Once a week at Maple Leaf’s Olympic View Community Church, expect to hear words of wisdom, encouragement, hilarity, humility — and quite possibly some very believable BSing — floating around one of the larger meeting rooms as the Notable Northgaters Toastmaster group meets each Wednesday.

From 5:30-7 p.m., the group that was formed in 1988 fulfills its mission to help people improve their leadership and communication skills, one toast at a time.

“People come for all types of reasons,” said longstanding member Fred. “I come because I like to laugh. But I also learn something new every time I come.”

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit organization that has been helping people gain confidence when speaking (and then some) around the globe since it was founded in 1934. In the district the Northgate group falls in, which runs from Kent to Bellingham, there are nearly 200 different groups that meet regularly.

But the club isn’t just about public speaking. Learning how to give and take feedback is also an important tool, as each talk is evaluated by a specific member who must comment on what they liked and offer possible areas of improvement.

“You can’t help but get better,” Fred said. (more…)

After more than 70 years in a converted residential home on Lake City Way, North Seattle Veterinary Clinic has changed locations to 11032 Eighth Ave. N.E. and plans an open house from 1-4 p.m. April 7.

Located in the former 24 Hour Fitness, the new vet clinic is on the upper level of the Northgate Village shopping center between the U.S. Postal Service and Hot Yoga Inc.

At 4,100 square feet, the clinic is nearly twice the size and a more convenient space than their previous location, which “became a bit of a maze” after years of additions, said Practice Manager Natalie Ervin.

“We designed the new space for ourselves to give us the best use of space,” she said. “In a converted house, you’re limited by what you can do.”

Although it’s located right across the street from Maple Leaf in Pinehurst, Ervin said the clinic already has a number of clients from Maple Leaf, and hopes to grow even more into its new space. (more…)

We’ve heard from several neighbors recently about car prowls - the most common crime in Maple Leaf (and the city as a whole).

We certainly have our share, particularly toward the Northgate area.

Jen emailed overnight:

I just wanted to alert everyone that there were at least two car prowling incidents in the Kona Kitchen parking lot (located at Fifth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 85th Street) over the weekend, including one in the middle of the day.

Earlier Seth (from the Hudson New American Public House) tweeted “my car and several others broken into late last week. Popped the hood and stole all the batteries?!?! At Northeast 72nd Street and Eighth Avenue Northeast.”

Last week we totted up the burglaries reported in Maple Leaf so far this year. We came up with roughly 33 break-ins to homes, businesses or storage units.

Compare that with right at 40 vehicles broken into (car prowls) and nine vehicles stolen so far this year.

After the burglary story was posted Laura commented: “I live at 97th and 15th. Our car had a window broken about a month ago while it was parked in our driveway overnight. My diaper bag was stolen (I should have never left it in there- I know, I know). Please call the police if you see ANYTHING odd- they prefer that you call them before something happens so they can help.”

About the weekend car prowl at the Kona Kitchen, Jen continued:

Our car was broken into at approximately 3:50 p.m. on Saturday, March 9th, while we were dining in the restaurant. The rear passenger window was smashed and a backpack that was on the floor of the car, but not visible from the outside (it was covered by an empty grocery bag), was stolen.

In my case, I assumed that since it was the middle of the day, and we were parked in a very public and busy area beneath a security camera, and my backpack was not visible, there was very little risk, but you can never be too careful.

Despite the recent spate of new businesses opening in Maple Leaf, including LeBlanc Floors and Espresso Repair Experts, there also are some area closures to report in addition to the drastic changes under way on Northgate Way.

On the far southeast end of Maple Leaf, there is now a for lease sign posted at iBurger and Shake, which had a good run in the parking lot of Maple Leaf Village after opening in June 2010 at 8000 Lake City Way.

And a “Roosevelt Dad” tipped us off to an article in seattlepi.com about the closure of the Baskin & Robbins at Green Lake, which had been a fixture at the popular park since the 1970s. Although the Northgate location still is open, at 826 N.E. Northgate Way, its view of a parking lot on Northgate Way lacks a bit of the ambiance compared to the former store directly across the street from Green Lake.

Roosevelt Dad adds: “I think the new Green Lake frozen yogurt store and the trend toward healthier treats (or at least ones perceived as healthier) must have put the final nails in BR’s coffin.”

Before you head out the door in search of a few of Northgate’s favorite ethnic restaurants, you should take stock of what’s closed as plans develop for a seven-story building just east of the 24 Hour Fitness at the corner of Eighth Avenue Northeast and Northgate Way.

