The city is sprucing up Counterbalance Park (no pun intended).

Over the last week nine new trees have appeared at the gravel and concrete laden ‘urban park,’ most of which have yet to be planted.

The new trees make me wonder if we should trade in some of that gravel for fresh grass? What do you think?

Although some Queen Anne community members have concerns, SDOT says it prefers the so called “curved” option for 6th Ave North around the new Gates Foundation campus on Lower Queen Anne.  During last night’s meeting of the Queen Anne Community Council, SDOT laid out the pros and cons of both the curved option and the straight option.  It’s all part of the Mercer Corridor Improvement Project that will widen Mercer and convert it to a two-way operation going east and west.

The curved option for 6th Ave N (seen below) would go around the Gates campus instead of cutting through it. 

• Half signal at the intersection of 6th and Mercer
• Traffic on Mercer going west won’t stop at the intersection
• No left turn from Mercer onto 6th
• Protected lane barrier for drivers turning left from 6th onto Mercer
• No pedestrian crossing at 6th and Mercer
• Pedestrian crossings only at Taylor and Dexter
• 6.5% grade

The straight option (below), which SDOT is moving away from and is not supported by the Gates Foundation, would cut through part of the Gates campus and under one building.

• Full signal allowing all movements at intersection 6th and Mercer
• Pedestrian crossings at 6th, Taylor and Dexter
• 4.5% grade

Although the straight option may looking more appealing at first glance, SDOT says the costs will be much lower by going with the curved option.  Some members of the council and residents in the audience worried that SDOT is trying to “choke” traffic and make it more difficult for drivers.  They also expressed concerns about freight mobility, saying the higher grade of the road on the curved option might prove difficult for truckers. 

One other interesting detail came out in the meeting.  SDOT is considering an additional lane on Mercer Place all the way up the hill from Elliott Avenue, instead of the current quick merge into one lane at the bottom of the intersection.  One person urged SDOT to consider sidewalks on Mercer Place if that change is made.

SDOT will host an open house on the Mercer project on September 21 from 4:30 to 7:30pm in the Seattle Center’s Lopez Room.

What the completed curved option would look like (looking south toward downtown)

SDOT is warning to drivers to be prepared for heavy congestion around Seattle Center this weekend.  Up to 50,000 people are expected to attend this year’s Bumbershoot festival.  Plan on heavier traffic than usual between the I-5 Mercer Street ramps and Seattle Center.  There are no road closures.  Bumbershoot runs from 11am to 11pm on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

From the Bumbershoot archives

Our partners at the Seattle Times say Saturday “Standard” tickets to mainstage acts Bob Dylan and The Decemberists are sold out. Standard tickets for Sunday (Weezer, Hole, Rise Against) and Monday (Mary J. Blige, Drake and J. Cole) are going fast.  “Economy” tickets for all three days are still available.

Kick off your Labor Day weekend a little early, with some fresh eats, live music and all around foodie fun at the Queen Anne Farmers Market this afternoon. Check out the lineup:

• 3 to 7 p.m.—Music by Santa Fe, New Mexico’s The Andé Marimba Band
• 4 p.m.—Chef Demo by Daniel Ahern and Shauna James Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
• 5 p.m.—Kids’ Cooking Class with Hsiao-Ching Chou, of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution-Seattle
• 6 p.m.—Cooking Demo and Book Signing with Kim O’Donnel of the Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook

The featured nonprofit this week is Queen Anne Emergency Preparedness. As always the market will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. on W. Crockett Street at Queen Anne Ave N.

140 trees will soon be torn down as part of the Mercer Corridor Improvement Project.  The folks over at Publicola report many of the trees are in the direct right-of-way that will become the new two-way Mercer Street.  SDOT tells Publicola that the rest of the trees could pose a danger to construction crews.   SDOT will replace those tree with 280 new ones, but a spokesman couldn’t tell Publicola how many of the trees being torn down are mature trees.  SDOT also plans to put in shrubs and a rain garden.

