Here is a brief history of happenings on my block in Lake City.  Please share any crazy stories.  We're all in this together.

Mail stolen (twice recently)

Two houses on my block have caught fire (one started by kids lighting fireworks)

Kids shooting cats with BB guns

Illegal dumping (numerous)

Domestic violence (numerous)

Car thefts (numerous)

Obnoxious Gangbangers (daily)

Strange people walking up and down the block to no particular destination, read: casing (daily)

Yep, this all happened in the past year and a half.  Misery loves company.  Please share.

Here is the wikipedia page for lakecity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_City,_Seattle

Lake City Live has rolled out its very own events calendar and we want to know what you're doing!

Help us inform the community about classes, clubs, community meetings, festivals, fundraisers - any event going on in Lake City and the surrounding neighborhoods. Email the details to: lakecitylive@gmail.com or, even better, post it on the site yourself!

To post an event, follow these steps:

1. click on "upcoming events" located beneath the calendar icon on the right side of the homepage
2. click on "add your own event" located directed above the calendar
3. Enter in your event details, hit the Post Your Event button and your done!

You can also click on "post an event" from the drop-down menu located under "Post" on the top of homepage.

I have lived in Lake City on two separate occasions.  What is frustrating is that there are few things to rejoice about in a neighborhood that could have so many cool things.  I personally give thanks to The Beer Authority and Tubs Sandwiches.  Everything else...not so much.  Lake City has one of the only boulevards in the city yet it is littered with useless shops and vagrants.  The drinking holes in Lake City are so terrible they're good (but still awful).  The food offerings are dismal at best, with the only exception going to Thai-One-On and Toyoda.  There are no friendly cafes that encourage an at-home sit down vibe (forget Starbucks).  There are no music stores, shoe stores, or anything that people might find practical or enjoyable.  Instead, there are stores that are absolutely random and it makes you wonder how they stay in business.  Ever walk/drive past one of the many little bodegas and ponder how they stay afloat?  Why is there so many meat stores...

I know I can't stop talking about the Beer Authority but that's because it's awesome and just keeps getting better. Soon they'll be adding more tables which means more room to drink.

This Saturday they're partnering with my favorite Lake City non-profit, North Helpline. North Helpline has a food bank, emergency services, and a health clinic. Their vision is to "provide community food and housing security for the people of Greater North Seattle by promoting, demonstrating, advocating for, and collaboratively building an equitable and regional food and human services system, which ultimately reduces the need for our services."

They recently moved to their amazing new building, McDermott Place, across from Fred Meyer (12736 33rd Avenue NE). The building is a huge improvement from their previous setup. It has huge walk-in freezers and fridges for the food bank and allowed them to start their new health clinic. The building also houses up to 75 low income families...

 

 

 

 

 

If you haven't driven by the Lake City Fire Station lately you're missing out. Station 39, located at the corner of 27th and 127th Avenue NE, is on my walk home from the bus and it's been exciting to watch the station being built from the ground up. They broke ground last April and expected the project to take a year. Remarkably, they seam to be on schedule. The new and improved station will not only be roomier and more functional, it's also GREEN (and we all know how much Seattlelites love green things). The building has many sustainable features and was designed to meet LEED silver standards.

1 toilet flush = 1.6 gallons

7,100 gallon cistern = 4427.5 green toilet flushes

If you live in the Lake City Community Council boundary (NE 120th Street to NE 130th between 35th Ave NE to Lake City Way), then we would like to invite you to attend a Lake City Community Council meeting. We are in need of interested community members willing to volunteer their time and talents to making Lake City a better place to live.

March 17, 2010
7 to 8 p.m.
at the Mennonite Church at 7:00 pm in the community room just past the main entrance to the church office (north). Parking is in back south of the Value Village store. 

At our first meeting we came up with the following items and the events we would like to sponsor with your participation. 

Problems:

• 911 lack of response, and a sense of dispatcher irritation when citizens call in reports.
• Poor street lighting
• Homeless hanging around entrances of businesses and forming informal camps within LCC boundaries
• Prostitution is ongoing within LCC boundaries
• Some landowners and building owners are irresponsible with regard to maintaining their property(ies)...

