One month into the city’s Walk, Bike, Ride Challenge, a competition pitting neighborhood against neighborhood to see which can get the most residents out of their cars and onto sidewalks and trails, Queen Anne commuters are in second place for both the number of trips switching to walking, biking or riding, and in miles of driving saved.
Queen Anne-ers have racked up some 4,918 miles of driving saved so far, and are second behind Ballard in both categories. However the PhinneyWood neighborhood, currently in third place, is fast approaching Queen Anne’s numbers. Citywide program participants saved over 100,000 miles of driving in July alone.
There are still five weeks left in the competition (the program ends on August 31), so Queen Anne still has a chance to swoop in for the win and show our sister neighborhoods that just because we live atop a steep ol’ hill doesn’t mean we can’t get out and put our feet, and pedals, to the pavement. From the folks behind the Walk, Bike, Ride program:
The Seattle Walking Map and the Seattle Bike Map can help you take advantage of everyday opportunities to get exercise as you get around. Here’s a blow up of Queen Anne on the Seattle Walking Map with destinations in the neighborhood, travel times by foot, hills and more.
After a decade heading up Queen Anne-based non-profit Successful Schools in Action, which provides educational support, tutoring services and programs to seven public schools in the Queen Anne and Magnolia neighborhoods, executive director Lisa Moore is stepping down from her roll leading the organization.
“I am as passionate about the model and mission of SSIA as I have ever been, but after 10 years I’ve come to the difficult decision that it is time for me to seek new opportunities. I have seen how SSIA’s work has produced clear benefits to students, strong partnerships, and a community that is more engaged in and supportive of our public schools. I am extremely proud of SSIA’s accomplishments,” Moore said in a statement released Wednesday.
Moore will stay on to help SSIA through the coming transition period, while the organization’s board will meet to develop a plan to guide the next phase of SSIA.
“As a founder of SSIA and the only Executive Director in the organization’s 10-year history, Lisa has been an instrumental part of the core of the organization. Our success has been in large part due to her commitment to public education and our neighborhood schools. We will greatly miss Lisa’s leadership and vision,” SSIA Board President Steve Havas wrote in letter to supporters and friends of the organization.
Find out more about SSIA and the services it provides in our neighborhood here.
While we await word on whether or not King County Metro will cut bus service here in Queen Anne, there is news about a number of proposed streetcar services in the works citywide, including one that would connect Lower Queen Anne to downtown, South Lake Union and First Hill, and another that would link downtown to Loyal Heights via SLU, Fremont and Ballard.
A preview of the report, which serves as a blueprint for the city’s transit planning for the next 20 years, was presented to the City Council’s Transportation committee on Tuesday. A draft of the full report is expected to be presented in September, according to a report by the SeattlePI.
According to the plan, two rail lines are considered to be the preferred option for transit in the “downtown connector,” which includes Lower Queen Anne.
Line CC1 would connect downtown with Lower Queen Anne via streetcar, while CC2 would run between downtown and South Lake Union via SLU’s existing rail tracks. From the looks of the map, it appears CC1 would run up 1st Ave N from S Jackson St. through Pioneer Square and Belltown to Queen Anne, with proposed stations at Denny Way and 1st Ave N, and potential terminal stations west of Seattle Center at 1st Ave N and Harrison, and at the base of the hill at Queen Anne Ave N and Mercer Street/Roy. Both the CC1 and CC2 streetcar lines would then connect to the South Lake Union Streetcar and forthcoming First Hill Streetcar, which is set to open in 2013.
The plans also outlines a Ballard streetcar line would cost about $327 million to build, including a new rail bridge across the ship canal (which would cost about $70 million) and a retrofitting of the Fremont Bridge (which would cost $10 to $12 million). Based on the map, it looks like the proposed rail line would run up and down 36th Street through Fremont en route to Ballard/Loyal Heights in one direction and South Lake Union/downtown in the other.
Of course, don’t get too excited, it’ll take a while to get this up and running. The entire plan is set-up to unfold over the next 20 years.
