The Fire Department has determined that the fire in the four-unit building at 1415 Taylor Avenue N. early Saturday morning was caused by a “baseboard heater that came into contact with combustible materials,” totally in $65,000 worth of damage. In a report released today, the Fire Department took the opportunity to give some extra fire safety advice.
Fires caused by furniture, bedding, and other materials placed too close to baseboard heaters and portable heaters are the most common types of heating-related residential fires.
Their tips for warming your home or apartment and staying safe:
• Give your heaters space – do not put anything next to a heater.
• Never use an extension cord with a portable heater.
• Make sure your portable heater is tested by an independent testing laboratory and has an automatic shut off feature if it tips over.
• Turn portable heaters off before leaving the room or before going to bed.
• Clean or replace heating furnace filters regularly.
• Never permit electrical cords to drape across heaters.
• Inspect all heating equipment yearly and always hire an experienced electrician to do any necessary repair work on your baseboard heaters.
Want to be surrounded by candy from around the world all day long? Queen Anne sweet spot Chocolopolis is looking to hire a new chocolate lover. They posted the job description and requirements on their Facebook page last night, but here’s the basic information. They’re looking for a “team player” and cocoa enthusiast to assist with the daily operations of the store and become a chocolate liaison for their customers. The shifts that need covering: Tuesdays 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Thursdays 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays 6 to 9:30 p.m. The gig pays $9 an hour and benefits include a employee discount and one free chocolate bar a week. Sounds like a sweet deal to me! Details here.
A few weeks ago one of our readers, Jon Ribary, wrote in wondering about the water runoff at 7th and Bertona, an intersection he says has always been wet for the 9 years he’s lived in Queen Anne.
Originally Jon had been concerned with the freezing temperatures that left a sheet of ice on the road. However, in the meantime while SDOT has been working to figure out the cause of the water runoff, the weather has warmed up a bit – and gotten a little more wet. On the day Jon took this picture he wrote “There was actually running water coming out of the sidewalk…There are several places like that around (on 11th between Rufner and Emerson too. It would be great to know why.”
After weeks of back and forth with SDOT, Associate Transportation Planner Danté Taylor finally found the answer.
The water on the street at 7th Ave W and W Bertona St was determined to be groundwater. Groundwater springs occur naturally around the city and are common along hillsides. The water is normally captured at the nearest drainage inlet along with other runoff. There is little that SDOT can do to stop or control groundwater springs. Managing the flow in a location like 7th and Bertona would require an expensive underdrain system, likely spanning public and private property. A system like this would need to be periodically cleaned to continue functioning.
This is not a viable option given the cost, available funds, and Seattle’s backlog of over $300 million in deferred arterial street maintenance.
Although SDOT cannot afford to fix the groundwater springs under Queen Anne hill, Taylor noted that they can provide spot deicing. If you notice any ice forming on the roadway, contact SDOT’s Charles Street 24-hour dispatcher at (206) 386-1218. In the meantime, drive carefully through intersections where groundwater is known to pool, especially in the rain.
Seattle Public Schools announced a handful of principal changes for the 2010-2011 school year yesterday evening, and Queen Anne is the neighborhood getting the most swaps. In a detailed letter announcing the assignments, Superintendent Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson explained the reasoning behind each move. One of the primary factors: finding good leadership for the three new schools opening up in the district next fall, including Old Hay, a new Montessori option school in the neighborhood, where Coe Elementary head David Elliott – after ten years as principal – will be taking up his new post. Reader Meg Ferris gave her thoughts on the change. She wrote,
While it is an incredible loss at Coe, it will be a wonderful thing for the new school community.
In addition to Elliott’s reassignment, the principal at John Hay (not to be confused with Old Hay), Dan Warren, will be moving to the new Sand Point Elementary after five years on the hill. Read principal Warren’s letter to John Hay families here (.pdf).
And on the high school level, The Center School principal Lisa Escobar will be moving to Rainier Beach, where she will become co-principal alongside current head Dr. Robert Gary. Meanwhile, Judy Peterson will serve as the interim principal at The Center School.
To read Goodloe-Johnson’s letter, check out the West Seattle Blog, who have posted it in its entirety.
