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The University Bridge was closed for several hours Monday evening after a two-car crash that caused life-threatening injuries for one driver. According to the SPD Blotter, a Volkswagen Passat was traveling south on the bridge at 6:45 p.m. when it was hit mid-span by a Toyota MR2 that was traveling north. The Toyota crossed the center line and collided with the Passat. Both drivers were treated at the scene by Seattle Police and Seattle Fire Department personnel. The Toyota driver was taken to Harborview Medical Center with significant life-threatening injuries. The Passat driver was also taken to Harborview for treatment. Blood was obtained from the Toyota driver at the hospital as police investigate if the driver was impaired by drugs or alcohol. The bridge was closed for several hours as the accident scene was investigated. It was reopened late Monday evening. The talk on "Trees in Eastlake and Seattle" set for Tuesday, Oct. 16, at TOPS@Seward School library will start a little later than previously announced. The talk, sponsored by the Eastlake Community Council, will begin at 7:45 p.m. Before that, you're invited to join your neighbors at 6 p.m. in the TOPS library to watch the second presidential debate between President Barack Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney. After the debate, Arthur Lee Jacobson, author of "Trees of Seattle" will speak and show photos of Eastlake trees. Bring a mystery tree leaf to get it identified and find out how to help inventory Eastlake trees. Neighbors: Go to: http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/edms/ and put in the MUP # 3013612 This proposed MUP # 3013612 at 1949 Fairview Avenue E sports a White Board which cannot be seen from the street due to the fact it is behind a large parking lot which separates the White Board from Fairview Avenue E ROW. Parked cars in the parking lot obliterate the view of this board. You can see in this picture a car which is doing just that. It appears that the due date for comments is October 19. I have asked DPD extend the comment period 30 days. It might help if others in the neighborhood did the same at: Ask to be a party of record. It appears from the DPD web site that this the new development is going to be a boat launching facility and a new pier built for Mr. Brian Tracey’s Duck Tours. His tour people, employees, their cars and his fleet of amphibious boats will be parading in and out of our neighborhood. This will be very interesting when the fleet attempts to use Fairview Avenue E....
Police reports from Eastlake this week include a home burglary on Lakeview and more:
Police reports in Eastlake in the past week include a restaurant burglary, a bike theft and more:
Police reports for Eastlake in the past week include two vehicle thefts, one attempted vehicle theft and more:
Summer comes to its unofficial end this weekend with the Labor Day holiday on Monday. Many Eastlake businesses will be open on Monday. Our list is below, as well as info on garbage collection (normal schedule) and Metro bus routes. If I missed your business, please let me know at curtmilton@comcast.net and I'll add you to the list. Have a great holiday! FOOD AND DRINK
If you ride a Metro bus between Eastlake and downtown, you noticed a change starting a week ago: Buses now stay on Eastlake rather than going down Fairview after they pass the Eastlake and Fairview intersection. The change is temporary and is related to the construction on Mercer Street in south Lake Union. Mercer is now a two-way street and Fairview is temporarily restricted to one lane northbound. This temporary reroute is expected to last for four to six months, according to Metro. The following routes are affected by the reroute: 70, 71, 72, 73, 83 and 309. Those routes will stop on Eastlake at Aloha, Mercer, John and Howell streets. For more information, check out the reroute map PDF attached to this post. Metro also has more details on the reroute and how to get to the temporary Eastlake bus stops on their blog. 
UPDATE: This event is now sold out. ORIGINAL POST: If you've always wondered what it's like to live on a houseboat you'll be able to find out during the annual Seattle Floating Homes Tour from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 9. The event will feature 12 floating homes on the Eastlake side of Lake Union. Tickets are $25 and are available at Brown Paper Tickets. The event usually sells out so early purchase is recommended. Tickets include electric shuttle boat service between each end of the tour. You can also walk to each home and do the tour in any order. The event benefits the Floating Homes Association, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year. Among the houseboats on the tour will be one of the new homes at Wards Cove. This house features a sod roof (see photo), solar auxiliary power storage and a hollow cement float that acts as a control room and laundry area. Participants in the tour will also be able to visit the Eastlake P-Patch and the historical display at Wards Cove, the former headquarters of an Alaska seafood business. There will be restrooms available for tour participants. There will also be free espresso as well as food and drinks for purchase. Wear comfortable slip-on shoes, tour organizers say. There are stairs and uneven surfaces. You'll be asked to either remove your shoes or put on slippers in the homes. Need more information? Check out the Floating Homes Tour's Facebook page or email melissa@lakere.com. You can also take a video preview of the tour. 
