Don’t forget, if you’re planning on dining at the 5 Spot for dinner tonight, Tuesday, March 23 or tomorrow, Wednesday, March 24, your money will be helping one of two competing Queen Anne elementary schools – John Hay and Coe – as they head it off to see which school can raise the most!

The 5 Spot will be donating 25 percent of all of its food and beverage sales from 4 p.m. to closing to Coe tonight and to Hay tomorrow, so there’s no doubt students, parents and teachers will be packing into the cafe to make their orders and get an edge up on the competition.

All funds both nights will be donated directly to each respective school. Coe plans to use the money to purchase age and reading level appropriate books for their classrooms, while John Hay is going to put its donated funds toward hiring math and reading tutors.

Don’t forget, Coe night is tonight (Tuesday), and John Hay night is tomorrow (Wednesday). Go Coe and Hay!

I came across this image in the Twitter-sphere this morning.

(Photo by Cathy Sullivan via her Flickr page.)

This really is a beautiful panoramic shot from the top of the hill. It’s pictures like these that make me feel very lucky to live in a such a beautiful city! Just look at that skyline…

With tax time just three weeks away, if you’re one of the many who have yet to file your taxes, remember you can get free preparation assistance at eleven Seattle Public Library branches, thanks to SPL, United Way of King County and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

Trained volunteers will be at the Queen Anne Library, located at 400 W. Garfield St. on Mondays from 1 to 5 p.m. through Monday, April 12 to answer questions and help those seeking assistance to prepare their personal tax returns. (Business tax returns are not eligible for the free service).

The Central Library downtown and Ballard branch are also be offering free tax assistance. See a complete list of times and library branch locations here.

On Saturday, April 3 community centers across the city will be hosting free spring egg hunts for neighborhood kids. Beginning at 10 a.m. at the Queen Anne Community Center, located at 1901 First Ave. W., kids 11 and under are invited to “bring a basket or a bag to gather up all of the goodies.”

(Photo by Chelsea Dagger courtesy of Flickr).

All kids participating will be divided up into different groups based on age, and each age group will be given their own section of the field to hunt for eggs (to ensure that everyone gets a chance to stock up on chocolate)!

For more information on the event, call (206) 386-4240.

It’s free pastry day at Starbucks. Bring in your coupon (good when you order a drink) until 10:30 a.m. and get a free pastry. Perhaps you’ll power up with the Apple Fritter, which has a respectable 5 grams of protein (OK, OK, it also admittedly has some other stuff, namely 420 calories, 20 grams of fat and 59 carbs).

Not too worry, though, you can head to Green Lake and work it off. Oh, and when you’re done walking, stop by 7900 E. Green Lake Drive N., Suite 104. It’s Ben & Jerry’s annual free cone day from noon until 8 p.m.

After months of construction in Lower Queen Anne, The Maxwell Hotel finally opened at 300 Roy Street on Monday, March 22.

The Maxwell is owned by Columbia West Properties, the company behind the University Inn, Ramada Seattle and The Watertown Hotel. It has 140 rooms, and according to hospitalitydesign.com, exercise facility, meeting spaces, espresso bar and an indoor pool with tiles painted by local children (I contacted Columbia West Properties to verify this several months ago and have still not heard back). The hotel also has four spaces for ground-level retail, which as of yesterday appeared to still be vacant.

Update: This story has been updated since it was originally published. See the bottom of the story for details.

The 5 Corners Mini Mart opened this weekend, despite the heated discussion among neighbors concerning the store since the beginning of the month.

For those of you who haven’t been following the debate, here’s a quick recap: Three weeks ago neighbors noticed signs for a new mini mart located on 3rd and McGraw that read “Grocery,” “Discount Cigarette,” and “Wine & Beer”, spurring controversy among many who took stands against the store for a number of reasons including concerns over safety (vagrancy and violent crime and its connection to alcohol sales), the late hours and lack of adequate parking not being conducive to a residential neighborhood, as well as the close proximity to a preschool and elementary/middle school bus stops.

At the March Queen Anne Community Council meeting, concerned parties voiced their complaints and 5 Corners owner Steve Park vowed not to sell pornographic materials and signed a document stating that he would not sell fortified beer and wine, which has higher alcoholic content. A few days later he changed the signs at the mini mart to read “Organic Ice Cream,” “Grocery and Beverages,” and “Organic Coffee,” and told the community that he aimed to open a store that represented their needs. Those who opposed the store began circulating a petition around the neighborhood, asking to the Washington State Liquor Control Board to deny his liquor license. The controversy got the attention of local media and was even covered on KUOW.

