The annual “Pig Out” to fight hunger will happen across North Seattle on October 14th, 2010 including some of the top restaurants in Phinney Ridge and Greenwood. A portion of sales from designated restaurants listed below will be donated to soup kitchens that serve almost 200 meals per week to low income, disabled, and elderly neighborhood restaurants. The event is a “Pig Out” because a portion of meals from breakfast, lunch, and dinner all go to help the needy. Last year – the event raised over $4,000 for the Phinney soup kitchens and you can help out while having a great meal. PhinneyRidge.org is a huge advocate of this event and encourages you to participate in this worthy cause to help the hungry.
Participating Restaurants: 74th Street Ale House
Baranof Restaurant
Barking Dog Alehouse
Carmelita
Fatty’s Corner Pizzeria
Fresh Flours
In the Red Wine Bar
Kouzina Mae’s Phinney Ridge CAfe
New Noodles Oliver’s Twist
Picnic
Porst! Red Mill Burgers
Romio’s Pizza
Santa Fe Cafe Stumbling Goat
Wingdome
Yanni’s Greek Restaurant
You can also donate directly to help the hungry by sending a check to the Phinney Neighborhood Association at 6532 Phinney Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103. Get more information or your questions answered by calling 206-783-2244.
Here is the feedback from concerned members of the community who are outraged at these changes. Neighbors spoke of common themes including parking pressures, vacant buildings, transients. Concerns were specific to both renters and owners being forced out with higher property valuations driven by the rezoning in a declining economy with minimal retail demand in the middle-class area. Check out our live videos at the bottom of this article.
Direct Community Feedback to City of Seattle via “Post It’s”:
I do not want the cavern effect of sixty-five foot buildings on either side of Northwest 85th. I do not support Subarea3 rezone proposal.
Don’t built more if you haven’t ever been able to rent all the apartments above Mudbay. Empty spaces make things worse.
The University District’s Safeco Building is an eyesore because it does not fit in with its surroundings.
Concerned about significant and abrupt transition and impact to single family homes on south side of proposal. I do not support the Subarea3 proposal.
A six story building will take away all the light for all the houses built behind it. It decreases their property value and would cause me to sell my house.
The 65 foot tall transition is too dramatic and would change the neighborhood. This does not fit into the area and will negatively impact Greenwood and the surrounding areas.
Advantages of development and “re-established connections” can occur within the existing 40 foot zone. I don’t support Subarea3 rezone proposal.
How does the 65 foot rezone promote pedestrial activity or safety. This can already happeh within the current forty-foot zone. Please maintain the current zone height.
There are plenty of empty spaces in this area as it stands. Tenants of the retail spaces are changing frequently because they can’t make a profit. Greenwood does not attract the people who can afford to rent space. The small nail salons will be bought out and not able to aford moving back into old “new” space.
Bullet #5 advantage: The existing slope to the south is not enough to mitigate effects of a six-story building for single story dwelling. This is a real, not “perceived” concern.
Changing the height and increasing density in this area would be workable…. but only if there are some restrictions on guidelines for the structures going in. Set back from the sidewalk with diversity of design and space so it doesn’t feel likel you are walking along a giant cinder block and you have good airflow and light through the area and taking into consideration the residential homes behind.
I like the idea of density with more shops and develping the street. But I’d like to see other options for this street like changing parking requirements.
Proposal will seriously increase parking space demand along NW 84th. Renters will not pay for a parking space. They will park in the surrounding area. NW 84th is already congested parking-wise.
High buildings at the storefront level are uninviting and intimidating.
The flair and character of Greenwood will be destroyed if we put six story buildings on the main strip.
There is already not enough parking on 84th street, a wall of multi-family-story buidlings will produce MORE traffic instead of reducing it.
Building six story buildings along 85th creates a cavern along 85th. This narrow strip would make it very difficult to build transitions from 85th or the backyards of the folks on 84th Street.
I am opposed to any height increase on the south side of 85th street. I live on 84th street and do not want to see tall narrow buildings out my front door.
Rezoning subarea 3 from 4 story to six story creates a wall between the single-family neighborhood and thye business district. Why is that a good idea?
It’s actually refreshing to look across the street from Fred Meyer or Bartells and see the rooftops of single family homes, try it sometime!
No to 65 foot. It is too contentious. Encourage development beyond this limited strip. If greenwood is the model for pedestrian oriented development then emulate it all along 85th.
Ridiculous – build as demand develops. This isn’t the Field of Dreams!!!
Oh Great, more traffic on 85th!!!
Dense high-rise housing is not an active community, it’s a rabbit warren. Mark park space, community space is needed and must balance the added housing.
Check out live video of Seattle DPD, public representatives, and numerous instant photos of the detailed explanations and community at the open house via our Twitter feed Greenwood rezone.
