Hundreds of kids and their costumed parents flocked to Queen Anne Avenue North for the annual merchant sponsored trick-or-treating extravaganza this afternoon.

Shoulder to shoulder on rain-sprinkled sidewalks were super heroes, animals, Transformers, ghosts, fairies, Scooby-Doos, Annies, zombies, robots, haunted hot-air balloons, gangsters, tree nymphs and disco superstars.
And state Rep. Reuven Carlyle, was there, too, along with dozens of generous store owners who reached into their own pockets to buy big bags of candy and pitch in to pay for police officers to direct the busy intersections at West McGraw Street, West Boston Street and West Crockett Street. By 5 p.m., the threat of rain subsided and candy buckets grew heavy with candy.

The annual trick-or-treating on the Ave is back today from 3-6 p.m. at most stores on and adjacent to Queen Anne Avenue North. This event is free for everyone and parents are encouraged to get in costume with the kids.

The business owners of Upper Queen Anne have paid out of their own pockets for the candy and the off-duty Seattle Police officers to direct traffic. The following businesses paid for the traffic patrol officers: Charley + May. Queen Anne Real Estate, Bartell’s, All the Best Pet Store, Olympia Pizza, Nancy’s Sewing Basket, Video Isle, A & J Meats, McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants, Queen Anne Dispatch, Midlakes Insurance, HomeStreet Bank, Queen Anne Frame, Marqueen Garage, Top Pot Doughnuts, Chocolopolis, Queen Anne Books, Three Birds Home and Gifts, Communique, hauteyoga, La Luna Restaurant, Umpqua Bank, Starbucks, and Queen Anne Chiropractic.

Please thank these kind people by shopping on Queen Anne the rest of the year.  Have fun!

Here’s the details from Friday’s gun scare  at John Hay Elementary.

At about 1:30 p.m., on Friday, police responded to reports that two kids were armed with rifles at John Hay Elementary School, according to the Seattle Police Blotter.

Det. Mark Jamieson said patrol and SWAT team officers arrived and surrounded the school, which by then principal Kari Hanson had placed on lockdown. Classes continued while police searched for the suspects. Three suspects were located near the school (they were never actually inside the school building) and in their possession were Airsoft rifles, toys that resembled the real thing. The rifles were seized and placed into evidence. The suspects were released to their parents. Police did not release their names or whether they were students at John Hay.

It looks like rain tonight. So if you want to do something with the kids, the Queen Anne Community Center has a great idea: Watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”
The show starts at 6:15 p.m. and there will be free popcorn and snacks. The cost is $3 per person (babies are free). The community center is at 1901 First Ave. W., next to McClure Middle School. Call 206-386-4240 for more information.

Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is reporting that the Alaskan Way Viaduct will open Saturday, two days earlier than expected.

With the help of good yet cold weather, demolition crews have made more progress than expected. Gov. Christine Gregoire has said the project is six months ahead of schedule. The progress means that the Viaduct is expected to reopen midday Saturday between the West Seattle Bridge and the Battery Street Tunnel.

Drivers will use a temporary bypass that skirts the demolition area just north of Safeco Field.

SR 99 reopening information

• Northbound and southbound SR 99 are expected to open midday Saturday from the Battery Street Tunnel to the West Seattle Bridge.
• The on-ramp to northbound SR 99 from South Royal Brougham Way is expected to close at 6 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29 and reopen once crews finalize roadway connections.
• The southbound SR 99 off-ramp to South Atlantic Street will remain closed until 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 31.
• Drivers can expect a slower, 40 mph speed limit on much of the viaduct between the Battery Street Tunnel and the West Seattle Bridge.
• Drivers can expect a recommended 25 mph construction zone speed limit through the curving bypass in the SODO area.
• Metro Transit’s 11 bus routes that travel on SR 99 will begin using the new bypass at the start of service on Sunday morning, Oct. 30.

