Get out: weekend starting 11/30

What's happening this weekend in Columbia City?  Well first and foremost, snow!  (err..well...maybe).  I'm sure there will be enough to cause our very own Danger Jim to pontificate on the airwaves about how we're all going to die as our driving skills are overmatched by natures fury of five snowflakes.

Other less dangerous activities happening this weekend:

• Musica Entertainment's Santa's North Pole Wonderland Extravaganza and Toy Drive.  10:30 am on December 1st at the Columbia city Theater.
• Give the kids something to do with a free ornament making party at Retroactive Kids from 3 to 6 on Saturday, and see the tree get lit up from 6 to 7:30.  I hear Santa might make it over to KC Flowers later in the evening.
• Graham Hill work party.  On both saturday and sunday from 9 to 1, they'll have a crew painting the interior, one making bulliten boards for Kindergarten tours, one outside weeding, pruning and planting. Childcare and food stuffs will be provided. Sweat equity and/or financial donations to cover the cost of paint appreciated.
• The verve wine bar and Andaluz boutique present the first annual Columbia City Sip and Shop.  Sample a vast array of festive wines while perusing some of the most eclectic gift items in Seattle compliments of Andaluz.  Sunday, from 2 to 7 at the Verve Wine Bar and Andaluz, $10 for wine tasting, appetizers, and shopping.
• The Mt Baker Rowing and Sailing Center is having their grand opening celebration for their newly finished expansion and renovation.  Sunday starting at 4.
• There will also be a luminaria at Seward Park on sunday.  Setup starts at 2, with candles lit at 4:20.
• The christmas ships are coming!  The christmas ships are coming!  You should be able to see them at either of the above two events.  They're scheduled to hit (well, not literally) the Ferdinand street boat ramp between 5:50 and 6:10, and Stan Sayres park (where mt baker rowing and sailing club is) between 6:25 and 6:45.

And one last dangerous one:

• Coyote sightings!  They've been all over the place in our little neck of the woods, with one of the more recent sightings being at the corner of 46th and S Hudson.  Just remember not to pet strange dogs!

There are so many interesting things going on in the neighborhood, don't let your weekend go to the dogs!

Business Gossip in Columbia City

An anonymous commenter had some very interesting things to say in response to our "Phew!" article:

That business with the brown-papered windows was Twinks Daycare. Word on the street is that the new owner paid too much for the building, is asking too much money in rent, and is expecting tenants to pay for capital upgrades (like retrofitting for earthquake safety). Hence, the place being empty for months.

The Wellington is close to being sold, and I've heard business has been down. Ya gotta wonder why Geraldine's is packed on Sundays for brunch, but not the Wellington.

Twinks Daycare - good to have confirmation of what was there.  Interesting reason though for why they left!  Has the housing slowdown started to affect the commercial properties in Columbia City?  What other properties are starting to hurt?  Looks like the admiral and I best get on it if we're to get to the Wellington before it changes hands.  I'm thinking we'll go to take in some of their live music...

Sweet Digs in Columbia City

The admiral and I discovered Redfin after we had already moved to Columbia City, a bit of a disappointment since I like what they're doing in the real estate business these days and I would have liked to have used them in our house hunt, but perhaps next time.

In the mean time, they have a great blog that keeps a watch on real estate around town, including Columbia City (they deigned to forgo their usual high content standards to mention this blog - aw shucks, thanks redfin).  Their posts are usually be neighborhood (they seem to be going through a heavy-coverage-of-bainbridge-island phase at the moment) which make it easy to read only the ones you're interested in.  And of course, they have great general interest posts like how to decode the language used in real estate postings.

A good read, even if you're already a homeowner!

Being Strategic with our parks

Remember that good old Pro parks levy that we, as a city, agreed to impose upon ourselves?  You know the one - it was funded to the tune of 198.2 million dollars and was used throughout the city to acquire new greenspaces and renovate existing ones.  Some of the work in our own neighborhood included:

• Landscaping and pathway improvements to Columbia Park.
• Seward Park had it's former garage renovated into an Activity room for recreational and environmental education programs
• The main Seward Park Annex building was renovated in conjunction with the Audubon society, with a lease signed allowing the Audubon folks to occupy a portion of the building for 10 years with an option to extend for another 10
• The rainier playfields had pathway improvements, as well as some landscaping
• Lake Washington Blvd between Mt Baker swimming beach and Seward Park had a bunch of improvements, including a crushed rock path to replace the old dirt path, and some pretty major renovation of the parking lot at Stan Sayres to improve drainage.
• Graham hill school saw it's play area revamped, replacing all of the old asphalt with grass and a bunch of play equipment
• And of course one of the first projects to get funded by the Pro Parks levy, the complete re-working of Genesee playfields, turning one of the grass fields to turf, adding some pedestrian pathways and crosswalks.

Well the funds are starting to run out, and the city is trying to figure out what's next for it's parks.  It's starting a review of what's formally titled the "Seattle Parks and Recreation Strategic Business Plan".  They're not looking for input on specific projects so much as trying to decide what types of investments they should focus on.  For example, do you find the swimming beach at Seward park more important than the running trails along Lake Washington?  Or maybe you're more into quiet corner parks where you can sit and read like Columbia Park?

