Fatal car crash in Northgate last night

The Seattle Police reported a fatality car collision at 1:33 am last night:

An Acura Integra driven by a 27 year old male with two male passengers and a dog was travelling northbound on 24th Avenue NE. As the Acura approached NE Northgate Way, it failed to negotiate the left curve and left the roadway colliding wit a tree on the east side of 24th Avenue NE.

The Seattle Fire Department responded to the scene and pronounced the driver dead at the scene. Seattle Fire transported the two passengers to Harborview with non life-threatening injuries. The dog was transported to a local veterinarian with non life-threatening injuries.

There is no word yet as to if the driver was under the influence but The King County Medical Examiner was on the scene to gather additional evidence.

Save Seattle Parks and Community Centers!

Some readers may remember my previous post about supporting our parks at the last community meeting. Well, unfortunately the over $50 million dollar City budget shortfall has become a reality, Parks and Rec Superintendent Tim Gallagher has stepped down, and the department he leaves behind is likely to be one of the hardest him by cutbacks.

With such a large deficit community center closures and job cuts are inevitable. In NE Seattle alone we have community centers in Magnuson, Laurelhurst, Meadowbrook, Ravenna-Eckstein, and Northgate. These centers provide after-school care and teen programs, among other important services, that are vital to our city. Closing even one of these would have a significantly negative impact on our neighborhood.

New community centers, like Magnuson, are more likely to go first when compared to those that have been in the area for decades. Do you want to lose all the nature programming happen at that park? As Emily Bishton points out:

Ever since it opened in 2004, Magnuson Community Center has been creating nature programs to educate children and adults, and it has become an Environmental Education Center is all ways except an official title. Each year, its Coordinators and Advisory Council have continued to dedicate time and resources to keeping Magnuson Community Center on the leading edge of the children and nature movement. Its nature programs have grown to include a wide variety of choices for children ages 4-12, their parents and other adults, and teen service learning opportunities. These programs now comprise a major part of their community offerings, so closing Magnuson Community Center would be a devastating blow to overall nature education in NE Seattle.

 If you don't want to lose these community centers, attend the public hearing tomorrow and share your thoughts with Mayor McGinn and the City Council. The greater the voice, the greater the chance to keep the doors open.


Meeting Details:
May 4th
5pm: Sign-in
5:30pm: Public hearing
North Seattle Community College cafeteria
9600 College Way North, Seattle, 98103

photo courtesy of Wonderlane

Fill Your Bowl for North Helpline This Sunday

North Helpline is holding its very first Empty Bowls fundraiser this Sunday, April 25, from noon to 4pm at Northgate Community Center. Live music will be provided by the Jillian Graham Band, Todd Christoffel, and Eric Madis and Peter Martin. Soup has been donated by La Casa Del Mojito, Hudson, the Wedgewood Alehouse, Lake Forest Bar and Grill, and Blue C Sushi. In addition, local artisans will be onsite selling their wares with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit North Helpline.

What is an Empty Bowls event? For a donation, community members can come and choose a one-of-a-kind, handcrafted bowl, enjoy a simple yet delicious meal of soup, salad, and dessert, listen to local bands play, and meet other members of your community.

North Helpline has been tirelessly supporting Northeast Seattle for over twenty years by continuously developing services to support the growing number of people living at or near the poverty line in the area. With food requests up 32% over this time last year and requests for rental assistance/eviction prevention funds up by close to 40%, your support of them is needed now more than ever.

I'll be there - come join me!

Easter Egg Hunts and More This Weekend

For those in need of some last minute Easter ideas for the kiddies, here is a list of the big Easter egg hunts and other holiday happenings this weekend in NE Seattle:

The Seattle Parks Dept. is holding "Spring Egg Hunts" all across the city this Saturday at 10am. Best of all, the cost is free! NE Seattle locations include:

• Meadowbrook Community Center (Nathan Hale track - 10750 30th Ave NE)
• Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6335 Ravenna Ave NE)
• Laurelhurst Community Center (4554 NE 41st) 

What Do You Want for Seattle's Kids?

One of Mayor McGinn's biggest inaugural projects is to address the challenges kids and their families are facing in Seattle right now with the Youth and Families Initiative.  As with other initiatives coming out of the mayor's office, the first step is starting a discussion. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention before but I swear I don't remember our former mayor taking so much time to get the public's opinion - it's definitely refreshing!

The Youth and Families Initiative will begin with five large workshops at community centers across the city.  NE Seattle residents can attend the group meeting on March 1st at Northgate Elementary, from 7:00-8:30pm.  Have a kid, or know one, in the public schools system? A sixth, youth-only, workshop will be held at City Hall on April 8th.

For those not able to make it to one of the workshops, the YFI is planning up to 100 Community Caucuses in an effort to hear from as many residents as possible:

Each Community Caucus will be an opportunity for a group that wants to make its voice heard to meet, with a facilitator, in a living room, coffee shop, community center—anywhere where people gather naturally in a community; the idea is that instead of asking you to come to us, we’re going to go to you to make sure that your voice gets heard. Each Community Caucus, like each small table at the large group workshops, will elect one delegate to send on to the broader Kids and Families Congress on June 5th at Seattle Center, so holding a Community Caucus will be a great way to ensure that your group’s voice is heard as the Initiative moves forward.

If you are interested in volunteering with the Initiative, please contact Sol Villarreal in the Mayor’s Office at sol.villarreal@seattle.gov or 206-233-2656.

Reduced Library Hours Start Today

A 1.7 million dollar budget cut has led to the Seattle Public Libraries reducing hours for many branches starting today.  The SPL was originally asked to cut $2.6 million but, luckily, the City Council stepped in and restored $860,000 to the budget.

15 libraries, including the University and Northgate Branches, now have the following hours:

• Monday - Tuesday: 1pm to 8pm
• Wednesday - Thursday: 11am to 6pm
• Friday: closed
• Saturday: 11am to 6pm
• Sunday: closed

11 other branches will still be open seven days a week but operating under shorter hours.  NE Seattle libraries included in this group are: Lake City and Northeast Branches. Their new schedule will be:

• Monday - Thursday: 10am to 8pm
• Friday - Saturday: 10am to 6pm
• Sunday: 1pm to 5pm

Want to support the Library and all it's amazing programs?  Join Friends of the Seattle Public Library or donate money through The Seattle Public Library Foundation.

Northgate Home Invasion Robbery Turns Fatal

At 11:06pm last night, Seattle Police responded to a home invasion call in the 1400 block of North Northgate Way.  Officers arrived on the scene and found two adult men, both age 20, had sustained life-threatening gunshot wounds.  The victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center where they succumbed to their injuries.

Police are looking for three suspects who fled the scene on foot.  They are described as three African-American males, late 20's to 30's, all dressed in black and at least one is carrying a handgun.