It seems like a small thing, but in the context of busy urban lives the convenience of a neighborhood mailbox can be very important. An Eastlake mailbox that had been removed is back and neighbors are pleased. The blue U.S. Postal Service mailbox at the corner of E. Lynn and Minor E. is one of the few left in the neighborhood. When it was removed earlier this summer to make way for a new curb cut, neighbor Phyllis Hatfield became concerned. She lives nearby and uses the box frequently. Other mailboxes in Eastlake, including one on the west side of Eastlake in the 2800 block, have been removed in recent years to save money. Hatfield first called the Post Office on Broadway to ask if they knew what was up with the box. The person she talked to there said that a survey had found there wasn't enough mail coming in to the box to warrant replacing it. A call to the city produced better results. A city staffer called Hatfield back and said the mailbox would be returned and on Monday of this week it was. Hatfield is grateful but worries that the box will be removed if it isn't used. Her message: Bring your outgoing mail to Minor and Lynn! "A lot of people are not going to see it," she said, noting that there is often a car parked in front of it. "If people don't use it, the post office is going to pull it out." Check the map with this post for the exact location and get mailing! Hard to believe the summer is almost over. Labor Day is this coming Monday so it must be true. Will your Eastlake business be open on Monday? If so, what hours will you be open and are you planning anything special? Please post your details in the comments below or email me at curtmilton@comcast.net. I'll post the list later this week. Have a great holiday! Police reports in Eastlake in the past week include two stolen vehicles, an arrest for heroin possession and more:
Seattle Police reports from Eastlake in the past week include a vehicle theft, two burglaries and more:
A 40-foot paddle boat docked at Fairview Avenue E. and Fairview Avenue N. took on water Thursday (Aug. 9) night and sank. Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Kyle Moore says firefighters were called to the dock at 11:28 p.m. Thursday after receiving reports that the boat was taking on water. Engine 22, Engine 4, ladder 4, Engine 36 and Patrol 4 went to the scene. When firefighters arrived they found the boat partly submerged and listing 45 degrees to the port side. After 40 minutes of effort by firefighters, the boat continued to list and control of it was turned over to the Coast Guard. Moore says the estimated dollar loss on the boat was $100,000. Eastlake residents came out last evening (Tuesday, Aug. 7) to enjoy three Night Out block parties, two on Franklin and one on Minor. That's the most Night Out events I've seen in the three years I've been writing for Eastlake Ave. Neighbors gathered in the 2600 block of Franklin (between Roanoke and Edgar), the 2300 block of Franklin (between Lynn and Louisa) and in a driveway just off the street in the 2200 block of Minor. There were barbecues going at all three locations and more food than you could ever hope to eat. Night Out Against Crime is a national program that encourages people to gather at block parties the first Tuesday in August to get to know their neighbors and build unity. The hope is that knowing your neighbors that will translate into crime prevention. At the party in the 2600 block of Franklin, several people who were walking by decided to stay, chat and eat. Barbara Sherman, who used to live in the area but now owns an Eastern Washington winery, said she somehow always manages to be at this block party. Her mother lives nearby, which has a bit to do with her attendance. In the 2300 block of Franklin, the living room had been brought out into the street, with a rug and a comfy outdoor sectional. Neighbors were talking about a disputed new apartment building being planned at 2371 Franklin E., at the end of the block. When I came back by later, Pagliacci had delivered pizza as a gesture of neighborliness. Neighbors in the 2200 block of Minor Ave. E. said they were too late getting their request to block the street in to the police department, so they held their party in a driveway that had access to a great backyard. Again, there was a barbecue and tons of food and lots of talk about plans for the neighborhood. As the sun finally set, neighbors at all three parties reluctantly began to clean up and pack away their picnic gear. The purpose of the evening -- making connections -- seemed to have been successful. Seattle Police reports in Eastlake this week include a stolen vehicle, two accidents, a car prowl and more:
This year's Night Out Against Crime event is tomorrow (Tuesday, Aug. 7). During this evening event, people all over Seattle gather at block parties in their neighborhoods. This year, there will be three block parties in Eastlake:
The block parties usually begin around 6 p.m. and run until 9 p.m. or so. The purpose of the Night Out event is to provide neighbors a chance to get to know each other,...
