My Ballard » Phinney Ridge-Greenwood

The weekend events calendar

Geeky Swedes — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:28:33 +0000

- Friday night on Phinney Ridge, it’s the Outdoor Mystery Movie in the parking lot of the Phinney Neighborhood Association. Show starts at 8:30 p.m.
- The Seattle Animal Shelter hosts a cat adoptathon on Saturday at Loyal Heights Community Center on 77th St. near 21st Ave. Noon to 3 p.m.
- Help Ballard’s Class of 2009 raise money for the prom with a car wash Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Bernie’s Automotive at 4420 Leary. There’s a suggested $10 donation.
- This Saturday evening is the monthly Ballard ArtWalk, beginning at 6 p.m.
- For live music, check out the concert calendars for the Tractor Tavern, Sunset Tavern, The Bit Saloon, High Dive, Conor Byrne and Nectar.

As always, check out our events calendar. And if you have an event to add, just email us at tips@myballard.com and we’ll post it in the calendar.

Recently on PhinneyWood.com

Geeky Swedes — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:31:16 +0000

Some news from our neighbors to the east, Phinney Ridge and Greenwood…

‘Mutant bicycles’ descend on Ballard

Dale — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:50:00 +0000

Hundreds of colorfully dressed riders on often misshapen and mutant bicycles kicked off the 13th annual Dead Baby Downhill Race at El Chupacabra on Phinney Ridge Friday evening.

Friday’s race, which finished in Ballard, is part of a weekend of events celebrating mutant bicycle culture.

There was tall bike jousting, bands, bike dance perfromances and other activities at “the greatest party known to mankind,” which was held last night at the Bit Saloon and The Station along Leary.

Not to be confused with the Critical Mass, of course.

Recently on PhinneyWood.com

Geeky Swedes — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:05:09 +0000

A few stories from our neighbors to the east, Phinney Ridge and Greenwood…

Coming soon to a store near you: 20 cent bags

Dale — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:23:41 +0000

The Seattle City Council has just approved a 20 cent fee on disposable paper and plastic bags which will take effect Jan. 1 at local stores, including Ballard Market and Bartell’s. Some carryout styrofoam containers will eventually be banned too.

Critical Mass turns violent on Capitol Hill

Geeky Swedes — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:44:43 +0000

This is out of the neighborhood, but nonetheless interesting considering Critical Mass came through Ballard the last time around, resulting in quite the discussion here on My Ballard. Last night on Capitol Hill, Critical Mass cyclists surrounded a Subaru and assaulted the driver after two riders were hit. The sequence of events is unclear: did the driver hit the cyclists while attempting to escape? Or was the driver threatening them to begin with? One thing is clear, though. Tension between motorists and cyclists has been intensifying of late, especially as more people are riding their bikes to work.

Update: More details on what happened from the Seattle Times
Earlier this month: Bike road rage on Burke Gilman ‘missing link’

House fire on Phinney Ridge

Geeky Swedes — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:04:47 +0000

Updated: More than a dozen fire units responded to a fully-involved house fire at 5511 2nd Ave. NW on Phinney Ridge at 7:40 p.m. Friday evening.

As I drove to the scene from Ballard, I could see smoke billowing up from over a mile away. (Photo by My Ballard reader Nina.)

Flames were shooting out the back of the two-story home, which was hard to see from the street. Both floors were on fire.

Over a hundred neighbors around the home watched the firefighters at work. A next door neighbor quickly climbed onto his roof with a garden hose.

Medic units checked out one patient, presumably the homeowner, who has minor injuries. A little less than an hour after the call the fire was out. No word on the cause, and we’ll update as we learn more.

Update: The Seattle Fire Department says the cause appears to be accidental: “discarded smoking materials” that caught fire. The homeowner was in the backyard at the time of the fire, and there are no official injuries. No word on a damage estimate, although to my untrained eye the house is a total loss.

Earlier this month: House fire on 2nd Ave. NW and 52nd St.

Recently on PhinneyWood.com

Geeky Swedes — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:22:30 +0000

News from the neighborhoods next door, Phinney Ridge and Greenwood…

Bag fee going to a council vote

Dale — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:47:46 +0000

We had quite the discussion on this story a few weeks ago, so here’s an update. The full Seattle City Council is expected to vote Monday on a proposal to charge shoppers 20 cents for paper or plastic bags. If it’s enacted, Seattle would become one of the first large cities to push the use of reusable bags.

The proposal also includes a ban on plastic foam food containers and cups.

There would be a 90-day education program before the fees take effect at grocery, convenience and drug stores on Jan. 1st. More details here.

