Longtime Queen Anne coffee post The Grinder, located at 41 Dravus St. off Nickerson (and just around the corner from Tully’s), closed up shop on Wednesday, April 28.
In a letter posted on the door to customers and patrons, owner Kristin Wilhite, who started the Grinder after graduating from SPU 15 years ago, wrote:
“The time has come to close the doors of The Grinder. For 15 years I came to work looking forward to who I would serve that day. I worked hard to not only provide you with good coffee, but with a safe place to laugh, cry, converse and be heard.”
Kristin, who gave birth to her son Max just three months ago, wrote that while she will miss The Grinder, she is thrilled to be starting a new career as a stay-at-home mom.
In her letter Kristin expressed the gratitude she felt for her customers and friends over the years.
“I have: Witnessed relationships turn into marriages. Freshman enter SPU and graduate four years later. Shared in retirements and in promotions. Celebrated our local, now well known author. Lived vicariously through your travels and heard your stories… Watched customers become parents and parents become grandparents. Made more friendships through serving coffee than I ever could have imagined. The stories are endless!”
Kristin invites anyone with a memory to share about The Gridner, to post it on the coffee spot’s Facebook wall.
Census workers will wear a Department of Commerce badge and carry a black bag with the official U.S. Census Bureau logo. They will ask basic questions such as names, birth dates and race of everyone living in the house as of April 1. They will not ask questions about immigration status, or request bank account or credit card information.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 74 percent of all Washington households mailed back the forms; that’s 2 percentage points higher than the national average. About 11,000 census workers will fan out across our state for the next two months, usually on weekends and early evenings to catch people at home.
Census information is used to accurately apportion congressional district seats, and determines how hundreds of billions of federal dollars are distributed.
Queen Anne resident Stacya Silverman and her cross-country business partner Alissa Schoenfeld developed a product called Beauty Alert!, which was featured in The New York Times Fashion & Style section yesterday, Thursday, April 29. Beauty Alert! packages provide specially designed stickers based on four categories of cosmetic products and their lifespans, notifying users of the date their product will expire after first use.
Once cosmetics are opened, the spoilage process begins, reducing their effectiveness and allowing bacterial growth that can cause irritations or infections.
Though expiration dates on cosmetics products are not required to be posted on the labels by the F.D.A., Silverman says products have both a storage shelf life and a home life span. Bacteria can build up in products during the latter and can become unsafe to use.
Speakers and panelists at the forum included representatives from the Seattle Police Department, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Council, as well as community and organizational leaders. Topics covered included public safety, Block Watch programs, graffiti reporting–a particularly hot issue in Queen Anne right now–and more.
For those who prefer to watch Seattle Channel on the good old fashioned TV, they will be airing repeats of the cablecast at 2 p.m. today, Thursday, April 29 and 2 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, April 30 on Channel 21.
Alexis Artis is a lifelong resident of Queen Anne. This Saturday, May 1 Alexis will be hosting an aluminum can drive to raise money for save her dog, Jada, a 2-year-old Afghan Hound who was diagnosed with Chylothorax a few weeks ago. Chylothorax is a very rare disease where excess fluid fills the space around the lungs and can cause impaired breathing by limiting the expansion of the lungs in inhalation.
According to Alexis, Jada had to have emergency surgery to save her life, but the cost of the procedures and treatments has been so extensive, she can no longer afford to cover Jada’s medical bills, much less continued treatment. In the hopes of raising enough money to save her pup, Alexis has turned to the community for support.
A few weeks ago Alexis took the campaign to UW and collected cans from students, faculty and passerby on campus. She’ll be collecting in the McClure parking lot from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and asks anyone interested in donating their recyclable cans to a good cause to stop by. All of the proceeds, she says, will go toward Jada’s medical costs and any excess will be donated to charity.
“All the funds that I have raised so far will be going to her medical bills and anything extra will go to the Seattle Humane Society. My goal over the next few months is to gather about 500,000 aluminum cans,” Alexis wrote.
Local painter Ryan Henry Ward has left the mark of his trade all around Seattle, literally. Using a style that combines chalk, oil and acrylic paints, Ward is most well known for his bright and whimsical murals that can be seen on abandoned walls and on the sides of homes and businesses around town–you’ll know it’s him by “Henry” stamp painted into the picture.
The side of a house along Nickerson just before the Fremont Bridge has long been a site of Ward’s work, but recently the artist was commissioned to “muralize” the rest of the house, a project finished just earlier this week. The largest part of the new mural showcases a giant goldfish over the east side of the house–a picture that seems to be framed for commuters looking for an entertaining pastime while waiting for the bridge to go down!
Check out more photos of Ward’s work here. Many of Ward’s murals are in our sister neighborhoods, like Ballard, Fremont and Phinney Ridge. Henry works have also been commissioned in less obvious places, like inside local schools and on the walls of neighborhood businesses. Keep your eyes peeled! I personally like to play a little game I call spot the “Henry” while driving around town.
