If you’re a fan of Northwest Puppet Center, 9123 15th Ave. N.E., there’s a unique opportunity to make your dollar stretch further until midnight tonight through the Seattle Foundation. Dmitri Carter with the Puppet Center tells us:

Today (Thurs. June 23 until midnight) there is a special one-day opportunity to support our non-profit organization and have your gift stretched with additional funding from Seattle Foundation and the sponsorship of local businesses. Please consider making a gift online:

http://www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/NorthwestPuppetCenter.aspx

Even if the arts are not your priority, there are many worthy non-profits so please do show your support for the causes important to you. Full list of participating non-profit organizations can be found here:

http://www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/default.aspx

Thank you for helping make a difference during these challenging times! On July 1, we begin our new fiscal year and we look forward to another season filled with great programs in 2011-2012.

Update: Further poking about has produced this: Fire Engine 16 was dispatched to that location at 1:48 a.m. for a motor vehicle accident.

Also produced a house fire in the 7500 block of Roosevelt Way Northeast, a little earlier at 12:41a.m. Luckily, there apparently wasn’t too much damage.

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A reader Tweets:

@MapleLeafLife any info on the crash last night 1:30ish 80th and Roosevelt?

At first glance we see nothing on either police or fire logs related to a crash there. Any other readers have information?

After the owners of maoStudios, Michael Olson and Andrea Jensen, moved into Maple Leaf in October, it didn’t take them long to also move their business into the neighborhood.

Earlier this month, maoStudios opened at 9220 Roosevelt Way N.E., the space vacated in March by The Hive Social Club.

“We thought it was a good deal and we wanted to be able to walk to work,” Jensen said.

The six-year-old company most recently was located in a shared space in Green Lake, but Olson said after some growing pains during the economic downturn maoStudios again was ready for its own space. ”We’re growing, so this space is kind of the next step for us,” he said. (more…)

We wrote earlier this month that the improved crosswalks along Roosevelt Way Northeast would soon get more improvements - curb ramps.

That happened this morning, rather noisily.

From the city’s Department of Transportation: “Whenever SDOT installs a new marked crosswalk, curb ramps are provided to ensure the crossing is accessible to everyone including people in wheelchairs.”

Last week, for the first time its director can remember, the North Helpline food bank ran out of canned meat, peanut butter and other sources of protein.

After a public plea, the food bank brought in enough donations to last - well, at least through the week.

“We did collect 32 pounds of protein at Cloud City and individual donors have brought in approximately 200 pounds. I think we got another 45 pounds at Wedgwood Ale House,” said Amy Besunder, executive director.

“It is still slow going … I think we have enough for this week’s distribution.”

In her first plea Besunder wrote: “We are very low on sources of protein and could use donations of canned tuna, chicken, corned beef, chili & peanut butter or frozen packages of meat.”

You can donate at the North Helpline, 12736 33rd Ave. N.E., or at barrels at these businesses:

• Cloud City Coffee

• Wedgewood Alehouse

• Meadowbrook Community Center

• All that Dance

• Walgreens Drug Store,14352 Lake City Way N.E.

• Mieko’s Fitness Club

Update: The community councils and a local retirement center today sent the city a letter asking for reconsideration of the permit.

Both the Maple Leaf and the Wedgwood community councils have gone on record as opposing Pandora’s Adult Caberet, prompting KOMO to air a report from the parking lot of the soon-to-be strip club.

The councils claim the new club, at the site of the defunct Seven Seas Restaurant, 8914 Lake City Way N.E., is too close to a day-care center (which they don’t want to name). Their arguments, including that proper public notice was not given, are summarized on the Wedgwood council’s website.

The councils say that day care is 600 feet from the club, which is currently being remodeled. According to code, clubs must be more than 800 feet from legally recognized or permitted public park and open spaces, community centers, elementary or secondary schools, or child care centers.

“We have a child care use that has been licensed by the state for over 10 years serving members of the community in what happens to be someone’s home,” Per Johnson, of the Wedgwood council, wrote to the city. “The project should be started over again,” David Miller, of the Maple Leaf council, told KOMO.