Annual Seafair parade in Greenwood today

Geeky Swedes — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:29:34 +0000

One of the oldest and largest summer parades in Seattle, the annual Seafair parade in Greenwood begins at 6 p.m. today (Wednesday). The route is Greenwood Avenue from 95th to 85th, then west on 85th to 6th Ave. Of course, one of the big attractions is the Seafair pirates.

Rawwwwr! Photo from last year’s parade by Life As Art (CC).

Patas monkey dies at Zoo

Dale — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:01:48 +0000

Woodland Park Zoo staff euthanized T.C., a 14-year-old male patas monkey, following a “sudden and severe decline in health due to congestive heart failure.”

Patas monkeys can live 15 to 20 years in the wild and more than 20 years in zoos.

“The degree of heart failure was severe and the quality of this monkey’s life was compromised, so we made the humane decision to euthanize him,” explained zoo Interim Director of Animal Health Dr. Kelly Helmick in a press release. It appears to be congestive heart failure, but final findings are pending.

T.C. came to the zoo’s African Savanna exhibit in 2001 from Honolulu Zoo. Two female patas monkeys, Alexa and Fiona, remain in the African Savanna exhibit.

On a related note, Fiona continues to recover from treatment earlier this month to relieve pain caused by kidney stones. The kidney stones were blasted using sound waves (extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy) and the resulting small pieces passed through her urinary tract.

Low tide walks this weekend

Dale — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:50:20 +0000

It’s another very low tide this weekend, so if you’ve ever wondered what seastars eat, why barnacles stand on their heads and how moon snails lay their eggs, ask the Seattle Aquarium beach naturalists on hand at Golden Gardens and Carkeek Park from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. If you can’t make it, they’ll be back again a final time this summer on Aug. 2.

Photo courtesy Marty Gordon.

The weekend events calendar

Geeky Swedes — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:51:53 +0000

- Tonight (Friday) from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. is the “Third Friday art show” at the Phinney Neighborhood Association blue building.
- Saturday is the 8th annual Ballard Art-in-the Garden at the Ballard P-Patch on the corner of 85th and 25th Ave NW. More info on BallardGardenParty.com.
- Also on Saturday is Grace-a-palooza, a family street fair in front of Gracewinds to raise funds for the non-profit Global Breast Milk Initiative. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. More info here.
- Saturday evening from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. is the 3rd Annual PNA Summer Beer Taste, “Shakesbeer in the Parking Lot.” More information here.
- For live music, check out the concert calendars for the Tractor Tavern, Sunset Tavern, The Bit Saloon, High Dive, Conor Byrne and Nectar.

As always, check out our events calendar. And if you have an event to add, just email us at tips@myballard.com and we’ll post it in the calendar.

Zoo breaks ground on new penguin exhibit

Geeky Swedes — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:40:42 +0000

The Woodland Park Zoo is hosting both the mayor and county executive today to break ground on a $6.5 million penguin exhibit. The 17,000-square-foot project, located near the west entrance, will mimic the desert coastal habitat where Humboldt penguins come ashore to nest. Unlike the old exhibit, the new tank will allow you to watch the penguins swim underwater.

The new exhibit is slated to open summer 2009.

Water outage in east Ballard

Geeky Swedes — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:19:22 +0000

Updated: A water main broke along 50th St. around 7 p.m., leaving hundreds of homes in east Ballard without water or with very low water pressure. Seattle Public Utilities says they received complaints in an area from 15th Ave. to 3 Ave., and from 50th Street on up north (they didn’t know the northern boundary.) By 8:45 p.m., water appeared to be restored.

We found this water crew along 50th working to get the water main back in service. “This happened a couple of years ago,” writes Jennie, who lives near 67th and Dibble and first alerted us of the outage. Other residents, like Nina who lives near the Post Office, said they experienced low water pressure. (Interestingly, we live in the affected area, but our water was fine.)

Introducing our new blog, PhinneyWood.com

Geeky Swedes — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:52:44 +0000

It’s been six months since we launched My Ballard, and the response has been unbelievable. The biggest surprise has been the enormous role that all of you play in helping us cover the neighborhood. At least half of My Ballard’s stories originate from tips or comments, and we’ve been very proud to host ongoing debates about the issues that are important to our neighborhood. Over the months, we’ve heard from our Phinney Ridge and Greenwood readers — what about a similar blog for Ballard’s adjacent neighborhoods? So with the help of our Phinney Ridge friends, Doree and Dale (who live very close to Greenwood), we’re happy to announce we’ve launched PhinneyWood.com.

