The 2011-2012 season for Maple Leaf’s Northwest Puppet Center begins in November, and it’s offering season subscriptions for $30/child and $35/adult for all five shows:

QWETI: TALES OF THE MAKAH TRIBE
by Carter Family Marionettes
Nov. 12-20, 2011

CENERENTOLA: THE ITALIAN CINDERELLA
by Carter Family Puppets
Dec. 10-18, 2011

THUMBELINA: THE ORIGINAL FLOWER CHILD
by Oregon Shadow Theatre
Jan. 14-29, 2012

THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS BY A. WOLF
by Paul Mesner Puppets
Feb. 11-19, 2012

THE ODYSSEY
by Carter Family Puppets
March 3-18, 2012

Showtimes are at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sundays. Subscriptions are available via Brown Paper Tickets or by calling 1 -800-838-3006.

Also, Northwest Puppet Center, 9123 15th Ave. N.E., is seeking volunteers to help out before and after shows. Just send an email to Dmitri Carter at [email protected] for more information or to sign up.

Last week, we had a potentially toxic reminder of the danger that runoff can cause to our own Thornton Creek.

On Wednesday, Oct. 26, Thornton Creek Alliance Vice President Ruth Williams said a heavy white liquid was observed running into the small daylighted area just north of Northeast 105th Street and Eighth Avenue Northeast. She tells friends of the alliance in an email:

Not having any other useful phone numbers with me I called 911. The police arrived right away and they notified SPU and Ecology. In the meantime, a contractor working at the condominiums nearby used a clean drop cloth to cover the outflow culvert which drains into the beaver pond across the street. He and his crew did an admirable job of quickly covering the culvert and using rocks to hold it in place. Nevertheless, some of the liquid found its way into the pond.

The SPU investigator is Eric Autry ([email protected]). His follow-up report is that the material was joint compound, which in an unauthorized action was rinsed into the parking lot drain by an employee of the construction crew. The amount was about two cups. According to the Material Safety Data Sheet this is not toxic to wildlife. I guess we’ll find out. Eric said there were live fish in that daylighted area.

A fine will be levied against the construction company, and the condo home-owners’ association will be required to pay the cost of cleaning their 500 gallon detention tank which still contained some of the joint compound. SPU has had the cleaning done already.

The parade that almost didn’t happen has over 100 kids, critters and adults marching through the neighborhood now.

And … it’s not raining!

Just as they did last year, these several dozen children and adults marched along 12th Avenue Northeast at 11 this a.m.

And it wasn’t raining!

The official Maple Leaf Parade of Costumes starts at 2 p.m. Forecast for that is “scattered showers,” with a high around 57 degrees.

Here’s an update on the neighborhood Parade of Costumes, which runs from 2-4 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday Oct. 30.

Organizer Donna Hartmann-Miller emails: “We are planning on this, rain or shine, so dress appropriately and carry an umbrella.”

More information is in our earlier post, here.

Email [email protected] with questions, comments, or to volunteer. She continues:

“Also, thanks to the businesses who will be participating this year (and for volunteering to join in, responding to this last-minute request): Peaks Frozen Custard, Roosevelt Alehouse, Maxine’s Floral & Gift, Cloud City Coffee, ADWAS, Fine Impressions Gallery, Cafe Javasiti, San Marco Grocery, Kona Kitchen, Blue Saucer, Reckless Video, and Maple Leaf Ace Hardware.

“Roosevelt Alehouse and Maple Leaf Pharmacy are allowing us to use their parking lot to start out the parade and The Perkins School is letting us use their parking lot to end the parade and serve snacks on - many thanks!

“Also thanks to Maple Leaf Life for putting out the word we needed a volunteer and for publicizing this.

“And a last thanks to Edgar from COA and Brooke W. for volunteering (if anyone else would like to help out, we can still use some route support - email me).”

In addition, All The Best Pet Care, 8050 Lake City Way N.E, emailed this morning to say they are repeating their Howl-O-Ween contest today and Sunday.

