In honor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, January 18, Seattle Center will be hosting a day of free programming, activities and celebration at the Center House.
The Seattle Center Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration celebrates the dream of Dr. King by promoting the principles of peace, unity and equality, providing an opportunity for Seattle citizens to remember the dream and vision of MLK, and honoring citizens who are energizing the MLK dream in their communities. Join us for a full afternoon of awards, activities and entertainment in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Participants are invited to “Re-Envision the Dream” from noon to 5 p.m. Here’s what the schedule looks like:
In observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday, January 18, King County Metro Transit will be on a reduced weekday and “When No UW” bus schedule. Holiday/Sunday fares will also be in effect, so keep that in mind when traveling around town.
KING5 is reporting that over 20 McClure Middle School students have been suspended after an incident of “cyberbullying” via Facebook. A spokesperson for Seattle Public Schools told KING that between 20 and 30 students were reprimanded for “friending” or becoming “fans” of a Facebook page that targeted one particular student in a malevolent way.
According to the report, McClure’s principal found the page on Tuesday night, and spent the following day meeting with the students involved and their parents. The suspensions ranged from two to eight days long depending on the circumstances of involvement for each student. The school district and PTSA also told KING they plan to hold an assembly for the students to talk about cyberbullying, and will be working with parents to monitor this kind of online behavior in an attempt to prevent similar incidences in the future.
This news comes only two months after reports of an incident of harassment between middle school students at McClure and St. Anne School on the hill. At that time many parents had heard only anecdotal stories of what our tipster referred to as a “very serious incident of harassment and bullying”, and were calling for more action from the administrations and the community to help resolve the tensions between neighborhood youth. The principals at both schools declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Our Lady of Fatima in Magnolia announced in a press release yesterday that it has decided to target bullying by bringing in actors from Taproot Theatre to perform Super School, a play about a school of superhero kids who aren’t allowed to use their superpowers on the playground, designed to teaches kids about preventing violence and managing their emotions. Find out more about Taproot’s school assembly programs here.
The Seattle Police Department is taking applications for its spring Community Police Academy, a 10-week program that designed to serve as a two-way street between community members and the SPD–allowing SPD to educate the public on departmental on-goings, while giving the community a forum to provide feedback. The academy will meet from 5:30 to 9:15 p.m. every Thursday from March 18 to May 20.
The Community Police Academy is designed to provide Seattle residents with an opportunity to learn firsthand about the job of a police officer and how the Seattle Police Department works. Classes focus on patrol procedures and operations, internal investigations, the criminal justice process, crime scene investigation, bias crimes, narcotics, SWAT, use of force, defensive tactics, firearms/mock scenes, domestic violence, elder abuse, and arrest procedures.
There is no registration cost for the course and active community members are encouraged to apply. Topics covered include the criminal justice process, patrol operations and procedures, crimes against persons and property, narcotics, arson, domestic violence, bias crimes, SWAT/Hostage Negotiations Team and Crime scene investigations (CSI), to name just a few. Students will also get the opportunity to ride along with officers on patrol and visit the 911 call center. Deadline to submit applications (.pdf) is Friday, January 29. Click here for more information or call 206-684-8672.
When trekking out and around Queen Anne next week, keep in mind that SDOT has planned repairs on several bridges surrounding the neighborhood that may delay your commute on and off the hill.
The westbound, left lane of the Emerson St. overpass at 15th Ave W will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19 to Saturday, Jan. 23, so that crews may repair a concrete deck. From 9: a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19 through Thursday, Jan. 21 the traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction on the Queen Anne Bridge while crews make concrete repairs. The northbound, right curb lane of the Fremont Bridge will be closed from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 20 for maintenance work. And finally, from 10 a.m to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 20 through Friday, Jan. 22, and Monday and Tuesday of the following week, Jan. 25 and 26, the southbound, right lane on the Ballard Bridge will be closed for guard rail repairs.
Although SDOT has set the schedule, these dates and times are subject to change “in the event that other unplanned, urgent needs arise.”