On Saturday, March 20 Park opened the mini mart, which as promised, sells a selection of organic coffee by the front counter, organic ice cream from Bluebird (available in pints and 8 ox cups), as well as a variety of general convenience store items including groceries and snacks, some produce (garlic, onions, potatoes bananas, applies and oranges as of Monday morning), a small Asian section and some baked goods (Park hasn’t yet found an Asian bakery to supply daily goods). There are also small sections for toiletries, housewares, and office supplies. Cigarettes are also available, which Park says he sells for less because he doesn’t mark them up as much as most stores do.

A few of the shelves are currently empty as the store’s liquor license application is still pending. According to Park, the applications is expected to be approved by the Washington State Liquor Control Board within two weeks. Regardless, Park says he stands by his promise not to sell fortified beer and wine. He is also working on the appropriate health regulations so that he may serve ice cream in the store, in addition to offering pints and cups of Bluebird.

As for the petition circulating around Queen Anne, according to Liquor License Investigator Allen Wambold, public petitions and protests from private citizens are noted in the application report, but do not alter the application process or the qualifications an applicant must meet to be granted a liquor license. Appeals and objections from the City of Seattle, or public institutions such as schools or religious bodies located within 500 feet of the application location, however, could result in a denial.

When the petition was originally composed, it cited the mini mart’s proximity to a Queen Anne Helpline office, located a few doors down, as one argument for blocking the liquor license.

On Wendesday, March 17, Attorney Michael Garner of Stokes Lawrence sent a letter on behalf of the Queen Anne Helpline to Michael Tasch, the author of the petition, demanding that “any and all references” to the organization “be removed from the petition itself and any materials circulating with respect to the petition.” From the letter:

The petition’s sixth bullet point states “The store is immediately adjacent to Queen Anne Helpline, which serves many clients with addiction issues.” This statement is not correct. Moreover, it may create the impression that the Queen Anne Helpline supports or does not oppose the presence of the proposed Mini Mart at that location. In fact, the Queen Anne Helpline has taken no position with respect to the proposed new business, and does not appreciate the light it has been placed in by this petition.

As a result of this letter, Tasch wrote on Thursday, March 18 in an email to local media that they would “likely take down the petition, as the prospect of a litigation campaign is not attractive.” However he also said that the group is considering alternative options, such as contacting the ACLU. He wrote,

The Helpline board is now demanding that we censor ourselves and limit our First Amendment right to petition the government.  I would remind you that a person who identified themselves as a QA Helpline worker spoke against the Minimart at the March 3rd QACC meeting, and it was from this public testimony that we crafted that bullet point in our petition.

Update 3/22 9:15 p.m.: As of this evening Tasch says the petition will not be taken down. “Upon more careful reading” of the letter from Helpline Counsel Michael Garner, Tasch wrote in an email, “I found that the arguments he made seemed thin to nonsensical, and the demands far reaching, to the point of absurd.  I am not a lawyer, however, and I have contacted him and requested clarification, in case I am missing or misunderstanding his logic.” Tasch also added that if the Helpline were to send a “cease and desist” action, he would retain counsel and reach out to the ACLU at that time.

“Washington has significant anti-SLAPP legislation on the books that speaks directly to this sort of action to squelch free speech and petition of government, and does not look kindly on it,” he wrote. “I am confident the I am within my rights and plan to go ahead with the petition as presently written, pending receipt of more detailed, cogent argument that we have somehow overstepped our rights to free speech, assembly and petition of government.”

Seattle Public Schools will be hosting in-person Open Enrollment at the Queen Anne Library, located at 400 W Garfield St., next Tuesday, March 30 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

The Open Enrollment period ends on Wednesday, March 31. Those interested in enrolling in-person will need to bring their registration and/or application forms with them to the in-person sign up. (Read up on Queen Anne’s new Option school, Queen Anne Elementary, here).

If you’d like to enroll before next week, Open Enrollment will be happening at the Magnolia Library, located at 2801 34th Ave W, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. tonight, Monday, March 22, as well as the Ballard Library, located at 5614 22nd Ave NW, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 24.

Last month Camille parked on the street outside her Lower Queen Anne apartment, near W Roy St. and 3rd Ave W., and began to walk towards her building when she was suddenly attacked, kicked to the ground and mugged. Although she was not seriously injured and later recovered her belongings, Camille was shaken up and worried for the safety of herself and other women living in the neighborhood.

Though she didn’t know it at the time, but several neighbors heard her screams and run outside to assist her. By that time Camille had already made her way into her building, but her story has lead several community members to urge the creation of new Block Watch group in Lower Queen Anne.

J.P. Flores, who is spearheading the effort, says that many in the community have responded and he expects a large attendance at the first meeting, set for Thursday, April 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the Courtyard at Queen Anne Square, located at 275 W. Roy.

