Carol emails us news about an attempted vehicle prowl Wednesday at Northeast 95th Street and 12th Avenue Northeast.
We parked (and locked) our truck off the alley behind the property about 2 p.m. on June 20, 2012. When we returned about 7:30 p.m. to get something we had forgotten we found the key wouldn’t go into the lock.
Discovered that someone had used something, probably a screwdriver, to try to open the lock. Scratched the door and the entire lock was loosened and pushed into the door.
We notified our renter so that if the truck goes missing, she would know to call us and the police. Also wanted her to be aware for her own vehicle safety as well as neighbors. We were surprised this happened in such a short period of time and during daylight hours!
The map at right shows all car crimes - stolen vehicles and vehicle prowls - reported to police so far in June. There are a dozen incidents - some of the icons represent more than one crime.
Seattle Magazine’s annual Best of the year issue is letting readers call the shots this time, which means Maple Leaf needs you!
For the first time, readers are invited to vote for the Best of Neighborhoods, which in addition to letting you vote for your favorite neighborhood includes such categories as:
Best restaurant
Neighborhood hero
Best bar
Best hair salon
Best neighborhood blog (hint hint Maple Leaf Life!)
The list goes on and on. So make your opinion known, and make Maple Leaf proud! (It should be noted that Maple Leaf Life requested that Maple Leaf be added to the list, with the promise that our readers would vote in droves. Don’t make us regret that!)
Customers who walked into Maple Leaf Ace Hardware for decades were greeted by Jack Rucker, who worked at the neighborhood fixture for 27 years.
Jack died June 10th after a battle with cancer. He only retired from the store in early May, as his disease worsened, according to the store staff. He was 84.
” Jack had a great life — he lived the way he wanted, enjoyed his family, his garden, his friends and church, and was always learning and doing,” writes Kathy Stephenson, store co-owner.
A number of people have left comments on the store’s Facebook page, one writing: “This wonderful man was the wonderful start to most of my Sunday mornings for the past 20 years or so. He was warm and welcoming always, and that sense of sincere welcome will be deeply mourned and sorely missed.”
The Facebook post also states: “He treated our most important customers- the kids and dogs- so well and always had a smile ready.”
Jack was born and raised in Pullman, Washington, served in Korea and attended Washington State College and the University of Washington, where he received a degree in forestry in 1957.
According to the store:
He worked until the early 1960s in the Wood Products Lab at the University of Washington when he received a $1,000 Ottinger Fellowship, which he used to get his Masters. He then went to work at US Plywood for over twenty years. When they closed in 1985, Jack was hired by Tom and Karen Stephenson here at Ace. During most of this time and into the early 2000s Jack managed the Wood Collection for the University of Washington.
Until this last year he was still attending lectures and current events programs at the U.W. Jack was a handyman with many interests, including an expertise and deep knowledge of lumber. In the past, Jack had spun wooden bowls that were sold here at the store. For years, Jack was also responsible for producing the soil sifters that we offer. Jack was an exceptionally loyal crew member, but his dedication to his family and his church was stronger than his commitment to our store. Jack leaves behind his wife and two children. We wish them peace and share in their sorrow. He will be missed.
He is survived by his wife Evelyn; two children, Andrea and Paul; Paul’s wife Noy; and two grandchildren, Saetia and Ashland.
His memorial service is Sunday, July 8, at 1:30 p.m. at University Congregational Church of Christ, 4515 16th Ave. N.E. From the obituary: “In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to UCHA, c/o UCCUCC, 4515 16th Ave. N.E, Seattle, WA 98105-4201, or P-Patch Trust, PO Box 19748, Seattle, WA 98109-6748.”
The free summer block party to bring together residents of North Seattle returns this weekend to the Oak Tree Cinema parking lot as we again Celebrate North Seattle.
The third annual event, sponsored by Oak Tree Dental, the U.S. Navy and Epic Life Church, is from 2-6 p.m. Sunday, June 24.
Entertainment for the entire family will include live music from local band Buckets of Rain, bounce houses and carnival games for the kids, food, and door prizes and gift from a number of local businesses and community groups. From a news release:
“We love what we’ve experienced in this event,” says block party logistics coordinator AveriNorgaard. “To me, this is more than just a block party - it’s a collective step toward creating community along Aurora Avenue in North Seattle.”
In addition to entertainment, local businesses will have informative booths, and North Seattle Rotary Club and Salvation Army are bringing back the Shoes for Souls Project, which aims to collect 1,000 pairs of new shoes for children and youth in crisis situations in the North Seattle. Event attendees are encouraged to donate a brand new pair of shoes to help reach the goal.
Kevin emails on Saturday afternoon: “I wanted to let you know that our house was broken into last night. Thankfully my wife and I were not at home and are safe.”
They live near 12th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 94th Street, and had gone to a birthday party on Northeast 98th Street.