Reader Sarah Monley wrote in reporting an accident involving a cyclist yesterday on Queen Anne Ave N and Aloha. She wrote,
There was a thud and a person’s shriek and I looked out the window and there was a man laying on the side of Aloha. Almost immediately the fire truck arrived and soon thereafter an ambulance pulled up. His bike was yellow. He wasn’t taken in the ambulance…
Sarah didn’t see what caused the accident, but she is wondering if the cyclist is OK. Cyclist with the yellow bike, if you’re out there, let us now if you’re alright in the comments below.
An 18-wheeler semi-truck is stuck a third of the way up The Counterbalance. Police cars are blocking off Queen Anne Ave N from the base of the hill at Roy, to Aloha and Ward.
Most through traffic is being detoured – Metro buses and those who live in the buildings between Ward and Roy have been allowed to pass through – while the semi slowly backs down the hill.
An SPD officer at the scene confirmed that the semi got stuck, but didn’t go into detail as he was busy redirecting traffic. One onlooker said he heard that the truck’s clutch burned up (which would explain the awful smell), but that has not been confirmed.
Reader Sarah Monley, saw the post-collision aftermath between the truck and a Metro bus. She Tweeted to us:
18-wheeler hit Seattle Metro bus outside my window. So much to see on #queenanneave…The truck’s side mirror was pushed up against the bus and the bus was on the sidewalk…I didn’t see the actual crash… just the two pushed together. I’m not sure if one hit the other or not.
So far the buses have be cleared, but the truck is still working its way down. If you use The Counterbalance for your evening commute, you may want to take another route for the next hour or so.
If you happened to catch a glimpse of a large group of cyclists biking down Westlake toward Nickerson with Christmas trees strapped to their backs on Thursday evening – or if you were stuck in traffic behind them like our tipster, Stephanie Moultrie – you might have been asking the same questions she was: who were these biking renegades, and why were they carrying Christmas trees?
After posting a story about the mystery ride last night, we heard from one of the cyclists involved in the Christmas tree migration. The ultimate destination, it turns out, was a massive Christmas tree bonfire at Golden Gardens.
The event was put together by .83, a local cycling club that member Jon Grover refers to as the “band of roving miscreants” he rides with. On Thursday evening .83 members gathered up their old Christmas trees – and ones they had in store especially for the occasion – and met at Westlake Center where they began their journey.
Strapping trees to the backs and bikes, Jon estimates between 40 and 50 riders made their way through Queen Anne along Westlake to Leary, and eventually Golden Gardens, where they torched their trees in one monstrous pile.
When asked why the group decided to pool their trees together for one big fire-filled celebration, Jon wrote,
Ill-advised, potentially illegal yet ultimately entertaining bonfires are kind of a .83 specialty. Also, it is easy to scavenge extra trees from alleys around town.
There may be a little less parking on the top of the hill for the next couple of days. Starting today from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. SDOT crews will be repairing the cracked sidewalk in front of the Queen Anne Dispatch, located at 2212 Queen Anne Ave N.
The construction is expected to continue for the same hours through Thursday, January 14, “As long as it doesn’t keep raining,” one of the SDOT employees told me this morning. Half of the sidewalk and street parking is blocked off between Boston and McGraw to accommodate the city’s large (and noisy) machines.
And as if that weren’t enough, it looks like City Light is stationed outside Inspire Pilates across the street, tinkering with their new sign.
Although parking may be sparse, both Inspire and the Dispatch are open for business today, so if you have exercise to do and mail to pick up, don’t be intimidated by the loud roar of the big machines, though you may have to park a few blocks down.
The guys at SeattleCrime.com have reported an update from police on a Lake Union burglary from the beginning of the month. According to the report, an office building in the 1600 block of Dexter Ave N that was ransacked over the New Year holiday, had holes punched in the walls and anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled into the sheet rock.
The building manager and several office tenants found the building in this condition when they arrived to work on January 2. It is not know whether there was one or multiple burglars, however at least three different officers in the building were broken into and various computer equipment, speakers, cameras, and pencils were stolen.
Police believe the burglar or burglars used a crow bar to pry open a side door and gain entry into the building. “The suspects punched a hole through the sheet rock and unlocked the door from the inside and made entry into the office[s],” Officer Robert Cierley wrote in his report.
Police found anti-Semitic graffiti carved into the sheet rock in the stairwell. “The letters SS and a swastika was left on the wall,” the report says, noting that “There were no current tenants of Jewish descent [in the] building.”
No fingerprints were found at the scene. According to the report, one of the building’s tenants told police that the building had been burglarized before, almost exactly one year ago.