What could be cuter than pets dressed in Halloween costumes? In our opinion, very little! Bring in your dressed-up pet to be entered into our Halloween pet costume contest. There will be a 1st, 2nd & 3rd place prize. All judging will be done on the night of October 31st and winners will be notified shortly thereafter. Come in anytime during business hours on Saturday the 29th or Sunday the 30th for some early trick-or-treating!

Shown above is Alistair, who won last year’s “Best in Show.”

With Halloween on a Monday this year, Maple Leaf kids have plenty of options to get their fill.

After tomorrow’s third annual Parade of Costumes, from 2-4 p.m. starting at the parking lot behind the Roosevelt Alehouse and circling clockwise to the Perkins School (map at right), kids are invited to another safe (and this time dry) trick-or-treating event from 5-8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31, at Northgate Mall:

Come join the Halloween tradition at Northgate Mall. Enjoy a safe (and dry) space for your little ghosts and goblins to collect their special treats. You can also get a portrait taken at our Halloween Photo Set!

Guidelines for Trick-or-Treating:

* Children age 12 and under only

* No toy weapons

* Masks on children 12 and under only

* Costumes may be worn only during event hours

* Trick-or-treat at participating merchants only while supplies last

And all you adult trick-or-treaters, don’t forget to stop by The Wandering Cafe, 7533 Lake City Way N.E., to pick up you free gourmet lollipop from 4-7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31, from This Charming Candy.

The 15-year-old burglary suspect arrested here Wednesday after a witness chased him down is also a suspect in a robbery, and could be linked to numerous local burglaries, Seattle Police said this afternoon.

“You’ve had quite a flurry of residential burglaries down there,” said Terrie Johnson, police crime prevention coordinator for the North Precinct. “Many of them involve people coming around the back of a house, looting portable electronic equipment from the home. Juveniles are often seen.”

Officers hope they made a dent in the problem with the arrest shorty before noon Wednesday of a 15-year-old who had already been tackled by a neighbor. “Detectives will be trying to link up and charge the suspect with other crimes, residential burglaries being one of them,” Johnson said.

According to the police report, the suspect is a student at South Lake High School on Rainier Avenue South, which our news partners at The Seattle Times described as “the city’s only alternative-high school for at-risk teens.” The report states he is also wanted for investigation of a robbery, which Johnson said occurred in south Seattle.

According to the police report, a neighbor in the 1900 block of Northeast 80th Street heard the sound of glass breaking , “looked out his window and observed a black male looking through the open rear kitchen window of his neighbor’s residence.”

The window was broken and the suspect was standing on a bench he had pushed under the window, the report states. When the suspect saw the neighbor, he ran westbound on Northeast 80th, chased by the neighbor, according to the report. The neighbor won at Northeast 80th and 16th Avenue Northeast, it states. Police arrived and made an arrest.

The report also says a black female was seen standing at the bus stop at Northeast 80 and 19th Avenue Northeast, and a witness said she seemed to be a lookout. She goes to the same high school as the suspect, the report states, adding that she was handcuffed at the scene, but then released.

Details from neighbors who observed the arrest are in our earlier post.

Johnson said nearby home burglaries during the month of October occurred:

• On Northeast 80th in the 300, 1800, 1900 and 2000 blocks.
• On 17th Avenue Northeast in the 7700 block.
• On 15th Avenue Northeast in the 7700 block.
• On 18th Avenue Northeast in the 7700 block.
• On 20th Avenue Northeast in the 7000 block.
• On 24th Avenue Northeast in the 7300 block.
• On Fifth Avenue Northeast in the 8300 block.
• On Ravenna Avenue Northeast in the 8500 block.

The police report on Wednesday’s burglary arrest also mentions a second burglary that occurred an hour earlier and approximately five blocks to the south.

“That arrest was the result of watchful (neighborhood) eyes and great 911 calls,” Johnson said.

It’s back!

The neighborhood has rescued the annual Maple Leaf Parade of Costumes, which in our last post had lost its organizers and seemed in danger of extinction.

It didn’t help that Halloween falls on Monday this year - last year it was on a sunny Sunday and some 200 people turned out for the parade.

But by this afternoon you should be seeing a poster at coffee shops and businesses around town.

