The Queen Anne Community Center is getting an energy upgrade, and the facility will be closed on Friday as workers replace a 60 year-old boiler. The new energy-efficient system will include new wiring through the building, a new emergency generator designed to work in a seismic emergency, new fuse boxes and minor structural repairs to the chimney.

The facility will reopen on Saturday. More details here.

Have you seen the forecast for this weekend? The sun will be shining, and temperatures will be in the upper 70s — even flirting with 80 degrees on Sunday. That’s a perfect excuse to head to Magnolia’s Mounger Pool, which is opening for the summer season on Saturday.

As many Queen Anne families know, Mounger is one of only two outdoor pools in Seattle, and it combines a regular pool with a wading pool. This season on Friday nights (beginning next week), it will hold Friday Family Fun nights (5:30 – 7:30 p.m.) with themed events such as Rock and Roll Party, Outrageous Animal Safari, Art on Deck, and Pirate Pool Party.

Mounger Pool is located at 2535 32nd Ave. W, and it will be open daily until September 9, 2012.

The Seattle Animal Shelter says this adorable Chihuahua mix gal is sure to steal your heart!

Coco is a sweet 10-pound adult Chihuahua mix who was found as a stray. Although she was very scared at first, she’s blossomed living in a wonderful foster home that provides lots of TLC and attention. Coco will be a truly loyal and loving companion, and she’s a silly girl who is guaranteed to make you smile!

Her ideal family will be kind, patient and understanding of her needs. It should be a calm, adult household where she can relax, play and have fun. Coco does well with the security of predictable routines and really prefers to spend most of her time with a person(s) who will happily spend those hours with her as well. She’s currently living with two cats and a dog, and gets along with them just fine but she would prefer to be your one and only – to be the center of attention.

Coco has some great skills: She’s potty trained if kept on a regular schedule. She sleeps through the night without having to go out. She loves going for walks and is great on leash. And car rides? Loves them! Coco is also a great cuddler and especially likes a nice warm lap to snuggle in. Although a bit reserved and shy when she first meets people, she warms up quickly and makes friends fast! Coco can’t wait to find her perfect forever home! Will it be with you?

Coco (SAS ID #12-3227) is being adored in a Seattle Animal Shelter foster home. If you would like to meet her, download a Dog Adoption Application, and follow the instructions on the application for submission via email or fax. You may also pick up/drop off the application at the Seattle Animal Shelter, 2061-15th Ave. W. (1 mile south of the Ballard Bridge). The shelter is open Wednesday-Sunday from noon-6:00 pm, and closed on holidays.

So, as you’ve probably heard by now, an abandoned home burned down in Upper Queen Anne last night, in the early hours of this morning. Multiple calls to 911 reveal the address to be 303 Ward Street, on the corner of 3rd Avenue North.

The house was apparently empty and an ongoing nuisance for neighbors, necessitating multiple trips from the fire department over the past year.

A neighbor wrote in to report some video posted on YouTube (video by MrPatella). The blaze was impressive and frightening.

Mark Taylor contributes this photograph of the house, post-fire:

Special thanks to the firefighters who came out in the middle of the night to battle the fire.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) reminds travelers of an upcoming weekend closure of Fairview Avenue N. A full weekend closure of Fairview Avenue N between Mercer Street and Republican Street will occur on:

• April 13 – April 16

Closure hours are scheduled for Friday at 7:30 p.m. to Monday at 5:00 a.m. Please note the I-5 on- and off-ramps at Mercer Street will remain open at all times.

Vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle detour maps are available on the project website at: www.seattle.gov/Transportation/ppmp_mercer.htm.

Upcoming Fairview Avenue N Lane Closures
Fairview Avenue N will have a single southbound lane closed between Mercer Street and Republican Street beginning Monday, April 16 through Saturday, April 21 to accommodate underground electrical work. This closure will also restrict the center left-turn lane on the Mercer Street off-ramps onto southbound Fairview Avenue N. Closure hours will be 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., weekdays and 24 hours per day on Saturday. One left-turn lane from the Mercer Street off-ramps onto southbound Fairview Avenue N will remain open at all times.

Courtesy SDOT

The Get Engaged program is recruiting 15 young people aged 18 to 29 to serve for one year on Seattle’s public boards and commissions. Commissioners help shape policy decisions, make recommendations and provide citizen participation in city government. The 15 boards range widely in interest areas— from design to human rights— and include a position with the Seattle Arts Commission.

In addition to serving on a public board, participants meet monthly as a cohort for leadership competency training, issue discussions and other activities.

Get Engaged is dedicated to advocating for youth voice in city affairs and to cultivating local leaders, especially those who have had limited opportunities to be involved in their community. You don’t need any prior experience serving on boards to be a qualified candidate.

