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With the pending closure of the Starbucks at 22nd & Madison, we'll soon be left with a string of vacant storefronts there next to Safeway along Madison St.

Our friend Andrew has a theory:  businesses would have a better chance of taking root there if parking was available on the street in front of them.  He's proposing that we work together as a neighborhood...

Like or hate the new name for these posts?  Leave a comment below.  Otherwise things have been very quiet on the scanner for the last couple of hours.

(updated at 9:03am, also see the great update from gatortv) I just got the details on this from Renee Witt at SPD.   Late Monday night at around 11:30pm, 911 received several reports from residents who heard 2-3 shots fired in the area southwest of 25th & E. Columbia.   Officers arrived and located a victim lying on the sidewalk near the alley on Columbia...

So far it's quiet out there.   Too quiet...

Today I got a call back from Alan Justad, spokesman for the Seattle Development & Planning Department, to give some of the details behind the denied permitting of the proposed restaurant at 25th & Union.  

According to Mr. Justad, the permit wasn't officially denied.  What was rejected was the classification of the business as a restaurant.  Instead, department planners had decided that it was a "liquor establishment" that bumped it into a different level of permitting, requiring a separate conditional-use permit that would set additional approval steps such as an additional layer of community comment and stipulations surrounding things like noise levels, maximum size, etc.  The requirement for...

Here's what we know about the gun incident that brought a number of automatic-weapon-bearing officers to 23rd between Marion & E. Columbia just after noon today.   The initial report we heard on the radio was that a man with a gun was kicking in a door just north of 23rd & Cherry.   I grabbed the camera and ran down to the scene, where I spoke to a...

More than 25 months later, $100 million plus, and a few construction delays, the massive renovations at Garfield High School are entering the home stretch. It really is a total makeover if you haven't walked, biked or driven by. Crews are working in overdrive to get things finished up in time for the new school year. It's apparently going to be...

Based on the comments we got back in June, there were a lot of people who were looking forward to the possibility of a new restaurant at 25th & Union.   Neighborhood residents Erin & Rebecca, owners of The Bottleneck Lounge on Madison, had proposed opening a spot for food and drinks inside the new live/work building at that intersection.

In an email sent to friends and supporters earlier today, Erin announced that the city's Deparment of Planning has denied them a building permit for the project:

Although the building is zoned for a restaurant which serves cocktails, the Land Use staff rejected the notion that we would serve liquor in...

The sluggish real estate market is having a definite impact on the pace of development in the neighborhood.  It's been three weeks since we've had any notices to talk about, and this week there's only two:

1.  There's a wide and deep vacant lot at 2415 S. Norman where a developer has applied to build 7 cottages arranged 2x2 towards the back and heading...

As of today, there's been some new work at the site of the proposed new apartment and retail development at 23rd Avenue and East Union. I talked with Jay Janette this afternoon, the lead architect of the project, and he says that the work is related to the on-going mission to remove toxic chemicals from the ground -- using environmentally-sensitive...

Andrew had earlier wondered whether the Starbucks next to Safeway at 23rd & Madison would be included in their list of closures.  Today the company published the complete list of 600 stores, and that store is indeed on the list.

With several long-vacant storefronts on the Madison side of that building, the loss of Starbucks will leave things in a bleak...

I've always known that we have some pretty unique and talented folks in the neighborhood, and when out running errands the other day I spotted a guy on Union who may set a local record in multi-tasking, balance-based achievement.

The feat:  riding a unicycle, down a steep hill, talking on a phone.  And earlier along the path I spotted him texting.  ...

Do you live within walking distance of Swedish Cherry Hill Hospital (formerly, and properly known as Providence)?   

Are you having problems with hospital employees taking up all of your on-street parking during the day?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, you may suffer from HIPWO, or Hospital Induced Parking Woes.  

The good news is that...

From July 16th, 2008

The  Squire Park Community Council meeting on Saturday featured a presentation about the status of the big new development on the Goodwill property at Rainier and Dearborn.  The presenter was Darryl Vange of Ravenhurst Development, one of companies involved in the project, who was chalking up his 126th community meeting on the topic.

The short answer...

If you heard a pack of sirens this morning just a bit before 5am, it was a fairly big callout for an apparently small fire on the deck of a second floor apartment at 725 21st Ave.   Portions of the deck railing and floor were torn down by fire fighters to make sure it was out.

Viewing the damage from the street, it appears that the fire did not affect...

Thanks to all of the folks from the Community Council and everyone who donated stuff to make this happen. The day was beautiful and the event was a fun opportunity for everyone to come out, eat some food, listen to the sweet sounds of the Marimba band and get to know each other better. With hot dogs, ice cream, veggie burgers, bouncy houses, and fire...

I caught this on the 911 page this morning and just got the details from Seattle police.  According to spokesman Jeff Kappel, at 1:45am Saturday morning a witness saw a 26 year old man in a dispute with a woman in front of Wade's Night Club in the 1200 block of E. Jefferson.  The argument took a violent turn when the suspect pulled a handgun out of his pocket, chased after the 28 year old victim, and then shot her in the leg.

The suspect ran off on foot to the south, where he was spotted a few blocks away by gang detectives who were working in the area.  Although he saw them and tried to escape, they succeeded in catching him and booked him into the King County Jail on investigation of assault....

The CD Forum has released a "sneak peak" at their 2008-2009 program schedule (and note to The Seattle Times:  I think around here people prefer the term "African American" vs. "African Armerican").   

Here's what they've got planned:

RESURRECTION

Written and Performed by Daniel Beaty Friday...

Every summer for the 10 years I've lived here, I and my neighbors have enjoyed gathering along 23rd and watching our annual Seafair-related community parades.  But there's been a noticeable trend over the last several years:  fewer and fewer participants and a shorter and shorter parade.

So this is where all of you come in.  Maybe you're new here (welcome!...