Beginning today, the soul uplifting sounds and spirit of gospel music will grace Seattle Pacific University as part of GospelFest10: A Celebration of the Gospel Music Legacy. Three days of an educational symposium, rehearsals and a dinner culminate Saturday night in a mass gospel choir concert – proving that there is so much more to Seattle than alt-indie-pop.
For $10 a person, the symposium at the First Free Methodist Church adjacent to the SPU campus features workshops and sessions in the history, literature, and ministry of the Gospel music tradition, as presented by some of the genre’s pre-eminent practitioners and scholars, including Robert Darden, an associate professor of journalism at Baylor University and author of “People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music,” (which is the subject of one of the symposium’s clinics).
Saturday’s concert will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in SPU’s Royal Brougham Pavilion, 3414 Third Ave West. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5 per person. Free parking is available in the Nickerson, Ross, and West Dravus street parking lots. The event is wheelchair accessible. For more information, call 206-281-2966 or visit the GospelFest10 website.
The audience will be in for a real treat as they bear witness to some of the region’s finest gospel choirs, including JudahSong, SureHouse, The Sound of the Northwest, SPU’s gospel choir, and gospel choirs from Antioch Bible Church and University Presbyterian Church. If the memory of these stirring voices isn’t enough, a souvenir booklet will also be available for purchase.
Seattle’s homeless population stretches far beyond downtown. North Seattle residents and businesses are also struggling to deal with the issue. To see how the community is trying to find a balance, we take you to the streets of Ballard for a raw and compelling look at the problem.
The Homeless Neighbor is the third in a series of stories partnering Next Door Media sites with the nonprofit Common Language Project and students of University of Washington’s Entrepreneurial Journalism class. One of the authors of this story is Christian Caple, the editor of our newest neighborhood site U District Daily. We invite you to take a look.
According to the Washington State Liquor Control Board, Lower Queen Anne’s own Peso’s Kitchen & Lounge is the biggest restaurant/bar buyer of booze in the entire state!
Former Seattle PI columnist and Queen Anne bar owner Mike Lewis (who became one of the owners of the Streamline on Mercer St. last fall) broke the story on the Seattle Weekly’s Voracious blog today, Wednesday, April 28. From the story:
Peso’s spent more on liquor over the past 12 months than any other bar in the state, more than restaurants twice its size, more than hotels, more any other booze-slinging establishment except two large casinos, according to the Washington State Liquor Control Board.
A top ten list of purchasers release by the WSLCB revealed that Peso’s trailed behind only two establishments–the Snoqualmie Casino and Northern Quest Resort and Casino in Spokane. But just because it spent more, doesn’t meant it sold more alcohol–it all comes down to what you buy. Read Mike’s full story at the Seattle Weekly.
Though these stories don’t hale from Queen Anne, they could affect many in the neighborhood. To keep us all abreast of what’s going in in our neighboring communities, here are a couple stories from two of our sister sites, MyBallard and MagnoliaVoice.
Over in Magnolia, Discovery Park is facing the threat of looming budget cuts at Seattle Parks and Recreation, which if passed, could shut down and lay off the staff at the Discovery Park Environmental Learning Center (aka the Visitor Center) as soon as July. MagnoliaVoice has the full story.
In Ballard there is an update on the long-developing Burke-Gilman Trail ‘Missing Link’ story. Recently a judge ruled that an environmental review would have to be conducted on a small section of the ‘missing link’ in Ballard before the project could continue, a process that is expected to take about six months. This morning the City of Seattle decided not to appeal this decision. Read the full story at MyBallard.
The four tall trees bordering the south side of the Greenwich Apartments at the top of the south face of Queen Anne hill are the victim of “topping,” a term that refers to the practice of “stubbing” or “dehorning” a tree in an attempt to prevent overgrowth.
According to PlantAmnesty.org, an organization dedicated to ending the “senseless torture and mutilation of trees and shrubs,” topping trees is an ineffective and misguided practice that actually worsens the health of the tree or shrub.
Topping has become the urban forest’s major threat, dramatically shortening the lifespan of trees and creating hazardous trees in high-traffic areas.
Concerned about the legality of topping, Susan wonders if it was the work of a private party or business. “It couldn’t have been done legally because the City doesn’t allow topping trees,” she wrote.
“This work definitely wasn’t done by the city,” confirmed Seattle Department of Transportation City Arborist Nolan Rundquist. “When work is performed on street trees by a tree firm or a resident, they are required to obtain a permit from the Urban Forestry section of Seattle Transportation. This type of work is something that we never would have issued a permit for.”
According to Rundquist, the trees meet none of the city’s tree pruning specifications, and looks to be the handiwork of a “tree cutter,” who he said are often “more concerned about making a buck than performing work that was beneficial for the tree and community.”