“Big Kids, Little Kids, Furry Ones too – show off your costume while parading the Maple Leaf neighborhood with instruments, noisemakers, and freaky sounds. Just like last year, we will be accepting non-perishable food items for local food banks.”

Since many kids (and their parents) will be elsewhere on Halloween Monday, the parade is set for Sunday, Oct. 30, from 2-4 p.m. Details:

Starting at the parking lot behind the Roosevelt Alehouse, winding thru and trick-or-treating at local businesses along the way and ending at Perkins School where Peaks Frozen Custard and other goodies will be served. Join us for the whole route or part of the route (entire route is about 1-1/4 miles and will hopefully take about an hour to walk, including the trick-or-treating).

If you live along the route and want to hand out treats, we ask that you bring your goodie bowl out to the sidewalk so the trick-or-treating can keep moving along the parade route. We really aren’t sure of how many participants we will have, but are asking people to plan on 100.

Thanks to the folks, below, who pulled this together.

Late Wednesday morning Nicholas Tweeted this photo and said: “5 cops at the corner of 16th and 80th.” (You might have seen it on our Twitter stream.)

By the time we got to the scene there were no cops, but today Per at the Wedgwood Community Council forwarded us a thread, saying “FYI. There have been more burglaries reported in the area you shared last week. According to the NE Seattle Moms listserve, the police caught a few suspects yesterday.”

A previous poster had referred to burglaries in an area he described as “north Ravenna/south Maple Leaf/west Wedgwood.”

According to the Mom’s thread:

About 11 a.m. my husband and I were coming home, turning at the 4-way stop of 80th, north onto 20th when one of the young men described below ran across the crosswalk, north on 20th. We were slowing to turn into our driveway and he changed direction, doubling back to 80th. He took off his coat and turned west on 80th. We called 911 and turned the car around to follow. Another car pulled over and the driver (who turns out to be A WITNESS to the runner climbing out the window of his neighbor’s house at 80th and 20th) chased the man and eventually took him to the ground at 80th and 17th where he held him until the police arrived. The man was arrested. The police said they were in the area for a burglary which happened 20 minutes prior.

The thread goes on to say a women in her 20s, accompanied by another man, was also arrested at a nearby bus stop. The men and the woman were black, and possibly similar to descriptions of burglars in the earlier posts.

“A shout out to the police (and so many of them) for responding so fast,” the thread goes on.

“And I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to email descriptions of suspicious activity. It has helped put the radar up for all of us and let us know IT’S OK TO CALL 911 whenever we see something not quite right.”

We’ve asked the Seattle Police for more details. Updated here.

We’re on the hunt for images of neighborhood Halloween decorations. And we want them now.

Should you find a way to take them at night, all orange a’glow, so much the better.

This afternoon Sgt. Dianne Newsom sent us this photo of pumpkins carved by Ingraham High School students and on display at the North Police Precinct.

Here’s a couple more neighborhood sights.

At last night’s Seattle Transit Master Plan Open House at Aljoya Thornton Place, Tony Mazzella with the Seattle Department of Transportation kicked off the meeting by praising the venue, which is located just east of the Northgate Transit Center at 450 N.E. 100th St.

“This is a sterling example of what can be done when we put uses like retail and residential next to good-quality transit,” he said during the presentation portion of the open house.

Maple Leaf Community Council Executive Board Members Donna Hartmann-Miller and David Miller, far right, were among attendees at the SDOT event Tuesday evening.

Following the presentation, attendees were encouraged to take a close look at the posters detailing the Transit Master Plan, which takes us decades into the future of the city’s transit, and to ask plenty of questions.

Including new input with the information collected so far, SDOT plans to ask the Seattle City Council to approve the Transit Master Plan in early 2012.

If you missed the meeting, the entire draft Transit Master Plan can be viewed online, where you also can add your imput via the public outreach page.

If you’d rather make your comments in person and talk to a live person, there are three more open houses:

• Oct. 26 in West Seattle: Eagles Hall, 4426 California Ave. S.W.
• Nov. 15 in Ballard: Ballard High School, 1418 N.W. 65th St.
• Nov. 17 in Holly Park: New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave. S.

Seattle Creative Kids Preschool in Maple Leaf had visitors this morning.