Of the businesses shown above, we know that Espresso Repair Experts has moved to Maple Leaf at 9522 Roosevelt Way N.E., Northgate Rare Coins & Precious Metals relocated to 11319 Pinehurst Way N.E., and Frame It also moved nearby to what is apparently now called the BevMo! Plaza at 10712 Fifth Ave. N.E. Masala of India Cuisine is still open for now, and isn’t moving far with a sign already up underneath the 24 Hour Fitness next door.

As for Kim Nails and Pho in the USA, the buildings are simply empty and vacant.

The situation is even more grim on the eastern half of the development. Although a sign at Indo Cafe indicates its moved to 13754 Aurora Ave. N.E., and that the Sprint has moved next to Masala, there are no moving signs at Scorecard Bar & Grill (which actually closed its doors in August), Sunny’s Hair Design, Cigar Land, International Salon, Savvy Mattress Outlet or Countryside Donut House, which we should note had boasted the No. 1 spot on our restaurants list.

As of Sunday, Supercuts at 543 N.E. Northgate Way was the only business still open, although the year-old BECU branch and SleepCountry in a separate building just to the north appear to be staying.

And what did all of these businesses close or move for? A seven-story building with 22,967-square-feet of commercial space, 262 residential units and 270 underground parking spaces.

As you can see above, if you don’t like it, it’s too late to say anything because the comment period ended nearly a year ago.

But you’ll have other opportunities as there are likely even more developments planned since the Gene Juarez Academy just south of that retail area also has relocated to 6007 A - 244th St. S.W. in Mountlake Terrace.

If you’re wondering how construction for the light rail station coming to Northgate will impact Maple Leaf residents in the next few years, you may have already noticed it beginning with utility work on First Avenue Northeast.

Sound Transit recently announced that utility work was set to begin in early March to relocate overhead power lines and poles where the trains will exit the underground tunnel in their approach to Northgate Station.

Power lines and poles on First Avenue, between Northeast 92nd and 97 streets, will be moved from west side of the street to the east side to accommodate the portal at Northeast 94th Street and First Avenue Northeast.

That work is expected to be completed by July.

Update 3/13: The family wish list has been updated and converted into a Google Doc, (click through once): Wish List. Also, as of this morning the chickens were still there. -Mike

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A little over a week ago both Lisa and MsDedy messaged us just after 11 p.m.: “Anyone know what all the sirens are about?”

We do now. The sirens were the sounds of fire trucks racing to an occupied home in the1200 block of Northeast 100th Street. The first engines arrived within minutes late on March 1 and called for more help. Within a half-hour, 19 trucks or other fire units had responded, including a public information officer.

Photo courtesy Seattle Fire Department/John Odegard

“At 10:54 p.m. a call came into the Fire Alarm Center reporting a fire at a house located in the 1200 block of NE 100th Street. A mother and two children safely evacuated the home by the time firefighters arrived,” the fire department reports on its Fire Line Web site.

The family says their lives may have been saved by their dog, Hank, who alerted them before the smoke alarm went off. “He is our hero,” emails Lucinda King, the mom.

The first arriving engine company found flames shooting from the back and side of the one-story home with basement. Firefighters cut holes in the roof to vent off the smoke and hot gases inside the house. It took about an hour to fully extinguish the flames. One firefighter received minor burns while fighting the fire. Medics transported the firefighter to Harborview Medical Center where the firefighter received treatment and was released.

After extinguishing the fire, crews found a deceased dog inside the residence.

The fire investigator called it an accidental fire caused by an overheated electrical outlet. The damage estimate is $150,000.

The family - Lucinda and her two girls - made it out of the house wearing only their pajamas. Their cat Banzo (Garbanzo) also survived. “Everyone on 100th knows him, as he considers himself the official ambassador,” Lucinda emails.

The Kings were initially assisted by the Red Cross, and are now staying at the Silver Cloud Inn just north of University Village, at 5036 25th Ave. N.E.

Now they need the neighborhood’s help, with everything from a place to stay to a temporary home for their chickens: Sunny, Violet and Klaus.

Here is their Wish List. (Click through once.) Donations can be delivered to the Silver Cloud front desk, or if bulky to a location in Wallingford. The contact there is Karla: [email protected]

Cash donations can be made at any Wells Fargo bank to the account named Lucinda “Cindy Malone” King & Family Benefit Fund. Donations are also being collected at Sacajawea Elementary School.

Update: SPD: At approximately 4:49 p.m. Seattle Police officers located and arrested the suspect in south King County.

Developing: Police are searching for 46-year-old Carolyn Piksa in connection with this case. (Image courtesy SPD) |

All Seattle Parks and Recreation facilities and parks are closed this afternoon; shooting suspect has keys to them.

So is North Seattle Community College.

Seattle Times is updating here.

