Dispatches from Ravenna, a neighborhood in Northeast Seattle
Two really fun parts of the latest North Link Light Rail construction open houses for the Roosevelt and Brooklyn Stations are now available for viewing online: Illustrations of the construction sites themselves.
Enjoy!
These animations, and the presentations they were a part of, can be found on Sound Transit’s North Link Documents Library page.
Once again, northern Ravenna businesses LaVassar Florists and Roaring Mouse Creative Arts Studio (7530 20th Avenue NE) are holding their Annual Holiday Open House.
This year the event takes place on Saturday, December 3 from 10 AM-5 PM.
Thirteen artists and vendors will have their wares available for purchase (see the full list on the event flier below).
Raffle prizes include three fresh arrangements from LaVassar, and two $50 gift certificates for Roaring Mouse.
Santa himself will attend the event from noon until 2 PM — he’s a busy guy these days. Complimentary photos are available, or you can use your own camera.
Cookies and cider will be available. But if you’re still hungry, check out the bake sale — the proceeds of which benefit Hopelink Food Bank.
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.
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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).
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.)
It’s time to give the staff at Fire Station 38 a warm welcome to their new digs. (Well, not TOO warm.)
New Fire Station 38 (4004 NE 55th St.) will open its doors to the public today from 11AM-1PM for an Open House and Dedication.
From the Seattle Fire Department’s event calendar:
Take tours of the new fire station, view the fire engine, meet your local firefighters and learn about fire safety in multiple languages. Children’s activities will be planned throughout the day, as well as chances to win life-saving door prizes. Refreshments provided by Local 27 and Top Pot Doughnuts.
An architect from Schreiber Starling & Lane Architects may also be there to answer questions about the design of the building.
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For more information about the Old Fire Station 38 and her fate, visit our earlier post here.
Fire stations all over the city of Seattle will open their doors to their neighborhoods this Saturday, February 12, from 11am-2pm, as a part of the Seattle Department of Neighborhood’s 17th Annual Neighbor Appreciation Day. There will also be activities for the kids, face painting, refreshments and a free raffle. The Seattle Fire Department and the Firefighter’s Union, Local 27 will be co-sponsoring the event.
This will be our neighborhood’s last chance to visit Fire Station 38 (5503 33rd Ave NE) while it houses fire fighters: Staff will start moving in to the new station down the hill (4004 NE 55th St) next week.
And what will become of the old station? I got the 911 411 from Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman, Helen Fitzpatrick:
[H]ere is the information I received from the City’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services. The City intends to sell the old station most likely through a competitive bid process. The prospective buyer will need to be aware that the building has historical protection and the zoning is limited to multi-family use (this can also be for a single residence as well). Any use outside of what is allowed through zoning would need the okay from the City’s Department of Planning and Development. Any alterations to the outside of the building would require an okay from the Landmarks Preservation Committee. Any alterations that could change the character of the building, specifically the front façade and the hose tower would be prohibited.
As we noted in an earlier post, a 2009 appraisal of the property came in at just over a million dollars. However, a competitive bidding process could make the old station more affordable. Money from the sale of the property will go back into the Fire Facilities and Emergency Response Levy fund (which made the upgrading of Station 38 possible).
Fire Station 38 is one of 22 landmark status properties and/or objects in Northeast Seattle (full list here), and was nominated and granted this status in 2004. If you have the time, I would encourage you to read the full Seattle Fire Station No. 38 Landmark Nomination Report (pdf; 26 pages!). It is CHOCK full of history, not only of the station itself, but our entire area.
Now, walk down the street (to the east) with me…
View Old and New Fire Station 38 in a larger map
As I mentioned above, the new Station 38 will start the move-in process next week. And after the staff has had some time to move in and get acquainted with the new building, the public will have a chance to do the same. (Well, not the move in part.)
Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 12, 11am-2pm 1pm, when Seattle Fire Department staff (and the new station’s architect, whom I met on the property today, by happy coincidence) will be on hand to welcome the public to their new fire station give us a tour. A postcard invitation in the mail in the next several weeks.