The lights and siren weren’t flashing and blaring, but the crew of Engine 40 were friendly and the preschoolers were welcoming.

From the school, located at 9221 12th Ave. N.E.: “Firefighters talked to students about fire safety and let those who were so inclined sit in the drivers seat of the fire engine.

“The children gave the fire fighters homemade cookies and cards as a thank you for making the trip over from the fire station.”

Thanks to the school for the photos!

It may not be free tacos for life, but COA Mexican Eatery & Tequileria, 7919 Roosevelt Way N.E., now has another contest that includes plenty of free food, this time for a “family” of up to four people. Owner Edgar Carreon tells us:

To qualify for this send us a picture of the “up to 4″ people you would bring with you to this dinner and why you chose them. Family doesn’t have to be relatives it can be neighbors, friends, etc. The important thing here is to bring people you think would enjoy a good experience at COA.

The value is for up to $60, and can redeemed from 2-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday. The fine print: alcoholic beverages are not included; happy hour pricing is excluded; all the people in the picture must be present; and meal is for dine-in only. To enter the monthly contest, send your “family” picture to [email protected], post it on the COA Facebook page or tweet it to @coatequileria.

But even more importantly, COA also is now sponsoring a fundraiser for Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services, a women’s shelter in Maple Leaf. For $1, you can purchase a wristband that says “Make Tacos Not War,” with the full purchase price donated to ADWAS. Carreon tells us:

Tacos for Life is now at the stage where it is going to begin doing what it was intended to do, bring life. The concept behind tacosforlife was always to give. We have plans to work on doing other charity work through COA to help raise awareness & funds to help people have a better life. We felt that working with a very local organization was the right thing to do because our locals is the reason we are doing well in business. The people at ADWAS were so kind and patient to explain to us what they do and why they do it and their care and passion just felt so good.

And in addition to you feeling good about your purchase, COA will also give you something back. Each time you wear your wristband to the restaurant, you’ll get $1 off your meal (one per table). He adds that there are only about 1,000 wristbands, so don’t delay.

Sara writes that she and her neighbor had their cars broken into last week. For her, it was the third time in a year.

“Electronics, warm clothing, misc. small stuff stolen. I live in 96th and 8th neighborhood. There was also a break in with a smashed window last week, same neighborhood.”

She said her neighbor is a night owl and frequently sees two young people out on the street between 2-3 a.m. “Police are patrolling and I will be actively beginning a block watch.”

In the 28 days since our last report on car crimes, roughly 23 cars have been broken into or stolen outright in the neighborhood, as shown on the police crime map. (Some of the icons represent more than one incident.)

It’s evident from our recent post on road safety that transportation is an important issue in Maple Leaf. But with (at least) two main arterials carrying plenty of non-Maple Leafers through our neighborhood, we also are well-aware that what happens outside of Maple Leaf can greatly affect our traffic.

Want to learn more about the plan for transportation citywide?

From 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, you’re invited to one of five Transit Master Plan Open Houses that will be taking place throughout the city. Tomorrow night’s meeting will be Maple Leaf’s closest, taking place at Aljoya Thornton Place, 450 N.E. 100th St.

All of the meetings will start off with a brief presentation and include the same information, so you can stop by the other open houses as an alternative:

• Oct. 26 in West Seattle: Eagles Hall, 4426 California Ave. S.W.
• Nov. 15 in Ballard: Ballard High School, 1418 N.W. 65th St.
• Nov. 17 in Holly Park: New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave. S.

For more information on the Transit Master Plan, the Seattle Department of Transportation has the Draft Summary Report on its website, as well as a video of the presentation it recently made to the Seattle City Council.

If you’re looking for more specific information about Northgate-area transit, there will be a North Link Rail Project Update focused on the Northgate Station, from 6-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9, in the cafeteria at Olympic View Elementary School, 504 N.E. 95th St. The open house house will focus on the 30 percent level of design that’s been developed for the transit station and above-ground light rail guideway.

And don’t forget about the upcoming Road Safety Summit from 6-8 p.m. Nov. 15 at Northgate Community Center, 10510 Fifth Ave. N.E.