Either way, now's your chance to give some feedback.  Easiest way to is spend 5 minutes filling out their survey or (even better) you can attend one of the public meetings.

Be heard and make our parks better!

Phew!

The Captain and I sauntered down to Rainier Ave. for dinner the other night. We settled on the pub, one of the Captain's favorites. (Thumbs up on one of this week's specials, the chicken gnocchi with browned butter.)

I looked across the street and saw that one of the storefronts, the one next to Angie's, had windows covered with paper and a real estate sign. For a short time, I thought the Wellington had closed. I was really bummed - we'd heard great things about the Wellington and hadn't yet made the time to visit.

A quick phone call later, I realized that my compass is off. The paper-covered windows are the block south of the Wellington. The Wellington is NOT closed. I am going to make a reservation, hopefully on Friday or Saturday when they have live music. Disaster averted!

They're open for Thanksgiving, and it sounded like it not too late to make a reservation if you feel like soul food tonight.

NOT a whole lot of shakin' going on

First there was an article in the PI about a month ago that detailed the latest research into what areas of Seattle are at greater risk of damage in an earthquake.  They generated this lovely map:

And of course that map is lovely since you'll see that good old Columbia City and points east to Seward Park are all at "Low" risk (well, "Low" relative to the rest of the city.  Presumably "High" when compared to the earthquake risk in someplace like Kansas City).

Now, there's a new article over at Crosscut that asks geologists the $1000 dollar a month question - insurance, or not?  Interestingly enough, most of the answers are "no".  But then again, most of the people asked also chose their house specifically to avoid dangerous areas such as slopes and the duwamish valley.

The Admiral and I have earthquake insurance (even with the 10% deductible).  Perhaps we should reconsider this, especially given that we're in the excellent "Low" portion of the city.  Do any of you have earthquake insurance?

Dear Thief,

Posted around the neighborhood for the past few weeks has been this wonderful gem of a note:

Dear Thief,

When you broke into my home Friday and stole my laptop computer, you stole not just a piece of electronic gear.  You stole hundreds of hours of my work held in the files on it.  I am asking for you to return my laptop, and more importantly, to give me back my work.

I imagine to you this laptop is just a source of some quick cash by selling it, or a toy to play DVDs, surf the internet, or email your pals.  To me it's a tool for work and a reservoir of my efforts.  I am a radio producer.  There are hours of irreplaceable audio recordings that I was editing into radio pieces; stories about activists and community members, stories about immigration and about the environment.  The laptop holds letters, research documents, project histories, contact information.  Some of these documents cannot be recreated at all and some cannot be recreated without a great effort.  The computer will be hard and expensive for me to replace, but all the work on it is the real valuable part to me.  This is the greater loss to me.  You stole a treasure that is worthless to you

You know the house where this silver Toshiba Satellite M45 came from.  Please bring it back.  You did a very bad thing to come into my home and steal.  Please make it right.  You can leave it on the front porch.

PARENTS,
If your son has recently acquired a laptop he does not have the personal resources to buy for himself, please help him to learn to do the right thing.  Please help him to return my laptop, and repair this loss.

I dutifully sat at a corner and read the entire thing (and, I have to admit, I took one of them down so I could transcribe it here.  Sorry 'bout that).

This entire message is great.  I can only imagine how cathartic it was to write this.  I wonder if it actually worked?  It'd be a great end to the story if the poster actually managed to get the laptop back.

Hate Crime in Seward Park?

Or bored teenagers who are displaying an incredibly huge amount of awful judgement?

Normally the monthly updates from the Seattle Police Department South Precinct are kind of, well, boring.  There's not a lot of "interesting" crime that happens around here when compared to other districts.  A lot of theft (burglary, non residential burglary, etc) but nothing really heinous.

But this past week the south precinct newsletter came out, and the entire newsletter, which is sent to all residents of the 32 square mile south precinct, dealt with one set of incidents which took place early in the wee hours of November 1st in Seward Park.

This past Friday, four incidents of malicious harassment were reported
in the Seward Park neighborhood. Two vehicles owned by African
American men were spray painted with derogatory language towards
African Americans and profane language. A car belonging to the wife of
one of the men was also tagged with derogatory language. At a third
household, profane language was sprayed on their boat that was on a
trailer in front of the home. At a fourth household, a Star of David
was spray painted on a car belonging to a Jewish family.

The report goes on to try and downplay the severity of this:

Not a Pattern, Trend or Epidemic of Hate
Incidents of hate crimes, malicious harassment, and racially motivated
hate graffiti are extremely rare in our city and even more so in
southeast Seattle. In the 17+ years I have worked for the Police
Department, I can only recall a handful of incidents where racist,
anti-religious or anti-gay literature was strewn about in the South
Precinct. To my knowledge, nothing like this has been reported in well
over five years.

This is not an epidemic. We do not have crowds of racist groups
operating in our South end neighborhoods.

...