“The work is very unprofessional (in my opinion, of course) – we’ve been trying to get the “topping is bad” message out for the last 30 years,” Rundquist said, referring readers to Plant Amnesty’s “5 Reasons to Stop Topping Trees” list.
We called the manager of the adjacent Greenwich apartment building, Berit McAlister, to see if she knew who was responsible or had heard anything from other tenants or neighbors. McAlister first said she did not know, and then requested we send a formal letter in writing inquiring for more information.
Regardless of who is responsible, however, Rundquist urges community members to actively discourage tree topping. “We’d certainly like to know the name of the company or person who performed the work, so we can contact them and hopefully keep them from destroying any more trees,” he said.
Seattle Metropolitan magazine has named Queen Anne one of the best Seattle neighborhoods to live in in 2010!
And I can’t say that I blame them! Seattle Met chatted with Queen Anne Farmers Market director Julie Whitehorn about what makes QA–or as I call it, the other hill– so great. Read the full piece here.
Queen Anne appreciation moment: Here are some of neighborhood’s highlights:
One of the great things about Queen Anne in the summer is that the location provides a number of captivating and enjoyable routes for walking and cycling to and around town! But if you’re looking forward to taking a stroll over the Ballard Bridge in the coming months, you might have to put your plans on hold. This summer, Seattle Department of Transportation crews will be painting one half of the Ballard Bridge, affecting pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
Rick Sheridan with SDOT tells us that pedestrian access on either the east or west side of the bridge will be shut down entirely during the painting. The other side of the bridge will remain open. No word on when painting will start or which side of the bridge crews will work on first. The side that isn’t painted this year will be painted next year.
[Editor's note: This story has been edited since it was originally posted in order to clarify a few points concerning the various Seattle Center RFPs.]
Back in December Seattle Center cleared away the rides in the north section of the Fun Forest, now known as Center Square, to make way for an array of project proposals for “interesting installations and activities to carry the space through to 2012, when Seattle Center will make use of the space to house activities related to the 50th anniversary celebration,” wrote Director of Communications Deborah Daoust. Center Square is intended to be used as public space, and according to Daoust, it will maintain this role after the 50th anniversary celebrations conclude.
Center representatives hoped to fill the space by testing a range of one-time events as well as longer installations, but admitted being “disappointed” by the lack of variety in the proposals they received. According to Daoust, though the Cente rwidely promoted the call for RFPs, only eight proposals were submitted.
This search for RFPs happened to coincide with another large and widely debated proposal for a 44,000 square foot glass house on the Center campus that would include, among other amenities, a Dale Chihuly exhibit. But Daoust says this project is not t0 be confused with the open and public Center Square space.
The proposal for the Chihuly Exhibition was first presented to Seattle Center in the summer of 2009. After the Mayor’s Office and City Council gave Seattle Center the go ahead to pursue the proposal, Seattle Center worked with the Wright family on an agreement for a long-term lease (5 years, with 3 5-year options) of the space. As the proposal became public, it received some opposition, and so Seattle Center decided to expand the public process and issue the RFP to allow others to come forward with their proposals. These proposals must be fully funded (no city contribution), and they can provide revenue and public benefits in varying degrees.
(Photo from the Seattle Center website).
Just last week the Center continued its effort to find a number of suitable bids for the space, issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the redevelopment of “all or some portion of the 1 ½ acre Fun Forest south area” on Friday, April 23. According to the Center, the rides still remaining in the area south of the Seattle Center Monorail station, including 21,600 square-foot open space and concrete brick arcade building located southeast of Center House, will be removed by the end of September 2010 to accommodate new exhibits. Here’s a little information on what the Center is looking for:
Seattle Center, a City of Seattle department, will consider a broad range of proposals for temporary, long-term use (up to 20 years) of the area in keeping with the vision and mission of the department and the aspirations of the Seattle Center Century 21 Master Plan.
Seattle Center will accept proposals for revenue generating activities as well as those that return substantial public benefits. Selection criteria include a proponent’s demonstrated ability to fully fund, implement and operate the proposal.
The RFP states the preference for public use of the space to commence no later than summer 2011. The desire is to have a completed attraction in place by the six-month celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair in 2012.
Proposals are due by June 4, 2010. For more information on the RFP process and how to submit, check the project page or contact Neal Erickson at Neal.Erickson@seattle.gov.
Police are investigating a strange arson that occurred early this morning, Tuesday, April 27 at the Ride the Ducks of Seattle building, located in the 500 block of Broad St. just across from Seattle Center and the EMP in Lower Queen Anne.
(Photo courtesy of KING5, reposted with permission).