Construction on the state Route 99 tunnel is expected to continue through the end of 2015.

The taste test will surely come down to the water, what fableist New Yorkers claim makes their pizza so good.
So when New York Pizza & Bar opens on Wednesday, Nov. 2,at 500 Mercer St., purists may go either way on it despite the restaurant’s best intentions to emulate East Coast appeal.
“We don’t use New York water but we use the same herbs, the same thin crust made with beer and brushed with the same olive oil,” said store general manager Ed Grandpre.
Grandpre has been in the restaurant business for 40 years now. While in high school, he took a job with a caterer at the Seattle Center. He spent 12 years at Canlis developing its wine program and wine rooms. “That’s where I picked up a lot of my service and hospitality traits,” he said. He has his own business at one point then ventured onto the Oceanaire Seafood Room in downtown Seattle until it closed in 2009.
New York Pizza & Bar will host a soft-opening 5-9 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 1 and has partnered with the Pike Place Food Bank.  Then there will be a public grand opening at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 2, in which customers are invited to bring a can of food to support the food bank.

Queen Anne Books has submitted its list of the top five fiction and non-fiction books sold in the past week. Topping the non-fiction list is Walter Isaacson’s synchronous biography of the late Steve Jobs.

Fiction

1. The Marriage Plot, Jeffrey Eugenides
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9780374203054

2. 1Q84, Haruki Murakami
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9780307593313

3. The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9780307957122

4. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9780385534635

5. The Eden Hunter, Skip Horack
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9781582436098

NonFiction

1. Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9781451648539

2. Destiny of the Republic, Candice Millard
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9780385526265

3. The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9780679763888

4. Cleopatra, Stacy Schiff
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9780316001946

5. Jacqueline Kennedy interviews,
http://www.queenannebooks.com/book/9781401324254

La Luna owner Ezequiela Romero and finance officer Ana Lira want to extend the sidewalk canopy at the restaurant at 2 Boston St.
Lira said in the plan for the sidewalk café permit application was for the extension and broadening of the existing canopy, which currently traces the restaurant’s southern wall but stops short of the restaurant’s southeastern entrance. The new canopy would cover more diners and invite more diners to eat al fresco. After a required public comment period, which ends Nov. 7, the city will reexamine the application.

The original plan was to have a broad canopy wrap-around the restaurant’s southern wall and its western frontage along Queen Anne Avenue North. Lira said she and Romero wanted outdoor dining along the Ave but city planners nixed the idea. Romero and Lira submitted the application this month.

The Families and Education Levy organization wants residents of Magnolia to sign up for phone bank duty to help ensure the passage of Proposition No. 1, a levy that would temporarily boost property taxes to raise funds for Seattle Public Schools.

The organization has sent e-fliers to the school district and Magnolia and Queen Anne schools asking for volunteers who can spend a few hours a day calling people and informing them about the levy. Students are welcome to participate and volunteers can even set up phone banks at their homes. Needed times are:
11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29 at 402 Ninth Ave. N
5-9 p.m., Monday, Oct. 31 at 402 Ninth Ave. N
5-9 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 402 Ninth Ave. N
5-9 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 3 at 402 Ninth Ave. N
11 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 5 at 402 Ninth Ave. N

The levy which Seattle residents can vote for Tuesday, Nov. 8, would approve the collection of $231,562,000 in property taxes over seven years. The money would fund school readiness and early learning, academic achievement in elementary, middle and high schools. It would also support student health, the community partnership fund and research and evaluation programs. Details can be found by clicking here.

The Families and Education campaign headquarters are located at 402 Ninth Ave. N. in South Lake Union. For more information visit www.familiesandeducationlevy.org or call Kerry Cooley-Stroum at 206-910-1400 kcs@seanet.com or Dawn Bennett at 347-581-8021 msdawnbenett@gmail.com.

