UGM shelter invites community to BBQ

As the Union Gospel Mission Emergency Winter Shelter prepares to depart the neighborhood, staff at the shelter have invited the community to a BBQ today at 6 p.m.

A local church will be providing enough food for 150 people, including Korean-style short ribs, salad, rice, hot dogs, baked beans and coleslaw.

"I would love for you to come out as we have a good time and eat with friends.  The meal will start at 6pm, but we wanted to say a few thank you's to the local Fire Department, Police Department, and people like you," said shelter supervisor Paul LaRose.

Members of Douglas Park Cooperative have participated on the Shelter Advisory Council and have made weekly deliveries of homemade soup to the shelter.

Advocacy: Old Fire Station 39 email, signature campaign

If you have ever wanted to be involved in the future of your neighborhood, now is the time.

Community organization Families for Lake City is working with Douglas Park Cooperative and many other neighborhood organizations to share with City of Seattle leaders what seems to be an overwhelming sentiment about needs in our community.

Lake City is at a pivot point in its history and the neighborhood must act now.

The Neighborhood Comprehensive Plan written by the neighborhood and the City of Seattle calls for the Old Fire Station 39 to be part of our neighborhood Civic Core.

The plan says that the Old 39 is to be used to create a community open space or permanent Farmer's Market. The plan also made it a priority to provide an activities center for youth and seniors as well as a job bank, services severely lacking in our dense, urban community.

The City of Seattle's own Request For Proposal about the Lake City Community Center, written just weeks ago, states that services and amenities provided to the community in Lake City are "not comparable" to other Seattle neighborhoods.

As we worked in recent weeks to find space for Bike Works programming, it has become clearer that space where youth can be engaged in our community is severely lacking.

We want to keep City Leaders on-track to realize the Comprehensive Plan painstakingly crafted and agreed upon with visions of what our community could be.

Your voice is an important part of this equation. Please make it heard as it will make a difference.

Please go to the Families For Lake City website and use their email form to share your opinion and help decide the future of our neighborhood.

The link is here:  http://www.familiesforlakecity.com/repurposing-firehouse-39-lc-feedback-needed/

Douglas Park Cooperative is also circulating a petition, shown below.

You can sign the petition at Kaffeeklatsch coffee shop and bakery or print one, gather signatures and return it to Kaffeeklatsch.

Advocacy: Call for Volunteers - Old 39 Petition

We are in need of volunteers over the next four days. Starting Thursday evening, we will be collecting petition signatures from neighbors. The petition letter is below in a pdf format. Our goal is to collect 300 signatures from Lake City residents and business owners. A copy of the petition will be submitted to the Mayor and all Coucilmembers on Tuesday of next week.

Email us if you can help with signature gathering.

We will be meeting tonight at 7pm at 130th and 25th ( weather permitting ) to go door to door. You are welcome to join us. 

In addition, Families for Lake City has a form letter on their site. Please take some time to send this in as well.

Help us make our voice heard. 

Parks Department puts out RFP to operate Lake City Community Center

The Lake City Community Center

The Seattle Parks Department is soliciting proposals for operation and maintenance of the Lake City Community Center. Proposals for the facility are due April 16th, 2012.

The building is owned by the City of Seattle after being donated to the City by the Lake City Lions Club. From the Request For Proposal:

The Seattle Lake City Lions Club built the original Lake City Community Center building in 1955 to operate as the Lake City Youth Center, Inc. providing recreational opportunities for youth. In 1964 the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) accepted the Center and adjacent property as a gift from the Lions Club with the condition that the Lions Club make improvements to the building and operate it as a public recreation center

In 1980 DPR further expanded the facility to its current size of 15,000 square feet, ensuring space for additional recreational and programming opportunities was available to the general public

In April 2007, Seattle City Council approved a new five year lease with Lake City Community Center Inc. (LCCCI) to operate and maintain the facility. In addition to a variety of rentals facilitated and managed by the LCCCI to both for-profit and non-profit organizations, DPR staff has operated a successful after-school program for middle school students in the facility. This agreement expires on May 30, 2012.

If this program was to be extended, DPR is interested in providing continuing support for this program at the center

DPR is interested in securing a long-term partner to operate the facility as well as be responsible for all building maintenance.