According to the SPD Blotter, officers responded to an assist request from the Seattle Fire Department at the building at approximately 12:39 a.m., when firefighters reported that a Ride the Ducks employee had let them into the building and informed them of the exact location of the fire. When officers contacted the 50-year-old man, he admitted to setting the fire–but even stranger still, was the story behind it. From the Blotter:
He claimed that he set the building on fire because he was being chased by two unknown men from his apartment several blocks away. The suspect stated that he ran to the business where he works in an attempt to get away from the men. He further claimed that after he entered the building and locked the door and set the alarm, the unknown men began breaking the windows of the building in an attempt to reach him. The suspect stated that one of the men then went onto the roof of the building and cut the telephone lines, thus preventing him from calling 911. The suspect stated that he then went to a second floor office and intentionally set a fire. He stated that he hoped the fire would set off the smoke alarms that would alert the Fire Department who would then call the police and he could get the help he needed. The suspect stated that plan wasn’t working fast enough, so he jumped out the second story window and ran to the 200 Block of 5th Avenue North where he called 911.
The man then reportedly returned to the building after calling police. According to the SPD report, “there was no indication that the phone lines had been cut or that any windows had been broken.”
The suspect was arrested and booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Arson. “Drugs may be a factor in this case,” wrote SPD in the incident report, adding that detectives will continue to investigate.
Ballard may have Scandinavian pride in troves, but here in Queen Anne we have the Swedish Women’s Chorus! The Chorus, a staple of Swedish heritage in Seattle since 1951, is having its annual spring concert and auction this Friday, April 30 at the Swedish Cultural Center, located at 1920 Dexter Ave N–just in time to kick off Sweden Week at the Seattle Center (May 2 to 9).
Doors open at 6 p.m. and the concert will begin at 7 p.m. Drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and gift baskets (part of the silent auction) will be available for purchase. All proceeds will be benefit the Chorus.
Anyone interested in joining the Chorus is welcome to drop in on one of the group’s weekly meetings, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday from September through May.
No Swedish nor an audition is necessary to join, just a love for singing with a bunch of great ladies! For more information, please contact Judy Womack Judy317317@msn.com or 206-937-3285.
Heading to north Seattle in the next couple of days? You might want to reroute your commute to bypass Ballard, or plan for extra traffic time–SDOT will be closing lanes over the Ballard Bridge this week for repairs. On Tuesday, April 27 the right northbound lane will be closed from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and on Wednesday, April 28 the right southbound lane will be closed during the same hours. SDOT says motorists should expect delays.
Picture Perfect Queen Anne has been working to beautify the entrances of the Upper Queen Anne business district along Queen Anne Ave N at Galer and McGraw through the Green Gateways program. Beginning with the construction of curb bulbs last year, the group has been busy raising money and organizing volunteers to help “green” these intersections and make them more friendly for pedestrians and passersby.
(Photo courtesy of PPQA).
Last week PPQA reached its fundraising goal of $16,000 to complete the Green Gateways project and cover landscaping and maintenance for the 2,200 square feet of garden space for the next two years, a feat PPQA Treasurer Elaine Talbot attributes to “the overwhelming generosity of our neighborhood residents, organizations, and business people,” alongside support from the Office of Economic Development and SDOT.
To commemorate the completion of the project, PPQA has planned a community celebration at the Galer gateway (meet at the foot of the Galer Stairs, at the intersection of Queen Anne Ave N and Galer) this Saturday, May 1 at 12:30 p.m., where they will unveil the paving stones and fully landscaped curb bulbs.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of the Green Gateways Project,” said PPQA founder Kathy King in a press release last week. “Queen Anne is one of Seattle’s most walkable neighborhoods. Pedestrian safety and a family friendly environment are important to our neighborhood and the city. Not only will we have welcoming spaces, we will, with the engraved paving stone walkway, have a historic reminder of the people who made our neighborhood what it is today.”
The 17th Annual Dine Out For Life event is this Thursday, April 29, when 150 restaurants throughout Western Washington will donate 30 percent of each diner’s bill all day to support social services for those with HIV and AIDS. The proceeds will benefit the Lifelong AIDS Alliance, a non-profit organization committed to preventing the spread of HIV and providing advocacy and life support services, including the delivery of fresh meals and groceries to the hungry, for those in the community whose lives are affected by HIV.
“Dining Out For Life is a great way to support the community and have fun, doing something we do everyday. Everyone dines out, so why not dine out and have your meal make a positive difference?” said Lifelong spokesman Trevor DeWitt in a press release last week.
Participating restaurants in Queen Anne include Caffe Vita, Eat Local, Hilltop Ale House, McMenamins, Pasta Bella, Ponti Seafood Grill and Portage. See a full list of participating restaurants citywide here.
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Alexis Artis is a lifelong resident of Queen Anne. This Saturday, May 1 Alexis will be hosting an aluminum can drive to raise money for save her dog, Jada, a 2-year-old Afghan Hound who was diagnosed with 
The 17th Annual 