You can check out much more details on the plan via this PDF link.
The city’s Office of Economic Development (OED) launched the 2011 “Only in Seattle” marketing campaign today, which celebrates locally-owned retail shops and restaurants in neighborhoods around the city, including, for the first time, Queen Anne.
The Only in Seattle campaign began last year, and highlighted five neighborhoods: Ballard, Columbia City, Georgetown, Rainier Valley and West Seattle. This year’s list, in addition to Queen Anne, will highlight Belltown, Capitol Hill, Chinatown/International District, Madison Valley, Phinney Ridge, Greenwood, South Lake Union and the University District.
The Phinney-Greenwood area will be the first of those eight neighborhoods to be featured on this year’s site, beginning today. The others will be rolled out one week at a time. Next week is the University District, and Queen Anne will be featured during week three, beginning on August 10.
Four Queen Anne businesses will be featured during the neighborhood’s campaign, but we won’t find out which ones until that week.
“Locally owned small businesses help build strong neighborhoods,” Mayor Mike McGinn said in the press release. “By shopping and dining at local businesses, we can keep dollars within the community and help forge a sense of pride and ownership among Seattleites about where we live.”
The Only in Seattle campaign, which launched in 2010, seeks to showcase Seattle’s most unique spots that represent some of the best of Seattle’s independent stores and restaurants. The campaign’s “buy local” mission not only encourages people to shop locally, but more importantly, aims to inspire people to discover and explore new neighborhoods and businesses throughout the city. By the end of the summer, the campaign will grow to spotlight 58 businesses in 13 different neighborhoods on the project website: OnlyinSeattle.org.
“The businesses featured in the campaign all deliver one-of-a-kind experiences and range from wine shops to butchers to the home of one of the largest video collections in the world,” the press release read.
You can also follow Only in Seattle on Twitter and “like” them on Facebook.
Looking for something fun to do in the neighborhood this weekend? Check out Queen Anne’s weekend happenings:
Join in one of the historic Olmsted walks on Saturday with an all-day 12-13 mile walk from Ballard (leaving from Aster Coffee at 5615 24th Ave. NW at 8:30 a.m.) to Queen Anne by way of Discovery Park, Magnolia Blvd, Kinnear Park, and Queen Anne Blvd. Details here.
Pick your own lavender on Saturday and Sunday at the Interbay P-Patch’s U-Pick Lavender Sale. Swing by the garden, at 2451 15th Ave W, between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. either day. Cost is $3 for a small bunch and $5 for a large.
Listen to some fun and quirky tunes by musical due “Team Andrew,” who will be swinging by El Diablo at 4 p.m. on Sunday to share their music, and meet with fans during the Seattle stop of their International Tour. Check out their “surreal hip hop” in this music video.
If you venture out of Queen Anne this weekend, keep in mind that traffic is going to be tight both coming and going due to the SDOT’s Mercer Street I-5 on and off ramp closure all weekend long. There are also quite a few special events taking place around town this weekend, including the Capitol Hill Block Party, Chinatown and West Seattle Parades, the Roosevelt Bull Moose Festival, the Swedish SummeRun, various Seafair related events, and quite a few more. Many of these events will mean lane closures, and all will cause higher traffic congestion, so watch out. Download SDOT’s full weekend traffic advisory here (.pdf).
Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Lifelong Recreation Sound Steps Walking Program aims to get walkers aged 50 and over moving by hosting three full days of walks to highlight Olmsted-designed parks, from August 4th to 6th. The walk on Saturday, August 6 will conclude in Queen Anne, by way of Ballard and Magnolia.
This walk…highlights the historic Olmsted park plan and some improvements made possible by the voter-approved 2000 Pro Parks Levy and the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy.
Thursday, August 4: Meet at Seward Park’s Caffe Vita (5028 Wilson Ave. S). The walk proceeds from Seward Park to Capitol Hill by way of Genesee Park, Jefferson Park, Cheasty Blvd, Mount Baker Park, and the many other parks along Lake Washington Blvd.