The first question you may have: will My Ballard stop covering Phinney Ridge and Greenwood? Nope. PhinneyWood just will feature more of it. Our goal is to foster the same community that’s here on My Ballard but focus more on issues that are unique to our neighbors to the east. Honestly, it’ll take us a few weeks to get used to the connection between the two blogs, and we ask your patience. (Each blog links the other in the upper right-hand corner). So check out PhinneyWood.com and let us know what you think in comments below…

Scooter crash on 8th Ave.

Dale — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:52:07 +0000

With high gas prices, we’ve seen a lot more scooters on the road lately. Shortly after 8 a.m. today, a woman crashed her scooter on 8th Ave. near 73rd St.

Witnesses said her bike simply flipped. The woman was able to tell them her back hurt. Paramedics put her on a spine board and transported her to the hospital. Northbound traffic on 8th was diverted onto side streets.

Food and wine boutique coming to Phinney

Geeky Swedes — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:26:05 +0000

Here’s an interesting addition to Phinney Ridge. A “food and wine boutique” called Picnic is coming soon to the Fini condo building at 68th and Greenwood.

While you can drop by to drink wine and eat organic sandwiches and salads, the idea is for customers to pick up “restaurant-caliber” meals to take home… or on a picnic. On the menu are delicacies like pate, duck leg confit, prosciutto and a long list of other meats and locally-grown vegetables.

Picnic is scheduled to open in September.

Designs for suicide-proofing Aurora Bridge

Geeky Swedes — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:37:41 +0000

WSDOT has formed an advisory committee and released three designs for creating a fence along Aurora Bridge that’s designed to put a stop to suicides. Someone jumps off the bridge about once every three months. Today, a man put his leg over the bridge and threatened to jump before police talked him back from the railing. With that in mind, designers have created three different fence plans with different approaches to pedestrian lighting:

You can see more details in this .pdf file. The public is invited to attend the next committee meeting to review and provide feedback on the designs, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. this Thursday at the Phinney Neighborhood Center.

Elephant protest planned during fundraiser

Geeky Swedes — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:43:04 +0000

Tonight is the Woodland Park Zoo’s largest fundraiser of the year, known as the “Jungle Party,” and hundreds of protesters are hoping to make a statement. The Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants believe that the conditions for Chai, Watoto, and Bamboo aren’t acceptable. They say the elephants are locked in a barren room for 18-20 hours a day. The Friends will be out with signs and banners encouraging people not to donate to the zoo until the animals are released to the 2700 acre Elephant Sanctuary.

Update: There are about 20 protesters out there right now (5:20 p.m.) but organizers hope for about 50 total (not the hundreds that they had speculated earlier). Five bicycle cops are in the area to make sure things don’t get out of hand. The zoo is pretty relaxed about the event and has even marked a couple of spots for protesters to hand out fliers for their cause.

Democrats still divided over Burbank vs. Carlyle

Geeky Swedes — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:41:27 +0000

The blue and yellow campaign signs are everywhere in the neighborhood. Democrats John Burbank and Reuven Carlyle are vying for the state representative seat in the 36th district in a highly-competitive race. Last night, a meeting of voting Democrats was unable to reach a consensus on endorsing one of the candidates, reports the PI. With the state’s top-two primary a month away, both Burbank and Carlyle will likely make the cut and head into November, spending as much as a combined $500,000 along the way — an unprecedented figure for a state house race.

Phinney Ridge zoo mural back to life

Geeky Swedes — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:53:16 +0000

At midday today, restoration crews finished their work on the zoo mural in the 57th St. underpass. The grey paint is gone.

And the familiar animals are back, in brilliant color.

There are some patches, however, where the spray removed more than just the grey paint. This patch near the giraffe is the largest.

It took crews from Surface Cleaning Technology four days to finish up the work — all paid for by the city, which mistakenly painted over the mural a couple months ago as part of a graffiti abatement program.

Mayor calls for design review of townhouses

Geeky Swedes — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:42:32 +0000

The invasion of cookie-cutter town homes has been the subject of much discussion recently. And now Mayor Nickels is proposing that city planners review all designs for new townhouses, essentially closing a loophole that allowed developers to expedite smaller projects. It would also require more windows, wider driveways and entrances that face the street.

At the same time, the mayor is proposing the first multifamily zoning change in 20 years, allowing “developers to build taller in the densest multifamily zones if they include housing affordable to those making up to 80 percent to 100 percent of area median income.” Lots more detail in this PI story.

Zoo mural is coming back to life

Geeky Swedes — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:08:03 +0000

Update: We just returned from the 57th St. underpass on Phinney Ridge where workers are using a high-tech spray to remove the grey paint that covers the zoo mural. It looks like it’s working like a charm.

The cleaning is scheduled to take four days, but it’s proceeding quickly.