Businesses investing in their communities is nothing new. Bank employees participate in Boys & Girls Clubs, salons and shops of all likes, donate proceeds to local cancer care organizations, The Queen Anne Helpline or the Seattle Milk Fund, which has a prominent presence in Magnolia.

Umpqua Bank, which has a branch where Hollywood Video was in Magnolia Village at 2236 32nd Ave. W. and where Blockbuster Video was at 1630 Queen Anne Ave. W. along the Ave in Queen Anne, is also investing in its respective communities–but in a way that puts the decision-making into the hands of neighbors.

The bank has launched its “I Heart Project,” committing $50,000 to promote business and neighborhood growth. At several of its branches in Seattle and Bellevue, the bank is asking people to write “love letters” to a business and/or neighborhood they love and to drop off the letter in a lock box at their Umpqua branch. Customers can text their votes (#99158) and upload the letter with optional picture to Facebook (www.facebook.com/umpquabank), too. Umpqua will award $10,000 to the three neighborhoods with the most votes and $15,000 will be distributed among the 10 businesses loved the most. Another $5,000 will go toward a school within a winning neighborhood. Love letters will be accepted through Dec. 15.

If you want to make a difference in how your government functions, or just want to make your opinion heard in an effective way, consider attending the Knowledge As Power civic skills training event at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday at the Queen Anne Library at 400 W. Garfield St.
There are a fixed number of legislators but each has a growing number of constituents which can make it difficult to get your voice heard. Knowledge As Power will teach effective techniques and provide free technology to improve your skills in effective civic involvement. For more information visit www.knowledgeaspower.org.

Over the last three years, FOLKpark or Friends of Lower Kinnear Park, have made massive inroads toward getting the beloved green space back in shape.
FOLKpark has amassed hundreds of supporters, volunteers and sponsors to help make the renovation of the park a reality.

HBB Architects have generated a map of the proposed restoration. Rendering courtesy of Seattle Parks & Recreation.

FOLKpark along with the Department of Neighborhoods and Seattle Parks and Recreation are having a community update on the park’s progress from 6:30-8:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 27 at Bayview Retirement Community at 11 W. Aloha St.
This park project proposes to restore the urban forest in the park, enhance the link to the waterfront, provide trail improvements, renovate the tennis court, and create an off-leash area. Anyone interested in this project is encouraged to attend, and see how the community’s vision from last year’s design meetings is being developed.

A second draft of Seattle’s Shoreline Master Program has been released and in it are recommendations to limit the number of houseboats and to increase building setbacks by another 10 feet.
Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development announced the proposed changes this morning and are soliciting feedback from neighbors before a final draft is penned. The update revises all of Seattle’s shorelines including Lake Union/Ship Canal, the Puget Sound, Lake Washington, Green Lake and the Duwamish River.
The revisions focus on environmental protection while promoting public access. Included in the proposed revised regulations are:

• Prohibiting new floating homes and house barges
• Increasing shoreline setbacks for new residential development from 25feet to 35feet
• Prohibiting new hard shoreline bulkheads, such as concrete, unless there is the threat of water undermining a principle structure or substantial accessory structure within three years or the bulkhead is required for conducting water-related business activity
• Clarifying the use of shoreline environment for some non-water dependant uses when supporting water-dependant businesses
• Improving public access to the shoreline by encouraging the connection of public access

You can see the revisions by clicking here.

Written comments are being sought through Dec. 6. Please send your written comments to Margaret Glowacki at margaret.glowaci@seattle.gov or to the following address: 700 5th Ave. Ste. 2000, P.O. Box 34019, Seattle, WA 98124-4019

After playing last week in Magnolia through the sponsorship of Fatima Parent Teacher Club and the Magnolia United Church of Christ, the “Finding Kind” documentary will play at McClure Middle School at 7:30 p.m., this Wednesday.
“Finding Kind” is a documentary in which women and girls talk about their personal experiences with friendships and the impact of meanness within “girl world.”