Friday, August 5: Meet at Victrola Coffee (411 15th Ave. E). Walk from Capitol Hill to Ballard, by way of Volunteer Park, Interlaken Blvd., the Washington Park Arboretum, the University of Washington campus, Ravenna Park, Green Lake Park, and Woodland Park.
Saturday, August 6: Meet at Aster Coffee (5615 24th Ave. NW). Walk from Ballard to Queen Anne by way of Discovery Park, Magnolia Blvd, Kinnear Park, and Queen Anne Blvd.
Total distance for each day is between 12 and 13 miles. Each day will begin with coffee at 8:30 a.m. and will include stops for lunch, afternoon cold drinks, and an early dinner. The walk itself is free, but you’ll need to pay for your own food and beverages. Although many rest stops are included, the walk pace is moderately brisk.
People can join the walk for one, two, or all three days. It’s one way, so walkers should plan to use Metro, or have an accommodating friend or family member to deliver them each morning and pick them up later in the day.
To join the group for this unique opportunity to experience Seattle’s Olmsted parks on foot, please respond by Tuesday, August 2 to Mari Becker at sound.steps@seattle.gov or 206-684-4664.
For those of you wondering what a Lollipop Lick-Off is, here’s your chance to find out. Patrons of the new QA branch and Umpqua staff are all welcome to compete. Competitors are divided into three categories based on age (one to six, seven to 12, and 13 and up), and pitted against each other and timed to see who can lick their lollipop the fastest until it’s all gone.
The winner in each category will receive a gift card to a local Queen Anne business. Visit the store during operating hours (9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays) to participate. The winners will be announced at the store on Saturday, July 23.
A young black lab has been found in Queen Anne, according to this Craiglist post from today.
Last night, July 18th 2011, I found a very handsome, 1 year oldish black lab puppy/dog. He is very well trained, although tired and hungry from the days events. I kept him over night, with every intention of taking him to the shelter today, but they do not open until tomorrow and I don’t want to call animal control on him. If he is yours, please e-mail and we can arrange a time to meet up. Thanks!!
We’ve written to the people who found the pup for a picture, and will update this post with more information as soon as we have it.
The owners of a house on Queen Anne were in for a treat when a note from the past was discovered hidden in one of their walls last month. Michael Marsh and his wife were doing some remodeling on their home when a construction worker found a note addressed to “future man” tucked away inside a wall.
The note, written and placed in the wall by a man named Jack Barbour on August 19, 1973, contained a sentiment reflective of its time. “Hope your world is a little better than ours,” Jack wrote.
Ironically, the note would likely not have been found if the Marshs hadn’t opted to salvage materials from their remodel, rather than tear down and throw them away. Instead of calling in a construction crew, they called in a local salvage company, Second Use Building Materials, which diverts waste by salvaging old building materials and reselling them. Their crew was carefully dismantling the panels and door jams when field crew lead Flynn Bickley found the note. Bickley shared the story of how the note was found, and what his initial reaction was:
Our company was contracted to do some non-structural salvage of the house where the note was found. Part of what we were going after was the lintels, or, the piece of trim that runs over the top part of a door. I was pulling those when I found the note sitting on top of the jamb. I know it may sound funny but I had a little feeling I would find something that day or at least I was feeling a strong desire to find something! When I first saw the note I was excited at the prospect of what it could contain and that feeling was only amplified upon seeing what Jack had written on the outside, “Hello-from the past”–what a great line!
When I opened it and read it I felt excitement and wonder and appreciation for Jack’s forethought and playfulness in deciding to leave the note. What he wrote struck me as spontaneous and true. My boss and I reflected briefly on what was going on on history at that time…Watergate…the Vietnam War…hippies…our country had been through some major changes in the previous decade or so, maybe he was thinking about that?
As it turns out Mrs. Marsh actually knew Barbour, who reportedly passed away 20 years ago. After finding the note Bickley says it was returned it to the homeowners who wanted to keep the memento.
