Update 4/13: New info about the crash from the victim:

We got a call today from a customer who said they saw the whole thing but didn’t get the license plate because they were so flabbergasted. They saw the woman back out, smash our car, then get out and inspect her car and our car (they assumed she would then leave a note), and then drive away.

The woman who called said she guessed that the woman driving was in her fifties. It was a yellow VW beetle car.

There are lots of ways to help keep food on the tables of our neighbors in North Seattle by supporting North Helpline in the coming weeks.

Bowls available at last year’s Empty Bowls at Northgate Community Center.

We’ve already mentioned Empty Bowls, which is from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 1, at Northgate Community Center, 10510 Fifth Ave. N.E.

But there are plenty more ways to help even before then:

• On Saturday, April 16, Silver Platters is holding a food drive for North Helpline in conjunction with Record Store Day, a day designated for independently owned record stores to come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Bring in nonperishable food, get a coupon! Our own location is at 9560 First Ave. N.E., but there’s also one in Lower Queen Anne at 701 Fifth Ave. N.
• Dine out to support North Helpline on April 21 at Wedgwood Ale House & Cafe, 8515 35th Ave. N.E. Stop by anytime that day (hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.), and 30 percent of the proceeds will be donated to North Helpline.
• Love to cook? Join Cookus Interruptus author and Bastyr University faculty member Cynthia Lair for a “Spring Into Greens” cooking class from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, April 28, at Two Dog Yoga in Lake City, 12549 28th Ave. N.E. Small plates with big flavor utilizing shades of green are on the menu! Bring a chef knife, apron and your friends. Preregistration via PayPal is required; cost is $20 with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting North Helpline.

It may not be as pretty as in its heyday last summer, but the multicolored wood now making up the staircase at 20th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 98th Street is better than the gaping hole that was in its place a week ago.

And there there will be more to come. Marybeth Turner with the Seattle Department of Transportation tells us repairs are done for now, but that this is just a temporary fix until crews can make a permanent repair when school is not in session. The staircase, which travels north over Thornton Creek from 98th Street to Northeast 100th Street, is near Sacajawea Elementary School and is used by many of its students.

Turner adds that the stairway was damaged by slope erosion two weeks ago.

A local group is hosting a “community dinner” for North Seattle this Sunday, April 10, at Thornton Place.

From their Facebook page:

Come help identify community projects with your neighbors over dinner.
Three courses with discussion, deliberation and decision-making.
Ticket price: $15/person.

The North Seattle Community dinner is intended to bring together community members to surface ideas and inspire community projects. It’s an opportunity for people to have time to sit down, get a chance to interact with neighbors from various backgrounds, eat, drink, be merry and spur discussion on what projects people are looking forward to working on.

For tickets email [email protected]

This was posted at Maple Leaf’s Dog Oasis this week, and it’s the second instance we heard of recently.

The other occurred on 12th Avenue Northeast at about Northeast 91st Street, and involved a strange man knocking on doors at around 7:30 p.m.

Police tell us this is the standard method of casing a home to find out if it’s vacant. “If it is a burglar and he gets no answer, he usually goes around the side or back to break in.

“If you are home it is a good idea to answer the door. Remember, you don’t have to open the door to answer it; you can speak through the door.”

(Incidentally, no new Maple Leaf home burglaries on the crime map so far this month.)

Preserving Seattle’s tree canopy is a goal of both the city (Mayor Mike McGinn spoke about it here) and the Maple Leaf Community Council, which shared a Seattle Audubon Society award for preserving the trees at the old Waldo Hospital.

Now David Miller of the community council reminds us that the city is actively looking for tree ambassadors. According to Jana of the city’s Office of Sustainability:

Seattle’s urban forest needs your help! Seattle has a goal to reach 30% canopy cover by 2037, growing from our current 23%. To meet that goal, we need to plant and care for 200,000 net new trees in residential areas; residential areas make up 67% of Seattle. To help meet this goal, we are recruiting Tree Ambassadors who can serve as local neighborhood advocates for our urban trees.

You will work in teams of 2-3 people to develop projects for your neighborhood which could include tree walks, invasive species removal workdays, and/or tree plantings. No previous tree experience necessary, only a desire to learn and a passion for urban greenery. You may apply individually or as a group.

Tree ambassadors are volunteers who, after being trained, work 5-10 hours a month, according to the city.