There will be an informational session on Monday, May 7. RVSP to Get Engaged. The application deadline is May 14.

Get Engaged! Apply to Serve on a Public Board from Puget SoundOff on Vimeo.

Via Art Beat

The Ballard Bascule Bridge (Did you know it was called that? I did not. It means “drawbridge.”) is scheduled to be closed overnight for three consecutive weekends, beginning April 14, so that crews can paint areas of the bridge not accessible when the spans are in the down position.

The full bridge closures will be from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturdays, April 14, 21 and 28 and from midnight on the same Saturdays through 6 a.m. Sunday morning, April 15, 22, and 29.  The work is weather-dependent and will be rescheduled in the event of rain.

The Seattle Department of Transportation bridge painting project is expected to be complete by the end of May. The contractor expects to have the west side of the bridge completed by the end of April, ending the southbound lane and west sidewalk closures. There will be additional northbound lane and east sidewalk closures in May, but they will open for the afternoon commute between 3 and 8 p.m.  Please note, the timing of sidewalk closures is not tied to lane closures and the contractor may close the sidewalks at any time except during the peak commutes for that side of the bridge.

The Ballard Bascule Bridge Painting Project will preserve the useful life of the structure and is funded by Bridging the Gap dollars. This summer SDOT will begin a seismic retrofit project to strengthen the bridge to better withstand the stress of a major earthquake.

Photo courtesy SDOT Flickr

A clash over changes being proposed to the Uptown/Lower Queen Anne Counterbalance Park is pitting neighbor against neighbor. Architect and urban planner Mark Hinshaw wrote a passionate entreaty for the preservation of the park, drawing further attention to the last work created by architect Robert Murase.

Flora Ninelles, a dissenting member of the Uptown Alliance Parks Committee, wrote to the Queen Anne View: “Counterbalance Park is in danger of having its elegant, zen-inspired design be spoiled… [by]… the Uptown Alliance Parks Committee. They are ready to saw through its beautiful, subtly designed boardwalk in a hasty decision to find a place to install a five-foot-tall basalt boulder inscribed with a tribute to major donors who made the park possible.

“This came about because the parks committee originally decided to locate the tall boulder with four other complementary boulders in the central area of the park in a grove of gingko trees. Later, the Seattle Parks Department and the Uptown Alliance parks committee wisely decided that the five rocks would make too heavy an image in the center of the park and that just the three smaller rocks would look better.

“But rather than sell off the two remaining large tall boulders and devise a better-looking , smaller plaque to acknowledge the donors, the leaders of the Uptown Alliance parks committee hurriedly tried to place the two leftover boulders somewhere on the edges of the park. There is no other place in the park where they would look good, but would only clutter the total elegant, spare, subtle design.

“Unfortunately, the location the Uptown Alliance parks committee chose is the most prominent of all the edges, the northwest corner by Queen Anne Avenue and the Willcox condos. And to do that they would have to tear up the beautiful boardwalk and install a fairly large cement platform to support the two large boulders.

“I happen to be a rogue member of the Uptown Alliance parks committee who regrets ever having been a part of this sorry idea to place boulders in a park which would look better left just as it is, but I have not been able to persuade the committee not to saw through that gorgeous boardwalk.

“I hope people in Queen Anne and Uptown will protest this desecration of Counterbalance Park. It was designed by an eminent landscape architect, Robert Murase, who had a special place in his heart for it but who unfortunately died during its construction and is not here to defend it.”

Visit the Uptown Alliance Parks Committee on Facebook.

The Uptown Counterbalance Park at night
Photo by Joe Mabel via Flickr

On Saturday, April 28, 2012, an evening of fun, food, and entertainment will be held to benefit the Ballard High School Music Program.  The Second Annual Ballard Jazz Gala will be from 7:00 to 10:30 pm at the Ballard Elks, located upstairs from the Shilshole Bay Beach Club at 6413 Seaview Avenue NW, Seattle, WA 98107.

Come hear amazing performances by Ballard High School jazz music students in the Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Band 2, and the award-winning Jazz Band 1, who will leave the following week to participate in the Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival in New York City.

Tickets are only $25 and are available from www.showtix4u.com.  The event includes a high quality silent auction, complimentary heavy appetizers, beer and wine, and lots of opportunity for dancing.

Save Saturday, April 7, for the All-Class Alumni Music Concert, taking place in the Earl Kelly Performing Arts Center at Ballard High School. The All-Class Alumni Music Concerts are the only chance you have to see and hear current students and alumni making music together. Proceeds from the concert support the music program at Ballard High.

The first three Alumni Music Benefit Concerts, in 2006, 2008, and 2010, raised over $40,000. This year’s concert is seeking donors and sponsors, as well as musicians to participate.

For more information, please contact Dick Lee at rjlee@seattleschools.org or call 206-391-5555.