Miller and his council were instrumental in the successful fight last year to save a grove of 80 mature Douglas fir trees at the old Waldo hospital in Maple Leaf. Miller later ran, without success, for the Seattle City Council.

But the city distinguishes between in-home daycare and “child care centers,” Bryan Stevens of the Seattle Department of Planning and Development, told KOMO.

“We haven’t made a mistake,” Stevens said. “As far as I know, there’s no legal recourse at this point.”

The club’s location, at Lake City Way Northeast and Northeast 90th Street, straddles the Maple Leaf/Wedgwood community divide. It is also kitty-corner from The Stratford at Maple Leaf, a retirement community (and Maple Leaf Life advertiser) which also joined in the joint letter to the city; about 1,000 feet from the Ryther Child Center; and 1,500 feet from Sacajawea Elementary School.

That stretch of Lake City Way also hosted Rick’s strip club until it was closed by an FBI investigation. No further news on whether it might reopen as Chantal’s Gentleman’s Club.

Today is the longest day of the year - summer solstice - and it’s looking like quite possibly the best day of the year as well. Sunny, with temperatures into the mid-70s by this afternoon (which is when the solstice officially begins).

Welcome, summer!

(Update: high temp on the first day of summer: 79 degrees at Maple Leaf Life.)

Things look a little different this morning at Maple Leaf’s park. Temporary fences, heavy equipment, workers in safety vests.

It’s contractors working for Seattle Public Utilities, installing outlet pipes on the south end of the Maple Leaf Reservoir.

The work will go on Monday-Friday, between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., according to the city.

“As part of construction, neighbors will noice increased truck traffic, noise, vibrations and dust.”

Both ball fields remain open.

The city now says work on the reservoir is about 60 percent done. Also, notes from the last meeting on the Maple Leaf Playground have been posted here.

The North Seattle community will come together again this summer for the second annual Celebrate North Seattle block party from 2-6 p.m. Sunday, June 26, in Oak Tree Village.

The first annual Celebrate North Seattle in 2010.

The Rotary Club of North Seattle, Epic Life Church and North Seattle Minuteman Press are sponsoring the free event, which will be hosted in the Oak Tree Cinema parking lot off of Aurora.

“The block party idea started because the community needed more positive events to gather at,” Epic Life Church Pastor Keith Carpenter said in a news release. “Last year, we saw how much good exists in North Seattle when people were given a chance to meet and celebrate.”

There will be entertainment from local musician Sid Law, inflatables, children games and food, as well as door prizes and gift bags from local businesses and community groups.

Attendees also are asked to bring a new pair of shoes for the launch of the event’s Shoes for Souls Project, a joint effort of the North Seattle Rotary Club and the Salvation Army North. The goal of this project is to raise 1,000 pairs of new shoes for children and youth in crisis situations in the North Seattle community.

“We’re all in this together,” said Local Seattle Cycle Center owner Bud Myers, who attended last year’s event. ”Working towards building a stronger community requires everyone believing it can happen and offering what they have to make it happen.”

A quick update on our post from Wednesday on the North Helpline food bank running out of protein.

On Thursday the donation barrel at Cloud City Coffee was overflowing - mostly with tuna, mac and cheese, and peanut butter.

(The food bank picked it up, so there’s plenty of room now for more.)

Also Thursday, at our sister site, Wedgwood View, Dan wrote:

“Someone took this article to heart. I was at the Wedgwood alehouse tonight and some family just unloaded a dozen bags of food from their SUV into the donation barrel.”

We’ll check next week to see how the overall donations went.

If you’re not already a frequent visitor to Maple Leaf’s Dog Oasis, you’ve undoubtedly read in our pages about the corner stop at 12th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 89th Street that offers water and doggie snacks for our four-legged friends.

Because one of the co-editors of our site also is the ”co-keeper” of the Dog Oasis, we’ve likely failed to give it its deserved recognition in the effort of retaining editorial balance. But those days are over, and the battle of the Doggie Oases is on after we noticed a rival Doggie Oasis in Green Lake from Columbia Real Estate Group, 321 N.E. 72nd St.