Authentic Ghanaian restaurant KwaTay Lounge, located at 315 1st Ave. N., will be holding a fundraiser for the victim’s of the earthquake in Haiti on Saturday, January 16 from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Organizer Wendy Cadet, who works with the Elise Joseph Foundation to bring donated medical equipment and trained nurses to Haiti year-round, is hosting the fundraiser to collect supplied and relief donations from the community.
“I am trying to get help for people in Haiti, my mom and dad and other family members are in Haiti and we have not heard from them. The organization has a plane, pilot, doctors and nurses ready to be deployed. We need medical supplies, non perishable food, money, clothes anything that can help,” she wrote on the event’s Facebook page.
Admission will be $10. In an email sent out later this afternoon, Cadet said there will also be Haitian art available for sale at the event. For more information, contact Cadet at 206-595-3127, or Elise Joseph Foundation President Gilda Jean-Louis at 267-808-4714.
While the rest of us were trekking through the rain and ice getting turkeys and holiday decorations in order, Diane Bowe, her husband David and their two kids, Lena and Anders, were celebrating Christmas in shorts, from their new home in Moshi, Tanzania.
The Bowe’s left their home in Queen Anne for Tanzania back in July while David spends a year working with the Baylor University Pediatric AIDS Corps, and Diane, an aspiring writer, chronicles her life and her family’s explorations in Moshi via her blog, Wide Awake in Africa. And in the six months they’ve been gone they’ve have wasted no time in making the most of their adventure — while we back at home watched the Space Needle fireworks display on New Year’s through the drizzling rain, the Bowe family welcomed in 2010 with a week-long safari through the Serengeti (pictures here and here).
Living abroad for an extended period of time, much less with a family of four, is not something many people get to experience in their lifetimes. But for Diane and David, it was a necessity.
“David and I met in college and share a love of travel, especially to developing countries. When we had children, we didn’t want parenthood to stop us from experiencing the world but knew instead it would take thoughtful planning,” Diane wrote via email. David, who went into medicine with the hopes of helping those most in need, had traveled to remote areas in Central America and Mexico to provide assistance before, but he and Diane had always dreamed of giving their children the rich cultural experience of a year abroad. The opportunity came when their eldest, Lena (who recently celebrated her 12th birthday), transitioned to middle school, an age Diane views as opportune for life abroad.
“Any later, and I think it would be more difficult for the kids to leave friends and their community. It all came together!” she wrote.
Lena, and Anders, 9, are both attending the International School Moshi, where they have each thrived (Lena is the only American in her class, while Anders is one of two) navigating issues of nationality and religion that they would never have been confronted with at home.
“I love how the population of students and teachers from all over the world, forces the kids to confront issues American kids would never entertain, especially in the elementary years. Diversity is not just about skin color, but living in community with people from all walks of life. ISM is a mini United Nations and I don’t think there’s a better environment to learn,” Diane wrote.
Meanwhile, David continues to find his work with pediatric HIV patients immensely rewarding, and Diane has been soaking up every opportunity to write, write, write (and snap quite a few pictures here and there).
When the year is up Diane says they will “definitely come back” to their home in Queen Anne. In the meantime, you can read up on their past adventures entertaining visitors from Seattle over Thanksgiving and finding a Christmas – or Krismasi, rather – tree, as well as those to come. If nothing else, you’ll find the experience was very different from going home for the holidays.
“On both occasions, we had to import turkey from Kenya via our local grocer,” Diane wrote. Nonetheless, they wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
To read up on the Bowe family’s adventures in Moshi, follow Wide Awake in Africa. (Thanks to Diane and her family for sharing their stories!)
In response to several break-ins and burglaries in Queen Anne (see here, here and here) and Magnolia since the start of the new year, SPD Crime Prevention Coordinator Terrie Johnston wrote in with a few tips for protecting yourself, and your home, from crime. She wrote,
Lessons learned from them could be to use the locks and latches you have. Many of the entries are being made through doors or windows left open or unlocked (for the nanny, for the dogs, etc). If you have an alarm system, activate it, as at least a few of the burglarized homes had alarm systems which were not turned on. If you do discover your home has been burglarized, please do not clean up the crime scene. We need to be able to get usable information to lead to the prosecution of the criminals. Lastly, please do not hesitate to report suspicious activity to 9-1-1, even if what you are reporting is not an emergency.