As such, DPR is issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking interested parties and service providers to submit proposals for a long term agreement for the operation and maintenance of the Lake City Community Center and to offer community activities, recreational programs and outreach to the Lake City neighborhood. The provider may also propose additional uses to enhance public access and increase neighborhood engagement.

Also from the Request for Proposal

The Lake City Community Center is a 15,000 square foot facility and currently programmed as a multi-use recreation center with some reoccurring rentals for weekend flea markets, cost-free weekly use by non-profits and an annual salmon-bake fundraiser for the LCCCI

Lake City Community Center is currently operated by the Lake City Community Center Inc (LCCCI) under a lease with DPR.

Please be advised that the center is not comparable to a typical DPR community center and does not include a gymnasium.

The facility is 57 years old and in overall fair condition. It is however an aging facility. There is no wheelchair ADA accommodation to the second floor of the building. In order for the facility to operate more successfully it may require more than cosmetic upgrades and considerable capital improvements to accommodate new programs and services.

Routine maintenance and operation is currently handled by the LCCCI. Major maintenance is and will remain the responsibility of DPR.

What kind of vision do you have for the Lake City Community Center? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.




The RFP packet can be accessed here: http://cityofseattle.gov/parks/partnerships/rfp.htm

Elliott Bay Brewing Co. Owner: 'I think all of Lake City came out' on opening day

Young customers entertain themselves while waiting for a table.

Opening day at Lake City's new Elliott Bay Public House and Brewery may go down as one of the largest events of the year in the Lake City neighborhood.

When the new business opened its doors at 11 a.m. on Monday, there was already a line of people outside hoping to be among the first customers into the new business.

By noon, the restaurant was nearly full. And at dinner, the wait for some was more than 1 1/2 hours to get a table.

A hurried wait and kitchen staff tried valiantly to keep up with wave after wave of enthusiastic customers that poured into the establishment. By evening some of the wait staff seemed exhausted by the onslaught but still worked with a smile.

One of the most common things overheard at table after table was that Lake City needed an establishment like this.

Todd Carden, one of the businesses owners, was among those rushing around, making sure the restaurant was running smoothly. "I think all of Lake City came out," he said as closing time approached and the bar area was still nearly full of customers.

The popular restaurant is known for its other two locations in West Seattle and in Burien. They are also known as a family-friendly establishment, a hallmark of the business shown Monday by the large number of families with kids in tow.

Around 6 p.m., the start of 'happy hour,' the wait grew to over 45 minutes. Dozens of parties decided not to wait and left.

An informal survey of 7 parties found that they were all going to other restaurants nearby, a spillover effect hoped for by many in the local community. Three parties crossed the street to Romios, two planned to walk to Thai One On and two were going to see what other restaurants the neighborhood offered.

Two parties were disappointed to find that nearby coffee shop and bakery Kaffeeklatch was closed during the long wait.

On opening day the brewery opened membership in its Mug Club. The club, a popular feature at its other establishments, offers members an engraved mug kept at the bar, 4 extra ounces of beer with every purchase and invitations to special mug club events and promotions. Membership in the club is a one-time fee of $50.

By late afternoon the Mug Club was completely sold out.

Customers enjoy their first dinner at Elliot Bay Brewery.

The bar area was standing room only late into the evening.

The Lake City Lions Club placed American Flags on the building exterior.

The first wave of customers sit in booths after the 11 a.m. opening.

Owner Todd Carden photographed with Vera, Cassondra and Hannah.

Customers show pride in their neighborhood with stickers handed out at the opening.

A receipt on opening day.

Elliott Bay Brewing Co. opening Monday, DPC raising a pint

After what seemed like a long wait for anxious members of the Lake City community, Elliott Bay Brewing Co. has announced that they will open for business on Monday, March 26th at 11 a.m. And that night, members of Douglas Park Cooperative plan to raise a pint to our neighborhood after our Monday night walk.

The much anticipated business has been the talk of many neighbors that have been hoping for a family-friendly establishment like the brewery in Lake City.

Some got excited Thursday night when they passed the new business and saw a full parking lot and dozens of people inside the building. Turns out it was a private event.

After our weekly walk on Monday night, Douglas Park Cooperative members will stop by and raise a pint to the new neighborhood restaurant. Our walk starts at 7 p.m. at Virgil Flaim Park, SE corner of 26th Avenue NE and NE 125th Street. After the walk we will gather at the Brewery at 8 p.m. to raise a pint to our community. Please join us.

