Next month, prepare for work throughout Maple Leaf in preparation for the new Northgate Link Extension.

Although we wrote about utility work on First Avenue Northeast last month, Sound Transit is now saying that work will take place in the beginning of April:

In the next several weeks you will begin to see utility work to prepare for the excavation of the Maple Leaf Portal for the Northgate Link Extension. Work will begin as early as April, take place in three phases and be completed no later than July 2013.

Phase 1: Seattle City Light (SCL) will relocate poles and overhead power lines from the west to the east side of 1st Ave NE between NE 92nd and NE 97th Street. This relocation work must be done to maintain power to customers and meet standards for distances between power lines and the light rail portal.

Phase 2: Century Link will relocate overhead phone lines from the west side of 1st Ave onto the new SCL poles. They will then remove poles and abandoned overhead phone lines along the west side of 1st Ave NE between NE 97th and NE 100th Street.

Phase 3: Comcast will relocate existing overhead cables from the west side of 1st Ave NE onto the new SCL poles along the eastside of 1st Ave NE.

More animal news…Chris emails:

“The chicken captured in the attached photo has been scratching around Northeast 91st Street between Roosevelt Way Northeast and 12th Avenue Northeast. She’s fun to watch, but she looks a little skinny and I don’t think she has a safe spot to bed at night. Please let me know if you have received a report of a lost red chicken and/or post to MLL.

Update 7 p.m.:

“Danny has been found!

“A fellow reader called me up and said she saw an ad on Craigslist that seemed to match the picture on your story this morning…Danny has now been found and is back home with his owner on Beacon Hill!. I cannot thank you enough for what you do for the neighborhood with this blog. I may never have found him if it had not been for Maple Leaf Life. Thanks again and I look forward to my daily dose of neighborhood news.”

Zach

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Zach emails early this morning: “I was hoping I could request some help finding my friend’s dog.”

Danny, a 12-year-old Border Collie, slipped his collar on Roosevelt Avenue Northeast between Northeast 97th and 98th streets at about 4:15 this morning.

“Danny is a very friendly old dog who loves people and will usually come when called by name with wide open arms (or treats). Until about two years ago, Danny’s owner used to live in the neighborhood on Roosevelt between 91st and 92nd so he may have wandered to/around that area too.

“Any information or sightings, please call or text Josh @ 509-969-6237 anytime day or night.”

Women screaming led police officers responding to one report of a burglar to where the man was hiding a few blocks away Wednesday night, according to the Seattle Police blotter.

The incident was first called in about 10 p.m. when a woman returned home and found a man in her bedroom, holding frozen food boxes, according to police.

He fled out the back door of the house in the 2100 block of Northeast 83rd Street, and the woman called 911.

As officers and a police dog searched for the man, who had apparently cut himself breaking a window, “a couple of officers heard some women screaming in the 2000 block of Northeast 85th Street.

The officers responded and were informed by the women that they had seen an unknown man looking into one of their apartment windows. The officers located the man hiding in the bushes.

The 41-year-old man, who had items taken in the burglary, was arrested and booked.

Looking for a fun (and free!) activity to do with the kids this weekend to celebrate Easter?

Thornton Place invites you to an Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday, offering two separate hunts for different ages. As stated to the right, kids ages 3 and younger will kick off the event with a hunt at 12:30 p.m., followed at 12:40 p.m. by kids ages 4-10.

Limit is 10 eggs per child, and please bring your own baskets to collect the eggs in.

Happy hunting!

A week ago Terry looked outside his apartment on Northeast 98th Street and saw a burglar - wearing Terry’s shoes.

Here’s what happened. I woke up at around four a.m. on March 16th, and saw two guys outside, down on 5th Avenue NE, both on bicycles. One of them ran up onto the stairwell for the north entrance/exit, just outside my bedroom window. I don’t believe he saw me.

When I went out to the north door, to see if he was still lurking there, I noticed that a pair of white tennis shoes had been left by that door, inside the building! That led me to go check on some of the shoes I had routinely been leaving outside the door of my apartment (so as not to track dirt into the apartment). I noticed that one pair of black Rockports was missing; that’s when I figured he’d swapped his old shoes for mine.

I then went back into my apartment, which is when I saw the guy outside the window, but by the stairwell. I was angry and opened the window and asked that he return my shoes. He replied, “Those are your shoes?” I replied in the affirmative.

