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PowerToasters (a local club of Toastmasters, Int.) will be meeting this Thursday at noon in 1144 Eastlake Ave E. We have two guests speakers -- Jeffrey Pulliam, a member of a club up in Bellingham, who will be giving a speech about networking and Susan Swift, a member of another Seattle club, who will be giving an Ice Breaker speech. The Ice Breaker is your first speech that you do in the Toastmaster's program, so this will be an excellent opportunity to see what is involved for that first time up on your feet. Get your career moving with new communication skills -- plus meet new people and have fun! Looking forward to seeing people from the community there. More information: http://www.powertoasters.freetoasthost.org AND http://www.toastmasters.org SeattlePI.com's Casey McNerthney is reporting on an Eastlake case of a good Samaritan who ended up being robbed at gunpoint. In the early morning of Feb. 20, a victim exited Eastlake's own Zoo Tavern to find a man requesting change to make a phone call. The victim gave the man a dollar and eventually gave him a ride to a University District gas station. Thereafter, upon being driven back to Eastlake, the man told the victim that he had a gun and instructed him to drive to an ATM and withdraw $200. The man not only took the $200 from the victim, but also pirated the victim's cell phone and made the victim drive him to the Central District. The man got out of the car, never revealing the gun to the victim.
The man was described as an African-American male, approximately 5-foot-8 with black hair in a buzz cut and a slim build. He was wearing a white and black coat with gray and white sweat pants. He has allegedly been seen around the neighborhood before, so ensure that you... I just saw a city sand truck heading up 10th Ave. E. where it crosses over 520. Temperatures near freezing are forecast for tonight. According to a press release from the Seattle Department of Transportation, city crews have been "proactively" applying salt brine to streets and bridges in Seattle in anticipation of the cold weather. The press release even mentions the possibility of snow tonight. Yikes! (NOAA says low temps, with highs in the 30s, will continue through next week.) The press release notes that the brine solution "remains effective for several days unless it rains." And it says city crews have been out treating streets where groundwater seepage is causing ice to form. If you notice a slick, untreated street tonight or this weekend, call the SDOT at 206-386-1218. SDOT winter links that might prove useful:
If you... Rochelle Ogershok from Metro e-mailed today to clairfy about when Metro's Emergency Network plans, with its special bare-bones bus schedules, will go into effect. It won't be used for regular snow storms, she explains, only where there is "severe" winter weather like the pounding we took last December. From her e-mail:
You can sign up for e-mail and cell-phone alerts and find out more about emergency's a Metro's special web page. Our previous post about Metro and City of Seattle snow plans for Eastlake is here. The Seattle Department of Transportation will be testing its new snow fighting plan starting at 3 p.m. today. The plan was developed in response to last winter's plowing fiasco when heavy snow paralyzed the city for almost a week. At 3 p.m. today, four tanker trucks will head out to pre-treat the city's arterials with salt brine (today it will only be water). During a real snow storm, motorists would be advised to stay 100 feet behind the trucks to avoid having their cars hit with brine. At 4 a.m., 20 snow plows will roll out to travel their routes and make sure they are well-defined and that they have enough time to make the circuit. More info on SDOT's new snow plan can be found on their web site. Did you see the tanker trucks on Eastlake? Post a comment or, better yet, a photo, if you saw them come by. Rebecca Partington says the weather is too stormy and wet, so there won't be a P-Patch work party on Saturday, Nov. 7. But, they will hope to gather on Sunday at the Eastlake P-Patch, 2900 Fairview Ave. E., to continue work on the expansion project. As always, bring gloves and a water bottle. 
UPDATE: Added a few comments and a photo. The original post is below the line. 6:27 p.m.: Adding audio clip of evening rain. There's lots of water coming down off Capitol Hill and running through Eastlake's streets this morning, but it's been worse. A plugged storm drain at Eastlake and Hamlin had resulted in a big puddle (see photo). The Seattle Department of Transportation had e-mailed a few days ago asked residents to clean plugged drains if they noticed them so, if you're so inclined, scrape some leaves out of the way to help get the water off the streets. Lots of leaves in the streets after the storm but I didn't see any other damage during my quick tour. Anyone else notice anything?
____________________________________ Another big thunderclap just exploded over Eastlake. And that comes after last night's booming and pounding by thunder, rain and hail. Any weather stories to tell? Storm drains backed up? Did your lights go out or flicker? Post your comments here and tell us about how the storm appeared from where you lived. 