A sign on the window of Elliott Bay Brewing Co. announces the opening.

Proposed Lake City Skatespot featured on skateboard website

A screenshot of the Parents for Skateparks website features the proposed Lake City park on its' homepage.

The website Parents for Skateparks featured a concept drawing of a proposed skatespot at Lake City Playfield, also known as Virgil Flaim Park on their website recently.

"The Owl," as the design was named, is in the early stages but the project has committed supporters in the neighborhood and the support of some in the local business community.

The skatespot could transform Virgil Flaim Park. The park is now known as a place where chronic inebriates gather and loiter. Studies have shown that use of a park discourages such nuisance behaviors and the skatespot would likely be the most consistently used feature of the park.

The Lake City Comprehensive Plan, a neighborhood plan for our community written over a decade ago with goals from 1999 - 2014, requested a skatepark under Goal 11/ Strategy 3/ Action E.

Provide youth with lawful, constructive activities:

Develop a family-oriented skateboard park... with picnic benches, artwork and other public amenities, near the Civic Core.

The Citywide Skatepark Plan also has the Lake City Playfield, now known as Virgil Flaim Park, designated as a preferred candidate for a "SkateSpot," a skatepark that is fewer than 10,000 square feet.

The Citywide Skatepark Plan lists the cost for a SkateSpot at roughly $640k - a pretty steep price tag. However, there are funding sources such as grants for park improvements.

Pilot program to assist neighborhood with Chronic Public Inebriates may be coming to Lake City

Deputy Seattle Mayor Darryl Smith speaks to neighborhood residents at a meeting.

Recently Deputy Seattle Mayor Darryl Smith met with members of Douglas Park Cooperative and other Lake City community members where he revealed that the City of Seattle is working on a pilot program to limit the supply of high-octane beer to chronic public inebriates. Chronic street drunks are known to be a fixture of our commercial and civic core and have long been an issue of concern for many neighbors.

Mayor Mike McGinn's Office is working with three distributors to create a voluntary plan that would prohibit sales of some alcohol products between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. in Lake City. The products included would be fortified beers and wines, drinks known for their consumption by chronic alcoholics.

Douglas Park Cooperative has been pursuing an Alcohol Impact Area, or AIA, designation for Lake City, but the Mayor's office sees the pilot program as potentially being more successful that an AIA.

The pilot program would be enforced seven days a week but would not include bars and restaurants.

The program is still in the planning stages but could begin as early as May.

"We want these businesses to be successful in a number of ways, just not basing your whole business model on these products," Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith said of the establishments that sell these fortified products.

You can read more about the proposed program in this Seattle P-I story.

Lake City Community Council meeting to be held Thursday, March 22

The Lake City Community Council will hold its regular meeting on Thursday, March 22 at the Lake City Mennonite Church, 3120 NE 125th Street. Please attend if you can as these organizations are the ones that help chart the course of our neighborhood.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and is scheduled to run until 8:30. Parking is available in the back of the building via the entrance on 33rd Avenue NE.

The agenda for Thursday's meeting:

• 7:00 p.m. - Welcome and Introductions

• 7:10 p.m. - Presentation – Paul Hanson, SMR Architects. Who is CPC and what are they building on 33rd Ave NE?

• 7:40 p.m. - Presentation – Marty Curry, University of Washington, Pierre Properties Redevelopment. What Do You Value in Lake City & What Would You Change?

• Break

• 8:10 p.m. Business, Reports & Planning

• 8:30 p.m. Adjourn

Douglas Park Cooperative food donation totals 105 pounds

Kay Hardie of the North Helpline Food Bank with the donation

Last week when Douglas Park Cooperative hosted a meeting with Deputy Seattle Mayor Darryl Smith, we took the opportunity to collect food to donate to the North Helpline. The donation was made in honor of Jeff Inman, a homeless veteran that died on the streets of Lake City recently.

Kay Hardie with the North Helpline accepted the overflowing box of food on Friday. She weighed the box and said the DPC community contributed 105 pounds of much needed food to the organization. Hardie thanked DPC for its efforts assisting less fortunate members of the Lake City community.