Neighborhood Master Plans abound!  Here is your chance to share your opinion about the future of the Interbay Golf Course. Seattle Parks and Recreation wants input from the community to update the Golf Course Master Plan and Economic Analysis for all four municipal golf courses.

If you are interested in golf at Interbay, they want to hear from you to help develop the future of the nine hole course, including funding, perimeter trails, club house renovations, driving range expansions and maintenance facility renovations

There is a public meeting at 6:30 on Tuesday, December 2 at Interbay Golf Course. For more information visit the website.

If you think about staying local with your holiday shopping, no better way than to visit the holiday arts and crafts fairs.  A couple that we know are close by:

Saturday, Dec. 6
The Queen Anne Merchants pull out all the stops for Holiday Magic. Strolling musicians, treats and holiday cheer abound!  All day in Queen Anne.

Saturday, Dec. 6-Sunday, Dec. 7, 11:00 am to 5 pm
Urban Craft Uprising at Seattle Center Exhibition Center
Over 120 vendors are expected. Look for local Queen Anne vendors such as Estrella.

Wednesday, Dec. 10, 5:00 – 9:00 pm
Crave Party at McCaw Hall
A CRAVE Party is an exclusive, festive,  glam-gal gathering of fun, entertainment, personal pampering, specialty shopping, sippin’ and noshin’, and just hanging with the girls.

A real benefit of shopping at our local stores is being greeted by the owners.  They are always enthusiastic about their work and their products, and it makes you feel really good to know that you are supporting a neighbor in the community.  Meet Greg Conner, the owner of Eat Local, located at 2400 Queen Anne Ave.  Eat Local has been on Queen Anne serving up delicious organic dinners that definitely make your mouth water!

Why not spend time with your family and friends instead of slaving in the kitchen this Thanksgiving?

The Seattle Times reports that Eat Local, is a great newcomer to the take-home dinner options this year. Their freezers are stocked with several different ready-to-heat turkey options: boneless roulade with cornbread stuffing; turkey breast with cranberry chutney; braised turkey with seasonal veggies; and turkey breast with sweet parsnip puree. Dish sizes range from single servings up to six, $10-$40, and they’ve got all the sides imaginable. You can feel good about your meal here, too — they’re made with seasonal, organic ingredients bought directly from local farms. Call 206-EAT-FOOD.

This gourmet specialty store uses organic ingredients scored from local farms whenever possible. It boasts dishes such as an apricot lentil soup, orchard pork roast and chocolate decadence. Additional offerings include fresh bread from Tall Grass Bakery, an assortment of jams, chocolates and dried fruit from Woodrings.  There is also a great selection of organic wines that have been created just for Eat Local.

A sign has popped up in the door of the building located across from Ken’s Market on McGraw.  The sign says that Bustle will be coming soon.  Does anyone know anything about this shop?  Send us info at tips@queenanneview.com.

Congratulations to Queen Anne resident Jean Sundborg, founder of the Uptown Alliance for her nomination for a 2008 Denny Awards for volunteer service. This award is given by Seattle Parks & Recreation for exemplary volunteer service.  Jean was nominated for her work on Counterbalance Park, an Urban Oasis.

The Uptown Alliance attained the siting and acquisition of land at the corner of Queen Anne Ave. N and Roy St. for the development of a new urban park in the heart of Uptown. This park was great collaborative effort between the city and private donors.  Seen here at night, the park, with its colorfully-lit walls, is enjoyed by all.

According to the Queen Anne News, Jean Sundborg has been a long-time activist who was inspired by her mother to do the work.

“My earliest models were my mom and dad,” said Sundborg, who explained that her parents were inveterate volunteers in PTAs and churches they attended as she grew up. “I was pre-programmed.”

18 members of the Seattle Mountaineers and their friends left the Magnolia Public Library on their 11.8-mile journey to seven libraries in one day. Call it an urban hike. The hikers walked at about 3 miles per hour and visited the libraries in Queen Anne, Fremont, Wallingford, Green Lake, Greenwood and Ballard.

At the Magnolia branch, the hikers got a special tour of the renovated library and had their Library Passports stamped. The goal is to get their passports stamped at each city library. Today’s hikers range in age from 24 up into their 70s (an 80-year-old has been on previous library hikes).

Did anyone get a photo when the hikers were at the QA Library?

The Queen Anne Helpline has lined up Giving Trees at various locations around Queen Anne.  The Trees will be set up the week before Thanksgiving at HomeStreet Bank, 5 Corners Hardware, Wells Fargo Bank and the First Free Methodist Church. 

There will be tags with children’s names and needs on each tree.  Wrapped gifts with the tags attached should be returned to the same giving tree by December 16th.  Gift Certificates are also great gifts.  The Children’s Christmas parry will be held on Saturday, December 20th at the Queen Anne Masonic Temple from 2:00 – 4:00  pm with Santa distributing the gifts.
Try to be generous in spite of the economic downturn!

The Giving Tree at 5 Corners Hardware had not yet been set up, but the tags are there!

Please show your support for McClure Middle School through purchases at Queen Anne Books during the Book Fair on November 23rd from 3:00 – 5:30 pm.  McClure’s spectacular librarian will fill a table with the school’s “Wish List.” If you buy a book from that table for the school, we will give you a 20% discount off the purchase price.

Anything you buy for yourselves during the book fair will be full price, but Queen Anne Books will donate 20% of your purchase price to McClure so the school can buy more books for its library. Everyone wins!

A couple weeks ago, the PhinneyWood newsblog had a post about a man who jumped from the Aurora Bridge and died. Now there’s word that the police officers’ actions would be subject to an inquest, in part because they tried to handcuff him to keep him from falling.

There’s a photo here of police talking to Derek Loso, 48, as he clung to the side of the bridge. Loso, who worked at KIRO TV, was married and had a young son. 

On a more positive note, another Seattle Police officer on his way home from work was recognized (but not named, oddly enough) for his role in saving a suicidal woman on the same bridge just three days after Loso’s death.

“Another one bites the dust.”  This may be an unfortunate notice we will hear fairly frequently over the next year.  According to the Seattle PI, OpShOp, a unique specialty shop that asks customers to pay what they think the items are worth, will close its doors by Thanksgiving.  OpShOp owner Jane Horowitz received notice from her landlord Robert Burkheimer that she was two months behind in her $2500 rent and therefore, had to pack up and go.  PI columnist Robert Jamieson commented,

Burkheimer is a bottom-line businessman. I get it. And Horowitz, who has a husband, two kids and two dogs, did fall two months behind on her $2,500-a-month rent, a fortune for a shop where she tells patrons to “pay with your head or your heart.”

But the timing of the ouster is cold, heartless.

Beyond the holiday jolt there’s this: Another office space Burkheimer leases a few doors down — the former home of Queen Anne Office Supply — has been vacant for months. It’s not like folks are stampeding to move in.

So where is Burkheimer’s spirit of giving?