I took a few photos walking to Louisa's this morning to have breakfast and coffee with former colleagues from the Seattle P-I. The leaves have really started turning in the last week. One nice surprise: Students from TOPS@Seward School have hung poetry in one of the trees between the school and playground. Fun to look at what they'd written. Check it out when you're in the area. Yikes! Looks like autumn decided not to wait until after Labor Day, as is customary. It's pouring buckets in Eastlake and across Seattle. Water is running down the alley behind my place and everything is drenched. What are you seeing? Any plugged storm drains? I'll take a look around but let me know if you see anything flooding or soaked or whatever. And stay dry! Here's what the rain sounded like just a few minutes ago:
Despair not! The forecast says the rain should taper off by the end of the morning, followed by clear skies (with maybe a dash or rain in the afternoon) and a high of 73 today. Perfect for outdoor movie watching! Kate Dulemba says she's off to pick up the movie screen. The show ("Groundhog Day") starts at sundown. Bring something dry to sit on and join us at Rogers Playfield! AccuWeather says we'll have good weather for Saturday evening's Eastlake Movie Night: cool and partly sunny. Their forecast is 73 for a high on Saturday, with a low of 59 and patchy clouds. We'd recommend packing a jacket or blanket with your lawn chair and your movie snacks. It might be cool! To recap: "Groundhog Day" will be screened at the Rogers Playfield this coming Saturday, Aug. 29, starting at dusk. Sunset is officially set for 8:01 p.m. Today's "Groundhog Day" trivia (courtesy of the Internet Movie Database):
And all over the city, it appears. Sounds nice to hear the drops coming down through the leaves on the tree at the end of my deck. Here's a little sample: Weather expert Cliff Maas was at Eastlake resident Monica Guzman's Big Blog meetup last night. He says the super hot weather is over for the summer, but nice days will continue. What are your weather thoughts?
UPDATE at 6:39 a.m. Thursday: SDOT says the University Bridge has been inspected and can resume opening to allow marine traffic to go through. The Seattle Department of Transportation is leaving the University Bridge closed over night Wednesday. The high temperatures have caused the bridge's metal to expand and SDOT is worried that opening the bridge might cause damage. From the SDOT press release:
So, if you're taking your boat through the bridge tonight, you're going to have to wait until the morning. Neighborlogs ' intern Lucas Anderson spent this horribly hot day walking around the city and taking photos. Enjoy his photo gallery while you stay cool! 
The heat has descended on Eastlake this evening like a warm, moist cloud. Sounds are muffled and people talk quietly as though the weather has sapped their energy to speak louder. Fairview Avenue, never the busiest of streets, seems even slower tonight. Cars float by and people are seen drinking a cold beer or exiting Pete's with an ice cream bar. Anna Lawton, whose husband works on a yacht on the lake, was carrying supplies out of Pete's, including sacks of crushed ice, one of which she balanced briefly on her head. Did it help? a passerby asked. Yes, she said. It made her feel cooler. Many are drawn to the outdoors and, especially, the lake in an effort to cool off. Dogs are seen chasing sticks in the water or just standing and panting as their owners splash them. People jump off houseboats for a quiet swim or slowly paddle a canoe or kayak out in to the lake. Boats drift languidly by. The sun sets behind Gas Works and the Aurora Bridge. Everything glows briefly orange. Windows are open. You hear the occasional whir of a fan and disconnected voices. The clatter of silverware on plates echoes, the indicator of a late supper. People are waiting for a breeze and hoping it cools off so they can sleep. Tomorrow's forecast: even hotter. Zowie! The temperatures are expected to climb to almost 100 by the middle of the week. THAT'S hot! Everyone is looking for ways to stay cool. What's your favorite Eastlake place to cool off? Or is there something else you do in the neighborhood when the temperature zooms to the stratosphere? Tell us your favorite Eastlake cooling off ideas or places in the comments. An iced mocha from Voxx or Louisa's? A cold beer at the Zoo or a cold cocktail at the Eastlake Bar & Grill? A dip in Lake Union? Or ... what? Stay cool! The City saw fit to turn me loose without pay on Friday, part of this year's budget-cutting exercise. Since it was so nice out, I didn't mind at all. Here's how I spent the afternoon in Eastlake. Hope you enjoy.
The Cheshiahud Trail wraps smoothly around Lake Union except for one missing link: the section between Edgar and Hamlin on Fairview Ave. E. To make the connection, a pedestrian or cyclist must trudge up Edgar to Eastlake and down Hamlin (or vice-versa), both steep east-west streets that run down to the water from a busy arterial. Some of the block between Hamlin and Edgar is public right of way. The street right-of-way actually extends from Hamlin to within about 50 feet of Edgar Street End Park, an undeveloped park overrun with bamboo and blackberry. The shoreline of property at 10 E. Edgar is half on the city right-of-way. A permit for the dock (mostly on city right-of-way) is renewed every September, but the city does not review the permit for possible violations. At present, large concrete blocks are stored on city property behind a gate and fence that also intrude on city property. There is no permit for this storage; the city issued a stop-work order last year when the blocks were delivered, possibly for building a new bulkhead, but they have not been removed. If the blocks, fence and gate were moved, the city could require an easement to connect the city right-of-way with Edgar Street End and build a stairway for pedestrians and cyclists. The city has already approved a construction permit to build the stairway but has not funded it. If this connection were made, it would complete the Cheshiahud loop and reduce the incentive for cyclists to stay on Eastlake and add their names to the list of cyclist fatalities in Seattle. |
