Please join us and other Seattle online media at a benefit for Northwest Harvest on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. at Pies and Pints (1215 NE 65th St).

The event, organized by The SunBreak, is the fourth annual Blogsgiving. It is hosted by Roosiehood, Ravenna Blog, Wallyhood, My Green Lake and The SunBreak.

A suggested minimum donation of $5 to Northwest Harvest and/or two non-perishable food items will earn you one specialty drink, such as a Guinness with cider float.

Non-alcoholic beverages will also be available, as well as markers and paper for kids of all ages to make hand turkeys.

“All bloggers, readers, friends, enemies, and even frenemies are invited to attend,” Audrey Hendrickson of The SunBreak writes. “Blogsgiving is not just for hyperlocal newsies, but for anyone who might want to share a warm, social evening with people they know mainly through handles like @dawgs4ev. Come one, come all!”

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: building community, fundraiser, MyGreenLake.com, neighborhood blogging, roosevelt, thanksgiving

The institute’s main clinic and administrative offices will soon be in the Ravenna Office Building (444 NE Ravenna Blvd). Classes and the low-cost community clinic will be held a block north, on the second floor of the John Marshall High School building (520 NE Ravenna Blvd).

According to Thuy-Van Vu, Academic Coordinator at SIOM, the new Green Lake facilities will provide the institute with more spacious classrooms and quieter clinic facilities, allowing SIOM to better meet the needs of its students and patients.

After the move, SIOM will host a series of open houses for patients, neighbors, graduates and prospective students who wish to visit the new clinic and teaching facilities.

For more information, email info [at] siom.edu.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: health, local businesses, roosevelt, schools

We have featured Jeff’s excellent photographs of Green Lake in the past. Here are a few highlights:

Copyright Jeff Blucher

"Green Lake, November No. 3" Copyright Jeff Blucher

"Green Lake, December No.1" Copyright Jeff Blucher

Jeff’s photos of Green Lake, as well as some of his photos of other Seattle locations, will be on display at Starbucks through the end of August, 2011.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: photography, roosevelt

“The potholes are everywhere,” Jill says, “on both sides of Ravenna.”

Jill reported the potholes to SDOT and received a note back from Peg Nielsen of the SDOT Communications Office.

“Our crews have been regularly filling potholes,” Nielsen said, “and will continue to do so.”

According to SDOT’s Pothole Repair Status map, SDOT crews have patched multiple holes on the NE Ravenna Blvd corridor on more than 12 occasions since the beginning of 2011.

“However, because the street is in such poor condition, potholes patching doesn’t really solve the problem,” Nielsen said.  ”The asphalt needs to be ground down, the base repaired, and then re-paved.”

SDOT has scheduled a repaving project for Ravenna Blvd in 2012. The street will be completely repaved from 15th Ave NE to E Green Lake Way N.

You can report potholes to SDOT via this form or at (206) 684-ROAD (7623).

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: roosevelt, traffic

The man known as the “locksmith scammer” is described as being between 5’6″ and 6′ tall, of slight build, African American, and balding.

The man typically claims to be a janitor working at a nearby school and he sometimes says that his partner works at Microsoft. He’s new to the neighborhood, he says, and is locked out of his house. However, he claims, he is a few dollars short of the money he needs to pay a locksmith.

Since our last two stories on this topic ran late last year, several Green Lake residents have contacted us to report that a man meeting the description of the locksmith scammer has asked them for money.

In the last two months alone, we have received tips about this scam from five different Green Lake households, and on April 4, Roosiehood reported on the locksmith scammer’s appearance in Roosevelt.

Most recently, a tip came in on Monday night (May 22, 2011). According to the west Green Lake resident who wrote to us, there is a new twist to the familiar story: the locksmith scammer is now claiming to work at the Green Lake Community Center.

Update, 8:30 p.m., Wednesday – Kailea Ball, who manages an apartment building just west of Green Lake, reports that the locksmith scammer recently knocked on the door of one of her tenants. “I guess he got REALLY pushy until he realized her [boyfriend] was there,” Kailea tweeted earlier this evening. “Wouldn’t leave. Kept asking to come in, saying ‘Let me in. I’m gay – I’m not going to hurt you.’ When they gave him $ he demanded more.”

Update, 11:50 a.m., Thursday – Similar stories have been reported in Laurelhurst, Maple Leaf and Ballard.

__

Have you encountered the locksmith scammer?  Please share your story in the comments below.