As always, Terrie is a available for free home security surveys and Block Watch group organizations. She’s booked through the end of the month, but is happy to arrange appointments in February or answer questions via phone (206-684-4741) or email (terrie.johnston@seattle.gov).
Seattle Pacific University is hosting author and president of HOPE International Peter Greer tomorrow, Friday, January 15 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the Library Seminar Room. Greer will be talking about his new book, “The Poor Will Be Glad,” which advocates employment-based programs, such as microfinance, as solutions to poverty. The subject matter shares some crosses over with his work at HOPE, a global non-profit that works to alleviate global poverty through the development of microenterprise in 14 countries, including Afghanistan, Congo and Haiti. The event is free and open to the public.
Just a reminder that FOLKpark is having a public meeting tonight to get community feedback and ideas for the enhancement of Lower Kinnear Park. The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Bayview Retirement Community, located at 11 W. Aloha St.
The volunteer organization is heading the redevelopment of the park, funded by a $15,000 grant from the city’s Department of Neighborhoods. Over 35 people attended the Walk and Talk through the park with landscape architects HBB Landscape Architecture on Saturday, and FOLKpark chair Deborah Frausto is confident many more will attend the meeting tonight.
Beginning with a 30 minute overview of the project, participants will then break into smaller group discussions from the majority of the time to brainstorm ideas, and conclude the meeting with reports back to the whole group. FOLKpark has recruited graphic recorder to pictorially draw ideas and plans for the park as the evening progresses. For those of your who can’t make it, QueenAnneView will be taking video of the highlights of the meeting.
Based off of creator Craig Brewer‘s vision for the show, which followed a handful of Memphis bands in its first season, Seattle native Lynn Shelton took over as director of the second season and its cast of up-and-coming musicians fighting for “love, inspiration, and money to pay the rent”.
Mónica Guzman at the PI got the scoop on how the second season will depart from the original, which Shelton said she considered a bit more “contrived” in a later interview. “We wanted to keep it as close to reality as possible,” Shelton told Guzman, emphasizing that the band members would be organically connected to one another, and that the stories told would imitate events and situations from their own lives.
The trailer has been available for a few months now, but just came up on my radar when Guzman posted this update yesterday (Thanks again, Mónica!). Watch the trailer and see if you can spot the scene filmed right here in Queen Anne. Here’s a clue: Like the entire show, the setting relates to music. Still can’t get it? Here’s another clue: A link in this story will take you to the answer.
The release date for $5 Cover Seattle has not been announced yet, but the tagline for the show reads “Thirteen bands…one city…and one broke-down van,” which somehow seems very fitting.
The city of Seattle legalized backyard cottages this last November, and is now giving owners of previously built, unauthorized cottages a grace period to legalize the structures without penalties.
Homeowners have until Wednesday, June 30 to apply for a building permit, and Friday, December 31 to obtain final inspection of the unit.
Owners who submit for a building permit before June 30, and receive a final inspection before December 30, 2010, will not be subject to violation penalties. Owners who do not take advantage of this grace period opportunity and are found to be in violation may be subject to civil penalties including per-day penalties and a one-time penalty of $5,000.
Permit fees for backyard cottages will vary. It often takes several weeks to obtain a permit, so please plan accordingly.
For information on permit requirements for backyard cottages, it is recommended that owners begin by reading DPD’s Client Assistance Memo (CAM) 116B, Establishing a Backyard Cottage. Additional information on permit requirements for backyard cottages can be found on the project website, or by contacting the Permit Specialist line at (206) 684-8850. For further information about legalizing a backyard cottage that is currently occupied by tenants, please contact Diane Davis, dianec.davis@seattle.gov.
The Queen Anne Lacrosse Club, one of the oldest youth lacrosse clubs in Seattle, drawing kids from Queen Anne, Greenlake, Ballard and Phinney Ridge, still has openings available for the upcoming spring season.