Around 30 community members gathered in Lower Kinnear Park at 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 9 for a walk and talk with the landscape architects FOLKpark has hired to enhance the park.
The Walk & Talk was was organized to help familiarize the folks at HBB Landscape Architecture with both Lower Kinnear Park and the visions the community has for its improvement in preparation for a follow-up meeting to be held this Thursday, January 14 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Bayview Retirement Community, located at 11 W. Aloha St. According to FOLKpark chair Deborah Frausto, Saturday’s turnout was more than enthusiastic!
“The goal here was to get people to walk through it together, stopping and focusing on things they will want to talk about on Thursday night. The landscape architects from HBB learned a lot about what people care about,” she wrote. “Many people are invested in the park. I love hearing their stories about their connection.”
Thursday’s meeting is one of three FOLKpark will be hosting in coming months as the Lower Kinnear Park development project unfolds. This week the group will be seeking community input on the plan, a draft of which will be presented at the next meeting on February 25, with an overview of the final proposal set for April 8. There will be small group discussions for attendees, so bring your ideas!
FOLKpark is revamping the five acre urban forest with a $15,000 grant from the city’s Department of Neighborhoods that they won last year. They chose HBB because the firm as strong experience in sustainable, green design and crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). The volunteers at FOLKpark hope to see even more community members get involved as the project progresses.
“We had people who use it everyday to some who had not been back in the park for a year and even one who lived across the street and had never been in it but took the opportunity for a group walk,” Frausto wrote.
(All photos courtesy ofFOLKpark, via Deborah Frausto).
According to the Seattle Police Department crime blotter a man was robbed at Seattle Center at approximately 1:45 a.m. this morning, Monday, January 11. The 18-year-old victim was reportedly walking through the Seattle Center grounds listening to his iPod when two suspects approached him from behind. The victim was unaware of the suspects until one removed his headphones and took the iPod from his pocket. The report says that one of the suspects, with his hand in his pocket, stated he had a gun (though the victim never saw it), then both suspects took other personal items from the victim before fleeing on foot. After they left the victim called his father, who picked up his son and drove him around the area until he spotted the two suspects. The victim’s father then called police, who located the two suspects in the 300 block of 5th Ave N and retrieved some, but not all, of the victim’s property, according to the report. The victim positively identified the two suspects, ages 18 and 19, who were then arrested and booked into King County Jail for investigation of robbery and outstanding warrants.
One of our readers, who wishes to remain anonymous, reported hearing strange noises around 14th Ave W between Emerson and Ruffner on Saturday night. She wrote,
Last night we were work up by a woman screaming – serious “in danger” screaming like I’ve never heard. We also heard a car pull up and a man yelling “No.” We immediately called 911 and tried to see what we could out our windows while talking to cops. The screaming got lighter and disappeared before cops arrived. Just curious if anyone else on Queen Anne reported it?
Although the call to police resulted in no leads that our reader was aware of, she is wondering if anyone else happened to hear something similar on Saturday evening?
One of our readers saw a bunch of cyclists with Christmas trees strapped to their backs riding down Westlake Avenue at around 8 p.m. last Thursday, January 7. Stephanie Moultrie wrote,
There were about 100 cyclists with Christmas trees on their back riding along Westlake Avenue, slowing traffic down, riding through red lights…Was that a protest?
I haven’t been able to figure out if this was in fact a protest, or a very literal interpretation of the city’s tree-cycling program. According to Stephanie, the group was heading north on Westlake toward Nickerson and Fremont. If anyone has any idea who this group of Christmas tree-cyclists were and what they were doing, please comment below. Whatever the reason, I bet this sure was a sight. Stephanie wrote,
They had actual Christmas trees strapped on their backs. There were so many of them! I wish I had taken a picture.
Hundreds of hungry Seattleites filled an empty lot in Interbay on Saturday for Mobile Chowdown II, and although I wasn’t able to make it myself, a few readers are reporting that the “curbside cuisine” festival that is always a hit with the palette, benefited from a few organizational mistakes made the first time around.
The first Mobile Chowdown back in October faced some mixed reviews. Hundreds gathered to try the city’s best street food, but lines were long and crowded, seating was sparse, bathrooms were non-existent and many vendors ran out of food early and had to turn away people who had been waiting to eat for up to an hour.
This time the Chowdown planners set up a large undercover seating area with tables and chairs, rented portable toilets for the event, and brought in live music to keep the crowd entertained.