There’s an individual application here, and a team application here. You can also find them on the city’s Tree Portal page.

It didn’t take quite a year.

The city transportation department emailed us today to say the 15th Avenue Northeast bridge, closed since May17 of last year, will reopen next week.

When we last reported on this, at the beginning of March, the bridge work was essentially done and crews were just waiting for three days with little rain (or snow) to finish a concrete overlay on the deck.

This afternoon Maribel Cruz from the Seattle Department of Transportation wrote us:

Several constituents from the community have contacted us and I’m sure many are anxious to know when it will reopen. Well without further ado, we plan to reopen the bridge on the evening of Friday, April 15th, 2011. The contractor plans to use most of the day, removing construction signs, cleaning the work area and then finally removing the barricades on both ends of the bridge. We expect traffic to be able to drive on the bridge after 5 p.m.

Photo courtesy Taproot Theatre/MyBallard.

Have you got an aspiring 1- to 3-year-old actor/actress in the house who’s ready for some springtime fun?

Taproot Theatre is bringing its “Drama with your Mama” classes to our neck of the woods this spring at One Life Community Church, 3524 N.E. 95th St., in Meadowbrook.

Classes are from 10-10:45 a.m. Mondays from April 25 to May 23. Cost is $65 for all five weeks, or $15 to drop-in each week. Here’s a little more from Taproot Theatre about what you can expect: (more…)

Last night about 7:45 a woman heard a knock on her front door in the 2200 block of Northeast 88th Street, just a block east of Lake City Way.

Outside she saw a man, who asked if her mother was home. “All of a sudden the front door glass was being broken out and the suspect was reaching inside to unlock the door,” the police report states.

The suspect pointed a sawed-off shotgun at the woman’s boyfriend, and another suspect appeared armed with a “crowbar-type tool,” police say. A second woman, who had been sleeping on a coach, was hit in the head with the gun butt, the report states, and the gun fired, but no one was stuck by the discharge.

The victim then ran out the door, screaming for help. Both suspects exited the trailer, chasing after the female victim. The suspects got into a parked vehicle, (a) red Honda Civic and fled the scene. The victim’s boyfriend also ran outside and was able to record the license plate, which came back as a stolen vehicle.

The woman struck with the gun was treated at Northwest Hospital. The victims stated that they did not recognize the suspects, according to police, who described them as one white male and one Hispanic male in their 30s.

Photo courtesy Northgate Mall

How well do you remember the old days of Northgate Mall?

To celebrate the mall’s anniversary this month, it’s featuring a contest on its Facebook page through April 18 that asks customers to share their memories of Northgate Mall over the years.

Click on the “Contests” tab or just go directly to the contest website, where you can both submit your memories and vote on other customers’ stories. To make it worth your while, the winner will receive a $250 Simon Mall gift card.

Over the weekend a woman talking on her iPhone at the Northgate Transit Center was hit in the face with pepper spray about 3 in the afternoon, police report.

The robbery attempt occurred Saturday at 3:10 p.m. in the 10200 bock of First Avenue Northeast, according to police:

She was waiting for the bus at Bay 1…. The four suspects were standing in front of her and she was sitting on the bench. She was talking on her I-Phone when the suspects turned around and one of them sprayed her in the face with pepper spray. The suspects then tried to grab her phone from her but she tucked the phone into her pocket and pushed the suspects away. After the suspects were unable to take the phone they ran off southbound through the transit center.

The victim, who was treated at the scene by the Seattle Fire Department, said she had never seen her attackers before. A witness told police:

The suspects were four black females, about 17-20 years old, all slim build, all about 5′00 tall. The suspects were all wearing jeans and one was wearing a black North Face jacket. The suspects were laughing as they ran off.

We appear to have gotten through March with only three home burglaries in the neighborhood, incidentally. And there have been none on the police map since our last report on March 31. There have been cars reported stolen:

• Saturday, April 2, from the 10800 bock of 11th Avenue Northeast.
• Wednesday, March 30, from the 300 block of Northeast Thornton Place.

In 1986, Janice Camp moved to Maple Leaf. It took less than four years for her to make her mark in the community by joining the Maple Leaf Community Council’s executive board.

Since then she’s made Maple Leaf history multiple times, serving as president of the board from 2001-2007, when the board took stands on issues that had a big effect on the neighborhood, including Northgate development and establishing the Maple Leaf Community Garden.