Prior to the film the McClure Parent Teacher Student Association will have a meeting. Attendees will hear about upcoming events and have an opportunity to ask questions. Volunteers also help the PTSA make a quorum to conduct a little PTSA business.

All are welcome though the film is geared toward girls ages 10 and up and for the adults in their lives – parents, teachers, coaches, counselors, etc. Admission is free although donations are welcome. For more information on the film visit www.findingkind.com.

The weekend’s Northwest Chocolate Festival at the Seattle Center was a mélange of smells and tastes that, in a matter of minutes after tasting sample after free sample of chocolate cannoli, chocolate nibs, hot chocolate, tamales with mole sauce and even the fleshy right-out-of-the-pod cacoa beans, left one pinging in a chocolaty state of delirium.

Dozens of vendors from Seattle and throughout the West Coast offered samples of their labor at the third annual event, which filled up with visitors. Walking amid the masses meant a slow crawl, but since it was all about chocolate, no one was complaining. There were companies from Colorado, California, Utah, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington. There were buyers and makers from even Ecuador in attendance.

Holy Cannoli had some exquisite cannoli for sale. Goodbye diet plans. Photo by Michael.

Queen Anne’s own Chocolopolis was there, too. Chefs Sebastian and Dominica Falcon tempered chocolate by hand on the culinary kitchen stage. The two met at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and were married at the beginning of the year. Dominica hailed from Seattle, so the couple made the Emerald (and chocolate) City their home base, and both landed jobs at Lauren Adler’s Chocolopolis. Adler had a front-row seat to the demonstration.
“The festival did a great job this year,” she said, adding that there is so much involved in the world of chocolate from politics to agriculture.

A festival volunteer makes chocolate on using a heated plate and stone rolling pin. Photo by Michael.

A panel of experts discussed as much Sunday afternoon in the World of Chocolate Room. Trending right now in the industry is providing incentives for growers to grow high-grade cacao as public interest and demand increases. Kallari Chocolate, for example, is a farmers’ cooperative in the Napo region of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The region is at a crossroads: deforest it for lumber or develop a sustainable means of income for locals and in doing so keep the forest, home to rare birds and monkeys, flourishing. One-hundred percent of the profit made by Kallari Chocolate goes back to the growers.

Brandon Weaver of Zoka Coffee uses coffee grounds made at the roasting plant on Nickerson Drive to pour one of many flavors of the day. Photo by Michael.

“We’re starting to get more feedback from consumers about growers,” said Steve DeVries of DeVries Chocolate of Denver, Colo. “That more upstream interest brings the economics back to the growers, giving them the impetus to do better.”
Beyond the eating and the education, there was drink varietals and yes, skin care. Chocolate makers were on hand in the beer garden making chocolate infused drinks (espresso and whiskey chocolate milkshake anyone?) and nearby were therapy/aphrodisiac chocolates, too.

Erin Andrews of Indi Chocolate dabs some chocolate lip balm. Photo by Michael.

Erin Andrews of Indi Chocolate of Sammamish has made all sorts of creams and lotions and lip balm made with chocolate. “I buy my beans from the Mayans,” she said. “Mayans actually make the chocolate.”

The Seattle PI is reporting that one of the suspects in the homicide that took place Saturday morning at an Interbay business, was shot by police this afternoon near the Space Needle. The PI has reported this morning that the suspect has died.

Yesterday afternoon, the suspect resisted arrest and then the confrontation broke loose which resulted in shots fired. The suspect was hit by fire and later rushed to Harborview Medical Center.

The homicide took place Saturday morning at A-1 Self Storage at 2648 15th Ave. W. According to one man who spoke to police Saturday, two men entered the business, robbed then stabbed the manager, a man in his 80s by the name of Ernie. The suspects fled and another employee at the storage facility called police. Medics rushed Ernie to Harborview Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead. Sunday afternoon, one of the suspects was spotted by police near the Space Needle, according to the PI. An altercation ensued then shots fired. The suspect was struck and immobilized. Medics then took him to Harborview.