The 28th Annual Night Out Against Crime event will be Tuesday evening, Aug. 7. Seattle residents can get free permits to close off their street for these block parties that provide neighbors a chance to get to know each other, heighten crime prevention awareness, build support for anti-crime efforts and promote unity. There are at least two Eastlake events that I know of, both on Franklin E.:
Are you planning a Night Out block party in Eastlake? Let me know in the comments below or email me at curtmilton@comcast.net. For more information on the event, including instructions on how to register your event, go to the Seattle Police Department's website. Police reports for Eastlake for the last two weeks include a restaurant burglary and thefts of a bicycle, a motorcycle and a car:
In case you've been wondering, Eastlake won't be affected by the current garbage haulers' strike in Seattle. That's because Eastlake, as well as the rest of central and northeast Seattle, are serviced by CleanScapes. The strike involves unionized workers for Waste Management, which serves other parts of the city. You can see the affected areas on this map from the city's website. According to a press release from Seattle Public Utilities, the strike is affecting about 60 percent of the city. The Seattle Times is reporting that Waste Management brought in outside workers today (Friday, July 27) to collect garbage from hospitals, day cares and nursing homes. The dispute centers on a wage disparity between Waste Management's recycling truck drivers and drivers of garbage trucks. Recycling drivers at Waste Management earn about $9 less an hour than garbage workers, according to the Seattle Times. The Times story notes this isn't the case at CleanScapes:
The signs are popping up all over Eastlake: Yellow, letter-sized notices about a new development on Franklin Avenue E.:
The notice ends by noting that: “These building are permanent and Eastlake will suffer for a long time.” The development in question will replace a house at 2371 Franklin Ave. E. The official city permit for the project says it contains five units, but neighbors note that it will actually have 39 individual units grouped around common kitchens on each floor (a basement and four other floors, with one kitchen on each floor). If it was counted as 39 units, the development would require environmental and design reviews and offer neighborhood residents a chance to have input on the building. The neighbors also question locating such a project, which they fear will have transient occupants, just two doors from the TOPS@Seward School and two houses away from a daycare center. Members of the Eastlake group have organized under the name Count Units Properly Please. They’ve been writing to Mayor McGinn, members of the city council and the Department of Planning and Development questioning how a building with 39 individual bedrooms can be counted as five-units. They are also concerned because, under existing city zoning laws and policies, the new building won’t need to provide parking for its residents. Delight Roberts, one of the neighbors opposed to the new building, noted in a letter to Mayor Mike McGinn that she and her husband, who have a toddler son, are “invested in the community.” When they moved to Eastlake there weren’t many children in the neighborhood, she writes, but that more families with kids are moving in. Her letter continues:
In a letter mailed to Diane Sugimura, director of the Department of Planning and Development, which is handling permits for the project, Roberts and several other neighbors (Carol Eychaner, Martin Cobb, Jules James, Christy Elton, Russ Anders, Tom Im, Colette and Chris Gordon, and Sharon and Aaron Grey) made their case for counting 39 units in the building:
Neighbor Jules James questions what type of lease will be made for each unit. He notes that the Fair Housing Act requires a 24-hour notice before a rental agent can enter a unit. Will all the units on a floor be given notice that an agent will be entering to show off a unit? he wonders. In a June 28 letter to neighbors, Sugimara notes that the DPD “must review a proposed project based on adopted regulations and processes that apply to a particular site.” She says that the area has been zoned Lowrise 3, which allows apartment buildings up to 40 or 44 feet tall, since the early 1980s “and probably well before that time.” She added:
As to the tenants who might live there, Sugimura noted that “we (DPD) cannot regulate the type of tenants allowed through Land Use Code regulations; this is not something that DPD has the authority to control.” Several neighbors had expressed concern that the project was on a “fast track” to approval. Sugimura noted in her letter that it qualifies for “Priority Green, which has a shorter initial review time to encourage people to develop more sustainable buildings.” Bryan Stevens, a spokesperson for the DPD, said Thursday that the project is still being reviewed by ordinance and structural reviewers. The construction permit approval process generally takes about six to eight weeks, he said. “That’s not been completed,” he said. “That’s the last step before we let the applicant come and pick up their plans.” Stevens noted that even if DPD felt that there needed to be a change in policy regarding projects such as 2371 Franklin E., any change wouldn’t affect projects currently under review. In her letter to the Eastlake neighbors, Sugimura said that this type of building helps to fill a need for affordable housing. She says the DPD has heard concerns about this type of building from other neighborhoods and she’s discussed this with Mayor McGinn and city council members. “At this time,” she says in her letter, “our direction is to monitor them (the buildings) to determine if we are seeing unintended consequences from such development, and determine if any code changes are needed.” UPDATE: This post has been changed since it was first published. Information on how long the construction permit process takes has been added. UPDATE, Sunday, 10 a.m.: Paving on the University Bridge has been completed early. The bridge is now open. ORIGINAL POST: The University Bridge will be closed to vehicles this weekend for a repaving project. The bridge will be closed both days from 4 a.m. to midnight. Pedestrians and bicycles will still be able to cross and the bridge will still open for boat traffic, according to the Seattle Department of Transportation. SDOT crews will be repaving 400 feet of the roadway north of the drawspan. Crews will also be doing spot repairs on the sidewalks, inspecting the concrete portion of the bridge deck and doing minor maintenance on the section south of the drawspan. Signs and police officers will indicate detour routes during the closures. Metro will be rerouting buses that use Eastlake Avenue. See their website for more information. 