The project is estimated to cost $295 million. It will widen Mercer Street to become a two-way boulevard, reconstruct Valley Street for local access, improve transit connections, install bicycle lanes and widen sidewalks. Read more on the Mercer Corridor project here.

After three consecutive Sundays of rivet busting and lane closures on the Aurora Bridge, crews will take this Sunday off to keep traffic moving smoothly over the Labor Day weekend.  Rivet removal, along with the ”rivet buster” equipment, will pick up again on September 12.

Crews continue to work Monday through Thursday nights drilling holes for the suicide prevention fence across the bridge.

Photos from WSDOT

Just a reminder that the Queen Anne Community Council meets tonight at 7pm at the QA Community Center (1901 1st Ave W).  All members of the neighborhood are welcome to attend.  Here’s the agenda for the evening, which includes discussion of the 6th Avenue N alignment options:

7pm:  Adoption of agenda, approval of minutes, treasurer’s report

7:10pm:  Open forum/comments

7:20pm:  Mercer West/6th Ave N traffic alignment (see previous QueenAnneView coverage here)

8pm:  Port Centennial

8:10pm:  Council elections committee

8:25pm:  Committee reports

8:45pm:  New business

8:55pm:  Adjourn

Mayor Mike McGinn and the City Council are looking for candidates for the Citizens’ Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board (CTTAB) for terms beginning in January. Members would help shape city technology and city government telecommunications policies.

The City seeks five new members who reflect a broad range of diversity, professional and community experience. Here’s the information they sent us:

The 10-member board advises City officials on issues of community-wide interest relating to telecommunications and technology, including broadband, digital divide issues, open government and community technology applications, online public engagement, and cable television.

Members serve a two-year term, must reside in Seattle and serve without compensation.

Participation in the CTTAB requires attendance at monthly meetings (second Tuesday of each month) and participation in at least one sub-committee that meets monthly. Board members also attend and participate in infrequent relevant public meetings and events.

To be considered, send a letter of interest and a resume outlining your experience by September 28, 2010 to Nicole.Schultz@seattle.gov. In keeping with the City’s “Paper Cuts” program, electronic submissions are preferred, though paper applications will also be accepted.

While driving around Seattle, it’s hard not to notice the overhead wire that runs above about 70 miles of pavement in and around the city. King County Metro Transit has a fleet of 159 electric trolley buses that operate along those lines, which had 19.7 million boardings on its routes in 2009—about one-fifth of Metro’s total average weekday ridership.

Photo courtesy of King County Metro Transit

Queen Anne is a neighborhood that happens to have quite a few trolley lines going through it, (including routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, etc.).

The county needs to replace all 159 existing vehicles by 2015, with an order deadline at the end of 2012.

(Photo provided by the City of Seattle, depicts the central corridor of the King Country Metro Trolley Bus Network as of 2010).

King County Executive Dow Constantine has sent the King County Council a plan for a proposed evaluation in its imminent replacement of this fleet. It focuses on the technology of electric trolleys and diesel-electric hybrid buses, with a goal toward finding the most fuel-efficient, best value for the system. The Trolley Bus System Evaluation (.pdf) is expected to continue through the middle of next year. It will explore the costs, impact on the environment, funding opportunities and legal issues.

Metro plans additional public meetings for discussion of the evaluation as results become available. The next one is in Mount Baker on Sept.13.

Metro has already conducted a preliminary evaluation of several potential propulsion systems, including electric trolley, diesel, diesel-electric hybrid, compressed natural gas, electric battery, and hydrogen fuel cells.

The Parfait Artisan Ice Cream truck has been hitting the streets of Seattle—and Queen Anne—for quite some time now. What I didn’t know is that owner and chef Adria Shimada has been mixing up all her organic flavors and sweet concoctions out of a commercial kitchen right here in Lower Queen Anne!

As of this week Parfait has also added two Queen Anne stops to its regular schedule.The truck will be outside of Caffe Fiore on Galer from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday evenings, and at the Queen Anne Farmers Market every Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m.

While the idea of a mobile ice cream shop may not be exactly new, Adria says Parfait is 100 percent unique.