Monica Guzman, the maven behind the Seattle PI's Big Blog, has been hosting weekly reader meetups for over a year now.  This week she's bringing it to Lake City! Join me and DanaeK, along with the entire Big Blog crew, at The Beer Authority tomorrow night. It's a great chance to meet new people in the hood and have some fun!

Meet Up Details:

The Beer Authority

12716 Lake City Way NE

Wednesday, 3/10

5:30-7:00pm

This Saturday the Shanty Tavern is hosting a Tribute to Johnny Cash. San Francisco band Sick Wolf will be rocking with Johnny Mercury. If you've never been to the Shanty Saturday's your chance! (9002 Lake City Way NE Seattle 98115)

Before you head the Shanty stop by The Beer Authority (12716 Lake City Way Northeast 98125) to support Team in Training. Each month The Beer Authority is holding a fund raiser for a different non profit. So buy a pint of Elysian Immortal IPA this Saturday and all the proceeds will go to fight blood cancers (Leukemia, Lymphoma...). This from Barry:

Contributing will never be easier - or tastier! All you have to do is stop by this Saturday between noon and 9pm and have a pint (or fill your growler) of Elysian Immortal IPA! Each pint is only $5.50 and all the proceeds go to Team in Training. A big shout out goes to Elysian Brewing who is our partner for this event.

Could Lake City become the next South Lake Union? Maybe Paul Allen will take pity on us and send some money north. Here are some thoughts about the future of North Seattle transit.

When Link light rail opens in Northgate in approximately 2020, many changes will be made to existing bus service. Buses that duplicate the route of the light rail will likely be eliminated, merged with other routes, or will become local service only (no downtown service by bus). Routes which may be impacted in some way include routes 41, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 79, 304, 303, 316, and 355.

Obviously this is the point of the light rail. It will be faster, cheaper to operate, and able to carry a lot more people. It will also be guaranteed to be there for years to come so we can plan development around it. Zoning increases for Northgate are already being planned But what about the large portions of Pinehurst and Lake City that are miles away from a station? We need to make sure we all have good connections to the future light rail as well as the new development in Northgate.

Transit planners will begin public discussions about revisions to bus service about a year and a half before the Northgate light rail station opens and all of us will have opportunities to comment on changes at that time. For those interested in more significant investments such as the possibility of a streetcar or electric trolley bus, conversations and advocacy that begin today insure a higher possibility of having that investment in place by the time light rail arrives in Northgate. To that end, a Facebook group has formed to start that discussion.

My neighbors and I have had a ton of problems with Car Prowls so I thought I might post some info on the some guys I saw breaking into cars this morning.

4:14 am on 120th and 33rd ave

1 Caucasin Male, Heavy Set, Baggy Cloths, 18-24 yrs old, red jacket

1 African American Male, Fit, 18-24 yrs old, baggy cloths, black "Do-rag"

They had a bag of stuff and threw some speaker covers on the ground. Looked like they were trying to pick the locks to cars.

If you've never been to The Shanty but always wanted to check it out, tonight's not a bad night to do so. A $5 cover gets you three local bands, including Stafford & the Bentz Brothers, a surf-rock band, at 9, and Rat City Brass, a Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass tribute band, at 10. (If you've ever seen the album cover for "Whipped Cream...you'll get the concert poster.) I've heard both of these bands before, and it's a good time. (In the interest of full disclosure, I do know the musicians but I'd still recommend them even if I didn't!) The shows wraps up with The Wild Snohomians. Don't know their music, but who can resist that name?

See you there! The Shanty, 9002 Lake City Way NE

I don't know if this has been reported yet, but I saw this noted in a comment to the Publicola story about Lake City. There is a group that is working on getting a skate park going in Lake City. See information here: http://www.skatelakecity.org/

According to the site, "As part of the Seattle Parks Department's Citywide Skatepark Plan, Lake City Playground was identified as a recommended location for a skatespot.  The size of a skatespot can be anywhere from 1,500 to 10,000 square feet in size, or roughly around the size of a single tennis court.