Join us and the City of Seattle tonight to discuss and hear your opinions on the zoning proposals surrounding the Fred Meyer Greenwood project. We’ll be reporting from the meeting to ensure the community has all of the diverse perspectives and flavor of this important meeting.
The meeting will be held in the Fellowship Hall of the Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church, located at 7500 Greenwood Avenue.
The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
6:00-6:30 Meet and Greet
6:30-6:45 Overview Presentation
6:45-8:00 Open House/Public Comment
As we’ve previously reported, proposals are in play to rezone the neighborhoods surrounding Fred Meyer Greenwood’s expansion. This will likely add the ability for townhomes and increased neighborhood density around soon-to-be-remodeled shopping center. The graphic shows the detail of the proposed impacts to the surrounding homes.
As we’ve previously reported, proposals are in play to rezone the neighborhoods surrounding Fred Meyer Greenwood’s expansion. This will likely add the ability for townhomes and increased neighborhood density around soon-to-be-remodeled shopping center. The graphic shows the detail of the proposed impacts to the surrounding homes.
On June 29th, Seattle’s Planning Department will host a public meeting on the changes from 6:00-8:00. The meeting will be held in the Fellowship Hall of the Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church, located at 7500 Greenwood Avenue.
The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
6:00-6:30 Meet and Greet
6:30-6:45 Overview Presentation
6:45-8:00 Open House/Public Comment
The map shows the boundaries of the three subareas that form the rezone area.
For more information please contact:
Andrea Petzel
DPD Senior Urban Planner
(206) 615-1256
andrea.petzel@seattle.gov
Today, Volunteers of America opened a new facility that will house the Greenwood Food Bank, Senior Companion Program, and Disability Services. Together, these programs help over 4,000 individuals each month.
“Up until this month, we have rented three separate spaces for our programs. Now we can co-locate our programs and better integrate our services,” says Lori Drabant, Vice President of Development & Communications. “This facility will allow us to increase our presence and our capacity to serve the north Seattle community.”
To kick off the grand opening, a celebration will be held at the Community Resource Center which will also be a stop on the Greenwood Community Art Walk. There will be live music, refreshments, and local art from community members and Volunteers of America clients.
“The Greenwood community has always been so supportive of our north Seattle programs,” says Drabant. “We are excited to welcome the community into our new facility to celebrate its grand opening.”
Guests are welcome to stop by anytime between 5:00pm and 8:00pm on June 11th at9041 Greenwood Ave North to hear stories of hope and take a tour of our new facility.
Volunteers of America Western Washington is one of the region’s most comprehensive human service organizations. With the help of our generous donors we are able to respond to 350,000 requests for assistance each year from families in crisis, children at risk, seniors, and adults with disabilities.
For more information, visit www.voaww.org.
Bikers and Lovers of Food invite you to participate in the first Spoke and Food Event on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010! This event will combine bicycling and dining into one evening, while also raising funds for Solid Ground’s Lettuce Link program. This is a great opportunity to give back to the community and have some fun on one of those beautiful Seattle summer nights!
The main goals of Spoke & Food this year are to motivate our community to use their bicycles as they dine out and to improve access to healthy food for all by supporting Lettuce Link, an innovative food and gardening program growing and giving since 1988. Lettuce Link creates access to fresh, nutritious and organic produce, seeds, and gardening information for families with lower incomes in Seattle.
So get out and bike on the night of Tuesday, June 29th and help support a healthier community! Bike to any of the following restaurants and they’ll donate 15-20% of their proceeds to Lettuce Link!
Participating restaurants as of May 15th include:
Dad Watsons (Fremont)
The Scarlet Tree (Ravenna/Green Lake)
Montlake Alehouse (Montlake)
The Stepping Stone (Ballard)
Snoose Junction Pizzeria (Ballard)
Fiddler’s Inn (Wedgewood)
Muleadys Irish Pub (Magnolia)
Naked City Brewery & Tap House (Greenwood)
Cantinetta Restaurant (Wallingford)
If you are interested in more information, please contact info@spokeandfood.com
The Woodland Park Zoo is one of the landmarks that makes Phinney Ridge unique among Seattle neighborhoods, but it also doesn’t always have to play by the same rules as regular city parks. When the City turned the Zoo over to the Woodland Park Zoo Society in 2002, the new Management Agreement gave the Zoo some speciai privileges that occasionally put it at odds with the neighborhood on issues such as parking.
The latest potential conflict between the Zoo and the neighborhood involves the naming rights to the Zoo’s new West Entrance. The Bank of America Commons, a spacious open area outside the West Gate, got its name after the bank donated approximately $1 million to the Zoo. Some neighbors at this month’s Phinney Ridge Community Council meeting were unhappy with the naming process, and that the name may even have been obtained outside of the standard process.
If any of the City’s public parks had taken on a corporate sponsor, there would have been a public comment period required by the City of Seattle. That never happened at the Zoo, because the Zoo’s Management Agreement — unlike the naming rules for other City parks– doesn’t require public comment. However, it does require the approval of the Parks Superintendent, and the Zoo states that it got that approval for the Bank of America Commons.