One of our readers, Audrey, spotted ABC News’ David Muir filming a segment at Queen Anne’s own Kerry Park earlier today and got the scoop on the story from David himself.
Muir pictured with a fellow ABC “Made in America” rep Sharyn Alfonsi on July 7 at Kerry Park in Queen Anne. Photo by Audrey Wennblom.
According to Audrey, David is in Seattle “on his nationwide quest to find manufactured goods made in the US” as part of an ongoing series called “Made in America” on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, which airs weeknights at at 5:30 p.m., on Channel 4 here in Seattle.
“Tonight he will be previewing what he found in Seattle, and this coming Monday through Wednesday he will be showing what he unearthed in making the rounds of Seattle stores and other places, which he told me include a clothing store that sells stuff made only locally and a bike clothing store that sells apparel made only in Seattle. ABC photographers were shooting David and friend riding in Kerry Park, up and down W. Highland Drive (you will recognize the houses when it airs), and in many other locales across the city. After watching him interview protestors in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and on the streets of Libya’s Benghazi, it was quite a shock to find him in front of Kerry Park this afternoon, I must admit. He is very sweet, very smart, and not a bad biker!” Audrey writes.
Can’t wait to check out what Seattle-made items made the “Made in America” list!
The family of 61-year-old Queen Anne resident Phil Irwin say he has gone missing and are trying to find any information about where he might be. Irwin, who has lived in the neighborhood for the past 35 years and is an active member of the community, has been missing for just over a week, according to his family.
You’ve probably noticed the missing person fliers around the neighborhood. Phil was last seen early in the morning on Wednesday, June 1st around 12 to 12:30 a.m. at 1st Ave N and Smith Street in Queen Anne. His family has not heard from him since then.
Irwin is 5-feet, 9-inches tall, has salt-and-pepper hair, brown eyes, walks with a limp, and may be seen wearing square-frame glasses.
Irwin’s son Wes is asking for anyone who may have seen his father on or after June 1, or may have information on his whereabouts, to call him at 206-992-3184, email him at wesairwin@yahoo.com, or call Seattle Police Detective David Ogard at 206-684-5007.
If you’d like to share or pass out any fliers about Phil, you may download a copy here (.pdf).
The three lawmakers in the 36th Legislative District – which includes Queen Anne – are hosting a town hall forum at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 11, at the Greenwood Senior Center, 525 N. 85th St.
The Union Gospel Mission runs a “Search and Rescue” team that goes out into the streets to provide food, clothing, blankets and hygiene supplies to homeless people throughout the city, in addition to offering them a ride to a shelter.
Timothy Tetrault, UGM’s Search and Rescue Coordinator, contacted us to see if we knew of any homeless encampments in our area.
We run Search and Rescue weeknights from roughly 7:30pm-11pm. Hot chocolate, sandwiches, blankets, and socks are the most popular items that we give out when we meet homeless people out on the street, and occasionally we bring back people when they are willing. If the temperature is below freezing we go out every night and try to hit as many neighborhoods as we can.
We don’t know of any homeless encampments in the Queen Anne area, but if any of our readers do, please leave a note in comments so we can forward that information to Union Gospel Mission.
Last week PinkaBella posted the following notice about the cupcake merger on its Facebook page:
Wink Cupcakes and Pinkabella sitting in a tree.. YEP were married… Wink in Seattle is now Pinkabella cupcakes, A great Queen Anne location to serve you on the Seattle side… We will be transitioning over the next few weeks! Come see us and stay tuned for a Grand Re-open… until then Business as usual!
Wink officially transitioned over to serving PinkaBella cupcakes on Thursday. Wink became PinkaBella’s fourth location in the area. The other locations are in Redmond Town Center, Bellevue Square and the Alderwood Mall. PinkaBella posted the following note to Wink customers on its website:
If you were a Wink Cupcakes customer we look forward to serving you. Be sure to check out our Flavors and Pricing page. If you want to place an order be sure to visit our order page. (Please take a few minutes and review our guidelines for placing online orders as they do differ from Wink Cupcakes.)
