the walk proceeded. Participants carried bells that gently rang during the procession.

SDOT Traffic Safety Coordinator Jim Curtin (in white) talks to a group of residents about NE 75th Street concerns at the April 25 meeting at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center. Current Department of Neighborhoods Northeast District Coordinator Jenny Frankl also attended (in blue).

The Seattle Department of Transportation’s Traffic Safety Coordinator, Jim Curtin, sent an email to the NE 75th St email listserv this week, summarizing the input shared by neighbors about NE 75th St.

Those attending the community input meetings were directed to describe street safety issues on Post-It Notes and stick them directly to maps of the area around NE 75th Street. The red stickers also indicate residents’ trouble spots.

Curtin’s email said “[h]undreds of comments have been collected through three public meetings and we’ve received more than 100 emails, letters, and completed comment sheets.”

The common themes of these comments have been:

• Channelization improvements were requested along segments of NE 65th Street, NE 75th Street, 25th Avenue NE, 35th Avenue NE and Banner Way NE and at several signalized intersections.

• Speeding is a problem along the NE 75th Street corridor and along segments of nearby arterial streets.

• The eight schools in the area increase pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle volumes twice a day. Speeding on non-arterial streets during drop-off/pick-up hours is a problem near schools. Many students walk and bike to school and student safety is a priority for residents. New construction at Thornton Creek Elementary will likely change traffic patterns.

• There is a strong desire to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety throughout the area. Suggestions included adding more and improving existing marked crosswalks, constructing sidewalks, adding bicycle facilities to NE 65th Street and NE 75th Street, and improving signal performance for pedestrians and cyclists.

• Improve access to parks throughout the area and reduce speeds on adjacent streets Improve existing traffic signals to reduce turning movement conflicts with pedestrians and bicyclists and improve traffic flow.

• Encroachments in the right-of-way limit pedestrian mobility and reduce visibility for all.

• Congestion is an issue along several corridors during peak hours. This often leads to cut through traffic on non-arterial streets.

• Existing parking restrictions should be reviewed and existing parking laws should be more strictly enforced. New parking restrictions are needed in a couple of locations.

• Increased enforcement efforts are needed area-wide to address speeding, distraction driving, impaired driving, and pedestrian and bicycle safety issues.

• Educational efforts should focus on behavioral issues like impairment, speeding, and distraction with more information about student, pedestrian, and bicycle safety.

Next week, a map of geographically-specific concerns and suggestions will be sent out to the listserv, Curtin said. You can request to receive future NE 75th St Road Safety Project emails here.

Chief Traffic Engineer Dongho Chang (white, center) and Safe Routes to School Coordinator Brian Dougherty (navy, right) listen to residents concerns and take notes at the RECC community meeting held April 25.

After the map is complete, SDOT’s next steps in the NE 75th St Road Safety Project involve combining this public input with the already existing Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plans and traffic data. Options for future improvements will then be developed and presented to the community in July.

Participating cyclists started their ride to school at the Wedgwood Top Pot Doughnuts, who provided morning treats. About 40 minutes later, and under Seattle Police escort, the group headed south on 35th Avenue NE toward Bryant Elementary (on NE 60th Street).

Once at school, everyone gathered on the playground for a rally and press conference. Speakers included:

• Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. José Banda
• Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw
• Seattle School Board President Kay Smith-Blum
• Cascade Bicycle Club Education Director Julie Salathé
• Bryant Elementary School Principal Kim Fox

And Ravenna Blog was there! Taking lots of pictures.

 View from the Top Pot driveway off NE 70th Street as families gathered.

Lesile Loper (AKA The Bike Fairy) in blue, next to Seattle Schools Superintendent Dr. José Banda in bright green. On the left in red is Michele Solis with her son, Linus (who I think had just taken a bite of a powdered sugar doughnut).

 Overflow bike parking at the Wedgwood Top Pot along 35th Avenue NE.

 This pink beauty was the first bike here this morning, as you can see in the tweet below:

The calm before the storm. The forecast is for a joyous din of kid bikers, beginning around 8 a.m. twitter.com/Eckstein_Bikes…

— Eckstein Bikes (@Eckstein_Bikes) May 8, 2013

Clint Loper (Walk.Bike.Schools co-founder, Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board member, father of Bryant and Eckstein Middle School students, and husband to The Bike Fairy) was handing out these smiley bike pins. (The eyes are the wheels, get it?)