Chefs at two Eastlake restaurants will soon have a much shorter trip to get fresh ingredients: They’ll just have to go upstairs. A new garden, located on a patio one floor above the street, will benefit the kitchens and patrons at Ravish and Sushi Kappo Tamura. The two restaurants are located on the first floor at Ruby Condos in the 2900 block of Eastlake Ave. E. The patio is actually part of the residential portion of the building. In addition to views of Lake Union, residents at Ruby are now relaxing amidst vegetables that will soon be gracing the plates of restaurant patrons below. The garden was planted on June 25. Chefs Taichi Kitamura and Hiro Tawara from Sushi Kappo Tamura, and Ravish’s owner, Lizbet Mielke, chef Kelly Daly and general manager Nick La Porta were checking out its progress earlier in the week. It will soon be time to start harvesting the garden. A radish was pulled up, inspected and deemed ripe. “I could serve that,” Kitamura noted. Ruby’s patio has had planters ever since the building was completed. Kitamura says the plants, which included ornamental grasses, weren’t doing so great. Enter Seattle Urban Farm Company, a firm that designs and builds food-producing gardens in the city and suburbs. Brad Halm, one of the founders of Seattle Urban Farm, says the company knew Kitamura and thought the patio at Ruby had good potential for a garden. “They have an emphasis on sustainability at Tamura and Ravish,” Halm says. “They thought this would be a great step to bring more local food into their restaurants.” Seattle Urban Farm does a lot of home gardens and has been trying to expand into more commercial projects. They previously planted a rooftop garden at Bastille in Ballard 3.5 years ago that they are still taking care of. Seattle Urban Farm and the restaurants worked with the board at Ruby Condos to create an agreement for use of the space, a process that took about six to eight months. The company then talked with the chefs to decide what vegetables to plant. Seattle Urban Farm did the planting and their staff visits two to three times a week to take care of the garden. They’ll even do the harvesting, although chefs Kitamura and Daly say the expect to make trips to pick items for the evening’s menu. In addition to the radishes, the garden includes squash, greens like chard and kale, onions, chives, beets, lavender and herbs such as sage and thyme. One unusual plant is shiso, which Kitamura describes as a sort of Japanese basil. There’s also a part of the garden for the homeowners that contains a mix of herbs and other plants. Not all the beds have been planted. Halm says they are planting a small amount each week so that new crops will always become available. The growing season should continue through the winter, he says. They’ve been able to do that at Bastille and “it’s been quite successful.” The chefs say they’re excited about the potential for the produce from the garden. “Whatever will grow here, I’ll cook with it,” Daly says. This week's Seattle Police reports for Eastlake include a one-car accident, a car theft and more:
See the map at 911Seattle.com. 
A 49-year-old man who drove his SUV into a light pole at Fairview and Galer in Eastlake on Friday evening was expected to recover from his injuries, according to a Seattle Fire Department spokesperson. The man was the only occupant of the vehicle. According to SFD spokesperson Kyle Moore, the unnamed driver was traveling north on Fairview at about 8:35 p.m. when his vehicle swerved off the road and plowed into the pole. Two doctors from Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma who witnessed the accident stabilized the patient while they waited for SFD emergency crews to arrive. Moore said the driver was trapped inside the vehicle under the dash, emergency brake, steering column and seat. "The car sort of caved in around him," Moore said. It took emergency crews an hour to cut away pieces of the car to extricate the driver. Emergency crews were able to get an IV line in the driver, who was conscious and alert the whole time, Moore said. The driver had serious head and chest injuries, which Moore characterized as "non-life threatening." "It looks like he'll survive," Moore said. The driver was taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment. Moore said the Seattle Police Department will determine the cause of the crash after an investigation. KOMO News has video showing the rescue of the driver: |