"While the general location has been identified, community meetings and organization are required to discuss and agree upon the various details of the skatespot: final size, exact location, features, target skill levels, etc. "  

i used to live in Ballard, and they have a nice little new skate park there that's a neat place for skaters and kids, as well as for people watching. So, skaters and skate fans, here's your chance to have some input on...

Around 1am this morning, SPD found a burned Volkswagen at 15th Ave NE and NE 135th (across from Jackson  Park Golf Course). They told Seattle Crime that it was arson.

Around the same time and only blocks away at 125th and 26th NE, a helicopter was dispatched to search for a Hispanic male in his mid-30s—wearing brown t-shirt, 5'11, brown hair. Reasons for the search remain unknown.

Busy night in Lake City.

Thanks to Seattle Crime for the coverage.

Would you like to see some more activities for youth in Lake City?

Are you a skateboarder or parent of a skateboarder?

Would you like to see a "skatespot" (small skateboard park) in Lake City?

If so, please visit Skate Lake City to follow the efforts to get a skatespot built in the neighborhood or to see how you can get involved.

Over at Publicola, Dan Bertolet took a little tour of Lake City and had this to say:

Lake City is still the kind of place you can go and find yourself a good secondhand shovel for cheap, and last week I did just that—I got a sweet, long-handled one for five bucks at Fletcher’s General Store. It’s also the kind of place where you’ll find a steak house with a beat-up old sign announcing that there’s “dancing,” and a plastic model shop the size of a Walgreen’s with WWII bombers in the window display.

I'm glad someone's positively recognizing Lake City and  the value of economically diverse neighborhoods to our city. 

To read the entire article, click here: Digging Lake City.

Lake City should soon be home to a new 10,000 square foot park. 

The Green Space Levy that passed last year set aside over $146 million dollars of your tax money for park development. This allows the city to buy  the office building at 12510 33^rd Ave NE and turn it into a park . Your tax dollars at work!

Parks and Recreation is holding a community meeting tomorrow night, Thursday Feb 25 6:30-7:45, at the Lake City Library. Make sure to stop by to learn more about the project and put in your two cents.

Check out the Seattle Parks website for more info and other park projects.  Also, who knew, Seattle Parks was on Twitter.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is hosting a community meeting on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at the Lake City Branch Library, 12501 28^th Ave. NE, from 6:30 – 7:45 p.m.  At this meeting, Parks will provide information about a proposed park acquisition in the Lake City Urban Village. 

Hear some commotion around 123rd and Lake City Way?

Last night around 10pm a SWAT team surrounded an apartment on the 12000 block of 31st Avenue NE following the assault of a male victim. After hours of negotiations, "irritants", and flashbangs; three children were rescued from the building but the suspect managed to escape.

 Seattle Crime was on site for the play by play. Check out the SPD Blotter for more details.

After continued attempts to contact the suspect were unsuccessful, the SWAT team entered and searched the apartment and determined that the suspect was not there.  All indications are that the suspect fled the scene prior to the arrival of the initial responding officers.  The suspect, an adult male in his 30’s, remains at large.  The identity of the suspect is known and officers are currently looking for him.   

The mother and the two children that reside in the apartment have returned inside safe and sound.  The (second)...

The Seattle PI reported the arrest of Derrick M. Morris on the 11300 block of Lake City Way NE late Wednesday night.  Morris is charged with second-degree assault against a woman who alleges he offered her a ride then, once in the car, tried to coerce her into having sex; pretending to be a police officer when she tried to flee.

The woman told police the man the man, Derrick M. Morris, offered her a ride, but then drove to a secluded location near North 103rd Street and Interlake Avenue North.

She had originally offered gas money, according to one account. Police say when the woman tried to get out of the car, the suspect, 20, wrapped both hands around her neck making it difficult for her to breathe. The woman, 27, struggled and was able to escape. The suspect drove off.

Responding officers said the woman had no visible injuries.

Police arrested him after recognizing his 2003 maroon Mitsubishi Eclipse as one that had been previously cruising Aurora Avenue North.

Another woman also identified Morris as the person...

What do Safeway and pellet gun targeted crows have in common? Pinehurst of course.

Pinehurst is a north Seattle neighborhood sandwiched in between and on top of Lake City and Northgate. Though Pinehurst rarely makes the headlines, arson and some crows murdered with pellets got them some press this week.