It probably wasn’t a good idea, but I went back to that door and saw the guy there. He then opened the door and took my shoes off and started to put his tennis shoes back on. I grabbed my shoes as fast as I could and prepared to run, if need be; but he didn’t advance.

Terry called 911, but the police didn’t find the two culprits.

“I am afraid that the burglars will be back, since they have correctly identified this building as vulnerable,” he emails. “I would greatly appreciate it if you could post something about this incident, as it would help me and the other people in the building. It’s my hunch that the burglars will also be looking for other opportunities.”

Since early in the month when we last reported on burglaries here, the police crime map shows only four other residential burglaries in Maple Leaf.

They occurred in the 9700, 10000 and 10200 blocks of 15th Avenue Northeast, the 800 block of Northeast 100th Street and the 9800 block of Roosevelt Way Northeast.

Amalia emails (while we were at the morning’s fire):

Hello, we saw a large yellow mixed-breed dog with a collar walking up and down our street (94th between Roosevelt and 8th, also circling around to 8th) this morning (11:00 a.m).

Unfortunately, he would not let us come near him to see his collar but I just wanted to let you know so you can post in case someone is looking for him. If I can catch him, I will and let you know.

Thanks, Amalia!

A four-story apartment complex is burning just north of Maple Leaf at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 117th Street.

Numerous fire trucks are on the scene. The building is being evacuated at 11:15 a.m. News helicopters are overhead.

Our news partner The Seattle Times is following the breaking story here.

The fire reportedly started as a motorcycle fire that spread to cars in the building’s parking garage, said Fire Departrment spokesman Kyle Moore.

Update 11 a.m.: Sun!

Update 10 a.m.: Steady, fat snowflakes. No accumulation.

After staying to the north of us all week, pestering the folks from Everett to Shoreline, the Puget Sound Convergence Zone dropped south around 7:40 this morning. No doubt to celebrate the first week of spring.

It’s snowing steadily at 8:30 a.m. in Maple Leaf. Nothing’s sticking, though. Outside air temperature right at 34 degrees, and the air is still.

Snow also being reported at Wedgwood, Green Lake, Wallingford, Phinney Ridge and Greenwood neighborhoods.

Traffic was snarled to the north earlier this morning, and several main highways were closed during the past 12 hours or so.

From the forecast discussion issued just before 3 a.m.:

THE SNOW LEVEL WILL BE BELOW 1000 FT AGAIN EARLY THIS MORNING
WITH SHOWERS FALLING LOCALLY AS SNOW OVER THE LOWLANDS.
PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS IN THE CONVERGENCE ZONE MIGHT BE UP TO
0.20 INCH TODAY...WHICH WILL RESULT IN LOCAL ACCUMULATIONS OF
AN INCH OF SNOW. THERE WILL LITTLE OR NO ACCUMULATION ELSEWHERE.

Below, Interstate 5 at the Everett Mall earlier this morning:

There are still a few tickets left for this Sunday’s dinner with uber-librarian Nancy Pearl.

The event, from 5-8 p.m. March 24, is in part a celebration of North East Seattle Together’s one-year anniversary of launching its non-profit senior services.

Most of the cost of the event is tax-deductible.

For more information about NEST or this event, contact Judy Kinney, NEST executive director, at [email protected], 206.525.6378, or visit www.nestseattle.org.

Disclosure: Mike, the author of this post, is also a NEST board member.

Update 3 p.m .: Max Maple Leaf wind so far 34 mph.

Update 10 a.m.: Tiffany commented on our Facebook page: It’s TOO windy! Two 3″ tree limbs just came down on my deck.

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Yes, it’s spring. Has been for, oh, five hours now. The days will be longer than the nights, and the peas are coming up at the Maple Leaf Community Garden.

On this first morning of spring our rain gauge measures .93 inches, and it’s 50 degrees outside.

That’s about as good as the day is likely to get.

From the National Weather Service’s Seattle office:

The next 36-48 hours will be stormy over western Washington, with a large range of wild weather. This includes heavy rain, heavy mountain snow, strong wind, thunderstorms with small hail and wet snow, high surf along the Pacific coast, and brief spotty lowland snow accumulations on Thursday morning, so hang on!

The cold front that started arriving about a half-hour ago (9 a.m.) should drop temperatures in the neighborhood to the mid-30s tonight and Thursday night, with some chance of snow (but no accumulations) in the higher hills.