SPD Crime Prevention Officer Terrie Johnston will be attending the meeting to help Queen Anne residents learn about working together to tackle public safety issues. The event will be a great opportunity to meet your neighbors face-to-face, one of the first steps in creating an effective Block Watch.

For more information see the event flier (.pdf), and feel free to pass the information along to other neighbors who may be interested.

Queen Anne’s own John Hay Elementary will be receiving a Washington Achievement Award for Overall Excellence, as well as a Special Recognition Award for high performance in math education from the State Board of Education this coming May!

These awards recognize top-performing schools across the state, selected based on statewide assessment data collected over three prior consecutive years and analyzed using a school Accountability Index (.pdf). (Read up on the methodology here). John Hay also received these same two distinctions last year. See previous award recipients (.pdf). From John Hay’s blog,

The Overall Excellence award places John Hay in the top 5 percent of all elementary, middle and high schools across the state.

Congratulations to all of the hard working teachers,  staff, volunteers and parents that made this happen, and make John Hay such a special place.

Read more on the Washington Achievement Awards here. And congratulations Hay!

Looking for something fun to do this weekend? Look no further!

Friday, March 19

• See Mark Wolford live at El Diablo Coffee at 8 p.m.!

Saturday, March 20

• Do some planting from in Upper Kinnear Park with FOLKpark from 9 a.m. to noon. Details here.
• Stop by the Queen Anne Elementary Open House from 10 a.m. to noon. Details here.
• Catch some live Celtic/American tunes with Rose Laughlin at El Diablo Coffee at 8 p.m.

Sunday, March 21

• Help create the Gilman Urban Gardens at a planning meeting at 10 a.m. Details here.
• Spend an entire day watching movies at SIFF’s 12-Hour Movie Marathon, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Detail here.

Leaving the neighborhood? Check for weekend events in our surrounding neighborhoods like Ballard, Magnolia, Phinney Ridge/Greenwood, Fremont and more!

FOLKpark will be hosting an Upper Kinnear Park Clean-up from 9 a.m. to noon tomorrow, Saturday, March 20.

Volunteers interested in helping with some planting west of the comfort station should meet at 9 a.m. in the gravel area. Parks and Recreation will be supplying plants and tools. Everyone is welcome.

This event is being organized by the Church of Scientology Environmental Task Force. For more information contact Dave at davidscattergood@gmail.com.

Queen Anne resident Charlie Hoselton has been working on getting the permits necessary to turn the two large medians along Gilman Drive W. and 13th Ave. W. into 20 organic urban community garden plots. After a meeting with the City Arborist, Charlie says the next step to obtaining the necessary permits is coming up with a site plan for the gardens. He writes,

The city is willing to let us create raised beds, which really helps with the sites slopes.  We need to come up with a layout for the beds, including set backs from the curbs, and plant height restrictions for 30 feet from signs.

The arborist marked trees, the Black Locusts on site, which we can remove.  We will need to come up with a replacement plan for those trees that we remove.  He would like us to plant 5-6 viable trees, whether on-site or close by.

Charlie will be holding a meeting at the Medians on Sunday, March 21 at 10 a.m. and invites anyone interested in participating in the urban garden to come and share ideas for laying out a site plan/discussing further project details. He wrote,

Our friend from the city felt pretty confident that we can get through the permit process this coming week and get the green light.

It may be beautiful out today, but the weekend forecast predicts the rain will return on Sunday, March 21. And after a series of sunny days, here’s one idea for ducking out of the drizzle: SIFF’s 12-Hour Movie Marathon!

What better way to elude the rain than by sitting in a dark theater for an entire day watching six films back to back? The mayhem starts at 10 a.m. Details here. Not sure you can make it through 12 hours alone? You can join a movie-watching team or make your own! And for some extra dough you can watch in style with a pillow, blanket, snacks and a box lunch! Ticket information here.

Don’t forget, the Queen Anne Cub Scouts will be collecting donations of food and toiletries door-to-door this Saturday, March 20. If you received a door hanger at your home last Saturday, remember to put your donation out on your doorstep and mark it for “Boy Scouts” before 10 a.m., when Troops 70 and 72 will begin making the pick-up rounds.

After collecting and weighing the donations, the scouts will deliver them to the Queen Anne Helpline and Ballard Food Bank. Last year they collected over 600 pounds of food, and hope to donate over 1,000 pounds this year! See the back of your door hanger for a list of most need items.

Wondering what will become of Seattle Center’s Memorial Stadium and former Fun Forest space? So far there have been proposals for an outdoor amphitheater as well as a 44,000-square-foot “glass house” that would include open space, retail, outdoor gardens and a Dale Chihuly museum. The city has set up a meeting to discuss the future of Seattle Center’s open space on Tuesday, March 30. But in the meantime if you want to brush up on the issue, our news partner the Seattle Times published a comprehensive overview of the Seattle Center master plan, idea proposals, the funding behind it, and community reaction in yesterday’s paper. Read it here.