But Camp is now ready to move on and has announced her resignation, along with fellow board member Barbara Maxwell. From board member David Miller:

Janice was president of the Executive Board when I first volunteered and was in that role for most of the time I have been involved with the MLCC. When I became President in 2007, I knew I had a huge standard to live up to.

Janice was key to creating new park space, protecting Waldo Woods, securing a pedestrian-friendly environment at the recent Northgate expansion, and especially helping preserve the day-to-day quality of life that has made Maple Leaf consistently seen as one of the best neighborhoods in Seattle.

Beyond all that, Janice and Barbara’s firm conviction about approaching City Hall using rational, fact-based conversations and not going all ‘hair on fire’ has had the biggest impact on the average Maple Leafer. I doubt more than a handful of Maple Leafers understand how respected the Maple Leaf Community Council is inside City Hall. This priceless asset is what Janice and Barbara — and those who came before them like former Treasurer Mark Schoen — have given to our neighborhood.

Some of the accomplishments Camp is most proud of include the reputation the Maple Leaf Community Council has built in the city; saving the Waldo building; the Maple Leaf Community newsletter; and the Maple Leaf Summer Social.

She’s only moving to Laurelhurst, but it’s far enough for her to miss a few things, including “the really friendly people, ACE Hardware and Cloud City, easy access to every thing in the neighborhood and the rest of Seattle,” Camp says.

And even as she’s walking out the door, she’s still advocating for the neighborhood, urging Maple Leaf residents to also give back to their community by considering a bid for a seat on the council’s executive board. She says:

Serving on the Community Council has been a fabulous opportunity to learn more about how our community and our city works and to get to know more people in the neighborhood through working together on projects. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to keep ‘in the know’ and feel like they are making a difference in their corner of the world.

(more…)

Sign on the door of LC’s Kitchen Sunday morning. Saturday was the popular spot’s last dinner at 8007 Lake City Way N.E.

If we’re reading this right, Metro is planning to reduce the number of closely spaced bus stops on the Route 41 and 73 corridors in Maple Leaf by nearly a dozen this month when buses resume running on 15th Avenue Northeast.

Metro is planning to reduce the number of closely spaced bus stops on the Route 41 and 73 corridors, affecting some stops that also serve routes 48, 242, 243, 71, 72, 73, 77, 79, 83, 347, 348, and 373. The changes will help buses move faster and operate on a more reliable schedule, reduce energy consumption and emissions, and reduce Metro’s operating and maintenance costs.

Squinting at Metro’s map (above and online here), it roughly looks like nine stops will remain in Maple Leaf along 15th Avenue, while 11 will be cut. (The numbers depend on where exactly you think Maple Leaf begins and ends.)

Also in rough numbers, Metro says it intends to increase spacing between stops from about 700 feet to 1,200 feet.

As a result of the changes, about 16 percent of Route 41 riders who board north of Northgate Transit Center and Route 73 riders who board north of NE 50th Street will have to catch their bus at a different stop. When the project is completed, all riders should have a faster, more reliable trip.

The Maple Leaf Community Council, in an email, said:

Metro has opened a comment period on bus stop removal on 15th Avenue NE and 5th Avenue NE in the Maple Leaf neighborhood.

The Route 73 corridor changes include removal of 33 of the 85 stops north of 50th NE.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

(more…)

Barbara Maxwell at the Maple Leaf Community Garden last month with current Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.

It took 19 years.

At Friday’s going-away fete for Barbara and Tom Maxwell, one of the centerpieces was a copy of Barbara’s nomination in 2008 for a city Denny Award for extraordinary volunteer service in creating the Maple Leaf Community Garden, just one of her many endeavors on behalf of the neighborhood.

“Barbara identified a property in 1988 and asked the owners to sell it for a park. As the years went by, the owners finally said, ‘yes.’

Grant writing, fundraising, design and construction culminated 19 years later “in a park that includes 22 P-Patches, northwest natives garden, a labyrinth and a straw bale tool shed,” the nomination states.

“Because of Barbara’s leadership, commitment and ability to inspire we have a wonderful park that maintains nature in a dense, urban neighborhood.”

Farewells were said Friday evening by dozens of friends at the Northgate Community Center. The Maxwells are moving back to Barbara’s native Montana.

Tom Maxwell, left, says goodbye after 35 years in Maple Leaf.