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Here's a couple cool things going on in the neighborhood this weekend:

On Saturday starting at 8:00am,  join your neighbors to help support a local school.   The community has received funding to replace the dingy old playground at Leschi Elementary, and they need your help to get it all put together.   We had a great conversation earlier in the week...

As we went around the room at tonight's EPCPC meeting it seemed like at least half the participants mentioned the ongoing burglary spree in the CD and neighboring areas.  Captain McDonagh said that they saw a definite spike in burglaries in June and believe there is a group of kids who are actively involved in some of the cases.   So far the events have mainly been focused east of 23rd Ave, south as far as Jackson, and north past Madison.

On the positive side, police say they've made a number of arrests and have open warrants on several other suspects.   One team in the east precinct had six burglary arrests in just the last couple of weeks.  Those cases are working their way through the system,...

At tonight's EPCPC meeting, Captain McDonagh gave a good update on Monday's homicide. Here's what they're saying:

• The victim's name has still not been released, but he was a 56 year old African American.
• Police were familiar with the victim from their patrols, where he was out on the streets late at night
• Investigators do have some information from witnesses that were in the area, and homicide detectives are looking for a specific person who they believe was a direct witness to the shooting.
• According to Capt. McDonagh, the crime "Doesn't appear to be random.  We believe the subject was involved with someone else who shot him.
• Contrary to our early reports, investigators think he was shot in the...

Thursday's calls from Seattle's East Precinct:

Tonight is your chance to talk with the police leadership from the East Precinct.  It's a monthly event that is designed to improve communications between residents and the SPD.

Got a recurring crime problem you want to highlight?   This is your chance to describe it to the police captain and get it on his radar.

Want to get an update on the burglary spree or the gun violence we've been seeing?  All the right people will be at this meeting and can bring us up to date on the latest.

It all starts tonight at 6:30 on the 4th floor of the SVI building on Jackson.  We'll see you there.

Heelo just wanted to tray and get any information regarding the school districts in teh central area district in particular K-8 are they any good?? We have a new born and are thinking of making an offer on a home we like but biggest problem is the school district we dont have a clue whats good and whats bad...pls any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

We were listening to the scanner today when we heard a call to check for a burglary suspect riding a bike in the area near MLK & Madison.   It was reported by the victim of a burglary yesterday who had spotted the 16-year old suspect on the street.  It's not clear how the victim knew who she was looking for.

Police arrived quickly and found a bicycle in the front yard of a residence nearby in the 2600 block of E. Thomas.   This is a house that police appear to be very familiar with, having been mentioned as possibly being connected to a property damage incident back on Monday.

Police checked the house for the suspect, and evidently in the process spotted what they believed to be stolen property....

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.  ...