When his wife returned home about 10:30 p.m. she noticed a kitchen cupboard open. “When she went to take a shower 30 minutes later she walked through our bedroom and noticed drawers were open and papers were scattered about.”
It appears that the burglar entered through our back french doors (off of our back deck). There was some damage to the wood part of the door leading the police officer to believe that the person pried the door open with a crowbar or something similar. Even with our lights turned on, our back yard is quite dark and secluded - without lights on it very dark.
It appears that the burglar took my wife’s wedding ring:(, possibly some other jewelry, and dumped a jar full of coins into a hand bag (we think that 2 hand bags were taken). Our laptop (which was sitting out) did not get taken and we haven’t noticed anything else missing. It seems as if this person was looking quite specifically for jewelry and money.
I occasionally read the ‘Maple Leaf Life’ and wanted our neighborhood to know and be on the lookout.
Hundreds of people showed up for community meetings, and after one we reported:
Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 15, eight homes were broken into in Maple Leaf, five in Roosevelt, and 18 in Ravenna. At least a half-dozen burglary victims were in the audience.
June 6, 1500 block of Northeast 100th Street. A woman returned home in the afternoon to find her front door pried open and jewelry stolen.
June 3, 1500 block of Northeast 88th Street. A woman returned home in the early afternoon to find a front window open and jewelry, laptop computer and checkbook missing.
June 1, 500 block of Northeast 102nd Street. During the day somebody broke in a back window, took jewelry and a camera, and left through the back door.
Sometime between May 31 and June 4, 7800 block of Lake City Way. Someone pushed in a basement window and took a computer and cash.
Café Racer staff, supporters, and friends have come together to launch a one-stop link to benefit surviving family members, Leonard Meuse -the only surviving victim, Café Racer and the community at large who were affected by the terrible tragedy of May 30th, 2012 through donations, community fund raising events and guidance in healing.
It takes a whole community to heal from such an unspeakable tragedy. It is our effort to create an easily accessible resource for those interested in participating in the healing process by various ways and means. In the recent days since May 30, 2012 we have been continually inspired by the outpouring of support from the community at large, businesses, and all the creative methods of healing as demonstrated by the Seattle music and arts communities. The on-going mission of www.caferacerlove.org is to continue this support – to make sure that not only the friends and loved ones we lost are remembered, to aid victims’ families and Len Meuse through his physical and personal recovery but also to keep all interested individuals, businesses and organizations informed on how to best to accomplish these goals.
For more information go to the website and click on the “donate” tab.
Just in time for the tail end of asparagus season, the weekly Lake City Farmers Market kicks off Thursday, June 14, from 3-7 p.m. next to the Lake City Library at Northeast 125th Street and 28th Avenue Northeast.
The Seattle Public Library’s 2012 Summer Reading Program for children kicked off Friday and continues through August 26th. This year’s program celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair with the theme “Read Your Way Into the Future.” Kids can sign up online or in person at any of the 27 Library locations. Participants can track and rate books read, collect stickers and online badges, and create an online avatar:
Children who participate in the Summer Reading Program will receive a free paperback book and a pass to the Burke Museum after reading 10 books. Children who read 10 books by Wednesday, Aug. 1 will be entered into a drawing for the city librarian’s popular Breakfast of Champions event held at the Space Needle in August. One winner from each Library location will be selected. Participating in the Summer Reading Program is a great way for kids to have fun and improve reading skills during the summer break from school. A 2004 study in the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk found that having elementary school students read just four or five books during the summer can prevent the reading-achievement losses that normally occur over those months.
In addition to the summer-long program, the 2012 “Words of Wonder Tour” features the work of four new authors of fiction for young readers from2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 23 at the Northeast Branch, 6801 35th Ave. N.E. Featured books and authors include:
For more information, call the branch at 206-684-7539 or Ask a Librarian. This is free and open to the public-no registration is required. Free parking is available at the branch.
So, do tell! Did Wild Root or any other part of Maple Leaf make the cut?
If you want to find out for yourself, the indie film starring Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass and Jake Johnson is showing at the new Sundance Cinemas (formerly Metro Cinemas in the U-District) and downtown at Regal Meridian 16.
We hear a lot about the “war” between cars and cycles. It even crops up, benignly, in the comments on our Northgate Station post earlier this month.
On Friday we got a different kind of story from Sarah, who wanted to reach out to a cyclist she and her husband almost hit in one of our roundabouts.
The incident apparently ended with the cyclist screaming at the car, and Sarah and her husband - cyclists themselves - distressed.
“I didn’t like how things were left; of course there was no opportunity for communication,” she writes. “But we are neighbors up here and I feel like it’s important that we all be on the same team, especially with rising crime in our city, etc. I’d like to think he was just having a bad day and is not naturally this violent a person, but I was totally shaken by this.