Police are searching for a Parks and Recreation Department employee after she allegedly shot a man in the chest at a department maintenance building north of Green Lake.

The victim, 65-year-old Bill Keller, was shot just before 2 p.m. at the building at North 82nd Street and Densmore Avenue North, police said. He is at Harborview Medical Center in critical but stable condition, according to police.

Keller is the executive director of the Associated Recreation Council (ARC), a non-profit that runs the city’s community centers. ARC is based in the building where the shooting took place.

The suspect has been identified as Carolyn “Zoom” Piksa, 47 46, a Parks Department employee since 1986. Police say she may have keys to all of the city’s community centers, so all have been locked down.

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Various news organizations and fire and police are responding to a reported shooting just north of Green Lake.

The shooting may have occurred in a Seattle Parks and Recreation office, our news partner The Seattle Times is reporting.

There are unconfirmed reports that the suspect may be an employee of the Parks Department. Police are looking for her near the Bitter Lake Community Center.

The shooter is described as a white female, 47, with blue stocking cap and beige or Army green jacket. She may be driving a dark-colored SUV.

Police say Broadview-Thompson School, Bagley Elementary and Wilson Pacific are in shelter in place during the search for the shooter.

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A 70 -65-year-old man is reported injured, and officers are looking for a woman with a gun. Schools and the Green Lake Community Center locked down. Developing.

The incident occurred at Northeast 80th Street and Densmore Avenue North, two blocks north of the lake.

Jennifer emails overnight:

I’d like to report a (burglary) at my house today, 3/7 at 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 100th Street.

They broke in through the back door and stole a bunch of electronics, jewelry and items I was going to wear for my wedding. My dog was found shaking in the corner but seemed unhurt.

If anyone out there saw anything please don’t hesitate to contact police. I think it’s important that this neighborhood is notified of such instances so they can be on the lookout for their property as well.

Jennifer may not know it, but the 911 response map shows both her burglary AND a second burglary Thursday three blocks to the south, at 15th and Northeast 97th Street. The two were reported to police within six minutes of one another, around 7 p.m.

That’s not uncommon. There have been a number of burglaries committed just blocks apart.

Overall so far this year, the police crime report map shows right at 33 burglaries reported in Maple Leaf, or roughly one every two days.

That doesn’t mean 33 homes have been broken into. Some of the reports are of “BURG NOFORCE NONRES,” which often means a storage unit.

Others are minor commercial or business burglaries. But not all.

On the afternoon of Jan. 16th, a man left his wife, who is partly deaf, asleep upstairs in their home in the 2000 block of Northeast 105st Street while he went shopping with his daughter.

He returned around 7 p.m. to find the front door had apparently been kicked open, according to a police report. His wife reported hearing a loud bang downstairs, followed by barking from the family dog, and speculated the dog scared off the burglar.

It happened last summer, but criminal charges have just now been filed.

According to court documents, a road rage incident on North Northgate Way was defused when Seafair Pirates jumped out of a bus to confront a 27-year-old man with a knife who had already slashed the tire of a vehicle he believed had cut him off.

The incident occurred the afternoon of July 26, the court documents state, and the police crime map indicates the location was Northgate and Corliss Avenue North, just the other side of Interstate 5.

The victim had pulled in front of an Acura driven by 27-year-old Carlos Patrick Alvine, according to the charging papers. At the traffic light, Alvine approached the victim’s open driver-side window and brandished a knife, yelling “you cut people off you’re gonna get killed,” the court documents state.

Alvine stabbed the victim’s left rear tire twice, and the victim “felt trapped with nowhere to escape for safety,” according to the documents. But two Seafair Pirates riding in a bus stopped in front of the victim’s car came to his aid.

“(The victim” ) believed Alvin would have hurt him if he hadn’t noticed the rear bus doors opening and seeing the Seafair Pirates come out to help,” the documents state.

The attacker drove off, according to the documents, and later told police he did stab the tire but denied threatening the victim. He is charged with second-degree assault.

It turns out the new Sunday service by Lux Communities that we announced last month at Maple Leaf Evanglical Church may be the only service at the church at 1059 N.E. 96th, at least temporarily.

Micah Dodson with Lux Communities told us the new church is leasing the space from what remains of Maple Leaf Church, which officially closed its doors in November. We’re trying to get details on what happened, along with information on how to help the community out.

In the meantime, Lux is offering Sunday services twice a month starting this month, with hopes of expanding to weekly in October.

Starting tomorrow, women are invited for a new weekly craft night, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. each Thursday in March. Dodson writes:

Want to spend an evening creating or getting ideas from what others create? Want to connect with other ladies? Want to just find space to sit and stare off into space? Do you want or NEEEED a tasty beverage?
Join us for an evening of crafts and cocktails through the month of March! Bring your own craft, a book, an iPad, an idea, a friend, a sister…there will be tools and extra (colored) glass to help anyone who is interested in making a mosaic… Come hang out!!

