Details of the plan are posted at the Wedgwood Community Council website.

There, community members have posted comments on all sides of the proposal, which would build out the ballfield area at Thornton Creek School,  7711 43rd Ave. N.E., replacing it with the new elementary for 650-800 students.

Some neighbors acknowledge the need for more classrooms, but worry about traffic and the loss of the playfields.

Thornton Creek School would remain as an alternative school.

According to the community council:

Written comments in regards to the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement can be sent to the following address:

Noel Treat, SEPA Responsible Official

John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence

2445 3rd Ave. S.

Seattle, WA 98134

or by email to: jawolf@seattleschools.org

Last May the news here that the venerable Seven Seas Restaurant was turning into a strip club ignited dozens of comments from readers, many predicting an increase in crime and decease in property values.

The Maple Leaf and Wedgwood community councils  both appealed the opening, saying Pandora’s Adult Cabaret had been improperly permitted by the city. The appeals were rejected, and Pandora’s opened on July 12 at 8914 Lake City Way N.E., on the line between the two neighborhoods.

Wedgwood View wrote at least a dozen posts on the club last year. This year? We’ve heard nothing. So we thought we’d ask.

We can’t speak to property values, but we can about crime. We ran the entire year on the city crime map and found – nothing.

We asked Terrie Johnson, Seattle Police crime prevention coordinator for the North Precinct.

I talked to Community Police Team Officer Kipp Strong and to our Precinct Prosecutor, Jana Jorgensen, and neither one of them have had any complaints about Pandora’s. I have worked North Precinct now for 12 months, and I have had no complaints about them either.

At the Wedgwood Community Council (you could argue Pandora’s is technically in Wedgwood because it’s on the east side of Lake City Way) Per Johnson said: “I haven’t heard of any crime or complaints from neighbors. In fact, to his word, the owner emailed me a few months back to see if I’ve heard anything. So far, they seem to be a good neighbor.”

When we asked the owner, Joe Walker, he replied in part: “If there are legitimate concerns I would be more than happy to address them as needed. Having been in the business for almost 30 years I was pretty confident that the doom and gloom predictions wouldn’t come to fruition.”

The scenario: Terrorist hackers have shut down the power grid. Phone service, including 911 dispatch, is out. Cell phones don’t work. How to communicate?

Please don’t misunderstand: This is only a drill.

After a tremendously successful drill last October at the Wedgwood Hub, the neighborhood emergency gathering place activated again this morning for another practice run.

This time much of the radio activity was in Maple Leaf - the third-highest hill in Seattle and thus a good place to rig emergency radio antennas.

Similar exercises are being conducted in West Seattle, Broadview, Wallingford, Greenlake, Queen Anne and Magnolia.

Learn about the planned 15-ft wide roads (replacing 8′ and 6′ wide trails), the 20-foot wide ramps, the 50-60 trees to be removed, and the potential closure of the entire pond to visitors throughout the project.

Learn all about the planned Pond Dredging & Improvements Project this coming Tuesday, May 15, 7-9 p.m. during the Meadowbrook Community Council meeting held at the Meadowbrook Community Center.

Our neighbors to the north-northeast, the Victory Heights Blog, caught this crew in action as a new Espresso stand went up at the old restaurant site at 9824 Lake City Way.

Headrush Coffee hopes to be open for business by June 1st said owner Zach Head, who will run the stand along with his brother. The free-standing building won’t need any plumbing and will tap electricity directly from the main power line.

The Victory Heights report is here.

The annual sale, featuring everything from hanging baskets to tomatoes, is at the school’s greenhouse, off of Lake City Way and Northeast 110th Street.

From the intersection of Lake City Way and 110th, head east down the hill, then turn northbound onto 34th Avenue and take a left (westbound) onto our driveway. Please park in our gravel parking area.

We will be selling hanging baskets (fuchsias and mixed annuals), bedding plants, ornamental grasses, herbs, vegetable starts, and native trees and shrubs. All plants are grown organically by Nathan Hale students.

Here are the sale hours: Today, Wednesday and Thursday from 1-6 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Note there is no sale on Friday.

For more details go to the school’s website or their horticulture Facebook page.

Many neighbors have followed NEST’s progress over the past three years, watching as it organized, became a 501(c)3 and raised over $100,000 from the community. It was  featured in the Seattle Times and by KUOW Public Radio.

NEST is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization that will be supported primarily by membership dues.  It serves 14 neighborhoods in northeast Seattle – including Maple Leaf, Wedgwood, View Ridge and the University District – with a wide assortment of services, including transportation, simple household tasks, shopping and many, many more activities that are described on its website.

In February, NEST launched for Founding Members, who became the first to benefit from the community and support services that NEST provides to keep seniors safe in their own homes. Channel 13, Q13Fox.com,  has video here.

For more information email info@nestseattle.org or call 206-525-6378.

Disclosure: Mike, the author of this post, is also a NEST board member.

In her memory, the community set out to build a memorial playground that would accommodate children with special needs. The playground should be finished by the end of this school year, supporters say.

A final fundraising push is set for Sunday. “The goal of this event is to raise the final funds that we need to cover all the last of the expenses,” emails Beth.

The event is the “Differently Designed Artist Trunk Show,” and runs from 3-7 p.m. Sunday, April 29, at the school, 7711 43rd Ave. N.E.

Come and shop for handmade art created by twenty local artists. There will be jewelry, soap, paper crafts,cookies, and much more.

Twenty percent of all sales will benefit the Every Body Plays playground at Thornton Creek Elementary, a community playground designed for children with special needs in memory of a kindergarten student who passed away in 2009.

The program, which aims to help educate homeowners about solar power and contract for less expensive installation, was slated to end April 23 but will remain open for an extra week because of popular demand, according to a news release.

Already, 21 Northeast Seattle residents have contracted to install solar on their homes, and nearly 300 people have registered to participate. The program, which is a partnership between nonprofits Northwest SEED and Sustainable NE Seattle, hopes that by the end of summer more than 50 Northeast Seattle homes will have solar installed through the campaign.

If you live in the 98105, 98115 or 98125 ZIP codes, you can register at www.solarizewa.org/registration. Need to learn more before signing up? There will be a workshop from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 4805 N.E. 45th St.

Rampathon, a popular program by the Master Builders Care Foundation, will be held next month on Saturday, May 19.

From the announcement:

Rampathon® is an annual one-day event of the Master Builders Care Foundation. Since its inception in 1993, thousands of volunteers from the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties have gathered together to build more than 300 free ramps for low income homeowners throughout King and Snohomish counties.

In 2011 alone, more than 300 volunteers contributed over 2,900 hours and built 16 ramps. With support from local vendors and suppliers, we have been able to give housebound individuals a life-changing gift: mobility.

For more information, call (425) 460-8232 or email awetmore@mbaks.com.

Thanks to David Miller of the Maple Leaf Community Council for this post idea.