The PRCC also discussed the possibility that Bank of America may not have donated enough money to meet the Zoo’s threshold for naming a space. The Zoo’s policy says a gift has to represent “a significant portion” of the cost of the building or space being named, and that 50% is the desired amount for naming. PRCC president Irene Wall pointed out that $1 million doesn’t seem like it would cover 50% of the cost of the Bank of America Commons.
However, 50% is just the desired amount, not a requirement. The target donation amount is determined in the business plan for each Zoo project. According to Zoo spokesman David Schaefer, Bank of America’s donation met the donation goal set out in the plans for the West Gate. “I might note that it is for a term of 10 years, not a permanent naming,” Schaefer told PhinneyRidge.org, via email.
In fairness, the name doesn’t come with huge corporate billboards, either. The only visible Bank of America logo is in black against dark wood on one of the buildings bordering the commons. The Zoo’s Schaefer called it “pretty understated.”
But, for the neighbors who don’t approve of the Bank of America name, it’s not necessarily about visible branding. It’s about starting down a slippery slope toward further decisions made in the neighborhood without any input from the people who live there.
If you have an opinion or concern about the Zoo or any other issue affecting Phinney Ridge, tonight’s (Thursday, May 20th) annual meeting of the Phinney Ridge Community Council is a good opportunity to become more involved and make your voice heard. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Phinney Neighborhood Association building. The meeting is also your opportunity to join the Community Council, and participate in elections for Council officers.
Come out for amazing deals and secret finds at the Seventeenth annual Greenwood Garage Sale Day! It’s a great opportunity to meet your neighbors and find new deals for your home.
In addition to garage sales and rummage sales all over the neighborhood (see map), there will also be:
* A Flea Market in Phinney Neighborhood Center lower parking lot,
* A Tool Sale at the Tool Library,
* A Rummage Sale at the Greenwood Senior Center
You might have water stockpiled in the basement and your hand-crank flashlight poised for action. But when the earth moves or some other disaster strikes Seattle, have you thought about how the Phinney-Greenwood community will fare? None of us can really go it alone, so neighbors across the city are developing community-level plans for disaster preparedness. Join the Phinney Ridge Community Council (PRCC) at its annual meeting on Thursday, May 20, to learn how our neighborhoods can prepare for an emergency.
The meeting will be held at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, starting at 6:30 p.m. with social time and pizza. The program begins at 7:00. In addition to hearing from the Seattle Office of Emergency Management’s Mark Howard, meeting participants will have the opportunity to raise issues of interest or concern that the PRCC might explore, and to elect PRCC board members.
The PRCC meets monthly to discuss neighborhood projects, events, needs, politics, and ideas. It can serve as a “community voice” in local matters and provides a great forum to get to know your neighbors.
As the Seattle City Council considers changing design requirements for low-rise multifamily housing, the Phinney Ridge Community Council is considering how the changes would affect the Greenwood-Phinney urban village. Public meetings and an environmental review hearing about the new zoning ordinance will take place in May, ahead of a City Council vote in June.
At this month’s meeting, PRCC president Irene Wall explained that the zoning proposal, started by former mayor Greg Nickels, deals with everything from housing designs to parking. As an “urban village,” the Phinney area would be particularly affected.
Parking is one possible concern. Because new low-rise developments in urban villages are exempt from certain on-site parking requirements, that could push more cars into the already-crowded street parking equation in Phinney. On the other hand, removing on-site parking requirements gives designers more freedom to experiment with multi-family housing designs other than the 4-pack townhouses that have popped up all over Seattle in the past few years. It also means cheaper housing, and creates an incentive to drive less often.
Those unpopular townhouse designs are the reason behind the proposed ordinance. It would divide low-rises into several different categories, making townhouses one option, but not the only option. At the PRCC meeting, Wall explained that this “housing categories” scheme doesn’t deliver the simplified zoning that Nickels promised. In fact, she said, it’s a lot more complicated. It also adds additional landscaping and building facade requirements, among other changes designers will have to consider.
The ordinance wouldn’t change the existing multifamily homes in Phinney, but would almost certainly have a bearing on the future face of the neighborhood. Whether neighbors see it as a progressive step in the right direction, or a misstep that clashes with the character and design of the neighborhood remains to be seen.
You can read the ordinance for yourself at the Seattle City Council website, and view illustrations and data about the types of houses it would encourage. The PRCC hasn’t taken an official position on multifamily zoning or sent a message to the City Council yet, but Wall encouraged neighbors to become familiar with the ordinance before the next meeting.
The PRCC meets at the Phinney Neighborhood Center at 7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month. Anyone is welcome to attend and discuss this or any other neighborhood issue. Thanks to our generous sponsor for support of this blog and related community efforts – Phoenix Airport Shuttles.