This weekend, Maple Leaf’s Sacajawea Elementary School, 9501 20th Ave. N.E., is holding its biggest fundraiser of the year, the Love Boat Spring Auction, and you’re invited.

The annual event from 5-11 p.m. March 9 at The Great Hall at Green Lake, 7220 Woodlawn Ave. N.E., features both a silent and a live auction, with all proceeds benefiting students at the school. According to the Sacajawea PTA, it collects 60 percent of its funding at the auction, and that the money will go toward support the school’s reading tutors, afterschool programs in theater and music, curriculum enrichment funds and more.

Although tickets to the dinner are sold out, standing room tickets can be purchased at the door for $25.

Last year’s auction. Photo courtesy Dane Doerflinger Photography.

Maple Leaf resident Stacy Brewer is offering neighbors the chance to learn how her garden grows through Seattle Seedling’s Spring Fling, which will include a class on “Seeds and Seedlings,” followed by a lunch prepared by Brewer.

Photo from Seattle Seedling by Lori Eanes.

She writes on her blog that at the spring quarter class:

You will learn techniques for growing vegetables from seed, an economical and rewarding way to get your garden started. We’ll cover square foot gardening, seed sowing and strategies for thinning and transplanting new seedlings. This class will be hands-on and an awesome confidence booster for beginning gardeners! You’ll get the skills you need to get your own garden growing, whether you have a large garden or just a few containers on the balcony.

In addition to leaving with a full belly, you’ll also get a “garden nerd goody bag” filled with help from Brewer’s friends and Seattle Seed Co.

The first class March 30 is already full, but she’s got a few spots left in the April 7 class, which is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost is $50 and you can RSVP by emailing Brewer at [email protected].

UPDATE: The April 7 class is also now full, so Brewer has added two more classes May 4 and 11, also from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. She notes that participants will be working on her Giving Garden during the hands-on portion of each class, and that children 10 and older may participate.

“Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp” begins a three-weekend run today at Northwest Puppet Center, 9123 15th Ave. N.E.

Carter Family Puppets is bringing its own original production of this Middle Eastern folk tale from “Arabian Nights” to the stage with “hand-carved puppets, beautiful scenery, special effects and plenty of laughs,” according to the Puppet Center.

Showtimes are at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from March 2-17. Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets or at the box office 30 minutes before showtime; cost is $10.50 for adults, $8.50 for children up to age 16, and $9 for seniors 65 and older.

The 27-year-old suspect in a string of six attacks near here remains jailed on $250,000 bail, the King County Prosecutor’s office says.

The man, arrested Tuesday afternoon after he attacked a woman at Roosevelt Way Northeast and Northeast 71st Street, was identified in court charging papers today as Robin P. McDougall-Treacy, whose last known address was near Ravenna Park but who told investigators he now keeps his belongings in a rented storage unit at Roosevelt and Northeast 70th Street.

McDougall-Treacy was charged with second-degree robbery for the last of the six attacks, according to the charging papers, which also note he has a prior drug conviction and a conviction of fourth-degree assault for an attack on a juvenile in 2000, an attack that was originally charged as third-degree child rape.

His next court appearance is March 14.

The attacks began Feb. 2nd, and occurred through the Wedgwood, Roosevelt and Ravenna neighborhoods.

“This series is being investigated as a pattern crime, including six robbery cases to date,” police write in court documents. “In each case a lone older victim is confronted from behind by the lone white male as the victim is walking down the sidewalk.

“The suspect then slices a purse strap, or clothing in one case involving an elderly male victim, using what has been described as a knife and steals the victim’s purse/wallet,” the documents state.

On Tuesday afternoon police received several 911 calls from civilians reporting they saw, and in some cases were chasing, a robber carrying a knife and running through backyards near Roosevelt, the documents state.

Officers caught the man hiding in a backyard near Northeast 71st and 10th Avenue Northeast at about 1:38, the documents state. He or his clothing were identified by the robbery victim and several witnesses.

The victim told officers she was walking on the sidewalk at Roosevelt and Northeast 71st when she felt a slight tug on her purse strap, turned and saw the suspect with a knife. She wound up on the ground in the struggle, the court documents state.

Her stolen purse contained, among other things, her cell phone. When a detective called the number of that cell phone, “a phone could be heard ringing inside McDougall-Treacy’s backpack, that was recovered with him at the time of arrest,” according to the documents.

A search of the storage unit turned up two folding knives, one resembling the weapon in a previous attack, and a purse, the documents state.