Don't let fear and suspicion win. What I know about this neighborhood
is that these neighbors are very well connected with each other. They
have one of the highest Block Watch participation rates of anywhere in
the city. They have one of the lowest crime rates in the city.

And it goes on.

I'm sure we all know that hate crime is just not appropriate, any which way you slice it.  Bigotry is the domain of small minds, and everybody's lives would be much improved if we were all open to the wonderful diversity of life.  Heck, this is one of the main reasons the Admiral and I chose to live in this neighborhood!

That said, I'm curious if the number of people who live in fear of hate crimes is so high that it warrants the south precinct devoting an entire newsletter to the topic.  Personally, I wouldn't say I live in fear at all.  I worry about crime and such, especially having been a victim of it myself in the past, but racially motivated hate crime?

I'm willing to bet that the people who did this were probably kids who, as I mentioned above, displayed an extraordinary amount of incredibly wrong judgement.  They should be caught and disciplined, and more to the point taught why what they did was extraordinarily wrong.

But should the neighborhood get all nervous and start worrying about a hate crime spree?  I don't think we're quite at that stage yet.  It's good to see that the SPD is very sensitive to the topic, making me hope they'd be all over the problem, but even they think there is nothing systemic to worry about here.

So please, if you're out there and you're worried about hate crime, don't sound the alarm quite yet.  Join your blockwatch, lock your doors - but keep talking to your neighbors, and keep introducing yourself to new faces.  I love meeting new people in the neighborhood, I'd hate to see worry, distrust, and fear close up the connections that make this neighborhood great.

Burrito and a Movie

Not long ago, the Captain and I spent a night:
1) eating some delish Villa Victoria burritos, and
2) watching American Gangster at Columbia City Cinema.
No comment on if we combined those two activities, as the Cinema does not permit outside food.

It was a great night. Highly recommend both the movie and the burritos. (The Captain only thought the movie was so-so, in full disclosure. The Admiral disagrees.)

R.I.P. Solstice Seward Park

As some of you may have noticed, the friendly Solstice folks sold their shop on Wilson to Caffe Vita. It seems that at least some of the former staffers work there (from the Admiral's informal 10-minute census on Sunday). Rumor has it that family pressures are what brought the Solstice folks to want to sell the business.

While Caffe Vita only has four or five other retail locations, they're not a small operation; their wholesale business is really huge, according to friends in the coffee industry. Their coffee is ok, not quite as good as Lighthouse Roasters. Their scones are nowhere as good as the Solstice ones. Wonder what is happening to the awesome curry chicken salad lunchables from Solstice's Domovoi.

Those of us jonesing for a little Solstice lovin' can still visit their U-District shop. Those of us wanting a "real" coffee shop in the 'hood, one with ambiance and local flavor . . . the wait continues . . .

It's beatwalk time again - 11/2/07

First friday of the month means beatwalk, the most excellent Columbia City tradition of live music in most of the businesses along the main drag, with one cover price that covers all of the different venues.

Tonight's schedule, taken directly from the beatwalk site:

Awash 3808 S. Edmunds Tel. 206.723.1971 www.AwashEthiopianRestaurant.com	Balkan Cabaret Balkan Cabaret plays with passion and poetry the traditional music from eastern Europe. Lead Singer Mary Sherhart has a voice as rich and full as dark honey, causing audiences to sway and swoon. www.balkancabaret.com
Bookworm Exchange  4860 Rainier Avenue South Tel. 206.722.6633	Garfield High Jazz Quintet These first-rate student musicians can really hold their own in the world of jazz. The winner of multiple music awards, Garfield High consistently brings us jazz with style and passion www.garfieldjazz.org
Columbia City Bakery 4865 Rainier Avenue South Tel. 206.723.6023	Linda Severt Multi-instrumentalist, multi-dimensional, and always entertaining. One of Seattle's most unique and funny songwriters plays jazz, blues, contemporary folk and original gems www.lindasevert.com
Columbia City Fitness Center - NEW!! 4860 Rainier Avenue South Tel. 206.725.7894	The Cosmonauts An eclectic blend of Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Funk and Blues featuring the areas best musicians in these genres www.tordietrichson.com
Columbia City Gallery 4864 Rainier Avenue South Tel. 206.760.9843 www.columbiacitygallery.com	Yeni Ses Where east meets west, spanning the Bosphorus Strait, where Turkish delights abound, come hear hip-swaying rhythms and Anatolian melodies that will transport you to another place, another era
Lottie's Lounge 4900 Rainier Avenue South Tel. 206.725.0519	Djangomatics Gypsy jazz Django would be proud of! This acoustic trio delivers the driving rhythms of Django, with twists of Latin, Klezmer and French musettes. www.djangomatics.com
Verve Wine Bar and Cellar 3820 S. Ferdinand Tel. 206.760.0977 www.vervewinebar.com	Ruthie Dornfeld & Mark Roberts Celtic and American folk tunes infused with global sensibilities www.ruthiedornfeld.com
Enjoy live music at the following restaurants (no cover required)!
Kallaloo 3820 S. Ferdinand Tel. 206.760.7766	Eduardo Mendonça Brazilian singer and guitarist with back up percussionist Lary Barilleau