Coincidence, or just the spread of a good idea?

Co-editor Mike tells us:

The current Maple Leaf Dog Oasis was started after our last Lab, Battle, died. We put his dog bowl — a big stoneware crock — and a treat jar out in his memory, and the D.O. (as it’s called) grew from there. Somebody stole the crock, and raccoons repeatedly made off with the treat jar, but neighbors donated replacements and the treats are now on a leash.

It’s not the first Maple Leaf Dog Oasis, though. That one, which Battle often visited and also had both water and treats, was on Northeast 86th Street, just a few houses west of Roosevelt Way Northeast.

The Family Terrace slated to replace the current Maple Leaf Playground as part of the Maple Leaf Reservoir Park project, is on track to receive $100,000 from Seattle’s Neighborhood Matching Fund.

The proposed Family Terrace will be located in the bottom left corner of the above map of Maple Leaf Reservoir Park.

Scott Bishop, a neighbor who is pursuing the funding with backing from the Maple Leaf Community Council, last night told the council’s executive board that the Department of Neighborhoods had approved the project, and that an award ceremony is planned for Monday, June 27. The Mayor’s Office and the Seattle City Council still must approve the project, which Bishop said are “primarily formalities,” with the council’s stamp of approval expected Aug. 2.

Interested in learning more about the Family Terrace? With guidance from the approximately 50 people of all ages who attended a design meeting earlier this month, the city will present a proposed design from 6-8 p.m. July 13 at the Northgate Community Center gymnasium, 504 N.E. 95th St.

Update 9:30 p.m.: The trikes are back!

A huge THANK YOU to Maple Leaf Life! The bikes were found and returned to us this evening. A neighbor had found the bikes in the bushes down the street (apparently a common dumping ground) and after seeing this post returned them to us.

My boys went to bed tonight with smiles on their faces

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Amy emails to say she lives near Northeast 85th Street and Fourth Avenue Northeast, on a street with many kids. “It is very common to see bikes, or toys left in the yard from kids playing. I didn’t think anything of it when my boys left their bikes in the yard and hopped in.

We had been riding the bikes up and down the sidewalk before ‘parking’ them on the grass to head to swim class. When we returned an hour later they were gone. I realize that when you leave things near the street it may look like they are ‘free’, but there was no sign, plus we had someone working on our front window, so if you were unsure you could have asked. One is an old metal red and white tricycle, the other is a Kettrike Tricycle.

Can anyone help?

In adddition to raising $8,000 at a benefit this spring, the students at Northgate Middle College High School have one more thing to be proud of: Tomorrow, 18 of its once at-risk students will be graduating at 7 p.m.

Among its graduates are Joe Lee, pictured above with instructor Beth Brunton, who last month was titled North Seattle Rotary’s Student of the Month.

Nearly 100 family members, friends and supporters are expected to attend the ceremony, which is taking place at the school’s location on the second floor of Northgate Mall. The space is rented free to Seattle Public Schools through a partnership with the mall’s Simon Youth Foundation, which sponsors alternative schools around the nation that provide at-risk youth the opportunity to earn their high school diploma.

J. Michael Durnil, president and chief executive of Simon Youth Foundation, will address the graduates at the ceremony and present Simon Youth Scholarships valued at $34,000 total.

We’ve written before about North Helpline, a food bank that serves our area.

This afternoon Amy, the executive director there, emails:

We just learned a major source of our food supply, the letter carrier’s Stamp Out Hunger food drive, collected 23% less food than last year. And yet the demand at our food bank is up 30% over last year. We are very low on sources of protein and could use donations of canned tuna, chicken, corned beef, chili & peanut butter or frozen packages of meat. For the first time I can remember since starting here two years ago, we had to open the food bank (without) any offerings of protein for our clients.

You can donate at the North Helpline, 12736 33rd Ave. N.E., or at barrels at these businesses:

• Cloud City Coffee

• Wedgewood Alehouse

• Meadowbrook Community Center

• All that Dance

• Walgreens Drug Store,14352 Lake City Way N.E.

• Mieko’s Fitness Club