WHEE-OO-WHEE-OO!
UPDATE (2:37 PM): Oops! Should have read “Thursday, January 27” NOT 29. Many thanks to lovely Rita who pointed this out in the comments below.
Meeting news first: There is a Brooklyn Station Open House this Thursday, January 29 27, at the University Heights Center (5031 University Way NE). The meeting is from 6 – 8 PM in the second floor auditorium. Presentation to begin at 6:30 PM.
To be discussed at the meeting are:
Those interested in the new Light Rail Station process for the Roosevelt Station might be interested in attending these meetings for the station to the south.
Now the Roosevelt Station news (from Sound Transit):
Properties acquired for Roosevelt Station, townhouses possibly relocated
In preparation for constructing Roosevelt Station, Sound Transit has purchased several properties including Standard Phonograph on NE 65th Street, the QFC grocery store on Roosevelt Way NE, and the vacant lot at the northwest corner of 12th Avenue NE and NE 67th Street. Sound Transit has purchased (or has a purchase and sale agreement for) each of the eight townhouses on NE 66th Street across from the QFC parking lot.
Some building tenants continue to lease from Sound Transit. As tenants move out, the agency takes on building and landscaping maintenance, with staff conducting regular site visits.
As part of its sustainability program, Sound Transit has hired Nickel Brothers to oversee the potential relocation of the eight townhouses (four duplex buildings) on NE 66th Street. Nickel Brothers will advertise the townhouse builldings as available for relocation in 2011 and, if they are sold, will move the buildings to a new location.
The area in question:
View Larger Map
If you’d like to receive North Link Light Rail information in your very own inbox, head to Sound Transit’s Quick Subscribe page. Once you enter your email address, you can subscribe to a veritable smörgÃ¥sbord of bulletins, updates, wireless alerts and more.
‘Tis the season for local craft fairs! And Ravenna is lucky enough to have two of them happening in the neighborhood this weekend.
LaVassar Florists and Roaring Mouse Creative Arts Studio (7530 20th Ave NE and and 7526 20th Ave NE, respectively) are co-hosting a
Holiday Open House and Craft Fair this Saturday from 9 am-4 pm.
Activities during those hours includes (via Karen at Roaring Mouse):
For more information, contact information@roaringmouse.org.
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The other craft fair in the neighborhood this Saturday is the 3rd Annual Ravenna Holiday Arts & Crafts Sale at the Ravenna Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE) from 10 am-4 pm.
Via an email from the RECC’s coordinator, Trevor Gregg:
Come and shop for unique hand-crafted holiday gifts in the neighborhood, while your kids enjoy the kids play area and crafts table. Your purchase of gifts from local arts and craftspeople will support programs at the Ravenna Eckstein Community Center.
Now in our third year, we have an expanded roster of artistic offerings: ceramics, hand-stitched and hand-woven goods, wooden cutting boards, beautiful upcycled home goods, candles, jewelry, whimsical clocks, fine art photographs, note cards, handmade original prints, hand blown glass ornaments and vases, and more!
We’ll have a kids art activity area and play space! We’ll also have a bake sale benefiting the community center’s teen program. To warm you up, soup will be offered by volunteers from the Ravenna Community Garden.
Bring your family and complete your holiday shopping close to home!
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Another activity at the RECC that day worth mentioning is the Drop ‘n Shop. From 9 am-noon you can leave your 2-10-year-old child(ren) in capable hands while you get some holiday shopping done.
That’s THREE HOURS, people.
Drop ‘n Shop includes “activities to keep ‘em busy, breakfast or lunch, snacks, and lots of fun!” (sayeth the Fall 2010 Parks and Recreation Department catalog)
There is a cost ($10, 1st child $8, 2nd child $5), which I don’t completely understand but will check into. But, however you do the math, it’s a great deal for three hours of childcare.
There will be one more Drop ‘n Shop this month (on December 22nd from 6-9 pm). But you’ll be all done with your shopping by then, won’t you? Of course you will.
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