You can contact Sgt. Dianne Newsom, head of the North Precinct Community Police Team, at (206) 684-0794 or dianne.newsom [at] seattle.gov.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: crime, roosevelt

On April 5, there was “5% Community Support Day” at the Roosevelt Square Whole Foods Market (1026 NE 64th St). Five percent of the day’s sales was donated to the Seattle Public Theater (SPT), which is located at the historic Green Lake Bathhouse (7312 West Green Lake Dr N).

Yesterday (April 12, 2011), SPT announced that over $6200 was raised for the theater. “I cannot say enough about the generosity of the community and the support of Whole Foods Markets,” SPT’s Managing Director Keith Dahlgren said. “This is a big win for the theater and we appreciate it greatly.”

The Seattle Public Theater and the Roosevelt Square Whole Foods Market are both My Green Lake advertisers.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: advertiser, fundraiser, local businesses, roosevelt, theater

The next “5% Community Support Day” at the Roosevelt Square Whole Foods Market (1026 NE 64th St) will benefit SPT, which is located at the historic Green Lake Bathhouse (7312 West Green Lake Dr N).

Three times a year, individual Whole Foods stores hold 5% Community Support Days, donating 5% of that day’s sales to a local or regional non-profit or educational organization.

The next Roosevelt Square Whole Foods Market 5% Community Support Day is Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Five percent of all proceeds from the store’s sales that day will go to SPT. “So, if you can,” Keith Dahlgren said, ”hold off buying groceries that week until then!”

SPT will have an information table set up in the store from 11 a.m. to  7 p.m. on the 5% Day. ”Volunteers will answer questions, hand out information on the Mainstage and Youth Drama Program, and have a sign up sheet for people to join our email list,” Sheryl Stich, Development Manager at Seattle Public Theater says. And, at noon on the Saturday before the 5% Day (Saturday, April 2, 2011), SPT will host an activity in the store to entertain shoppers.

Roosevelt Square Whole Foods Market

The Seattle Public Theater and the Roosevelt Square Whole Foods Market are both My Green Lake advertisers.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: advertiser, fundraiser, roosevelt, theater

A My Green Lake reader who wishes to remain anonymous wrote to let us know that she contacted the city about the potholes, which can be found at East Green Lake Drive N at NE Ravenna Blvd and down the length of NE Ravenna Blvd.  ”They are particularly bad,” the reader says, “between NE 65th St and 15th Ave NE.”

SDOT responded to the report about these potholes with the following note:

The good news is that NE Ravenna Boulevard, unlike many streets, is on our paving list. We expect to resurface completely the stretch between Green Lake and 15th Avenue NE in 2012.

Some intersection reconfiguration and resurfacing work will occur [in 2011] near the east end of the boulevard, at the intersections of 22nd Avenue NE / Ravenna Avenue NE and NE 54th Street / NE 55th Street [ed. note: you can read more about this project on Ravenna Blog].

All of this work has been moved forward from 2013 due to favorable contract bids. We would like to do the work sooner, but we have a few other critical streets ahead in priority, including 15th Avenue NE in the University District (which is one of Seattle’s busiest transit streets) and N/NE 85th Street from Greenwood to Interstate 5.

The basic criteria we use to establish paving priorities are: street condition, cost and cost effectiveness of repair, volume of traffic, transit use, the types of needs the street serves (e.g. freight/bike/pedestrian), grant funding and coordination opportunities, and geographic balance across the city. When voters passed the “Bridging the Gap” (BTG) transportation levy in 2006, SDOT had identified over $300 million in deferred arterial pavement maintenance. These are streets like Ravenna, where a paving need is clear, but funds are insufficient to immediately complete the work. Seattle’s backlog of deferred maintenance accumulated over many years and, even with the increased funding from BTG, the various needs around the city cannot be met at once. Facing such a long list of needs, projects are prioritized.

We hope that the Ravenna neighborhood can be patient with us as we work toward the major paving work in 2012. In response to this inquiry, I have asked a SDOT Pothole Ranger crew to run Ravenna and make repairs as possible (work order # 45907).

Citizens can report potholes on Seattle streets by calling 206-684-ROAD (7623) or by using SDOT’s online form.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: ravenna, roosevelt, traffic

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2010.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: crime, roosevelt, traffic

Drop off gently-used Halloween costumes at Whole Foods between Friday, October 1 and Saturday, October 9, 2010 and receive a ticket for the costume swap.  For every costume or five small accessories you donate, you will receive one ticket.

Redeem your tickets for a “new-to-you” costume at the swap on Saturday, October 9 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2010.

Permalink | Comment on this post

Post tags: bargain alert, halloween, kids, roosevelt