Police have not yet confirmed if there is a second suspect in the shooting, but have said that video surveillance from the storage facility shows the one man who police later killed. The man, Eric Blaine Evans, 46, according to reports in the PI and Seattle Times, was using the elderly man’s credit cards, which contributed to how the police were able to close the net on him. The Times is reporting that the suspect had spent time in prison for fatally “beating a teenage girl with a baseball bat in April 1988.”

Mourners for the grandfather named Ernie who was a manager at the A-1 Self-Storage paid their respects with flowers and a note. Ernie was killed during an armed robbery yesterday morning at the place of business at 2648 15^th Ave. W.

The note and flowers were from a couple who rented space at the facility. Later in the day, more flowers and notes were left near the establishment’s locked gate.

Several readers commented that Ernie was kind and friendly. One person said Ernie was his/her father, and thanked those who acknowledged him.

According to one witness who late this morning was speaking with police inside A-1 Self Storage at 2684 15th St. W., the manager working at the business was robbed by two men then stabbed in the neck. The assailants are still at large, Seattle police said.

The witness who spoke little English said “the grandpa” who worked at the business was stabbed and was presumed dead. Though Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Kyle Moore said medics rushed the man to Harborview Medical Center administering CPR along the way. He said the man, who was 80 years old, was still alive when the medics transferred him to Harborview physicians. Seattle Police Det. Mark Jamieson has confirmed that the man has died from his wounds.

Eight police cars, one of them unmarked, had descended on the scene just after 10:30 a.m., where a report of an armed assault had taken place. No word yet if the suspect(s) have been captured or whether the victim is still alive. Police spokesman Mark Jamieson was still gathering information when inquiries were made.

Employees at the U-Haul business across the street from A-1 said when they arrived, police were already on the scene with lights going and northbound traffic slowed. One employee ran over there to find out information but police had cordoned off the scene with yellow and red crime tape.

The View will continue to report as updates come.

St. Paul Episcopal Church has graced lower Queen Anne for nearly 50 years. Though small and compact at 15 Roy St., sometimes easily missed while navigating the harried nightlife traffic, the church is quite unique, with a space-age roofline and a floating Tracker organ. And now, it’s getting a new look.

St. Paul Rector Melissa Skelton shows a picture of former rector Fr. Lockerby before the newly constructed church in 1962, an event that coincided with the the 1962 World's Fair. Photo by Michael.

The roofline, designed and built in 1962 coinciding with the galactic nature of Century 21 designs (Space Needle) constructed for the World’s Fair that year, will remain as is. But the colored-glass windows, which were cracked and have remained so since the Nisqually earthquake of 2001, will be replaced with stained-glass windows. There will be a new altar which will be made with a six-inch slab of walnut designed by area artist Julie Speidel. Speidel will also design the new immersion font that will be placed toward the church’s enlarged foyer. The pews are being refinished and there will be new carpeting and altar furniture. Trees will be planted outside the entryway and a new sidewalk will be poured.

St. Paul Rector Melissa Skelton stands by the walnut slab that will be used as the new church altar. Photo courtesy of St. Paul Episcopal Church.

Construction crews are currently updating the lighting.
Rector Melissa Skelton said the project has been more than three years in the making.
“We started with a conference about holy space and that became a course then a team formed,” Skelton said. One parishioner happens to be the board president at Cornish College of the Arts, of which Speidel is a member. He asked Speidel to contribute toward the project and she agreed.
“She is just, oh wow!” Skelton said of Speidel and of the church’s fortune to get an artist to donate the work. “She’s talented.”
While the entire church has been under construction, mass has been held in the basement or the parish hall. The parish has grown from 89 to 220 members in four years. Skelton is counting on the renovation to be completed by Christmas.