We’ve reached out to Wink’s manager about the change, and will update this story with any additional information.
A 45-year-old woman who has been squatting in a Queen Anne home for the last couple of weeks was arrested by Seattle police on suspicion of fraud and identity theft spanning across multiple states earlier today, according to Detective Jeff Kappel, who published the following information on the SPD Blotter.
On May 12th officers began investigating a complicated fraud/identity theft/criminal impersonation situation in which a female suspect had attempted to lease a residence using a false name and then managed to occupy it without making any payment. The residence in question is located in the 2700 block of 5th Avenue West.
After some investigation SPD officers discovered that the suspect had two felony fraud warrants from Nevada out on her. Officers attempted to contact her at the house but were unsuccessful until, at approximately 7:45 a.m. today, Wednesday, May 25, they located her driving in the alleyway in the 2400 block of 4th Avenue West. The suspect was then taken into custody, at which time “numerous identification documents in different names” were found in her possession.
The suspect was booked into the King County Jail on Investigation of Criminal Impersonation and Investigation of Fugitive. A preliminary investigation of her local crimes estimates the total financial loss to be over $10,000, according to the report. Seattle Police Fraud, Forgery and Financial Exploitation (FFFE) detectives will be handling an on-going investigation of this incident.
WSDOT contractors will be doing some work on the Aurora Bridge over the next couple months in an effort to strengthen the bridge’s support and prevent it from damage in the event of an earthquake, all while maintaining its unique aesthetic.
As early as June 11, WSDOT workers will begin an 18-month long project to make the Aurora Bridge better withstand earthquakes. Construction will begin on the Fremont side of the bridge and take about six months to complete, after which crews will move on to work on the Queen Anne side.
For more information on the project and the reason it’s being done, visit the WSDOT site.
The ride, which will start at the Burke Gilman Trail at Gas Works Park at approximately 6:30 p.m. tonight, will continue along Eastlake to downtown, where is will loop back around and up via Westlake Avenue along Queen Anne hill, and back to Gas Works. The ride is scheduled to pass City Hall at approximately 7 p.m., which means participants will be coming through Queen Anne anywhere between 7:15 and 7:45 p.m. tonight.
If you’d like to participate in Seattle’s 7th Annual Ride of Silence, plan to arrive at Gas Works at 6 p.m.. There will be dedications and a spoken word event before the ride, as well as a post-cycle social gathering from 8 to 10 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and with more than 15,000 bicyclists in Seattle, is likely to have a big turnout. For more information check out the Seattle Ride of Silence website.
Just before 9:00 am on May 4th, two armed men burst through the back door of a home on 10th Ave W and W Fulton St.
When the 74-year-old victim spotted the men in her kitchen, one man pulled a gun and told her to tell them where her safe was.
The woman said she didn’t have one, and told the suspects they “must have the wrong house.”
As the suspects searched the house, they told the victim “they were sorry, but times are tough” and promised they wouldn’t hurt her if she didn’t give them any trouble, a police report says.
The men were carrying plastic zip ties, but did not tie the woman up during the robbery.
Police say the suspects rummaged through the woman’s home for about a half-hour. At one point during the robbery, the victim’s phone rang, and one of the suspects ripped the phone line out of the wall.
The suspects eventually fled the home with jewelry, money and two “family guns,” the report says.
It’s that time of year again: the 18th annual Dining Out For Life event, in which 150 Seattle area restaurants will donate portions of their proceeds to the Lifelong AIDS Alliance, is happening this coming Thursday, April 28.
There are a number of Queen Anne restaurants participating in the fundraiser for either breakfast, lunch dinner, or all three. Check out the list of participating neighborhood spots:
See ratings and reviews of
While we await word on 
‘How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?’
WSDOT contractors will be doing some work on the Aurora Bridge over the next couple months in an effort to strengthen the bridge’s support and prevent it from damage in the event of an earthquake, all while maintaining its unique aesthetic.
It’s that time of year again: the 18th annual 