Earlier: This morning (Monday), crews from Surface Cleaning Technology will begin removing the grey paint that covers the colorful zoo mural in the 57th St. underpass. Last month, that company proved that its unique technology — a machine washer that uses soft volcanic crystals — will be able to save the mural that city workers painted over weeks before. And yes, the city of Seattle has agreed to foot the bill. The cleaning is expected to take four days, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day. We’ll post photos after the work begins.

Greenwood at wits end over graffiti

Geeky Swedes — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:45:56 +0000

We’ve written several times about the steady rise of graffiti in Greenwood, and now the Seattle PI has written a story about the problem.

The hardest hit area is Greenwood Park. Despite the persistent efforts of neighbors and city workers, it’s absolutely blanketed in graffiti.

Just about every surface is covered, including the slides.

And take a look at the bathroom. “In Greenwood, they just keep doing it,” says Dewey Potter, city parks spokeswoman. And graffiti is up 44 percent in parks across the city. “We don’t exactly know what’s going on,” Potter said. As we wrote last week, the Greenwood and Phinney neighborhoods have teamed up with a graffiti task force called “Art Up Greenwood-Phinney.” You can read their blog here, where you can volunteer to join a clean-up crew.

House fire on Phinney Ridge

Geeky Swedes — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:06:07 +0000

When we went to bed at 11:30 p.m. or so, we were beginning to think our expanded neighborhood would escape any Fourth of July house fires, but sirens headed to Phinney Ridge woke us up at 3:15 a.m.

I could smell the smoke several blocks away. When firefighters arrived at 52nd and 2nd Ave., flames and heavy smoke were pouring from the roof. The resident was able to escape without injury.

Crews climbed up the backside of the house and sawed through the roof.

About 20 minutes later, the fire was “tapped,” or extinguished. From the outside, damage on the second floor appeared to be rather extensive. No word on whether it was fireworks-related — we’ll find out more in the morning.

Update: The fire department says it was an accidental electrical fire — not sparked by fireworks. Damage is estimated at $200,000.

The weekend events calendar

Geeky Swedes — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:43:37 +0000

- Today (Friday), the Seattle Civic Band will be playing marching music at the Summer Concerts at the Locks at 2 p.m.
- Not quite in the neighborhood, but the Seafair Milk Carton Derby takes over Green Lake at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
- Saturday night is Hale’s Ales 25th anniversary party.
- Sunday is the Golden Gardens Beach Clean Up at 7:30 a.m. The Seattle chapter of the Surfrider Foundation needs volunteers to help clean up Golden Gardens after the busy and pollutant-heavy Fourth of July.
- For live music, check out the concert calendars for the Tractor Tavern, Sunset Tavern, The Bit Saloon, High Dive, Conor Byrne and Nectar.

As always, check out our events calendar. And if you have an event to add, just email us at tips@myballard.com and we’ll post it in the calendar.

Thunder rumbles through North Seattle

Geeky Swedes — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:49:37 +0000

Updated: Thunder and lightning put on quite a show all night long, and My Ballard readers (below) reported hail, flickering lights, power outages and an accident at 85th and 15th. It sounded and felt like Orlando: muggy with thunderstorms moving through. The National Weather Service recorded more 2500 recorded lightning bolts in the past 24 hours. Dusty G. snapped this terrific shot from Lake Union looking toward Capitol Hill…

You can see more lightning photos here.

Strut opens in Greenwood

Geeky Swedes — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:46:03 +0000

There’s a new shoe store on the Greenwood/Phinney line.

Strut just celebrated its one-month-anniversary, and it’s not your trendy, high-fashion, puttin’ on the ritz kind of boutique. This one focuses on comfort and style. That’s right - comfort and style. Two words that generally don’t go in the same sentence. When we were there, we saw sandals, flats and pumps for women, shoes for men and even kiddo shoes. The owner said that she was slowly building up the men’s selection and should have more in soon.

Ballard ranked Seattle’s 51st best neighborhood

Geeky Swedes — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:17:09 +0000

What gives? Just a couple months ago, Seattle Metropolitan Magazine named Ballard the “hottest hood” in Seattle. Now Seattle Magazine has released its list of best Seattle neighborhoods, and Ballard ranks 51st out of 60. Crown Hill ranked 27th, Sunset Hill 40th, Phinney Ridge 18th, Greenwood 47th and Fremont is 43rd. The top neighborhood is Queen Anne, followed by Broadmoor, Delridge, Windermere and Ravenna/Bryant. Seattle Magazine ranked the neighborhoods using a formula of home value growth, crime rate, WASL tests, park acreage, commuting time and neighborhood characteristics.

I don’t know about you, but Ballard should be in the top 5, at the very least.