“Is there any chance you could post the following open apology to this fellow, just in case he might happen to see it? The thing I love about Maple Leaf is how tightly knit the community is; this morning was a sad thing, and I want to feel like maybe we can make amends.”
A Maple Leaf non-profit that serves deaf woman and their children is currently featured on the Times Square billboard in New York.
Kay Amos, operations manager for the organization, emails: “I wanted to let you know that ADWAS (Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services – we are located in the Maple Leaf area on Northeast 88th Street & Roosevelt Avenue Northeast) has a 15-second video on the CBS Super Screen in Times Square.”
The video, in American Sign Language, is otherwise silent. “This is possibly the first video placement by a Deaf-run agency at Times Square, one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world,” according to CBS.
Underwritten by Convo Communications, Kay says the video will run for 15 seconds every hour, for 18 hours, until mid July.
Headquartered in Maple Leaf, ADWAS runs a shelter here with 19 individual units of transitional housing for very low income families who are homeless.
A woman was trapped inside a Nissan Scion in Maple Leaf this afternoon after a two-car collision at the intersection of Northeast 79th Street and Eighth Avenue Northeast.
“Neighbors were on the scene within seconds; police within a couple of minutes, followed by fire trucks and aid vehicles,” emails Linda, who sent the photo above. The accident occurred just before 3 p.m.
City dispatch records show fire units were dispatched between 2:59 and 3:11 p.m. The accident was dispatched as a “heavy rescue,” involving well over a dozen units.
We couldn’t tell how she was. “We couldn’t tell how she was. She was in shock but coherent; they had to cut the back of the car off to get her out.
“This is a terrible intersection — this is the second flipped-over vehicle accident I’ve seen. Other smaller collisions occur, too, and we often hear and see near-collisions.”
Linda said cars speed up the the hill heading eastbound on 79th from Fifth Avenue Northeast toward Roosevelt Way Northeast, especially if cars are backed up from the light at Fifth and Northeast 80th Street.
“Our neighbors on the corner have inquired about getting a traffic circle here, but the City said there is no budget and it isn’t a real problem. I’d say it’s an extremely real problem.”
Christina emails to say that she and her husband found an injured cat in their yard on Northeast 102nd Street between Roosevelt Way Northeast and Eighth Avenue Northeast.
“A calico and white kitty crawled up our walkway on her front paws and hid in our bushes. Her back legs were limp. My husband, on his way to work and to take my son to school, saw the kitty and tried to approach her, she was clearly in pain.”
This happened the morning of May 30 (an earlier email to us failed to send).
They took her to the Maple Leaf Veterinary Care Clinic. “There, she was given pain medicine and a sedative so that the doctor could check her injuries. She was found without a tag or a microchip. Her right ear was clipped.
“Unfortunately, she had severe neurological injuries and began having seizures. She needed to be put down. The animal control gave the doctor permission to euthanize the kitty. I stayed with her during this. (Also, I went door to door in my neighborhood in attempt to find the owner before she was put down,)” Christina emails.
Several neighbors did remember having seen the cat, she said. “I would like it if anyone recognizes the kitty that they call Maple Leaf Veterinary Care Center for information at (206) 524-2020. Thank you.”
The Maple Leaf Vet, at 1321 N.E. 80th St., has previously offered to put up fliers for lost pets, and to scan them for microchips.
Sound Transit officials will provide more details about upcoming construction, parking and other topics about Northgate Station at an open house from 6-8 p.m. tonight, June 4, at Olympic View Elementary School, 504 N.E. 95th St. Earlier this spring in March Sound Transit held a similar construction update. Here’s a sneak peek at tonight’s briefing:
According to Crosscut, one of the options under consideration is the creation new garage with room for up to 920 spaces. From the article:
The garage is meant as “temporary mitigation” for the parking that will be lost during construction. Opponents, including Maple Leaf Community Council transportation committee chair David Miller, note that the project will only permanently displace 117 parking spots. A 900-car garage, in other words, would represent a net gain of nearly 800 spots, in an area where future developments are supposed to be transit, bike, and pedestrian-oriented.
“We’re opposed to the idea of building more parking at Northgate,” says Miller, who believes a “much better idea” would be to build a pedestrian bridge from North Seattle Community College across I-5 to link college students and commuters to the light-rail station. “If you’re going to spend X number of millions on a garage, you’re better off spending the same amount of money on a pedestrian bridge,” he says.
Do you have an opinion on the proposed garage or other changes? Attend tonight’s meeting or share your concerns/ideas via e-mail: [email protected]; snail mail at Sound Transit, 401 S. Jackson St., Seattle, WA 98104; or call 888-889-6368; TTY Relay 711
2012. When we returned about 7:30 p.m. to get something we had forgotten we found the key wouldn’t go into the lock.