Last month the Queen Anne Elementary design team announced that the new Option school’s curricular focus would be “technology enhanced/enriched,” opening up questions from the community concerning what exactly a tech-focused elementary program would entail.

whatawaste wrote in the comments to our last story,

great, a technology school. just what our kids need. more time in front of computers and screens—heaven forbid they’re not staring at a screen 24 hours a day. btwn TV, computers, video games, watching videos in the car, etc. etc i think our kids already get more than enough of the virtual world and need to learn about the real world. ANYTHING would have been better than a tech school. language-immersion, math/science, montessori, waldorf. a tech school seems much better suited to middle or high school age students, not elementary kids. have studies been done about how teaching kids “tech” at this age affects their learning and development? i can’t imagine that it would be good…

maybe_K wanted to know more:

Does “technology” include tools other than the computer? For example, those used in a science lab, such as molecular biology? I’m really curious.

In a series of emails sent out to the QAE Google group this week, design team member Heather Anderson attempted to clarify the focus of the school and why they settled on this track.

According to Anderson, of the 199 respondents (113 of which currently have potential students for the 2010-2011 school year) to a survey in February asking parents what programs they would like to see implemented at QAE, the vast majority opted for an International/language immersion curriculum.

Respondents were allowed to select more than one program type for the survey question regarding preferred program foci.  International/Language Immersion was the overwhelming first choice (77%), Montessori and “STEM” tied for second (42%), “Innovation (33%) and other (5%). On average, respondents indicated two instructional approaches of interest.

However, despite the fact that the top two selections were for International/Language Immersion and Montessori/STEM foci, Anderson said that neither of these options is possible within the current restraints from Seattle Public Schools. She wrote,

Following is some information that we had on hand from previous
meetings with SPS:

• SPS isn’t willing, this year, to entertain the idea of QAE becoming an International/Immersion school as it does not fit into the current roll-out plan for International Schools.
• SPS stated that International/Immersion could be revisited at a later date
• Both Immersion & Montessori programs need to be implemented over time and are therefore restrictive to older students entering those programs while technology is immediately accessible (‘come as you are’).
• Considering that elementary grades must focus on teaching fundamentals of reading, writing and mathematics, the more specialized focus of STEM was determined as not quite appropriate for this age range.
• Montessori proponents and others were concerned about staffing a Montessori program by fall. There is an extremely limited number of teachers in our area that have appropriate Montessori credentials and this is not something that you can simply earn over the summer, as SPS had originally planned.

Beyond this, the school district also would like any program begun at QAE to be able to be continued at the middle school level, and currently McClure’s curriculum does not support an International/Language Immersion or Montessori/STEM program. Technology, however, could be continued at the middle school level and beyond, according to Anderson. She’s says the new program could pave the way for a third curricular option in Seattle Public Schools.

“Technology Enriched” is a term we are applying to describe the vision for Queen Anne Elementary. It is a combination of STEM and Innovation where technology empowers learning. It is a collaborative educational approach that promotes the development of social skills. It is teaching 21st century skills in a 21st century learning environment. It embraces the ability to explore critically and analytically by allowing technology to facilitate learning. It is not children plugged into a computer all day. It is not a library full of Kindles and no books. Rather, it is a collaborative environment that allows the integration of computers and other technology to enhance learning. It is teachers and students working together to co-create knowledge, rather than the 20th century model of only the teacher delivering knowledge to students.   It is about asking how engaged are our kids at school, and using technology to engage them as learners. It is taking the best practices from other Innovation and Technology models around the country and the world and applying them.

The first year, this school will continue to evolve. At this time, we
do not know how many computers or other means of technology we will have. We do not know if we will be a PC or Mac platform or a combination of both.  It will not be a dual-track curriculum.

David Elliott will be hiring a staff that will not be in place by the
end of Open Enrollment. He is recruiting teachers from within the SPS that are grounded in the fundamentals of elementary learning but that also desire the opportunity in integrate technology and embrace innovation. These teachers will thrive in a collaborative environment and work together to create learning models that will evolve and change as needed while still teaching our districts mandated curriculums.”

The Queen Anne Elementary design team will be discussing the nature of the new “technology enriched” platform at an open house this Saturday, March 20 from 10 a.m. to noon at Coe Elementary, located at 2424 7th Ave W. Community members are invited to come meet Principal David Elliott and discuss the future of the “technology enhanced/enriched” elementary. For more information, or to take part in the discussion, check the QAE Google group topics.