But the big story today is wind:

913 AM PDT WED MAR 20 2013

NOW…

A FRONT PASSING THROUGH THE AREA WILL BRING INCREASED WINDS AND STRONG GUSTS THROUGH NOON TODAY. SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS UP TO 30 MPH ARE POSSIBLE WITH WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH.

LIGHT TO MODERATE RAINFALL WILL ACCOMPANY THESE WINDS…AND ISOLATED LOCATIONS MAY SEE BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL.

Gusts to 27 mph have already arrived in Maple Leaf, so watch out for power outages!

(This is a sponsored story written by John Madrid, Managing Broker with John L. Scott Real Estate).

It continues to be a seller’s market in Northeast Seattle including Maple Leaf, Bryant, Laurelhurst, University, View Ridge and Wedgwood neighborhoods where there is a little less than a one and half months of single-family home inventory.

If you are a fortunate home seller expect to see a lot of open house traffic, buyer “love letters” and possibly multiple offers if your home is located in a popular neighborhood and is competitively priced.

And what to do if you are a home buyer?

First, get your financial ducks in-a-row by getting preapproved by a local lender who is available in the evenings and on weekends.

Second, try to get out to see homes before the weekend which will give you more time to line-up pre-inspections if offers aren’t being reviewed for a few days.

Third, reduce the number of contingencies within your comfort level. Finally, write that love letter even if it’s just a short paragraph in addition to a summary of your offers terms. Don’t go overboard but in this market it just may help you stand out from the pack.

More info on other Seattle neighborhoods can be found at http://www.live206.com/seattle-area-market-update-c21537.html

John Madrid is a Managing Broker with John L. Scott Real Estate - University Village and is a 2005-2012 Seattle Magazine “Five Star” Agent. His clients include both home buyers and sellers. He can be reached at 206-498-1880, [email protected] or www.live206.com.

Statistics are deemed reliable but are not guaranteed. All information should be verified to the users own satisfaction.

Do you “Reside with Pride” in Maple Leaf? Now you can flaunt it with new T-shirts available at Blue Saucer, 9127 Roosevelt Way N.E.

In addition to wearing your Maple Leaf pride, you’ll also be supporting Maple Leaf resident Billy Thompson, who designed the T-shirts through his streetwear company 20Six FRESH.

Stone Ground Coffee opened less than two weeks ago in the parking lot of Ricks Tire and Chevron at Northeast 85th Street and Fifth Avenue Northeast, but already the mother-daughter duo running it feel like a part of the community.

“People in this neighborhood are so nice and welcoming,” said Cherie Stone, pictured above, the mother part of the team leasing the drive-through coffee stand. “We’ve met a lot of really interesting people.”

Cherie and her daughter, Wendy, officially opened the stand March 4, but they’re waiting to announce their grand opening until they have a proper sign and have a better feel for the products that the neighborhood wants.

“If you want something that we don’t have, please tell us,” Stone said. “We really want to cater to what people want around here.”

Although they now sell only pre-packaged foods such as muffins, cookies and scones, Stone said they’re hoping to partner with a local bakery to try to add fresh-baked products every day.

“We’d really like to work within the local community,” she added.

In the next 30 days, Stone Ground Coffee also plans to add smoothies to its menu, and is hoping to partner with Chevron so people who buy eight or more gallons of gas will get $1 off their coffee.

Stone Ground Coffee is open from 5 a.m to 2 p.m Monday-Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The playground this morning. The zip line runs between the two red arches.

In a couple of weeks it will be time to haul out the work gloves and come help build parts of the new Maple Leaf playground.

Or call it by its new name: the Maple Leaf Family Terrace. Complete with a zip line!

The city is currently working on various pieces of play equipment at the terrace, but neighbors will have the opportunity to help construct two structures (seen at right) and put plants in the ground.

No tools are required, and local businesses will be providing lunch, but bring a beverage.

The dates are Saturday, April 6th, with both morning and afternoon signups, and Sunday April 7th if work remains to be done.

For more information visit the Maple Leaf Community Council’s “build” page. And the online signup to volunteer is here.

The last time we looked the new Maple Leaf Reservoir Park - and Family Terrace - was to open this fall. (Update: Family Terrace to open for summer! See Donna’s comment, below. Donna chairs the community council committee on the park.)