Organizer Tricia Bentley emailed us and says the club still has a few slots to fill in the 3rd/4th grade and 5th/6th grade teams. Practices start in February with games beginning in March through early May. More information and registration here. (Thanks Tricia for the email!)
As the 2010 Legislative Session begins, state Reps. Mary Lou Dickerson and Reuven Carlyle want to hear from you! The two Seattle lawmakers and 36th district legislators are holding a telephone-town hall next Tuesday, January 19 at 6:30 p.m. and will be calling an estimated 30,000 homes in the district, inviting them to stay on the line and participate. Carlyle and Dickerson will be giving opening thoughts (see here and here for some of their plans and ideas for the 2010 session), while the majority of the tele-town hall will be allocated to taking questions from constituents. If you don’t receive a call, you may dial-in directly by calling 877-229-8493 and entering the code 15354. Once on the line, participants may ask a question by hitting *3. (Reuven Carlyle is a sponsor of QueenAnneView.com).
Successful Schools in Actions Debate Club is looking for volunteer judges for their upcoming tournament on Saturday, January 16 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Judges must be 15 years or older. Prior experience is not required and parents, friends and neighbor volunteers are welcome. The tournament will be held at John Hay Elementary on Queen Anne. There will be a 30 minute training on the day of the tournament. Get information about the tournament here. Debate Club is for 4th and 5th graders who attend Blaine, Lawton, Coe, and Hay Schools. Please contact Sandy Nielsen for more information at sandynielsen@schoolsinaction.org. For information on other upcoming SSIA events, click here.
When it comes to film, many Queen Anne residents seem to have similar tastes. Yesterday the New York times published these maps depicting the Netflix renting trends of 12 major US cities, compiling lists of the top ten most rented movies of 2009 for each zip code.
It seems that we Queen Anne-ers love Milk – the movie, that is – which topped the list for both 98109 and 98119, and seemed to make the top ten in much of the Metropolitan area. The tastes in both Queen Anne zips are so similar, in fact, that the first seven films on each list are identical, while numbers 8 and 9 are just reversed.
98109:
Milk
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Slumdog Millionaire
Doubt
Burn After Reading
The Wrestler
Rachel Getting Married
Twilight
Changeling
I Love You, Man
98119:
Milk
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Slumdog Millionaire
Doubt
Burn After Reading
The Wrestler
Rachel Getting Married
Changeling
Twilight
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
(Thanks to The Big Blog Tweeting this around yesterday!) I wonder what we will rent this year?
The Queen Anne library is hosting a Family Toon-In tomorrow night, Wednesday, January 13, as part of SPL’s citywide Comixtravaganza series of free event and programs celebrating cartoons, cartoonists, comics, and graphic novels! The Toon-In kicks off at 6 p.m. at the 400 W. Garfield St. All ages are welcome to drop by, eat snacks and watch classic cartoons at the library. For a list of other Comixtravaganza events, check SPL’s website.
(Image courtesy of Hayden Bass and the Seattle Public Library).
In what has been an ongoing issue for Queen Anne, Magnolia and Ballard, King County Councilmember Larry Phillips is asking Mayor Mike McGinn to convert the current bus-only lanes on 15th Ave W to HOV lanes. Our sister site, MagnoliaVoice, reports that Phillips wrote a letter to McGinn asking him to support the Magnolia Community Club (MCC) in their effort to switch the lanes, citing under-utilization of the lanes by buses and heavy traffic in the area. Phillips says there are carpools full of students who attend Ballard High School who could use the lanes. Read the entire article here.
This is just a reminder that there are two free events happening in the neighborhood tonight. The first ever Interbay Singles Mixer will be at Whole Foods from 5:30p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Get ready for snacks, wine and beer ($2 a pour), and produce-aisle flirting. Details here.
Educational non-profit Successful Schools in Action is holding a discussion on the February school levies from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at McClure Middle School tonight with Schools First board member Lisa Macfarlane. This is one of there upcoming SSIA events. Details here.
See ratings and reviews of
The city of Seattle 
In what has been an ongoing issue for Queen Anne, Magnolia and Ballard, 
This is just a reminder that there are two free events happening in the neighborhood tonight. The first ever 