“I am currently the only ice cream maker in Seattle that is both made-from-scratch and all organic. I don’t purchase a pre-fab ice cream mix from Snoqualmie Gourmet. Rather, I make my own custards by hand in the Parfait kitchen using certified organic dairy, eggs, and produce that I source directly from small local farms. The base of Parfait ice cream has only four ingredients: milk, cream, sugar, and eggs. Pure and simple. There is no corn or stabilizers of any kind in my ice cream.  I also make all of my own cones, and all of the confections that go into my ice cream. Parfait is REAL food, slow food, and truly farm-to-cone! It’s also pretty delicious, if I must say so myself,” she wrote.

MyBallard visited the Parfait kitchen (a commercial kitchen for rent called Cookspace) and took video of Adria making vanilla bean ice cream. The local ice cream maker was also covered on NPR’s Weekend Edition on Sunday (listen to that here), and was featured in the July issue of Sunset Magazine as one of the West’s Best Ice Creams.

In addition to Parfait’s regular flavor offerings, it also has a few scrumptious sounding seasonal flavors, including blueberry ice cream, vegan apricot sorbet, and new brownie ice cream sandwiches.

To keep up with the latest, check Parfait’s schedule, and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Dick’s Drive In is a Seattle staple, yet the five-location chain hasn’t opened a new restaurant since the Lower Queen Anne location in 1974. But all of that is about to change.

For the firs time in 36 years, Dick’s is adding a new location to its ranks—it just hasn’t decided where yet. The three areas under consideration are North Seattle (south Snohomish County/Shoreline), South Seattle (West Seattle through Renton and Tukwila) or the Eastside.

The hamburger joint is putting the question to the people, with a poll in its website. Currently the race is neck-to-neck, with North Seattle at 33 percent of votes, South Seattle at 32 percent, and the Eastside leading with 34 percent.

One of our readers is missing their cat. QueenAnneAbbie posted this in our forum last night:

Our short hair brown and black tabby cat has gone missing. He is a large male and should be somewhere in mid to SW lower Queen Anne. Any help is appreciated.

Call or text 206-799-8330

No word yet on his name, or if he has tags or a microchip, but keep on the lookout for a large tabby wandering the neighborhood. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.

A fight at a Lower Queen Anne 7-Eleven store has led to one man being charged with a hate crime.  Our news partners at the Seattle Times report that 35 year old Brock Stainbrook has been charged with malicious harassment and 4th degree assault.  It comes after a fight broke out at the convenience store at 362 Denny Way on August 24. 

According to court documents, Stainbrook allegedly threw change at a stranger in a turban and punched him in the head telling the man “you’re not even an American, you’re al-Qaida. Go back to your country.”

A store employee intervened and told Stainbrook to leave. Police arrested Stainbrook near the intersection of 4th and Vine.  You can read more from reporter Jennifer Sullivan here.

If you haven’t noticed, a new sports bar has opened on Lower Queen Anne across from KeyArena.  Skybox Sports Lounge replaces KwaTay’s Restaurant and Lounge at 315 1st Ave N.  The bar was just approved to change the name on its liquor license three days ago.

Fire crews were still on the scene early this afternoon after a blaze broke out at an apartment building on Lower Queen Anne. The first call for help came at 12:41am at the building on 311 Aloha Street where smoke could be seen coming from the structure.  The fire started in the kitchen of one unit and spread to the walls.  Crews managed to knock it down quickly and no one was hurt.  Damage is estimated at $35,ooo.

Just a reminder that the Queen Anne Library (400 W. Garfield St) and all other Seattle Public Libraries are closed today and won’t reopen until Tuesday, September 7th.  Budget cuts forced the closure.  The good news is that no overdue fines will add up during this time.  For a list of things you won’t be able to do, click here.

WSDOT’s work on the Aurora Bridge continues and drivers who plan on crossing it this Sunday could face closures, this time going both ways.