And although many lines were still long at the most popular vendors, there were more places to sit and enjoy your food after finally making it to the front!
What did you think of Mobile Chowdown’s second go at a street food fair? Was your experience improved from the first time around? Were lines long? Did you get your food and find space at a table? How did it go?
(Photos courtesy of Karen Johnson and Seattle magazine, one of the co-sponsors of Mobile Chowdown).
Reader Luke Hizer wrote in about a fire on Taylor Ave N early this morning. He wrote,
There’s about 10 fire trucks, police, and ambulances up around Taylor N and Lee; they started showing up around 2am or 2:15am. The 911 log shows multiple calls for “fire in building”, and a bunch of units dispatched.
According to the Fire Department’s Public Information Office, several calls for a fire in a 4-unit (Correction: story originally read “4-story”) apartment building at 1415 Taylor Avenue N. came in at around 2:10 this morning. A message left on the PIO line said that the fire came from several rooms in one first-floor unit, and that smoke ventilated from this unit to others in the building.
The Fire Department was able to evacuate the building and put out the fire in a short time. The residents of the apartment where the fire originated were checked on the scene for smoke inhalation, but were not taken to the hospital. No one was injured. An investigation into the cause of the fire is currently underway.
There are lot’s of great events going on in the neighborhood this weekend. So if you’re looking for a little entertainment and an escape from the rain, check out one of these activities. Happy Friday!
Friday, January 8
Live Music at El Diablo: Brad Benefield performs at El Diablo Coffee from 8 to 10 p.m. as part of their live music series.
Saturday, January 9
Lower Kinnear Park Walk-Through: Discuss opportunities and challenges for the development of Lower Kinnear Park at a “walk and talk” at 10 a.m. on Saturday with FOLKpark and the development architects. The group will be meeting at the park entrance at the west end of W. Roy St. rain or shine. Details here.
Mobile Chowdown Round II: Mobile Chowdown is back again, this time with more food and better organization! Enjoy the best of Seattle’s curbside cuisine from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the vacant parking lot in Interbay, located at 1616 W Bertona. Details here.
Coffee Hour with Reuven Carlyle: 36th District Rep Reuven Carlyle is hosting four coffee hours on Saturday to discuss the upcoming legislative session, which starts the following Monday, January 11. The Queen Anne meeting will be from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Caffé Fioré, located at 224 W Galer St. Details here.
Queen Anne Movie Guild screening: The Queen Anne Movie Guild is showing two 30-minute documentaries, “Turning Points” & “Not Just a Paycheck”, this Saturday, January 8 at 7 p.m. Details here.
Live music at El Diablo: Jesse Turyski performs at El Diablo Coffee from 8 to 10 p.m. on Saturday.
The first full-length feature film written, directed, and co-produced by Native Americans, Smoke Signals weaves a tale of fathers, friends, and forgiveness that captures the Native American experience while also transcending it to relate a poignant, universal, contemporary story.
Alexie’s Smoke Signals won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998 – the Audience Award and the Filmmakers Trophy. Although tickets are sold out as of this morning, if you’re a huge Alexie fan (as I am), you may be able to catch a Seattle celebrity sighting, or maybe even an autograph.
Registration for Queen Anne Little League will be open through the end of the month, Sunday January 31. There are baseball and softball slots available for players ages 5 to 18. The regular fee is $110 (T-ball registration is $60), and will be available based on space after the end of the month deadline along with an additional $15 late fee. Get more information and online registration here. The new registration closing date is a month earlier than in previous years, so don’t wait until the last minute to sign up!
With the new Student Assignment Plan (.pdf), adopted by the Seattle School Board in 2009, students entering kindergarten, grades 6 and 9 will be going to the school within their boundary area. (You can find your area school here.) Over the next few weeks, parents will have an opportunity to check out the schools at scheduled open houses. Unless otherwise noted, weeknight open houses will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday open houses will be held from 10 a.m. to noon. The open house for Old Hay, which is reopening for fall 2010 a Lincoln, will be held a little later than the others. Families wishing to apply to a different school or a neighborhood option school, can do so during open enrollment, from March 1 to 31, 2010. All open house dates for Queen Anne schools are listed below.
Frantz H. Coe
2424 7 Avenue W
Jan. 28, 2010
John Hay Elementary
201 Garfield St
Jan. 27, 2010
Old Hay, at Lincoln
4400 Interlake Avenue N
March 6, 2010
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