It's not all bad news in Pinehurst. Four years ago the community started pushing for a remodel of the Pinehurst Safeway on NE 125th and 15th Ave NE. All of their hard work has paid off. Next month the demolition of the old building will begin and they hope to be finished with construction by Thanksgiving 2010. The community pushed for a green building plan. Safeway listened and recently announced that the building would be LEED certified.

Here's the projected timeline from Renne Staton (community organizer and former Pinehurst blogger):

Store closure - February 27

Pharmacy opens in trailer - March 1

Demolition - complete by mid-May

Site work/building construction - complete early to mid October

Soft...

LCL blogger, Native and I, went to the opening night of Seattle Musical Theatre's production of Company.  Neither one of us had been to an SMT production before nor had we been to the quaint theatre located in Magnuson Park.  The theatre was large and had a nice bar area upstairs which served beer and wine (lovely cookies and cupcakes were available too - we did not indulge, but they looked yummy). 

The story is a series of vignettes following an aging bachelor in all his 3rd wheel glory.  Each of his coupled up friends try to convince him (with out much of their own evidence) to settle down with a nice girl.

I've compiled a list of questions to ask Native about the show.

Q: Which couple could you most identify with?

A: Amy and Paul.  I identified with Amy's neurotic tendencies.

Q: Who had the best outfit?

A: HANDS DOWN, Marta.  I want those boots.  Please.  Someone tell me they were size 9.  And her short shorts? Killer.

Q: Which of the male leads would you most likely have...

Don't have a clue what Contra dance is? Neither did I, so it intrigued me when I stumbled across a listing for the Lake City Contra/Old Country dance night.  For those not in the know, a contra dance is similar to square dancing; although I'm sure purists would kill me for writing that.  According to the LC Contra Dance history:

In November 1974 a great country dance revival began in Seattle. Sandy Bradley and The Gypsy Gyppo String Band (Warren Argo, Jack Link, and Jerry Mitchell), started it with participatory old-time square dancing at a tavern in Pioneer Square. he dance moved to its present location at the Lake City Community Center in 1998. Over the years many other contra dances popped up in Seattle as well as in surrounding communities such as Olympia, Bellingham, and Tacoma.

Dances are held every Thursday at the Lake City Community Center from 8pm to 11pm.  Free introductory dance classes are also held weekly at 7:30pm and admission is only $8 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, and...

February 12 through February 28 Company is playing at the Seattle Musical Theatre. Company is a fun musical of short vignettes about a perpetual bachelor in a group of married friends. I've seen Company before and it's well worth 25-35 dollars for a ticket. Here's the great news; mention "Northeast Neighbor" when buy your tickets and you'll get 5 dollars off the ticket price PLUS a drink voucher.

Seattle Musical Theatre's been in the neighborhood for 32 years. They are located inside Warren G. Magnuson Park. Recently they signed long-term lease with the City of Seattle and the Seattle Parks Department allowing them to build a new state of the art venue at Magnuson Park.

Call our box office (206-363-2809) and mention the code NORTHEAST-NEIGHBOR to receive $5 off regular ticket price AND a drink voucher to use at our brand new bar!

Here's a summary of Company from SMT's website.

Set in New York, Sondheim's groundbreaking musical Company tells the story of five couples and their mutual friend Robert who,...

For those looking for some family-friendly fun, there are many activities happening at the Magnuson Community Center this weekend.  Tonight's Lunar New Year celebration, from 5-9pm, will be filled with live music, dance and games.  There will also be food from 5-7pm and the evening will finish up with an authentic Chinese Lion dance.

The Center is hosting a wetlands class and volunteer project on Saturday from 12pm to 2pm.  Participants will explore the Magnuson Wetlands while learning to transplant alder tree seedlings, as well as cut and install live stakes from willow and red-twig dogwood trees. To attend, meet at the South Wetlands entrance of Magnuson Park (off of 65th St.).

Also on Saturday is the warm-fuzzy inducing Neighborhood Appreciation Day being celebrated city-wide.  Magnuson Community Center will be showing Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with free popcorn, at 1:30pm. In addition to the community center festivities, Seattle fire stations are holding open houses...