This Sunday crews will continue work to remove and replace more than 1000 rivets and bolts for the construction of a safety fence to deter suicides. Drivers can expect additional closures for rivet removal in September. Crews are working Sundays because rivet busting is too noisy to do at night. Nearby residents can expect to hear construction noise from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

• From 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29, crews working for WSDOT will close two of three northbound lanes to remove and replace rivets on the east side of the bridge.
• From 1:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. all six lanes on the bridge and the southbound Fremont Way on-ramp will be closed while crews move construction equipment to the west side of the bridge. WSDOT scheduled this brief full closure at 1:30 p.m. to help southbound traffic heading to Sunday’s Mariners’ game.
• At 1:45 p.m. crews will reopen all northbound lanes and one southbound lane.
• Two southbound lanes and the southbound Fremont Way on-ramp will remain closed until midnight while crews work on the west side of the bridge.

If that’s not confusing enough, WSDOT has these suggestions on what to do to avoid closures and delays:

• Taking southbound SR 99 across the bridge before 1:30 p.m. Another option is using southbound SR 99 after 7:30 p.m., when delays caused by the closure will be very short.
• Taking northbound SR 99 across the bridge after 2:30 p.m. Drivers also should consider using northbound SR 99 in the morning before traffic volumes increase.
• Checking traffic conditions before hitting the roads. Check SR 99 traffic and I-5 traffic and tune into to radio traffic reports.

Today is Dog Day at the Queen Anne Farmers Market! From puppy pics, to adoption, to special doggy treats, it sounds like it’s going to be a fun time for market-goers, and their pooches! Check out the lineup:

• 3 to 5 p.m.—Music by Hot Cider
• 3 p.m.—Adopt a bet with Maxmobile!, the Seattle Humane Society’s mobile pet adoption van
• 3 to 7 p.m.—Dog Photography by Emi Halvorson
• 4 p.m.—Chef Demo with Lynne Vea of PCC Cooks
• 5 to 7 p.m.—Music by Clallam County
• 5 p.m.—Fruit Brix Demo with Georgia Pellegrini, author of Food Heroes, 16 Culinary Artisans Preserving Tradition, and hero Jon Rowley (sponsored by Edible Seattle)
• 5 p.m.—Dog Etiquette Demo with David Wiley of BarkBusters
• 6 p.m.—Cooking Demo by Marc Schermerhorn and Larry Liang
• 6:30 p.m.—Dog Contest at Barkbusters Tent (Best Trick, Best Command, and Congeniality King and Queen)

The featured sponsor of the market this week is Metropolitan Market, and the featured nonprofit is the Seattle Humane Society.

As always, the market will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. on W. Crockett Street at Queen Anne Ave N.

This weekend Queen Anne-ers will have an opportunity to enjoy some of the neighborhood’s best eats, while supporting our own local nonprofit, FOLKpark. The volunteer organization dedicated to revitalizing Lower Kinnear Park has put together Happy Hour on the Hill event/fundraiser this Saturday, August 28 from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

A $15 ticket will get you access to a bunch of ‘happy hour’ discounts at local restaurants and sweet shops. All of the proceeds will go toward helping FOLKpark reach it’s Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund requirement. The organization won the $100,000 city grant earlier this month, and needs to raise at least $50,000 to be awarded the funds, which will be used in the upcoming design development phase of the Lower Kinnear Park Enhancement Plan. (The community actively helped develop this plan last spring. See the finalized plan here).

The following Queen Anne locations are participating in Happy Hour on the Hill:

• Betty – $8 drink and appetizer combo
• Paragon – $5 Martinis and $7 Appetizers
• Eat Local – Free farro salad with any purchase and get 2 bottles of Viognier for the price of one at $16.98
• Chocolopolis – $1 Chocolopolis truffles (limit 2) & 50% of a chocolate drink
• Wink – 15% off all cupcakes

Tickets are available at any of the participating locations, or can be purchased at the Uptown Stroll and art walk this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Counterbalance Park (at Queen Anne Ave N and W Roy St).

The fundraiser in being put on in conjunction with the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce. If you can’t make it to Happy Hour on the Hill, but would like to donate to FOLKpark, you can make a donation via PayPal on the organization’s website.

Those interested in volunteering with FOLKpark should contact Phil Prahst at philprahst@gmail.com.