A gaggle of bikers walks their rides through the crosswalk at NE 70th St and 35th Ave NE.

KOMO TV morning photographer Fred Veinfurt let a few kids check out his camera gear while he was on scene with reporter Kelly Koopmans. Here’s Fred and his “students” from another angle:

@photogfredkomo showing the kiddos what it’s like to be a big time photographer #liveonkomo twitter.com/KellyKOMO4/sta…

— Kelly Koopmans (@KellyKOMO4) May 8, 2013

Many of the kid’s bikes were decorated. This one is even sporting a Seattle Children’s Bike to Work Month seat cover.

 GIRLS RULE indeed.

Another view from the NE 70th Street side of Top Pot, as the crowd swelled (in numbers and with doughnuts consumed).

Here, Clint Loper (in black, with the bullhorn) thanks Bike to Bryant attendees for coming, and Top Pot Doughnuts for supporting the cause.

Seattle Bike Blog‘s Tom Fucoloro (center) interviews Car Free Days‘ Anne King (right) while Robyn Ellis (behind the camera) records the conversation.

Members of the Seattle Police Department line 35th Avenue NE and look for the start of the ride.

The front row of riders get a briefing just before heading out onto 35th Avenue NE. Cascade Bicycle Club Education Director Julie Salathé is in the yellow jacket at right.

A *lot* of riders, no?! For contrast, here is the first Bike to Bryant Donut ride:

Bike2Bryant 1st Donut Ride, 2008. bit.ly/16Yi1nk Today we will ride with Jose Banda & 100+ kids & parents. #SEAbikes @oninformation

— Anne K (@annesavvy) May 8, 2013

And they’re off! Banda and The Bike Fairy lead the way.

A number of Cascade Bicycle Club members were along for the ride, wearing red, white and black wool cycling shirts. The rider on the yellow bike here happens to be Kathy McCabe, Deputy Director of the Cascade Bicycle Club.

Cyclists of all ages and sizes, heading to school.

No worries: Her dad had the other wheel. (Two unicyclers in the family!)

 Cyclists fill the streets while the media lines the sidewalks.

The Seattle Bike Blog people-powered news van on its way to the rally.

Back of the pack. Clint, armed with his cowbell, is on the far left.

And Michele Solis and her moving sculpture-style ride brought up the rear.

The Cascade Bicycle Club has a video of the start of the ride, as well as a sped-up version of the route to school:

One the primary school peloton arrived at Bryant Elementary, everyone cruised around to the playground behind the school for the Bike to School Day rally.

Ready to ring, or tweet, at a moment’s notice.

 Bryant Elementary School Principal Kim Fox addresses her students.

Cascade Bicycle Club recorded Superintendent Banda’s speech, and you can view it below:

This is Brian Dougherty, the Safe Routes to School Coordinator with the Seattle Department of Transportation, dressed for the occasion.

Here, a KIRO TV photojournalist gets an exclusive with The Bike Fairy.

I took a picture of this balance bike, thinking it was an ancient family heirloom. Talking to the family that owns it revealed that the bike was only about two years old — it gets USED.

 Councilmember Sally Bagshaw spoke to the crowd as well.

And here’s Seattle School Board President Kay Smith-Blum speaking to the kids from the podium, the younger ladies literally hanging on her every word.

Shots from the PACKED bike racks behind Bryant.

Who doesn’t love a miniature vanity license plate?

Tim King of Bike Free Days tallied the kid’s bikes at the end of the ride:

That’s a whole lotta kids’ bikes! #seabikes #bike2schoolday #bike2bryant twitter.com/oninformation/…

— Tim K / Carfreedays (@oninformation) May 8, 2013

UPDATE (Thursday, May 9): Here’s Q13FOX’s coverage of the event (not embedded here due to its autoplay feature).

And here is the video of the event that the Seattle Bike Blog put together. Includes an interview with Car Free Days’ Anne King:

And here’s KIRO TV’s coverage.